Geography is one of those subjects that seems to ebb and flow in our home. Some years we are spot on and others just barely getting it done. This year we will be coming at this subject a bit differently, and I can’t wait to see how it pans out! I’ll try to update as soon as I am able throughout the year.
First, let me tell you about some of the geography programs we have used in the past. We started with Simply Charlotte Mason’s Visits Series and it worked well, but for some reason we just couldn’t be consistent with it. This is a literature based geography and also has some great in-depth mapping of specific countries. While it was a wonderful well thought out program it was hard to be flexible or make changes. For instance, the specific country that you map in depth was not always the country we wanted to particularly focus on. Also, I don’t remember being thoroughly impressed with the South America program and my children truly wanted to study that continent since we were studying Spanish.
Then we did our own thing for a bit following the methods learned in SCM, but making it our own focusing just on the mapping. However, we were primarily using Ambleside Online and trying to balance the two geographies was difficult. They didn’t mesh well. Also, neither quite met the mark where I wanted our geography studies. I could either focus on maps or general geography. I truly struggled finding a rhythm that could keep us focused on both. On top of this I didn’t feel quite confident in this subject from a Charlotte Mason approach and balancing all the ages became too much for me. I gave up and just focused on mapping with a bit of general geography when I thought about it.
Then in 2022 we began the Beautiful Feet Books Geography through Literature with Holling C. Holling books, and let me tell you – geography came alive for all of us! At the same time my oldest didn’t want to join in for “little kid reads”, so she read a David Livingstone biography and mapped his travels using the map included in the book and little googling.
This BFB program has really helped me to understand how I can best utilize living books to help with our map work, but I still felt like I was struggling to find good living geography books outside of the HCH books. They were a great base start to US states and capitols, but didn’t cover the entire country. Last year, we finished up the BFB unit, and then moved onto colonial maps. Using large poster sized maps of colonies (from BFB) and mapped the 13 original colonies and various locations from our readings throughout the year.
This past year I stumbled on Mater Amabalis, which I had previously avoided as I am not Catholic, but it is a wealth of knowledge and help for any CM mama. They have a treasure trove of geography books, and even helped me figure out how to best use Richard Halliburton’s Book of Marvels that I was hoping to tackle this year as we focus on US geography. Now I feel confident and have a vision for this subject for the year!
Our 2024-2025 Geography Plans
- Mapwork
- Term 1-2- US States & Capitols
- 2x/week Draw the USA (Draw the World)by Kristin J. Draeger
- 1x/week Seterra Map Drills
- Term 2-3- Africa
- 2x/week Draw the Natural Wonders of Africa: Rivers, Lakes, Mountains, Deserts, Seas, Flora, Fauna and More (Draw the World)by Kristin J. Draeger
- 1x/week Seterra Map Drills
- Term 1-2- US States & Capitols
- Living Books
- Term 1-2- 1x/week Book of Marvels
- Richard Halliburton’s Book of Marvels
- Complete Book of Marvels Website, Videos & Resources
- Term 2-3- 1x/week
- Finish Book of Marvels
- A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
- Term 1-2- 1x/week Book of Marvels
- General Geography (for forms 1-2)
- Term 1-2- 2x/week Rivers & Oceans
- lessons from Mater Amabalis geography Level 1 B
- Rivers & Oceans by Barbara Taylor
- Term 2-3- 2x/week Maps & Mapping
- lessons from Mater Amabalis geography Level 1 A
- Maps & Mapping by Barbara Taylor
- Term 1-2- 2x/week Rivers & Oceans
- General Geography (for forms 3+)
- Form 3- Brendan Voyage (spread out for entire year, possibly two)
- Form 4-
- Term 1: Longitude by Dava Sobel
- Term 2-3: The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman
Mapwork
We will all be studying states and capitols for the first term and a half, then African continent for second term through end of the year. We will be using the Draw the World series to help us get a better understanding of the borders and shape of the US and Africa. Then once a week they will use the Seterra program online to quiz themselves. We have used this for several years and it’s always a highlight of the week. They can save their information, and so they compete with each other to be at the top.
Family Geography Living Books
We will use Book of Marvels primarily for the year, and the older children will be using custom journals from Juniper Grove Journals to narrate through the book. We will supplement with videos from website listed above.
If we have time second semester, we will read a Long Walk to Water along with our Africa mapping. It’s an amazing and heart wrenching story, and one I think my children will be drawn into. I’m hoping we can also write to some of our friends who are missionaries in Kenya to help connect them more to what they are studying.
