Let’s Go Geography (Elementary Review)

Let’s Go Geography offers a geography program for kids K-4th grade that covers many of the world's countries (and some regions) over a three year course. I was happy to review this with my youngest (even though he's a smidge older than the target group), as it's been awhile since we focused on geography in a somewhat systematic manner.

For this review I was given a one year subscription, which allowed me to use any of the lessons for all of the countries included in the 1st year of the curriculum. While I considered hopping around a fair amount based on interest or coordination with other studies, I finally decided that we would do the lessons mostly in order. Part of my reasoning for this was to take advantage of the focus on one continent at a time (within the continents I am choosing to go "out of order" depending on outside studies or current events).

Here is an introduction and look at a Let's Go Geography Lesson: 

As you can tell, these lessons incorporate visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning with reading, map-work, music, video and craft options. I love it when all the learning styles are incorporated!

Let's Go Geography doesn't cover EVERY country in the world over the three years cycle, but it does cover a vast majority, giving a pretty good overview by the time it is completed, and at a pace that should make it easy for your child to recall the information learned. You can see in the graphic below that each continent (color-coded) is visited every year, which is also a great way to reinforce where countries are found ("Remember when we studied Belize last year? On what Continent is Belize found? Well, we're going to study another country in South America: Guatemala!" )

While you have the option, as I mentioned, of using the lessons in any order, you can take the "remembering and planning" task out of the equation, and rely on a weekly email to remind you to open/download up each week's lesson if you prefer to go in order. 

As mentioned in the video above, each lesson is set up in the following format:

1. Map It ~ as the name suggests, this section has mapwork, both for the individual country/region, as well as where it is found on the appropriate continent

2. The Flag ~ Color in the flag

3. The Music ~ Links to listen to the National Anthem, and sometimes another song

4. Let's Explore ~ interesting information and photos to help learn more about the country, as well as links to "see" the country via a video tour (usually on YouTube) 

5. Let's Create ~ a Craft of some sort that relates

6. Printables (for the teacher) ~ anything that isn't linked that needs to be printed 

A quick note here also about the layout of each year~ Every 9th week is a BREAK week, or "catch-up" week to finish anything left undone. Every 12th week is a REVIEW week. The review weeks are well set up, with blank maps to fill in the correct country, a match the flag to the country as well as a match an image (from the country) to the correct country. There are other activities as well. For instance, the first review week introduces Latitude and Longitude, with fill in the blank and test your knowledge activities. 

While I appreciated the map-work (perhaps more than my son did), he particularly enjoyed the linked video explorations of each region or country. Many of these are National Geographic and other high quality videos that give a very nice overview of the countries they cover.

I wish the flag pages had an option to print strictly black and white, and just a little larger (they could probably gain 1/2" in both directions and still fit on the map page). This would allow printing with a printer that only uses black ink, and with the increase in size, the ability to color in the whole flag (our American flag has a field of stars on a black background...), instead of having portions of it already colored...

We didn't utilize some of the other activities that are geared more toward the younger set (coloring page and most crafts), but a few years ago he would have loved the coloring pages provided for every country!

Here is one of the crafts we *did* do, for the country of Haiti~ a wax-resist (batik) market scene...

Let's Go Geography offers a well thought out overview of geography for the early elementary ages, with just enough variety in the activities, and solid map-work to give your youngster a firm foundation in where things are in the world.
Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: Let’s Go Geography
• Product: Let’s Go Geography
• Ages: K-4th grade
• Price: 
• One Year Subscription $21.99
• One Year Subscription in 2 payments $12.99 each
• Semester Subscription $14.99
• Some Individual Titles $ 2.49
• There are other options, and at the time of posting a 25% off coupon was available for the subscription options

You can visit Let's Go Geography on Facebook and Pinterest

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew and see what others had to say. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~

 #hsreviews  #geography #homeschoolgeography #geographyforkids

By the Way Book Series, Pennsylvania ~ Here We Come! (Review)

