Homeschool Geography Introduction

          We started our homeschool this past week.  I am basing the Geography lessons on inspiration I received from the Expedition Earth curriculum.    I liked the idea of the kids studying multiple countries and their cultures.  

          Geography is also a subject that enables me to combine multiple educational genre's.  Geography is not just about where someone lives.  Geography just by its definition means to describe Earth. So anything you can put on a map is Geography. Our science will thus be a Geography study on biomes and ecosystems around the world, based on the countries we learn.

           Some of the books I am using are A Child's Introduction to the World, National Geographic's World Atlas for Young Explorer's, A Trip Around the World, Another Trip Around the World, Usborne's Encyclopedia of World Geography, as well as multiple books on each country we will study.

           The internet is a great source of information, and a great way for kids to "see"
other countries without going there.  My kids love Google Earth.  They love seeing us "travel" from where we are on the computer screen to another place. 

           This week they learned what "geography" means.  It is a Greek word meaning describe the Earth.  It makes sense that we would use a Greek term since the Greek philosopher Aristotle first theorized that the Earth was round.

            Here is what our whiteboard looked like.  I think I need a bigger one.

           My 5 year old, said it looked like Christmas.