Using the big Geography Binder worked really well for us during the first semester of CC; however, we've reached a place where the extra stuff isn't necessary right now. I'd like to share with you how I teach Geography to my kindergartner - the simplified way.
Cycle 2 Geography Cards for Weeks 13-24 are ready!
You can download them from C3 under username: melodystroud.
I didn't include any extra information with this set, since most of the feedback implied that it was unnecessary. Hopefully they will be a blessing to your family if you choose to use them!
I've really fallen in love with using binders our first year of homeschooling, and after showing you our Science Review binder, here's a quick look at our Geography binder:
I made the cover using the free chevron editable covers found here.
Last year, Crecia at Taking It One Day at a Time made awesome geography cards that we used for review. Since God is leading Crecia down a different path this school year, she's given me her blessing to go ahead and create them for Cycle 2.
You can download them from C3 under username: melodystroud.
If you own the Classical Conversations Foundation Guide, hopefully you've checked out the hand-drawn maps by seventh-graders on pages 224, 225, 228, and 229. Wow! Free-hand maps of the continents and entire WORLD!
I've really wanted to start teaching Mary how to draw maps, but it's always seemed like a mysterious art. And just plain hard! However, I want my girls to learn to do hard things, so, Mary had her first lesson today!
First, I opened up Leigh Bortins's The Core to page 151. After reading her suggestions, this is what I decided to do:
I showed Mary how to fold a blank piece of letter-sized paper in half the 'hot dog' way and the 'hamburger' way. This, in itself, was no easy task.
She used her pencil to draw a line down each crease, and then she labeled (with abbreviations) the Equator and Prime Meridian.
Then I showed Mary how to line up her Equator with the Equator on page 7 of the packet mentioned above. (I'll use page 10 later)
Using a ruler (for the first time!), she drew the five great circles of latitude onto her paper and labeled them.
That's it! We actually didn't draw any continents today, and we won't for a while. Before we do, we're going to repeat these steps until Mary can set up her map easily on her own. When she has mastered drawing the Prime Meridian and great circles of latitude, then we'll start blobbing the continents.
Here she is continuing the great circle lines from the guide onto her own paper.
And here's her first completed map drawing assignment!
I like what Leigh Bortins has to say about this exercise on page 152 of The Core:
I know this doesn't sound like rigorous academics, but I promise you that it is, especially for children. Here's a short list of some of the skills they have been working on:
Sitting still
Holding a pencil correctly
Drawing straight lines without a ruler (okay, so we're using a ruler for now, no biggie)
If you're looking for a fun (and easy!) way to learn the names of all the countries in the world, I highly, highly suggest checking into Kathy Troxel's Geography Songs. Wow! They are all fantastic! We have the book that goes with it, but Balancing Everything has made coloring maps that go with the individual songs about Africa. Yay!
I know that Africa is studied is Cycle 1, but print these babies out, file 'em, and you'll have them ready to go in a couple of years. Or, you could tackle this as a summer project!
Speaking of summer projects, I think we're going to start blobbing the world soon using Brandy's maps at Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood. Do you have any fun summer ideas in the works?
Okay, by now you may know that I l-o-v-e binders! But before I show the newest addition to my binder family, here are some cute pictures from this week's CC day:
We're studying Fra Angelico this week in Art. The kids drew something then cut out pieces of aluminum foil to glue onto their creations. Painting followed. Mary worked really hard on hers and then said it was just a doodle. Ha!
Our rockin' tutor always has the best review games! See the balloon taped to the wall behind Mary? One at a time, each child ran to get a balloon off the wall (they were all over our room), then she ran back to the square and had to pop it. Mary couldn't pop it on her own; so with the tutor's help, I very stealthily hurried her along with some scissors. ;) Inside the balloon were two review questions. Awesome! The kids, of course, thought this was the bomb!