My Youngest is an avid reader, history buff, and nature lover, so our latest review was right up his alley! Introducing the By the Way Book Series. Currently there are 6 titles available, with more on the way. We chose to review Pennsylvania ~ Here We Come! because we wanted to learn more about Pennsylvania for a few reasons. One reason is because Pennsylvania is where my oldest will be attending college next fall. The other is because my youngest has already formed an attachment for Pennsylvania, as one of the few states that allows capybaras to be kept as pets, so learning more about the state was high on his priority list. ;)

The By the Way Book Series is intended to offer parents and other caregivers the opportunity to incorporate the directive from Deuteronomy 6:7 to diligently teach our children to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" while we "walk by the way" with them. The authors have determined that one way to do this is to point out the goodness, beauty, and diversity shown by our Creator in a variety of locales.

Each story follows two siblings (Alex and Lexi) as they discover items of geographic historical, natural, and scientific interest in a specific location. In Pennsylvania ~ Here We Come! the children are chosen as ambassadors for a special July 4th "Celebrate Pennsylvania" trip around the state, where they visit a variety of locations. They learn about some of the special things that can be seen and experienced, all with a Biblical Worldview.

Because my youngest is an avid reader, I set him loose with the book to start with. He was delighted to have something new and interesting to read. A week or two later, I sat down to read it aloud with him. He kept skipping ahead, telling me bits of information he found interesting from the times he read through on his own, before I would get to those specific pages or parts of the story.

I will note that for a book with quite of lot of photos there is also a remarkable amount of text, so it is not a "quick read" for children at the younger end of the age-range. It would be very easy to use it as part of your daily read-aloud time, reading about one or two of the places they visit each day (2-5/6 pages a day). There are 48 pages in the book, so you could take 1-2 weeks to read this book, and even use it as a unit study spine, looking up more information on each topic/location/event discussed.

Topics included:

• Things and places specific to Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania's State Dog (the Great Dane), the State Capitol (Harrisburg), the Jumonville Memorial Cross, Toll Roads, Brownsville Castle, The Bethlehem Star, Groundhog Day, Hershey
• Historic locations and events: Gettysburg, the historic "National Road," Fort Necessity, 1813 Battle of Lake Erie, Valley Forge, Philadelphia and Independence Hall, Missionary David Brainard
• Geographic Features: Pennsylvania Rivers and River Ferries, Lake Effect, Appalachian Trail, Mason-Dixon Line, Geocaching, Fishing
• People of Pennsylvania: Immigrants, Amish, American Indians
• Natural Resources: Coal, Oil Wells, Concord Grapes, Mushrooms, Farmer's Markets, and wildlife, including Chipmunks, Raccoons, Crickets, Caterpillars, Birds (including the Bald Eagle), Deer, Bears, Salamanders, and Elk (! this was of particular interest to me, as I grew up not far from Yellowstone National Park, and while Elk are fairly common out west, I didn't realize that there were herds as far east as Pennsylvania)

While most topics are lightly introduced, they really could become a springboard for mor in depth discussion are research.

My son definitely enjoyed this book, and I enjoyed learning a bit more about the state than I knew. Over the next four years I expect we will be able to combine visiting his sister at college and exploring a bit of the great state of Pennsylvania.

Other By the Way Book Series titles reviewed by the Homeschool Review Crew : 

  

 

You can also find optional items for purchase on the website which coordinate with each title: Posters, Trading Cards, Activity Books, and Stuffed Animals, so be sure to take a look at those if you like. ;)

Keep your eyes open in 2017 for new titles:  Ireland, New York City, Idaho, and Indiana.

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: By the Way Book Series
• Product: Pennsylvania ~ Here We Come!
• Ages: 5-12
• Price: $14.99

You can visit By the Way Book Series on Facebook.

Please click the banner below to visit the Homeschool Review Crew and see what others had to say about this one one of the other five titles that are currently available. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~

Diana Waring and Friends~ Experience History Through Music~ Giveaway

 To celebrate the release of Experience History Through Music, I am joining members of the Diana Waring Launch Team for an amazing giveaway. My children and I have been listening to songs from or about the Old West, and reading about their histories. We are looking forward to hearing more from the life and times of Laura Ingalls Wilder as well as turning the songbook a little further back in American History as well. Definitely toe-tapping fun! Look for a complete review the week of June 30.

