Geography Curriculum Resources

Homeschool Geography Resources for Elementary Grades

Geography is one of our favorite subjects to study. We do some independent geography lessons, as well as including it in our other studies, such as literature, history, and Bible study.

Mapping

I’m proud to have grown up as a Navy brat. One thing we did when I was a kid was keep a large world map on the wall in our hallway. Whenever we got a letter, cassette tape (those were pre-internet or cell phone days), or postcard from my dad, we would put a pin in the map to mark where he was. We learned a lot about the world through his travels, and seeing where he was helped us mark the days until he traveled back home. I still have the international dolls he brought me from the countries he went to, and I use them for “show-and-tell” with my boys.

We have a large world map on the wall in our homeschool room, and we use post-it flags to mark the places we read about. Whenever we read a book for read-aloud time, especially historical fiction or nonfiction, we find the places on our map. Blank maps are easy to find online, too, for keeping in students’ notebooks. State welcome centers will even give you a free state map.

Of course, Google Maps and Google Earth are addictively fun ways to learn more about the world and ‘see’ places up close. We have virtually visited everywhere from the pyramids to Paris.

Consistently including geography as part of our everyday studies is giving my kids a good foundation in this subject.

Here is a sampling of what else we’re doing to learn geography:

• Beautiful Feet’s Geography: a Literature Approach — This is a fun unit study for multiple ages. My boys completed this course together, each filling in his own map while I read aloud from the scheduled Holling C. Holling books.
• To accompany Beautiful Feet’s course, IEW’s Geography Based Writing Lessons rounded out our study. These courses are just the right length for a summer unit study or for visiting just once or twice per week during the regular school year.
• Geography Songs are fun and addictive, and they make learning geography facts easy.
• My kids enjoyed putting together The Global Puzzle while listening to Geography Songs. Pretty soon, we were all singing along and having fun. This is hands-down one of our favorite resources.

We modify and revamp as we go along. Our homeschooling journey is always changing!

What do you do for your homeschool studies? 

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