At the end of our day at CC, we reviewed our Geography memory work. This week we're learning the highest mountain on each continent. The kids each put a chocolate chip (mountain) on the correct continent when the tutor called out the name. Oh, yes, they really enjoyed this as well. ;)
Okay, now on to my new binder! (Eeeeek!!)
A while back I posted about these really neat passport-like cards for kids that featured lots of different countries. Here's what they looked like:
So, I fell in love with these little fact cards, but I didn't know what in the world I was going to do with them. I printed them all out, laminated them, and then felt like a loser because I spent all this time and energy (and ink!) and had not a clue what to do next.
Until . . . inspiration struck!
I've always wanted to put together continent boxes, but I know I would never really use them. But, if I can put things in a binder, well, they'll get used a whole lot more! So, I now have a small binder from Staples that will serve as my stash of international fun ideas!
Inside the binder, each country has its own page protector sleeve. Right now, I have the passport cards and Landmarks of the World cards (Target $1 aisle around back-to-school time). And yes, that is the Suez Canal on the bottom! Last year I saw a Flags of the World flashcard set at Target, too, so I'll keep my eyes out for those in July and add them to the binder. And, I'll just keep on adding to it until it's full of neat information and pictures of the countries. How easy, right?!
Do you have any ideas for keeping up with stuff like this? If so, I'd love to hear about it. Please leave a comment and fill us in! I always love, love, love reading comments, and I read every one. Do you ever read other blogs' comments? Sometimes, that's where you find the best stuff!
It's been a while since I've done an Anna update, so I thought I would fill you in on what's been going on.
We went to the St. Jude clinic in town for a second opinion on her treatment for her basal cell skin cancer. First of all, it was just so weird to go to St. Jude. I'm sure one day I'll be a-o-kay with this Gorlin Syndrome thing, but I'm not there yet. Anyway, the doctor was wonderful, and two really great things came out of the appointment. First, the doctor got us in with a local dermatologist - and soon! No more driving a couple hours to Birmingham to see our specialist. Nice! And the icing on the cake of our visit was that Anna was NOT the first person with Gorlin Syndrome that she's seen in Huntsville. Yes, there is someone else with this extremely rare disease right in our own backyard! The doctor called the little girl's mom, and she's going to call me very soon to meet up and compare notes, so to speak. And this new family goes to the same dermatologist that we'll be going to in town. How great is God?! He knew we needed this connection, and He always takes care of us. Thank you, Lord! I'm very excited about the seeing the new derm. because Anna has a bunch of new bumps, which I think are basal cell carcinomas (skin cancer), but I don't know for sure. Her treatment for her cancer spots is this cream that kills the cells, so I sure don't want to put that stuff on good skin. I want the derm. to tell me yes or no for sure on those new bumps.
So, that's the big update. Happy news for the developments from St. Jude, and not-so-happy news for new bumps. But, you know what? God is in control. And He is good!
In other news, we recently went to a Learning Expo at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. I love that we live so close to this place!
The girls enjoyed playing with the fun stuff while we looked around. Pretty neat! CC had a booth right next to Anna's new school's booth! I really should have taken a picture.
Funday Monday was yesterday - woohoo! We reviewed some material before The Challenge. Mary loved the Gallon Man activity from Crecia's lesson plans at CCing it one day at a time. I laminated the pieces and added velcro dots.
One of the subjects we really need to work on is Geography. We were doing so well at the beginning of the year, but we slacked up during our long break. I dusted off our homemade review book, but we have two problems with it now. If you used the Map Friends Review Book that I made for Mary, I'm sure you've noticed that some of the locations are missing or have changed starting in Week 11 (sorry about that). Apparently, CC has changed up the memory work a little since the last Foundations Guide; I should have checked the maps better when making the book (again, my apologies). The second issue with the review book is that Mary can now read (yay!), so having the names of the places on the maps is terrible for review. I decided that we needed to revamp or beloved Map Friends book. I'm going to keep everything in the book as it is, but I'm going to add some maps I've pulled from C3:
I've laminated the pages and added velcro dots, so we'll still use our map friends. I'm going to take these pages and the original review book back to Staples tomorrow and have them put it all together in one new book. Easy cheesy! You can find these great maps on C3:
file name: Geography Semester 1 with blanks.pdf
file name: Geography Semester 2 with blanks.pdf
user name: kkillingsworth
Kkillingsworth also has some really great file folder games for the upcoming weeks. If you're looking for some fun review, definitely check out her stuff! We love it!
