Let's Go Geography ~ Review

We've been having loads of cultural geography fun with this all new weekly homeschool geography curriculum from Let's Go Geography!

What Is Let's Go Geography

A full 36 week Cultural Geography immersion program. Each week the program visits a new

destination. In a full year you can expect to visit around 30 different countries.

The exploration happens via, mapping, flags and landmarks. Each week there are links to listen to songs and watch videos related to that country, along with notebooking pages, crafts, colouring pages and more!

Currently Year One is released, when complete the full program will contain three years worth of lessons. The best part is most definitely the inexpensive pricing. To have all of these resources at your fingertips for such a low price is most definitely worth it.

How We Used Let's Go Geography

Each lesson stands alone, so whilst it is laid out in numerical order you can jump about visiting any country you wish. I chose to start at the beginning, with lesson 1, the Northeast area of the USA.

Before beginning the lesson I printed, the required maps, flags, notebook and colouring pages. As the lesson contains links to songs, videos and pictures I knew it would enhance the lesson by viewing on the large screen, so I plugged our laptop into the television and we completed the lessons that way.

My kids really enjoyed the lesson on Haiti and so I will use that to give you a closer look around. 

The first we thing we do is discuss who's heard of the country, if they know anything about it and where it possibly might be. I always have our large world map out with us so we can go looking. Once we've discussed and located the whereabouts, we notice any major land masses and bodies of water nearby.

Then it is time for a brief mapping session. Firstly included in the lesson is a link to print off a map for North America and to colour the country of Haiti. The second map included is one of the Greater Antilles area, here we discuss the bordering countries and colour as we talk about them.

Time to look at the flag, we discuss the details, the kids colour, cut out and stick to the appropriate map, currently we are staying in the North American region so all of our flags are from that area. The program does have a printable passport that you can add on to your studies. We have chosen to simply keep everything in one folder.

Now it is time for music, so far all of the lessons have given us the lyrics and a link to listen (and watch) the National Anthem of that country.

And like any visit to a country one simply must do some exploring, and that's where we are off to

next! This is the part of the lesson that is different each time because you are dealing with a different country, with Haiti for example we had some 'did you know' facts and then we did a spot of virtual sight seeing. We took a tour of Haiti's landscape, the Citadelle and looked at some of the ways the people earn a living, including a virtual visit to a market.

After the brief trip around the country there are a photographic images included of some of the places visited on the virtual tours. 

As the complete lesson is a pdf download these could be printed and added to the child's travel notebook, we have chosen just to view on the large screen.

We are nearing the end of our visit to Haiti, but first there is always some form of craft or colouring page related to the country.

And finally we notebook a few details using the included notebooking page. 

All up this is taking us approximately 1 hour to complete. We are not doing the crafts as my kids simply didn't want to do them. I found that I prefer to start and finish an entire lesson in one setting, but it is definitely structured that you could do 15 minutes or so a day and complete a lesson over the course of a week.

With each lesson being accessed as a pdf, I love that we can view it on the ipad or via the laptop and then on our large screen tv. We simply spread out on the lounge room floor.

What We Didn't Like

For us the only thing was the crafts that my kids weren't too fussed on. I would like to see some more thorough physical geography concepts. This is a cultural geography program with a small amount of map work included.

What We Did Like

This is definitely one of those programs that everyone can gather around and do together, big tick here in  my box, as now that my kids are no  longer little it is so hard to find things we can do together. There is such limited prep required, download the lesson, print the needed pages, organise the craft if you are going to do that and off you go. All of the leg work of finding images, videos, music and snippets of information has been done for you. And of course you can't beat the price. A full years access is only $21.99 USD.

Further Details

Visit the Let's Go Geography website for a closer look around.

Let's Go Geography on Facebook

Let's Go Geography on Pinterest

If you would like to see more reviews on this product simply click on the image below.

Cultural Geography Through Literature

Travel and Literature, quite simply these are two of my favourite things!

If I could be off traveling the world with my children right now I would be, wouldn't we all?!

Today we just opened one very exciting package that may just be the next best thing.

A special delivery from our new friend Crameye! He is going to be sharing his adventurous worldwide travels with us through his writing.

*I received he complete set of Series One from The Adventurous Mailbox, all opinion expressed from here on are purely my own and those my children.*

I have to say that I am most impressed with the attention to detail that The Adventurous Mailbox brings.

