Category Archives: Geography

Apr17

Making Memory Work Memorable

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Making Memory Work Memorable

I love homeschooling. And one of the things I love most about it is getting to play with my kids (that’s right, we play!) But we play with a purpose.

We make art, we sing and do chants, we read stories, we solve puzzles—and we learn. And while I prescribe to the classical idea that young children are equipped for an amazing comprehension of facts, I don’t think all that memory work has to be dull drill. In fact, I think my kids would tell you that we have tons of fun.

As I’ve tried to actively incorporate memory work into every subject, I’ve also tried to actively vary how we do the memory work and repetition. For instance, we do have some flashcards—for math, for phonics, even for our history. But that’s not all we do.

Songs and chants

It amazes me just how much a child can learn when something is put to a tune or a rhythm. Last year, they memorized tons of countries they could barely pronounce simply because they loved the music. This year, we’re following the same concept. As much as I can, we sing what we want to learn, finding most of our music on either iTunes or youtube.

Hand Motions

When we aren’t singing, we’re moving (and often, we’re doing both). Hand gestures help to anchor the word pictures and concepts we are memorizing. We use hand gestures for Bible memory, poetry, and our history timeline. And I don’t come up with all of them on my own! Often, I’ll recruit their help to find a motion that will help them remember the ideas.

Flashcards

Okay, so it’s not all fun and games. But even the drill can be fun. For instance, sometimes I’ve taken our stack of flashcards outside to our favorite spot on the bridge. Sometimes, I let Middlest’s favorite monkey answer for her; we check to see how much Monkey has learned. Then, there’s the motivation that Dad just might “whup up” on them at our next unit celebration; after all their Daddy is a smart Daddy.

Lapbooks

Unit 2I’ve also embraced lapbooking over the last couple of months. I resisted it for awhile because it’s messy, it takes some advanced planning, and it takes some space to store all of those projects. But I’ve also really liked them for a few reasons: lapbooking is a fun way to review memory work (who doesn’t like a flap book?); lapbooking allows us to get the big picture from all of the little facts we memorize (i.e. we can see the whole human body coming together as we memorize one organ and system at a time); lapbooking provides a means for me to begin teaching concepts of display and presentation for when they get older (think poster boards, display boards, and science fairs).

We lapbooked the kings of Israel and Judah. I wrote the names on popsicle sticks, and they matched them to the list in their lapbook. We also incorporated chant and rhythm as we recited our list. We didn't memorize the whole list, but they became very familiar with which kings were good and which were evil.

We lapbooked the kings of Israel and Judah. I wrote the names on popsicle sticks, and they matched them to the list in their lapbook. We also incorporated chant and rhythm as we recited our list. We didn’t memorize the whole list, but they became very familiar with which kings were good and which were evil.

So while we have a ton of memory work incorporated into our day from math, phonics, history, Bible, and science, it honestly just feels like a lot of playtime, which is exactly what I was going for—memory work that makes for fun memories.

Apr10

Fun with Maps

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Fun with Maps

We’ve done a lot of experimenting this year as we’ve launched our first year of classical curriculum. I knew that would be the case, which has helped me to keep an open mind when things haven’t gone as well as I had hoped. Map work is one of those areas where we’ve done a lot of experimenting, trying to find the best method for learning our maps.

I love map work. It is a definite kinesthetic activity to add to a history study, and there are lots of different ways to explore them. I know, because I’ve tried several.

First, I made labels for the kids to stick to the maps as we learned the different areas. That worked okay, but I wasn’t thrilled. It was hard to review everyday, and they only got to put the stickers on once a week (not to mention it took a lot of label making).

Then, I put the map for the week in a page protector and had Oldest trace it each day with a dry-erase marker. He enjoyed that, but I wasn’t convinced that he was really learning all that I wanted him to learn. And it did demand a little bit of fine motor skills.

So we’re on our third attempt. And right now, I’m thrilled with it. I keep the answer key map in a page protector in his assignment notebook for him to review (we also review together during our read-aloud time). Then, I have a blank version of the map magnetized to the side of our file cabinet. I made “labels” (strips of an index card with a piece of adhesive magnet tape on the back) for him to stick to the map as he reviews.

Tapestry of Grace

Each day, I have assigned three or four new magnet labels for him to find on his map and label on the blank map. He adds his new magnets and reviews the old magnets each day. The activity is pretty independent, as he has the answers in his notebook. He has to find the sea or the city or the island name, etc., on his own. Of course, he loves to show me his work, and I review with him once he’s found the places.

It’s an activity that he is enjoying doing over and over again. After all, what kid doesn’t like to play with magnets. He’s really learning these locations from all the review. And though it takes a little more time for me to prep at the beginning of each week, it doesn’t take as much one-on-one during the week.