Speaking of maps and C3, thanks to the Knox family, we've discovered a new way to review Geography:
With paper clips!
(please excuse these sideways pictures... oops!)
This is a handy little book with all of Cycle 1's Geography memory work ready to go for independent review. Yes, that's right, independent! First, you print out the maps, then you take a paper clip and punch a hole for each location for that week. Then you write (we used pencil so it wouldn't show through) the names of each location on the back next to the hole. Then you laminate and repunch (the hubs used the sharp end of a screw). I got the book bound at Staples for under $5, and viola! Your child puts the paper clip where she thinks the location is, then she turns it over to see if she was correct. How cool! Even my four-year-old can do it by herself! And playing with a paper clip is pretty fun for her. ;)
Speaking of C3, I've pulled TONS of great stuff off of there lately. I'm so thankful that CC has made this resource available and that mamas are willing to share their wonderful creations! I'm actually going to put together a post of some of favorite C3 stuff soon. There is just never enough time in the day, y'all! And I still haven't gotten a chance to work on Mary's fairy review game again. Eeek! Soon, soon, soon. I have until our next Funday Monday to pull it together.
I know this post has been a little-bit-of-this and a little-bit-of-that, so I'm just going to throw one final thing into the mix:
My girls absolutely LOVE this - ha! Anna likes it the most, and she always asks to watch the kitty cat. Too sweet! She even sings along with Ginger! Love it or hate it, you'll have to admit it's pretty cute (but Ginger the Cat goes from cute to annoying speedy-quick, so watch sparingly. ;) ).
This is one of those ideas that sounded great in my head late last night - Hebrew Empire Scramble! And you never really know with 'those kind' of ideas. Will it be great? Will it stink? Well, I'm happy to report that this fun way to review Week 3 Geography memory work was a big HIT! I saw this great idea for gel sensory bags at Totally Tots, and I knew this would be awesome. Then I started thinking, late at night of course, about a different way to utilize these bags. Mary's been having trouble remembering the parts of the Hebrew Empire, and maybe we could make the gel bags into the Sea of Galilee, Jordan River, and the Dead Sea. It's so crazy... it just might work. ;) So, I followed the directions at Totally Tots, threw in some extra Map Friends, glitter, and beads, and viola! After making the water parts, I used construction paper and my handy-dandy laminator to make the other parts of the Hebrew Empire. Two things: this is SO not to scale, obviously, and I had to include Philistia to make it match our control map in our Geography Review Book.
Here's how it looks when all the pieces are in the right place (Stop laughing! I told you it wasn't to scale! ;) ). This is just like a big puzzle, and it's called a Scramble because you hide the different pieces around the room and the kids scramble to find them and arrange them correctly.
Yes, that's Dory in the Sea of Galilee!
Mary LOVED hiding all the pieces!
Anna found the Jordan River.
Okay, explanation is SO needed for these next pictures. Yes, that is a laminated paper doll of George W. Bush. He's playing the role of Judah now since Mary has lost the southern kingdom. And why do I just happen to have a paper doll of W hanging around the house? Long story. ;)
They did it! Both girls had a great time, and Mary is doing a much better job of remembering the parts of the Hebrew Empire. Mission accomplished!
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 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!
