Geography - Map Friends Review Book

Our CC Week 1 is over, and it was great! We did lots of fun stuff, but I'm still having a hard time organizing everything and making it work for us. I like to have things in a nice, neat box with a label, and I'm learning that homeschooling (and, well, LIFE!) is not always like that. Ha! However, when I can make something nice and neat, I try to go for it. I think I found a way for our family to learn the Geography memory work in a fun and organized (yes!!) way . . . meet our new map friends book!

If you've been keeping up with us, you know that my girls are crazy for their 'map friends,' so I wanted to find a way to use them every week. I went on C3 and found small maps with the memory work listed for each week (UPDATE: the files I used are now listed towards the end of this post.). I printed them out, laminated them, and had them bound together in a book at our local office supply store. Now, we can use our map friends to learn the new locations each week. Cherry Jam can have a concert in Brazil, Nemo can swim in the Persian Gulf, and all of our other 'friends' can have their own little adventures (thanks to Velcro dots!). It may sound corny, but for my girls (who are 2 and 4) this is loads of fun! Take a look . . .

And I know I said I wasn't going to add anything more to our daily Calendar Time, but, well, I did. Mary's really good about sitting still for it, and she likes her map friends, so I have the book hanging on the wall for us to use in the mornings. This is her favorite part of Calendar Time now!

If you'd like to make your own book and need some help getting started, I've listed below the files I used from C3. The file name is first, followed by the user who posted it, and then the pages in the file that I used (and a BIG thank you to all who share on C3!).

Weeks 1-6: Geography Cycle 1.docx by cherylfloyd (starting with p. 2, be sure to move 'Sea of Galilee' from the list on p. 4 up to p. 3)

Weeks 7-10: AJT C1 2009 Eastern Asia Map Set.pdf by NoGreaterJoy5 (pp. 1-2)

Weeks 11-17: AJT C1 2009 Africa Map Set rev012010.pdf by NoGreaterJoy5 (pp. 1-2)

Weeks 18, 20: AJT C1 2009 Mesoamerica Map Set.pdf by NoGreaterJoy5 (pp. 1-2)

Week 19: AJT W19 Geography Thirteen Colonies.pdf by NoGreaterJoy5 (both pages)

Weeks 21-22: AJT C1 2009 Canada Map Set.pdf by NoGreaterJoy5 (pp. 1-2)

Weeks 23-24: AJT C1 2009 South America Map Set.pdf by NoGreaterJoy5 (pp. 1-2)

Subject Summary (all the memory work in ONE place!): Cycle 1 GeoNotebook by CC.pdf by foundations (p. 3)

If review books are your thing (they're certainly ours!), take a look at the one we made for Math! This has been very useful so far!

Tomorrow is our CC day, and Mary is really excited! We're going to focus on Ancient Egypt, which is one of her favorite things right now, so I know this week should be fun! Hopefully I'll have some time to actually write up a schedule. I know what I want to do and I have plans, but I like to have them written down, and that's not happened yet. Life has happened. Things have come up. I wish there were more hours in the day, but, well, you know. Everyday we're learning, we're all learning. The girls are learning the basics of reading and writing, while I'm learning how to be flexible and let the little things go. My oldest girl is only 4. Four! She doesn't need to know everything right now. She does, however, need to know that learning is fun. That's my biggest goal this year, and it's not going to happen without God's help. I can do nothing apart from Him, and where I am weak, HE is strong. You gotta love that!