In the meantime, back to the giveaway. Friends of Diana have joined in the celebration and as you can see, someone's homeschool is going to be greatly blessed!  Here's what you could win!

From Diana Waring Presents

Experience History Through Music - set of 3 books with CDs ($50/set) Diana Waring Presents is about to bring back into print the BEST folk music you have ever heard, combined with the fascinating stories they represent in American history!   The Experience Music Through Historyseries includes: America - Heart of a New Nation, Westward Ho! - Heart of the Old West  and Musical Memories of Laura Ingalls Wilder. The musicians are amazing, every instrument is real, lots of great vocalists, and more toe-tapping music than you can imagine! The books tell the stories behind the songs.  Together, they bring American history to life through it's music!!With fascinating history books and toe-tapping folk music CDs, American history has NEVER been this fun!
 
Encouragement for Homeschool Moms Collection ($25) Every mom needs that word of encouragement from someone who has been there, who has grownup children and can speak with assurance about the journey. Homeschool moms have an extra portion of the journey to navigate, and often wish for an extra voice that will offer direction but without nagging or prodding. Diana Waring has that voice.  

From A Journey Through Learning

$50 Gift Certificate $50 to spend in the A Journey Through Learning store, applicable toward any digital download purchase.  

 

From Homeschool Legacy

Westward Ho! Part I ($19.95) Load up your wagon! Discover the extraordinary times of adventurous frontiersmen and brave pioneers as you travel cross-country along the Erie Canal,  Oregon Trail, and even “remember the Alamo” in Westward Ho Part I. Westward Ho! Part II ($19.95) Continue the exciting saga begun in Westward Ho! Part I as you journey with the forty-niners, ride the rails of the Transcontinental Railroad, experience life on the prairie, and discover the exciting era of cowboys and cattle drives in Westward Ho! Part II.  

From Knowledge Quest Maps

Map Trek: Atlas and Outline Maps of World History ($55) Map Trek is a historical atlas plus outline maps that allow you to teach geography alongside history. This is a resource that any homeschool parent can use with brilliant success, even if you don't remember a thing from your history or geography classes in public school.  

 

From Home School Adventure Co. 

Philosophy Adventure™ Digital Download ($39.95) Philosophy Adventure™ is designed to help students 6th-12th grade cultivate and defend a biblical worldview by teaching them how to write skillfully, think critically, and speak articulately as they explore the history of ideas.  

 

From Heidi St. John 

(The Busy Mom and Real Life Press)

Firmly Planted Family Devotional Digital Volume 3 ($39) The Firmly Planted Family Series is divided into ten-week studies and is your key to making sense of the Bible—even if you’re learning right along with your children. Each lesson provides a core idea, a simple narrative, memory verses and discussion questions for children of all ages. And the companion student workbook is filled with age-appropriate, full-color, reproducible activities for children of any age!  

From Raising Real Men

Free Registration to Boyhood Boot Camp or Boot Camp 9-12 LIVE webinar series (winner's choice) plus Mom & Dad Special Raising Real Men (Book for Mom to read in the bathroom + AudioBook for Dad to listen to on the commute) ($62-69)

 

Free Registration for Marriage Retreat Online plus His & Hers Special of My Beloved and My Friend: How To Be Married To Your Best Friend Without Changing Spouses (book + audiobook), ($65)  

 

From Institute for Excellence in Writing

$50 Gift Certificate $50 to spend in the IEW store, applicable toward any purchase.  

From The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

SchoolhouseTeachers.com ($139) A one year membership to the curriculum arm of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Nearly 100 classes for Pre-K to High School, taught by expert teachers, and lots of extras including the Schoolhouse Planners, Schoolhouse Expos, monthly free ebook downloads and more.

 

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine 2014 Print Book ($15) Be encouraged, enlightened, and educated with the all new 2014 Annual Print Book published by The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine.You’ll get a year’s worth of homeschool support in almost 300 pages in this full color one-of-a-kind print magazine for homeschoolers, by homeschoolers. This is a magazine you’ll refer to again and again.  

