When is Geography usually taught?

This will be our second year HomeSchooling, and my oldest will be in fifth grade. When is geography usually taught? We memorized state locations and capitals recently, but wonder about major mountain ranges, rivers, world geography etc. (she was taught names and locations of continents in Kinder but nothing since)
Are there interactive programs out there you would recommend?
Thank you!

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I don’t know when it should be taught, but we started studying geography in 2nd grade. We used coach’s Expedition Earth. The children really picked up on the names of the continents and oceans and countries. Then I have some other resources I wanted to share with you:

A Child’s Geography: http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/A-Childs-Geography-Explore-His-Earth.html

Elementary Geography and Cultures:
https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/elementary-geography-and-cultures/?sku=40-1-443

And then there’s a geography/culture DVD by Alef Press that goes along with their curriculum for learning Biblical Hebrew which looks fascinating:
http://www.alefpress.org/biblicalhebrewsa.html

Thank you! Lots of links to look at. : )

You’re welcome! I hope you find something you like :smiley:

We do world geography and US geography each year beginning in Kindergarten. We do it all year, continuously reviewing what we already know and adding new pieces in. :smile:

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Thanks! Do you follow a curriculum for it, or just do it on your own?

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We also used COAH’s Expedition Earth (as well as Road Trip). I highly recommend it. Here are some posts where you can read more about it: http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/?s=expedition+earth.

Also, Here is a great video review of @erica 's Expedition Earth that she recently did.

I also have it on good authority :wink: that she will be doing a Road Trip video review soon. In the meantime here are some posts on it as well: http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/?s=road+trip

@rachyaimee - sorry, I just saw your question. I kind of follow a curriculum, and I kind of make it up as I go along. I use Core Knowledge (please don’t confuse this with core curriculum). it gives me a list of what topics should be taught each year. I look at the list of geography topics and specific places it suggests (for example, first grade had a number of geographical features to learn about… like peninsulas and stuff, as well as the geography - meaning countries - of North America and some South America… second grade includes Japan among other places). There is NO lesson plan or guide - just a list of topics… so I take that and make the rest up on my own (we make lots of 3D maps and travel brochures about different places). The other thing I do is keep a jar of craft sticks out on our desk area. Each stick has the name of a place we have learned about in history and geography (rivers, continents, oceans, countries, states, etc - my daughter just finished first grade and there are about 60 places in the jar) - each morning she chooses 5 sticks and locates those places on our maps - this ensures that she is continuously practicing and locating places we have previously learned about. Every time we learn about a new place, we add another stick to the jar (each stick has a red side and a green side - after she locates a place, she puts it back in the jar red side up so she’s not choosing the same sticks over and over. Once they are all red side up, we flip them all back to green side up and start again). We also have a number of magnetic and felt maps that we use frequently, and puzzle maps and map games. Finally, I look through Pinterest and Mailbox Geography (our library has loads of the mailbox teacher resource magazines - one is all geography projects, ideas, etc) - I look for fun projects, crafts, games, etc that we can do. I know this sounds like a lot of work, but it’s not, and she’s learning a load, in a fun way. I tried a geography book, but it didn’t work for us. She found it too boring to just do more worksheets. Let me know if you have questions. Happy geography hunting! :slight_smile:

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