Searching for geography curriculum has been a fruitless pursuit for me, so I dabbled in creating my own. We discussed earth being our home, looked at maps, and located places on the globe from our history and literature studies. That was enough, but I wanted to go more in depth.
When I was introduced to A Child’s Geography, Explore His Earth by Ann Voskamp, I thought, “Maybe this is it!”
A giddy, homeschool mom drooling over curriculum is not new, but I’m still excited after starting the lessons, examining the activities, and skimming the suggested reading lists.
The first lesson echoes the first idea I presented to my children. This amazing earth was created by God as a home for us, but Ann goes deeper to explain the enormity and beauty of our world.
Engaging, conversational chapters expand a child’s understanding of atmosphere and climate, continents and earthquakes, maps and oceans, and more. The Scriptures scattered throughout are an integral part of the text.
Each chapter is followed by a clever review. Postcards are used to record the main ideas of the lesson. (template included) Thorough instructions for hands-on activities further enrich the lessons.
My favorite parts are the Reaching Out segments, because they include tangible ways to minister to our neighbors on this spinning sphere. Geography is God’s handwriting on the earth he created, so it is fitting to intertwine his loving purpose while studying. Ann Voskamp does this eloquently and practically. She gives a portion of the proceeds to World Vision.
The only thing I want to change is the ebook format. I wish I’d gotten a print copy, which are now available at Christianbook.com and Timberdoodle.
Written by Renae Deckard, Biblical Principled mother of 3. Find Renae’s reflections about homeschool and family life at Life Nurturing Education. (Originally published at Heart of the Matter Online.)
I’ve been intruiged by this book for a few months. How much time do you take with it each week?
Ruth,
The chapters cover quite a bit of information, so we take it slow. They are dividing into manageable chunks though. My goal is to do it three times a week.
How long a lesson takes depends on what activities we do.
.-= Renae´s last blog ..A Child’s Geography =-.
Thanks for the review. I’m interested in this as well as the second one.
Thank you! You just filled in a missing piece of my curriculum!! I’m off to check costs!
.-= Jennifer in OR´s last blog ..Women of The French Resistance =-.
Just wanted to let you know that I recently purchased and received our copy and it is AMAZING!! My children BEG to do geography first! That in itself is a major blessing. We have fun sitting on our “flying” carpet (on my bed) with our big world map and reading the lesson!
Yay Ann!
Thanks for the review, Renae! We are just finishing up the companion volume, A Child’s Geography of the Holy Land, and it is EXCELLENT! (Our whole family still wants to go to Turkey — that was our favorite!) We plan on doing the world geography book next year.
how would you compare this to FACE geography? is it broken down by grades?