From Writing with Sharon Watson

The Power in Your Hands ($53.96) With The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School, they’ll learn what they need to know for high school and will be prepared for college writing.

 

Writing Fiction [in High School] ($35) Are you raising the next C. S. Lewis or Jane Austen? Help your students develop their fiction-writing talents with Writing Fiction [In High School]: Bringing Your Stories to Life.

To enter the giveaway, use the Rafflecopter below. Residents of the U.S., age 18 and older only. Other Terms and Conditions can be found in the Rafflecopter. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blessings~

If You Were Me and Lived in ... France, Mexico, South Korea, Norway...

My littlest likes to get stuff in the mail, he likes to read books, and he likes to find out about other parts of the world. This made our review of a series of books by Carole P. Ronan a delightful experience. 

There are currently four books in the series:

If You Were Me and Lived in... MEXICO...

If You Were Me and Lived in... FRANCE... 

If You Were Me and Lived in... SOUTH KOREA...

 and her newest title

If You Were Me and Lived in... NORWAY... 

The books are sturdy (Nice thick pages with a smooth "hand," which is something I enjoy) paperbacks with 22-28 pages. The books follow a basic format in order to introduce children to some of the specifics of the culture in the various countries.

Each book shows where the country is found in the world, and a bit about the capitol city. They give some traditional boys and girls names, the names for mothers, fathers, something about traditional foods, money and toys. Generally a specific tourist sight associated with the country, traditional activities that one might participate in, and descriptions of national holidays are also included.

The final page of each book is a pronunciation guide, which can be helpful when attempting to speak certain words. ;)

The publisher included a fun packet of extras in our review mailers (Not included with purchase), which was a lot of fun. We received an inflatable globe, which we used to help locate each country as we read about it, as well as some pencils and passports and passport stickers. These are the sorts of things that really add to a study in geography. I know that there are places online with printable passports, so be sure to search those up, if you want to "visit" each country more "officially."

My son really enjoyed hearing and comparing various words. For instance, the words for "Mother" and "Father" were very similar, but the word for "School" definitely had some more obvious differences. He thought that was very interesting!

Because he is still a beginning reader, he especially enjoyed looking at the illustrations and picking out various details in the pictures.  He started discussions about some of them (mostly dealing with clothing and "tradition") on his own. 

Since we had recently done a unit on a picture book that included talking about the country of France, and another that talked about China (*close* to South Korea), I was able to use these books to remind him of the other stories, and build on what we had learned about the cultures already. 

Here is a little look inside If You Were Me and Lived in... MEXICO...

What I liked: 

• The physical attributes of the books (nice "hand")
• The variety of information presented in a pleasant predictable format (Which made comparing the various differences and similarities fairly simple).
• The pronunciation guides ~ because I *don't* speak every language! :) 
• The connections of the obviously similar as well as the very different

What I felt could be improved:

The pronunciation guides (Sometimes a little confusing... Ceek-can-es is that first "c" soft or hard? I wasn't sure because the word was Kirkenes... ) I also recall running into a word that I expected would be in the guide, but wasn't, while there were words that were fairly common that were included. 

As a homeschooler, I was less excited about the emphasis on "school" at the end of each book~ because our children don't go to a big building filled with children. However, that's not a huge deal to me, I just know that this *can* be an issue for some families.



Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: Carole P. Roman with Away We Go Media
• Product: If You Were Me and Lived in... Mexico ... South Korea ... France ... Norway
• Ages: Pre-K - 8 years old
• Price: approximately $9 (Prices vary)

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Review Crew and see what others had to say. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~

Memoria Press: Geography I

My Middlest got a review of his own to enjoy~ Geography I by Memoria Press , a pack of 5 softcover books~ a Teacher Guide (mostly an answer key), a Student Text and a Student Workbook that cover The Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. Included as a bonus are The United States Student Text and Teacher Key (Which we did not use for this review, but based on response, are likely to use!).

Middlest enjoyed the format of the Student Text~ which is really an "Introduction to Geography" that can be used with children from 4th grade on up.

You can download the table of contents from the Geography I page along with some  samples (I'm including screenshots of a couple, to give you an idea of what it looks like inside).