Even the shipping box, is sturdy, fully printed both inside and out and was addressed to include each of my three children personally.

Inside were three letters, one each for the kids and again personally addressed. Truly we haven't even looked at anything yet and I'm impressed already.

A little Crameye sticker is used to hold the letter closed. Inside, again addressed to the child, the letter goes on to explain just a little about the package they have received.

It also includes a card with their secret code to access Crameye's World, an online kids area where they can play games, win prizes and learn even more about the world around them.

The books come in yet another hard cover slip binder. This is such a huge plus for me, it means we can always keep the set together and can find them on our shelves quickly and easily.

Series One contains a set of 8 books, covering the countries of Finland, Taiwan, Brazil, Thailand, Greece, Tanzania, Peru and Peru Too. Currently there are plans in place to expand this range to 40 books.

Whilst we've looked through the package and so far genuinely like what we see we have decided to hold off making a start on reading about Crameye's adventures until next week.

I am going to use these as a read aloud so that all three of my children can experience this adventure at the same time.

But, sshhh, don't tell the kids! I couldn't help myself, I had to take a glimpse inside book one to see for myself what it was like.

Let's just say that I'm pretty confident that the kids are going to enjoy these immensely, they are absolutely written to the primary ages, but I also feel that lower high school kids will probably enjoy them also.

The writing style is really quite funny, frank, down to earth and clearly written by your average 12 year old boy (or there abouts because I don't actually know his age). Even though I only got a few pages in, I had already had a good giggle or two.

On top of the Adventurer Package of books and access to Crameye's World, you can also choose to add as an optional extra, access to The Teachers Lounge, where you can access lesson plans, printable resources and worksheets to use alongside the books.

I am really looking forward to getting started with these and the additional lessons from the teachers lounge.

I'll be back soon to share my kids reactions to the stories and lessons, so be sure to keep an eye out for those.

So, what are the costs involved I hear you ask?

Set One of Eight Books currently sells for $79 (USD)
Teachers Lounge Access is $20 (USD)

However The Adventurous Mailbox has offered a pretty neat deal for you to grab your own copy for your family.

The Adventurous Mailbox Homeschool Promotional Deal

Using the coupon code HSadventure at checkout, you will get the Teacher's Lounge for free (originally $20/must be in shopping cart for coupon to work) as well as $10 off the Adventurer Package Series One Books.

So, basically your family would receive the Adventurer Package (like the one I have just shown you) plus full access to the 100s of lessons in the Teacher's Lounge for just $69.00 (USD). The coupon code is valid until June 30th 2015.

Visit The Adventurous Mailbox site.

I'll be back soon to share the details of our adventures with The Adventurous Mailbox.

Happy Homeschooling,

Kylie

World Wide Wanderings: Japan Wrap Up

We wrapped up our Japan Unit by all coming together to complete the lapbooks with all of the little bits and pieces the kids had been working on.

Designing the covers for their lapbooks. The only requirement here was that the cover image at least had to relate to Japan in some way. They ended up with maps, some Mt Fuji scenes, sushi, flags and carp fish.

Most of the kids have never completed a lapbook before and it's been awhile for my kids too, so doing it all together was a good exercise for them.

The covers from my kids lapbooks

And the inside finished pieces. We may add a couple of photographs, especially of the crafts they did since they won't fit inside a lapbook.

Look how proud they all are of their finished work, grins from ear to ear!

For something special, we took the kids out to a sushi train, they loved it and it got them trying even more sushi varieties too!

My Japan Board on Pinterest
Mini Booklets from Homeschool Share

• Pangea

• If The World Were A Village

• Continents & Oceans

• Countries Visited By Continent

                 Asia
                       Japan

              South America

World Wide Wanderings: Japan Day 2

 Day two of our trip to Japan was filled with just as much fun and learning as our first day.

I have no idea why we've waited years to get this sort of small group fun happening. It is so worth the effort. If you've been thinking about doing something like this I encourage you to give it a go. I'm sure you will love it and have as much fun as we are having with our World Wide Wanderings.

We began the morning with an art and mapping project combined, that I found via Pinterest, which uses oil pastels, water colours and their memories from last week. The finished maps look amazing.

Sara took everyone through a Shinto Creation Myth, which got them all thinking.

Lunch, of course, was none other than Sushi rolling and Japanese Green Tea. Joh brought along her gorgeous authentic Japanese Tea Set. Everyone had lots of fun with this, not to mention quite a bit of a mess. There's definitely an art to rolling sushi!

