Question posted by Jewel

If someone used SOTW (Story of the World**) for elementary grades what would one use for Geography?
 

Answer:  We used a book similar to SOTW for History, plus we read *real books.* We used our wall map and a laser pointer and a globe and an inflatable globe and atlases. We also did a couple of salt dough maps.

Usually as we read the books (history and real books), we use the globe or wall map to look the places up. We sometimes have to use historical atlases if it's a historical place. (Oh, that reminds me. We need to look up Flanders. We're reading about "Bad" King John and he had an alliance with Flanders against France. My daughter and I were both drinking hot chocolate and didn't want to set our cups down.)

Anyway, after years of doing this, I think the kids have a decent idea of where places are and how to read maps. Of course, this isn't the method to produce a geography genius, but they're fairly proficient.

If you don't feel comfortable with this hit or miss method to learning geography, then you could pick up a book like The Complete Book of Maps & Geography for grades 3-6. It would fill in any gaps. But depending on how your children learn and retain information, it may not be the best choice.

Oh, we've also used Torpedo Software's geography game. And we've also used World Discovery Deluxe by Great Wave Software. Geography drill games.

I think, though, and I could be wrong, that linking geographical locations and customs to characters in stories or history is an easier way to learn geography. I know we learned a lot about Thailand from reading Anna and the King of Siam. While I'm not a huge Henty fan, the children learned about Mexico City by reading one of his books (read my review).

And puzzles are great, too, if the actual pieces are shaped like each country or state. It helps students to be able to identify the state or country just by its shape. We got two copies of a US map, and we race each other in putting it together. As long as it's kept fun and you refrain from discouraging your student, racing is an excellent learning method.

We also used some ideas from Geography Wizardry for Kids. Amazon currently has a used copy for around $2.00 plus s&h.

And most of our atlases we got used from library sales or thrift stores. A good world almanac can be found this way, too. No, all of our globes and atlases aren't all up to date, though we do have up-to-date maps and I tell the kids of some of the changes (Yugoslavia area, for instance) and we discuss that political lines move frequently.

The world maps in these cheap atlases can be used to chart the course of Magellan with magic markers or highlighters. Yes! Mark up the map. Why not? Then take that map of a trip around the world and laminate it and your student can have his/her own place mat for the breakfast table, to look at day after day. You can also do the routes taken by other travelers such as Phileas Fogg and Nathaniel Bowditch and Captain Cook. You could even do this with printable world maps off the internet.

Have you ever watched Sense & Sensibility? The youngest sister is portrayed as playing with her atlas at the beginning of the show. Just plotting fun trips or finding all the Springfields in America can be a lot of fun (for some people). Just playing the game where you spin the globe, put your finger on it and call out the name of the country and locate its capital, taking turns, can be fun. You know, have a contest to see whose finger lands on the country farthest from home or who lands on the biggest country or calling out its latitude and longitude or calling out if it's earlier or later in the day compared to your location or calling out the hemisphere--all these are good ways to gain geographical knowledge.

Another really cool book is The Sierra Club Wayfinding Book. There are a ton of used copies at Amazon.com for around a $1.00 plus s&h. The geographical sections in Paul Tawrell's Wilderness Survival book would also be a great addition to geography instruction/learning in the homeschool. We love our copy.

Don't depend on the maps in SOTW. I think they are a little limiting. A good atlas, globe, or wall-size world map will serve you better, imo, as long as you make a point of using them.

A comment about the laser pointer (alternate):  My kids loved to point to the wall map with the laser pointer when they were aged six to eleven. It was one of the best things we had to encourage learning geography in a painless manner. Of course, laser pointers are more prevalent now and a child who has used one extensively will not enjoy using it to point to places on a map as much as children who are not familiar with laser pointers. (Don't forget safety issues.)

  ** Story of the World is part of The Well-Trained Mind Curriculum. Read my review of The Well-Trained Mind."
 

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