Upcoming School Year in Focus: Geography

I'm really excited about this subject.  I few months ago I couldn't decide if we should do this as a family or let each child do their own study.  I decided the book recommended for my oldest could wait and chose somethings we could do together.  My girls had such a good time with U.S. geography last year that I really wanted to preserve that a little longer.  Their notebooks look so great too; really a keepsake.

Monday:  We will start this when the we get more involved with a particular continent.  I plan on following map drills as described in the Simply Charlotte Mason Seminar.  I will give them a blank map of the continent and let them fill out as much as they remember.  We'll repeat the following week.

Tuesday: The girls will read through one section of A Child's Introduction to the World.  They enjoy reading to each other and I enjoy their narrations afterward.

Wednesday:  Our family read aloud day.  We decided on Hillyer's A Child's Geography of the World.  I'm so bummed that I didn't discover this book a year ago.  I think the girls would have enjoyed reading about the U.S. from Mr. Hillyer.  I've decided to cut those chapters and tag them at the end of our year so that we can concentrate on a more global perspective first.  I really do expect that we will go through the summer reading this wonderful book.  I'm not planning on rushing through it since my little boys will be included in our readings.  (BTW my copy did not cost that much, I'm sure you can find it cheaper on another site.)

Thursday:  This will be an independent reading day for the girls.  My oldest has chosen Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne.  I've given her all year to read this, sticking to just one chapter a week.  There are 37 chapters total.  For my younger ones I've picked Around the World in 80 Tales.  My hope is that my third grader will read this to her younger brothers (at least the first grader).  I really want to start getting her used to reading aloud to others.  I know she enjoys listening but I want her to develop the reader role as well.  I will be near by in the beginning to help her through this.  I won't expect a narration, but I'll be all ears if they choose to tell me about it ; )

Friday:  Language arts day, they can work on their geography notebook.  I'll make sure they have some copywork from the week's readings; and they can choose to add a drawing, facts, maps, or clippings to their notebook. 

I understand that sometimes reading through an older book like Hillyer's means that there will out of date information.  For this reason I've chosen to have a few atlases available for the children to look up information.  Our choices include:  Reader's Digest Illustrated Great World Atlas, DK Children's Illustrated Reference Atlas and a Picture Atlas that I picked up at our markets book bin. 

There you have it, short and simple.  Up next: Religion & Faith.