We will also regularly be getting picture books that align with our states or geographical regions from the library. Books like U.S.A. Secret Code Puzzles for Kids (Dover Kids Activity Books: U.S.A.), Recipe Road Trip, Cooking Your Way Across the USA: 120+ Delicious Recipes and Fun and Surprising Facts from Every State, United Tastes of America: An Atlas of Food Facts & Recipes from Every State!, Only in America: The Weird and Wonderful 50 States , 50 Adventures in the 50 States , National Monuments of the USA, & National Parks of the USA . We will also look for a few from specific states.
We plan to also look up various locations of our readings as we go through them. This will include such places and events as the Oregon Trail, Trail of Tears, Victorian England, West Africa, Transcontinental Railroad, and more.
Forms 1-2 General Geography
We will spend the first semester studying rivers and oceans. Mater Amabalis has a wonderful outline that we will be following and ending the year with maps and mapping. This will give us a good general knowledge of geography terms and landforms. My children will also continue to have a geography vocabulary word that they will use for copywork once a week using Geography from A to Z, which will also be used term 2 and 3 as part of the maps and mapping series. We have used this book multiple times, and it is a wonderful illustrated glossary of geographical terms.
Form 3+ General Geography
My older children will each also have their own geography reading that is both appropriate to their age and will allow them to study a bit deeper. They will only do some of our general geography topics -which are really geared toward a younger set, and these individual books will help them with broader topics. My oldest, form 4, will be finishing the book Longitude by Dava Sobel and my form 3 student will begin Brendan Voyage in small portions across two years.
So what will this look like in a week? Well we are embracing loop scheduling so it won’t always look the same, but an example might be like this. Some weeks our general geography will simply be part of our nature walk, others we will read or experiment.
- Monday– (15-20 minutes)
- Rivers & Oceans-Explain river sources. Using a map follow the river nearest to where you live (White River) to its source. Find the source of two major rivers (Wabash & Ohio Rivers) in your country.
- ** Random fact: The Miami tribe name for the White River is Wapahani, meaning “white sands,” and was a key route for area Native American communities.
- Draw USA Map- add VT, NH, ME
- Tuesday– (15-20 minutes + afternoon work)
- Read a Niagra Falls chapter from Book of Marvels
- find Niagra Falls in atlas
- watch video on Niagra Falls
- In afternoon, grades 4+ will add to Book of Marvels Journal with drawing + one fact or written narration.
- Wednesday– (10 minutes)
- Draw USA Map- add VT, NH, ME, NY, CT
- Thursday– (10-20 minutes)
- Rivers & Oceans- Explore the way a river behaves by making your own river using sand, gravel and water. (instructions on p 13 of Rivers & Oceans)
- Geography Copywork- Copy isthmus and its definition into geography notebook, if desired draw a picture.
- Friday–
- Seterra Map Quiz (5 minutes)
How do you fit it all in?
It will be tricky to finish this all if we stick to a strict schedule. Possible hindrances that I can see that might interfere (beyond the preschoolers) is me not being prepared with materials. However, I am doing better about preparing the day before for lessons now that I don’t have an infant waking all night long! I gave myself grace in those days, but now feel I can pick it up again. Also, while we are looping our schedule, I need to make sure we have time for the elements described. We don’t want to be making river bed with sand and gravel and then have to stop to move to folk dancing or copywork. So just making the most of our morning time and individual lessons by organizing our time properly will help us to finish this.
What did Charlotte Mason say about geography?
If you would like to read what Ms. Mason says about geography, I recommend you visit her volumes where she speaks specifically to the question of geography.
- Volume 1, pg 72
- Volume 5, pg 131
- Volume 6, pg 224
Charlotte Mason recommends geography 2-3 times per week depending on the child’s age, and even has some concepts about . Since I have children across 4 forms ours looks different. It is easier for me to have us do most of this all together, than to arrange individual lessons. By doing this it requires us to make it a daily task.
Ms. Mason has broadened my definition of geography beyond mapping, and I hope that these moments learning about the world God has created, and how man has drawn the lines will be a blessing to my children. We will also be supplementing with various regional picture books throughout our studies for the younger set, but my older ones can’t help but listen in usually. These are wonderful for helping to understand a bit more about the regional culture and commerce. I hope to share these in a future post.
What geography books and methods have worked in your home?
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