We had the opportunity to review an online homeschool geography curriculum Let’s Go Geography by Let’s Go Geography.
So, where do you want to go this week? That is a question I got to ask of my jet setting little boy, Canyon. Let’s Go Geography started us on a trek around the world with exciting places of promise to visit.
Let’s Go Geography is a downloadable curriculum with online resources that is geared towards children in kindergarten through fourth grade. Over the course of three years, some of the places your child with “travel to” are the United States, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Finland, Spain, Austria, Germany, Portugal, Libya, Tanzania, Switzerland, Poland, Kenya,, Syria, Thailand, China, Nepal, Turkey, Laos and Sri Lanka. Guess what? Those are only some of the places you will visit. There are more than 30 stops each year of study. You may see all of the stops.
If your school looks anything like mine, a solid study of geography has been absent. We (including me) have a general idea as to where some states and countries are located, but please do not give me a blank map to fill in. Watch this video that gives you a clue as to the geography knowledge of the average American teen and the importance of learning geography.
Through videos, hands-on activities – mapping, music appreciation and crafts, your child will become familiar with the countries around them without actually visiting the locations. The first year of Let’s Go Geography has 36 lessons that will take students through one year of study. Eighteen lessons are covered each semester. Students spend one week on each lesson that takes about one hour to complete.
Each lesson is set up in the same manner with an introduction to the place they will visit.
Are You Ready?
Pack your bags and get ready to go. This section tells you stats about the location (ex: continent, largest city, population, official language(s) and more). There is also an itinerary and a list of items your child needs to complete the lesson.
Chapter 1: Map It!
Students color a map, locate places (ex: oceans, etc.) on the map and answer questions.
Chapter 2: The Flag
Students color and print the flag putting copies in the passport and Travel Journal.
Chapter 3: The Music
Students learn the national anthem of the location. Lyrics are provided as well as a link to a video of the anthem being sung.
Children singing the national anthem of Belize.
Chapter 4: Let’s Explore
Still shots and videos are used to take the student on a tour of the location.
Chapter 5: Create!
Hands-on fun with coloring pages and crafts.
Chapter 6: Printables:
There are flags to color and a notebooking page for students to complete. If you have an older student using the program, they could write a paragraph about the country/location they learned about in the lesson. I had Canyon write three sentences listing something he remembered about the country.
I enjoyed learning about Hawaii. Did you know?:
“Hawaii, with Alaska, is one of the two American states that does not share borders with any other state. These two states are a distance away from the other 48. Hawaii is also the only state that is made up entirely of islands“
We also visited Haiti and saw how a Haitian sugar cane press works.
Depending on the age of your child and their interest in the location they are “visiting” each week, you may want to spend more time. Canyon is in the fourth grade, so one week per lesson works well for us. I broke his study up into two days with him completing the Chapter 1 (Map It!) through Chapter 3 (The Music) sections on Tuesdays and completing the lesson on Thursdays finishing with Chapter 4 (Let’s Explore) through Chapter 6 (Printables). Once I add all of his subjects for school, we may move to a one day per week study, but I did like spending more than one day a week on a lesson.
I really like Let’s Go Geography. It has been a great homeschool world geography curriculum for Canyon. Although Lily and River are older, they have benefited from sitting in and watching the videos that are included with each lesson. I too have learned some things from working through the curriculum with Canyon. There is an order to the lessons, but you may study them in in order you choose. You are able to access all 36 lessons in your subscription once your account is activated.
Yes, this is a curriculum that requires printing, but the printing did not seem in excess to me. Canyon enjoyed cutting out items for the activities and we will put together the Travel Journal once I find an empty binder.
One thing that has been helpful to me is receiving e-mail reminders of the upcoming lesson for the week. We “packed our bags” in expectation. Another thing I liked was having everything well laid out in each lesson. There is no guessing of what to do next. Since the order of the lessons are the same, that helps with creating a rhythm for completing the lessons. The only surprises are the sites we see on the neat videos we watch, which author Carol Henderson has carefully chosen. She has taken great care in creating a thorough and fun homeschool geography curriculum for children. Let’s Go Geography has been a great addition to school this year and we will continue working through the lessons.
Availabilty
An online subscription to Let’s Go Geography is available for $21.99 for one year access. That is a great price for this homeschool geography curriculum that is full of great material. Check the site for other subscription options.
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