How We Study Geography

Geography is a study for all ages. It is particularly good for large families with children of all ages, because they can be all working on the same subject, but at their own level. This is how we study geography.

Before you begin your study with your children, look for any books in your current collection of book that might be appropriate. Then look online for worksheets, coloring pages, games and the like. Print out and prepare what you like, but leave yourself flexible to see how the interests develop.

I like to use a pretend passport for my younger students so that they can keep a record of where they have studied. You can use stickers of flags or little maps of the countries or whatever appropriate. Another thing I have done is to have them draw pictures in the passport at the end of our study of the country of something that interested them in their study. If you use the drawing method, this can be a type of narration. You can write down a sentence they tell you to describe the picture. Now that you are somewhat prepared, you can now invite your children to the adventure with you.

1: Collect and Read
Go to the library, and check out several books about the country and its people. Children’s books are best, but also look for large “coffee table” books in the adult section. If possible, find a movie or a story that takes place in your country. Don’t forget to look for ethnic music and nonfiction videos. If you can find a book that excites their imagination enough, they can pretend that they are there with the book and then you ask them to narrate what it was like to be there.

"There were fish in the sea. Some fish were even clear! They ate one of my favorite foods -Tacos. They also ate something they called tuna. It is a fruit and they said it was sweet and it was good with ice on a hot day. They even have a pet turtle. They wear shorts (long pants when they go to a party or downtown) and T-shirts." -Student, age 10
"The goldfish were pretty." -Student, age 3

2: Maps, Terrain & Animals
Find your country on a map or globe. Talk about bordering countries, climate, and natural features such as rivers, lakes, mountains, deserts. This can take you on tangents you don't expect. I would follow your child's interests. This is the time when you can have your child work a puzzle that includes this country. This is also when you can use that coloring page that is an outline of your country, or you could make a relief map out of clay instead. Talk about how long it would take to get to your country. What ways would you travel -by boat, plane, car, etc., which often gets into a discussion of the terrain. What time is it there? What kinds of animals and plants would you find? You could color pictures of the animals or do a craft featuring an animal. Older children can write reports or give a narration of what they have learned to the other children. Sometimes older children can run the craft.

3: Culture
Find information about this country’s native clothing, food, language, writing, homes, games, sports, government, celebrations, festivals, and religion. You could play children’s game from this country, recreate their clothing, find recipes you’d like to try, make a model of a typical home, learn a word or two in their language. Find a coloring page of their flag or complete a flag craft.

Do you know anyone from that country? Can you invite them to share with you about this country? (How about an on-line friend?)

Here is a lovely example of how to record all the things you have learned in geography journal pages.

Do you have any other ways of studying geography?