I also am going to be more selective with my maps and try to select maps that build a broader view each week, rather than skipping around the region. That way, I can reuse and review the magnets that I have made, and Oldest will get a better view of where his maps fit in with the big picture.

So far, it’s been a big win all around.

 

 

Oct31

Notebooking Egypt

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Notebooking Egypt

Last year was our first year to delve into notebooking with our geography study. But this year, I feel like I’m really embracing the process—adding more lapbooking elements, letting the kids create, and weaning ourselves from pre-made pages.

The result has been beautiful, in every sense. My son has really taken ownership of the process, letting me know what he’d like to do. I still have narration elements for some of the more complicated ideas that I want him to remember. But overall, he learns, he creates, he remembers.

Two of my favorites lately have been his Pharaoh page, which he completed shortly after our double-crown craft, and “The 10 Plagues” that included a flip book he colored and cut out (totally his idea, I just folded the paper to help him cut it out evenly).

 

And I will add that I am now a huge fan of colored paper for notebooking.

Oct26

Little Pharaohs

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Little Pharaohs

Another fun Egypt activity that we’ve done was to make the double-crown of Egypt that represented the Upper and Lower kingdoms. (idea from Pyramids! 50 hands-on activities to experience ancient Egypt)

ancient Egypt study

This was super easy: wax paper, construction paper, and aluminum foil (for the cobra). No patterns or templates. I basically free-handed the entire thing, which is why the cobra is not recognizable on its own without explanation. Though the project wasn’t difficult, it made a huge impression on the kids who instantly ran off to play Pharaohs. (I was later told that one of my daughter’s dolls had been selected to be mummified, and they were using the baby-doll cradle as a sarcophagus.)

ancient Egypt activities

Honestly, just to be open and vulnerable, I don’t always feel like making the mess and doing the crafts. But when I see how much the kids learn, and I watch their studies come alive for them, I never regret the sacrifice of time, energy, or orderliness. We’ll only have this day once.

Oct24

Flooding the Nile

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Flooding the Nile

We’ve had so much fun with our Egypt geography. Some of our ideas have come from the Tapestry of Grace curriculum, and some we’ve added from other sources.

One goldmine of a source has been the book Pyramids! 50 hands-on activities to experience ancient Egypt which I picked up from our local library.

Since we’ve been studying about the importance of the Nile and it’s annual flooding, the idea of building our own Nile River and flooding it was extremely appealing. And anything that involves mud is high on the list of FUN at our house right now.

Detailed directions are provided in the above mentioned book, but here’s the gist. Find a pan, fill it with sand. Add black soil for the fertile flood plains or Black Land. Build a Nile River from aluminum foil. Wedge it into the dirt and weight it with stones. Add grass seed or other fast-sprouting green to the “Black Lands.” Flood regularly.

hands-on Egypt study

Planting seeds along the Nile

 

Nile River project

Flooding the Nile

What a blast! The kids regularly beg to “flood the Nile,” and we were all just giddy when our grass started to sprout.

ancient Egypt study

 

Oct19

Eating Egypt

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Eating Egypt

We love geography: maps, globes, atlases, all of it! But we’ve definitely taken our geography to new heights with our Egypt study. It’s one thing to make a map, but it’s something entirely different to get to eat your map after you’ve made it!

We’ve been working on learning the map of Egypt. Each day we’d review the different places on the map that I wanted them to remember. The first couple of days, we do this with the Teacher map that includes the names and locations. We finished the week reviewing with a blank student map. Finally, I finish the map work by having each of the kids label a blank map. I got the idea from The Jobe Journal to actually create labels for the kids to stick onto the map, since neither of my kids are really at the age for filling out blanks on a map. This has worked great! They love “stickers” and it gives me a good idea of what they are remembering.

But then came the real fun. I baked some cookie dough and got out the frosting.

Eating Egypt

 

Eating Egypt

 

Egypt map study

We frosted the entire cookie first. Our desert or “Red Lands” were decorated with colored sugar sprinkles. The kids (with a little oversight and direction) frosted the fertile flood plains (or Black Land), the Nile River, and the Nile River Delta. I had originally planned for our pyramids to be chocolate chips, but it wasn’t until after we finished frosting our cookie that I realized I was out of chocolate chips. After a brief moment of panic, I remembered that I did have tootsie rolls. So I pinched off tootsie roll and shaped it into pyramids for the kids to place on their cookies.

Eating Egypt

After all that hard work, I was barely able to get pictures before the kids were begging to “eat Egypt.” Let’s just say, this is one map they won’t forget soon.

Egypt map study