Tracy took everyone through the Boys Festival of flying wind sock Koi fish. This was such a fun activity, the wind socks looked amazing decorating the BBQ area, it was sad to take them down.

We will all gather once more to wrap up our last couple of items for our travels through this amazing country.

 I am linking this post to

My Japan Board on Pinterest
Mini Booklets from Homeschool Share
Mapping Activity from Ellen J Mchenry 
Boys Wind Socks from The Crafty Classroom

• Pangea

• If The World Were A Village

• Continents & Oceans

• Countries Visited By Continent

           > Asia

                 > Japan

          > South America

World Wide Wanderings: Japan

This year we are planning on getting together with a small group of friends and doing some cultural trips around the world.

We actually spent some time covering Japan just before Christmas but I'm only getting around to blogging about it now.

It's a fairly laid back and simple process, but once it all came together the kids and adults alike had a great time.

Basically each adult prepares a couple of activities related to the country, then we all come together and complete those activities. We did Japan over two separate days and filled a good three hours each day! We can't wait to do another one, loads of fun!

We started the morning off with Joseph giving us all an introduction in Japanese. He told us his name, where he lived, how old he was etc. The kids all thought this was great!!


I then showed them all this four minute video from national Geographic Traveler, it gives a good quick overview of Japan and the culture.

Sara spent time on geography with the kids. Locating Japan, discussing continents, oceans, seas and bordering countries.

After discussing land mass and the size of Japan, especially in regards to its' population. Joh found this fabulous image that gave the kids a great sense of how small, in relation to their own country, Japan really is.

I printed off a few relevant mini books for the kids to complete during the course of the morning.

I read them all, The Crocodile Bridge, a Japanese Folk tale, from the book Around The World in 80 Tales.The story of why the Hare has a short fluffy tail!

Tracy took everyone through the amazing celebrations and holidays that the people of Japan celebrate. Here the children are marking them off on a calendar, just to give them an idea as to how many different celebrations there actually are in Japan.

One of these particular celebrations is for girls, Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival) it centres around dolls. The girls place dolls in their window and then take them down the following day. The superstition behind this being that if they forget to take their doll from the window, they will have trouble marrying. During this time the family prays for their girls good health and happiness.

Tracy brought along her supply basket full to the brim for the kids to create their very own Egg Dolls for this special celebration. 

They were all so engaged in this activity. Each and every one of them put a great deal of effort into their doll creations.

My guys were as proud as punch of their little egg dolls. They are now on display in our front entryway.

This was definitely a great way to have a bit of cultural fun with friends. We can't wait for our next one!

I am linking this post to

My Japan Board on Pinterest
Mini Booklets from Homeschool Share

Doll Festival, make an Egg Doll

WWW: Pangea
WWW: If The World Were A Village
WWW: Continents & Oceans

World Wide Wanderings: Continents & Oceans Printable

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Learning All About Continents & Oceans

World Wide Wanderings: If The World Were A Village

Before diving in to our 'wandering around the world' I wanted to get everyone thinking about the world in which we live.

If The World Were A Village was a perfect introduction to the realisation that the world isn't really as big as we think it is.

From Amazon,

 There are currently more than six billion people on the planet! This enormous number can be difficult to grasp, especially for a child. But what if we imagine the whole world as a village of just 100 people? In a time when parents and educators are looking to help children gain a better understanding of the world's peoples and their ways of life, If the World Were a Village offers a unique and objective resource. By exploring the lives of the 100 villagers, children will discover that life in other nations is often very different from their own. The shrunk-down statistics -- some surprising, some shocking -- and David Smith's tips on building "world-mindedness" will encourage readers to embrace the bigger picture and help them to establish their own place in the global village.

B completed the mini booklets that can be found over at Homeschool Share, to add to his geography notebook. K sat in on the many readings we had of this book and the discussions that those brought about it. I think a great deal of this was beyond her, so definitely something we can revisit down the track.

B always prefers to complete his own covers for his lapbooks and notebooks.

The mini booklets show all of the statistical information conveyed throughout the book.

 

You can view a slideshow of the components of  the book at this link.

Visit the Miniature Earth Project here.

For any Australians this is a link to a Practical Ideas for Promoting Mathematics document, at the end they cover 'If Australia Were A Village' very briefly.

A thought provoking look at the world in which we live.