Geography: The Lost Art

February 15, 2024|Geography

Geography has become akin to cursive, Latin, and natural history, only a periphery with a box to check, but no concerted effort made in American education.  Why are we allowing this essential knowledge to be skimmed and put away?  Throughout history, geography was considered vital knowledge, carefully studied and absorbed.   The desperate attempt to attain reading and mathematics standards has sent American education spiraling into the depths of its demise.  Never has our country been further from proficient and in the process we have lost beauty, depth, and intellectual acuity in the pursuit. 

Homeschoolers are leading the way and blazing a new trail for the country to follow. Let’s show them how it is done with geography, while we are representing across all other academic benchmarks.  

There are many options to intentionally bring geography to the forefront of your children’s education by design.  Beautiful Feet geography is a homeschool favorite and offers extra large maps featuring specific parts of the country or world for your child to focus on while learning the political, geographical, and natural history of the land.  History and literature pairs perfectly with geography and anchors the child’s interest in a wholistic learning approach that is brilliant for an education by design.

Homeschooling multiple children?  There are many Beautiful Feet curricular studies that are designed for engaging multiple aged children.  Discover this this Hollings Geography Unit Study Pack, which is ideal for sharing with the whole family.  It features four Holling C. Holling books including Minn of the Mississippi, Paddle to the Sea, Tree in the Trail, and Seabird.  Holling, a former art director, taxidermist, and anthropologist, carefully details, through domain specific language and illustrations, his first hand study of natural history. 

Tips for how to use Beautiful Feet USA Geography with multiple aged students

First, it is important to remember that we don’t want to just pick a curriculum and follow every lesson exactly with multiple aged children. We must create an education designed specifically to the needs of all the children we are teaching.  Beautiful Feet Books offer a curriculum that focuses on teaching history and geography through literature. Their approach often involves reading high-quality books that engage students and bring the subject matter to life. When using the Beautiful Feet geography curriculum with students of multiple ages, you can adapt the instruction to cater to the varying developmental levels and learning styles within your group.  Here are some suggestions on how to do this:

1. Read Aloud Together: Start by reading the selected books aloud to all the students. This can be a bonding experience and allows for discussions that include everyone, regardless of reading level.
2. Adapt Assignments: Assign different levels of work based on the student’s age and ability. For older students, you might require more in-depth writing assignments or additional research projects, while younger students might work on simpler tasks like drawing or basic map work.
3. Encourage Peer Teaching: Older students can help teach concepts to younger students. This not only reinforces the older students’ knowledge but also encourages a cooperative learning environment.
4. Use Hands-On Activities: Incorporate activities that can be scaled in complexity. For example, building a 3D map can be made simple for younger students by focusing on major landmarks, while older students can add more detail and annotations.
5. Discussion Time: Facilitate discussions that allow for all ages to contribute. Younger students can talk about basic observations or what they found interesting, while older students can delve into more complex topics introduced by the literature.
6. Differentiated Reading: Provide additional, age-appropriate reading materials for older students to go more in-depth, while younger students may focus on picture books or simpler summaries.
7. Field Trips: If possible, organize field trips to places of geographical interest that are mentioned in your studies. All ages can benefit from real-world connections to their learning.
8. Interactive Notebooks: Use interactive notebooks where students can record what they’ve learned. Younger students might draw pictures or paste in images, while older students can write more extensive notes.
9. Map Work: Have students work on maps, but tailor the task to their level. Younger children can identify states and capitals, while older students can explore economic resources, population distribution, or historical events.

More Geography Books and Maps to Engage the Younger Siblings 

There are a few other books that I would recommend to help inspire the younger siblings to stay engaged and involved.  Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizelinski is an oversized, hard cover book that is filled with hand drawn and beautifully illustrated maps of the world, which is perfect for young children. The maps display borders, rivers, peaks, plants, animals, and cultural imagery of each country.  The younger siblings can help find the maps to match the locations of the older siblings study and draw a picture of something they see which inspires them.

Maps Activity Book is the activity book that goes with the Maps book. This activity book is large and contains endless activities to help younger children understand and process geography through activities such as coloring, drawing, designing, puzzles, and interesting facts about the different countries and cultures.

Geography From A to Z A Picture Glossary by Jack Knowlton and Harriet Barton is marked by clear, simple, illustrations and definitions for all the geography terms one might need to know.  It is not only fun for children to look through, but it is a handy counterpart to any geography study.  Children can study the definitions and illustrations and make their own picture glossary too!