Our first day at CC yesterday was TERRIFIC! We had an outstanding tutor (and she was the sub.!), a great class, and lots of fun! Today is Week 1, Day 1 for us now. My husband and I got our tri-fold board set up last night so it would be ready for memory work review this morning. So far, it's been really easy to review during meal times. Of course, I have the girls positioned so they stare at it while we're at the table, so that helps, too. Ha! Mesopotamia is the word for the week, and the girls have jumped right in! This morning, after I did our Bible reading and special timeline card for the day (6-week schedule here), the girls did some coloring. Mary colored maps of Ancient Mesopotamia and pages for our History Pocket (C1W1 plans), while Anna colored Nemo and Tangled. ;)
Above, you can see our memory board set-up. We also have our Letter of the Week pretties and AWANA crafts taped to the wall. We always leave the seats opposite the girls empty so they have an unobstructed view of the memory work. Poor things! ;) If you want to make your own tri-fold board, check out Brandy's how-to. I copied hers, although I accidentally bought the wrong-sized board. Bummer.
Now, to get to the title of this post, right. Map Friends have become a big deal at our house. Both girls absolutely LOVE them! We do a lot of pretend-play with them, moving them to this country or that ocean. Fun, fun, fun! However, I wanted to keep that excitement as we learn new places each week. So, I found a perfect map on C3 that has Weeks 1-2 Geography memory work on it, and I made our Mesopotamian Map Friends!
To find the map on C3, the file name is Geography Cycle 1.docx by user cherylfloyd. It's under Week 1 and Cycle 1 in Geography.
And here's a little close-up of our new 'friends.' To find the images, I just googled Mesopotamian Clip Art and looked under Images. Then I printed and laminated them (can NOT live without both of those!), and then I attached the CLEAR Velcro dots. We have a Mesopotamian king, princess, warrior, and a smiling Pharaoah for fun. (Although Crete is not in our memory work this week or next, per my daughter's request, I made a Minotaur map friend. She LOVES mythology and has really latched on to the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. So, he's included in this picture, too, in case you were wondering who that monster was on the top left of the Med. Sea.) This has been a super-fun way for us to learn new places. If you have little ones who are not too jazzed about Geography, you might want to give this a try!
So far, Week 1, Day 1 is going pretty well, but I'm still trying to find our rhythm and balance. I've fallen behind in our LOTW stuff, and I still don't have all of my actual lesson plans written down for the week. But, as our CC director said yesterday at our opening assembly, FLEXIBILITY is the word for the day (or week, or month, or YEAR, as far as I'm concerned!).
So. . . here we go!
UPDATE: This map was such a success, I went ahead and put together a whole book of maps for all of Cycle 1. Check it out here!
Back in the day, I had a wonderfully eccentric Civics/Geography teacher in middle school. He asked me to name all the countries in one of the bigger continents (I can't remember which one now) while all the other students listened. I was very nervous, but I did it! To my surprise, Mr. Tucker pulled out a $10 bill and handed it to me with a big smile on his face. Ever since that day, I have loved Geography! Ha! I also want my girls to love it, so I'm trying to think of some fun ways to learn the countries on our wall map. I think I came up with something:
You don't really see anything fun when you look at our Calendar Time set-up above. But, if you get closer...
Nemo's searching for Dory out in the Atlantic Ocean...
and Strawberry Shortcake and her friends are traveling through Europe, Africa, and the Middle East (Cherry Jam has a concert tonight in Rome)!
I printed out the characters I wanted (Mary and Anna's favorites, of course), laminated them, and then attached little velcro dots (cut in half). This little project was so quick and easy!
Here's how it looks when they're not in use.
And here are the happy girls playing with their new 'map friends!' This has been a HUGE hit!
This was an idea that just came to me out of the blue today. I wasn't sure if it would work out, but I'm so glad that it did! I think these little map characters will really spice up our Geography lessons!
UPDATE: I made a smaller map for Weeks 1-2, and our Mesopotamian map friends are also now rock stars in our house. Check them out here!
UPDATE #2: I went ahead and made a whole book of maps of each week's memory work. Now we can enjoy our 'friends' throughout all of Cycle 1! Click here to read about our new map book.
(This post is being submitted to Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood's Monthly CC Blog Carnival. Be sure to check out what other CC families are up to each month by clicking on the button below!)