TimeMaps Collection for Mac Knowledge Quest

Terri Johnson of Knowledge Quest is a homeschooling veteran, who knows what it is to be looking for a particular resource while teaching her children, only to discover that no one has come up with it just yet. Now, many of us have come to love and respect Terri's knowledge and ingenuity in the history and geography fields as she has made available the resources that she created to fill those voids that she was finding on her own, and hearing about from fellow homeschool families and customers. 

TOS Review Crew members were sent 2 of Knowledge Quest's newest products, the TimeMaps Dynamic History Maps Collection (Download version for either PC or Mac), or the MapTrek 6 E-book set.

We were sent the TimeMaps Collection to use.
The collection itself is made up of 7 individual TimeMap units covering:

• Ancient China
• Rise of Rome
• Fall of Rome
• Rise of Islam
• The Black Death
• European Exploration
• The Atlantic Slave Trade

Technicalities: Each map collection is presented via Flash, a free Adobe Software (Which means that this is not currently compatible with my iPad, just in case anyone is wondering...). Each collection includes the TimeMaps themselves, as well as coordinating Teacher notes.

The map is identified by the time period in the top right corner. Also included in that area is an information icon. When it has been clicked little information circles pop up on the map (You can see a whole line of these along the west coast of Africa).  Each one of these can be clicked to open up a text box with some encyclopedic information relevant to the area and time being portrayed on the map. There is also a "Quiz" ("Q") button which opens up a text box with questions that relate to all of the information presented on that map page. Once each of the information buttons has been clicked and the text box read and reviewed, the time period arrow can be clicked to move to the next map.

If you'd like to see this "in action" please play the video below. 

Because we have been studying Explorers and focusing on American history this year, I decided that we would use the European Exploration unit for the duration of our review period. Middlest would read through the information give for about 5 of the "buttons" each day that he did his history each week (Usually 2-3 days/week). After completing the reading for each map he would go through the questions accessed by clicking the "Q" quiz button/icon.

What I liked:

• I really like the concept of being able to see the advancements (or decline) of movement on historical maps. The dynamic movement (In our case of exploring ships) makes it easy to follow what's happening historically. 
• The information is interesting and, again, the visual of seeing where the history took place and how things moved was much more memorable in my opinion that reading a plain chart or pages history.
• The Quiz questions are more open-ended than one often sees, and can really help your student to stop and THINK about what they are reading, and try to determine why things might have happened the way that they did.  While a clickable "Multiple choice" quiz might be more along the lines of what I was expecting, the actual quiz style is a much better measure of how well the material is being understood.
• The included Teacher Notes which give extra background information on each map as well as maps to print out and use in the class. 

What I didn't like: 

• I felt that the "Quiz" component was a little clunky. It would be nice to have all the questions included as printable sheets in the teacher notes. It seemed a little scattered to be scrolling through the little text box with the questions, and then potentially looking at the information text boxes to find the answers, all the while either having to answer orally or writing the answers down on paper. Having the questions on a printed sheet would eliminate a little bit of the back-and-forth motion going on.
• The "Worksheets" are more like "Suggested Activity/Discussion" sheets than actual worksheets. I had imagined something more.... well workbooky, I guess, given the title. My dislike of the feature is simply that it was not what I expected. The activities themselves are good, and thought-provoking. If I can jump back a bit to the "Like" aspect here, I do like that the activities are printable through the Teacher Notes.

All in all, I feel that Time Maps is a "Cool tool" to use as a supplement to your history and/or geography lessons. The kinesthetic and visual child in particular will benefit from this particular sort of presentation.

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty
Company: Knowledge Quest
Product: Time Map Set
Ages: Can be used by all, but probably most appropriate for Middle School and up, in my opinion.
Price: $9.95 for individual modules, 7 set collection for $44.95 downloads, or 7 set collection on CD-ROM for $49.95
Platform: Macintosh and Windows

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Review Crew and see what others had to say about the Knowledge Quest Time Maps and the Map Trek e-book set. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~

Disclaimer: I received this/these item(s)/service for free as part of the TOS Crew Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."