Homeschool Geography Ideas: World Tour

 In Blog

Imagine with me for a minute. Your back porch has been turned into an outdoor French Cafe, complete with little tables and strings of lights hung above. Your dining room has been converted into the mountainous region of France, with pictures of native species posted around. Your living room is Paris, with little Eiffel Towers hanging everywhere and the TV set to Google earth and zoomed in on the city in “real” time. Your loo has a cute Bonjour sign on the door. French snacks are prepped.

Welcome to France! My house has now become one of the stops on our co-op’s Geography World Tour!

Homeschool world geography doesn’t have to be boring. You can host a country in your home, as well. Here’s how.

  • Pull together a few students, and each of you choose a country.
  • Set a budget and a few expectations.
  • Make or buy each child a pretend passport.
  • Get ready for fun.
  • Before it’s your turn, learn new things about your chosen country, and prepare to share what you’ve learned.
  • Be creative with how you display your information.
  • Find fun ways to dress like the native people.
  • Prepare snacks to share.

 

To get your creative juices flowing, here are some interactive and hands on geography ideas:

  • Turn your chilly basement into Antarctica. Research the indigenous animals and the researchers who discovered them. Remind your guests to dress appropriately for traveling to cold places.
  • Draw, have printed, or buy a poster of a famous city in your country. Supply a few dress-up pieces, and set up a photo booth for the kids to snap a quick tourist photo. Email the pics to each family.
  • Skype with a friend who currently lives in your country.
  • Zoom in on the country with Google earth, or provide other online satellite images.
  • Head to the library for some fun recipe books for snack ideas.
  • Look for DVD’s that provide cultural or geographical information.
  • Do you know a native of your country? Invite him or her over for some great discussion.
  • Label items in your house with vocabulary words in your country’s language.
  • Play music from your country.
  • Design a bingo board with pictures of things and/or places from the country. Post the same images around your home or yard. Let the kids play bingo as they explore your country.
  • Hang maps, set out globes, or open an atlas to show where your country’s location.
  • Provide a passport stamp for your country. This can be as simple as a small image printed from your computer or a sticker and glued into the passport.

Au Revoir!

 

Lindsay Banton is a caffeinated mother to three great kids. She never expected to homeschool, but has found that it is a wonderful addition to their lifestyle and wouldn’t change it for the world. In addition to homeschooling, Lindsay works alongside her husband in campus ministry at a large university in Connecticut. She grew up in Virginia but has settled into life in New England, learning to love the long winters, cool springs, green summers and gorgeous autumns- and has built a boot collection to meet all the demands. She is currently blogging at www.oaksreplanted.blogspot.com

Recent Posts
Contact Us

Please send us an email and we'll get back to within 24-48 business hours.

Not readable? Change text. captcha txt

Start typing and press Enter to search

Helping Students Become Independent Learners