Teaching geography is one of those things that frustrates me in homeschool. I am not good at it. I believe in using maps to look things up and only know the barest outlines, which I consider in a constant state of flux, whether due to politics and war or earthquakes and other disasters shaking things up and making my hard-earned knowledge out-of-date.
But this year we hit on a simple system that I like. We have used the prayer calendar from Operation World at breakfast to give us the "country of the day" -- only actually, they each get three days, which is handy for weekends and days when we just don't get everything done. I am increasingly convinced of the importance of building in margin (not margarine, I use butter and olive oil, but margin).
So, we look at the country of the day and mark it on an outline map in a little folder each Bananalet has. We also have a big world map hung in the dining room to help us out a bit. Then we read the corresponding entry in the Operation World book, summarizing where it gets a little dry. The big hit here is trying to guess what the per capita income in each country is when we get to that part in the entry. Miss Dance usually guesses low, Devastatingly Handsome just a bit high, Mr Music one dollar on one side of one of the two of them (so he often wins) and Miss Dog Lover looks over my shoulder to see if she can see it before guessing. :-P
Then, we check these two wonderful books for entries on the country of the day or any of its people groups:
Window on the World
and
Material World
It has been a fun, relaxed approach to learning about the world, and has helped (at least me) to grow in gratitude for what God has given us here in Bananaland and to picture and pray for a wide variety of needs in other countries.
But this year we hit on a simple system that I like. We have used the prayer calendar from Operation World at breakfast to give us the "country of the day" -- only actually, they each get three days, which is handy for weekends and days when we just don't get everything done. I am increasingly convinced of the importance of building in margin (not margarine, I use butter and olive oil, but margin).
So, we look at the country of the day and mark it on an outline map in a little folder each Bananalet has. We also have a big world map hung in the dining room to help us out a bit. Then we read the corresponding entry in the Operation World book, summarizing where it gets a little dry. The big hit here is trying to guess what the per capita income in each country is when we get to that part in the entry. Miss Dance usually guesses low, Devastatingly Handsome just a bit high, Mr Music one dollar on one side of one of the two of them (so he often wins) and Miss Dog Lover looks over my shoulder to see if she can see it before guessing. :-P
Then, we check these two wonderful books for entries on the country of the day or any of its people groups:
Window on the World
and
Material World
It has been a fun, relaxed approach to learning about the world, and has helped (at least me) to grow in gratitude for what God has given us here in Bananaland and to picture and pray for a wide variety of needs in other countries.
I like anything that's relaxed and easy to use. I once had a calendar from YWAM that had a prayer focus for people groups - much like "Window"...
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to learn about the world. And to see God move among the people.