Geography Ideas & Continent Boxes-YouTube links

OK-for those of you who enjoy seeing the items-head to my YouTube channel to watch them all!  I hope to also get a video done in the near future showing the Montessori Sorting box I have a whole long (actually a few) posts on.  You can read about that project here.

Visit my YT channel and be sure to subscribe, as this is where I will be updating and posting reviews, chatting about homeschooling, planning (planners), crafting and so forth.

My YT playlist for the Continent Boxes

Continent Box: Asia link

Another continent (Asia) post is up on my main blog:  Homeschooling on a Wing and a Prayer.  You can read about the goodies we have in our box and I have also included some links to other resources for you.  Again-putting a "Continent Box" card in the workbox with a timer is a great way to implement the two.

Continent Boxes: Australia and Antarctica

I have a few new posts up on my main blog regarding our Continent Boxes for Australia and Antarctica.  Meant to provide a fun, hands-on way to explore different cultures, these boxes hold a variety of goodies that reflect the animals, food, currency and items one could find there.

To use the workbox for this, simply place a card in the box instructing the student to go through it.  Oh, and possibly a timer because we all know how a child can get lost in an activity like this.  If you have a worksheet that may go along with it, then you could toss that into it as well. I made the card to the left here, but have not uploaded it anywhere so my readers can print it.  I haven't done that in a while, so once I have time to dust off the cobwebs of my mind-I will do that. More than likely I won't be able to get to that until sometime in December tho.  I have a lot of stuff coming up and very little time.  Anyhoo- you can visit my blog to read up on what I have in ours, and take a look at the Aboriginal painting project we did.  It was simple, not too spency and fun!

 Australia/Oceania Continent Box

 Antarctica Continent Box

Aboriginal Painting Project

New posts about our Geography Center/Shelf and mapping supplies

To save myself some time, I simply linking some new posts here. I have a couple new ones up on my main blog about our Geography Shelf (puzzle box holder) and on some of the materials we are using to cover our World Geography mapping, etc.

The Mapping the World by Heart folder, along with everything he needs to complete his current work goes into his workbox.  I simply fill it with the supplies as needed.  He is older so I don't need to write too many lengthy notes, he pretty much knows that is what he will have to do until the current continent is completed.  A  'go to the geo shelf'  or  'work on....'  note can also be placed in the workbox to add in hands-on activities as well. We've assigned box #3 for the Geo study for the year. Usually I rotate subjects in the boxes but have found that having him do the map/geo work earlier is better.  He gets too distracted as the day goes on so it is staying in box 3 for this year.

Anyhoo-here are the links.  

 Geography Unit: Mapping the World by Heart

Geography Shelf: Ikea Puzzle Box

Geography box-Montessori style

I have posted a whole ditty about the Montessori Geography box I have been working on. You can read about it over on my main blog:  Homeschooling on a Wing and a Prayer.

World Geography Board

For those of you who are familiar with this blog-I am sure you remember the posts about the States Geo Board (pictured on the left).  If you are new, you can catch up on those posts here. Anyway, we completed the states and now I want to focus on a general study of the world continents/countries.  So I had to revamp the board to update it and this is what I came up with.  Most of the right side and left stayed the same, say for some title changes, but the middle took on some new sections.  I have not completed it as of yet, because I still need to make or order a few pieces to go along with it. This will  give you a general idea.

FYI: It is easy to create most of the titles/maps/etc. using your MS Word program to type out what titles you want, then you can use clip art (lots of good ones, including the ones I used to make the continent squares (down by the Flags of the World label). I also have some of the pages available to download, just look thru the previous posts. I will try to get the one with the little continents up soon, but until then you can use your MS Word-they should be there.

World Geography Board

almost complete

As for the compass pieces, well I purchased a year or two ago from a local Dollar Tree store.  I dunno if those are still available, so just keep your eyes open when you cruise thru the store at varying times. Obviously, you can use anything-little sticky notes, another type of bulletin board cutout, etc.-just remember to laminate them so you can use them over and over again! Usually, I will go thru all the stuff in the teacher section at the store, and if one or more of those little bulletin board packages are screaming to me "YOU could use me, I know you can!" then I get it.  I just didn't know what I wanted to do with those things when I bought it.  I tossed it into my "someday" box where they sat until recently when I had an "OH YEAH!" moment and had to dig them out.

This side has minor changes-added the white/blue strip with the compass so we can velcro on the current continent we are studying. Those are stored in the first white pouch above.  The Oceans one has the same squares I noted in other posts, I just need to find my laminated page to put in the holder below.  I want to have the boy review those too (might as well-esp. since the continents and oceans are almost always studied together). Oh, and I found a wee little magnet strip from some other craft thing-so I put it on the bigger maps holder (it had a sticky back) to hold the markers that have a magnet on them.  It is not super strong so the markers fall if it is bumped..but it looks cute :). I will find a stronger one soon and replace it when I can.  I don't have the maps with the long. and lat. noted on them-so that is on my 'to buy' list [hence the reason the pocket is empty].

No change to the right side. In fact-he'll finally have more reasons to use these since we're focusing on longitude and latitude this year.  He can reference those first, then have a general idea of where in the world he has to focus to find those coordinates that [will be] noted on the back of the compasses (which are being stored in an up-cycled holder that was the states flag stickers packaging we used last year for the states study).

The middle section got the most revamping.  I added the new Map Quest area and the holder for the compasses, along with the new strip of white to have the Flags of the World velcro'd to it.  The little white card to the left of it is of the current continent we are studying.  We'll simply switch that out as we progress thru the study.  Of course, have to have a puzzle and this one is a doozy! It is double sided, so the person building it has to figure which side is needed first-ah, love to aggravate the kiddos here with a puzzle like this! LOL  I may also get a flags of the world puzzle too-just depends on our budget this year.

Here is a closer look at the sections with descriptions on it for you.  Enjoy!

Geography-state project/center

 The first 2 states postcards are in the mailbox (not the ones we have been collecting for the 50 States Postcard book-but the extras). He will need to color in the two states (map on top left hand corner) we discussed with the erasable markers and he can do whatever else he wishes during his 15 min. time here.

Also have the flags of the 50 states and a full map of the USA postcards in here too.

Just tossed the center card in with the time card, and the timer (Dollar Tree find).

That was his geography for today (we're starting back up a bit slowly-then tomorrow I will introduce Arkansas for our next state).

US States study links and helps

I stumbled across this State Symbols USA site-and boy was I like whooping it up over the wealth of info and such here.  Good place to start.  I used this one to get the seals and other goodies to really make our state study "pop" with neat stuff! I noticed on the side-bar there was this book for Alabama (since we are going in alphabetical order here) and thought-could it be?  Could there be a book for every state? Yeppers!  Now, since I did the study before these were written with my older 3, I was unawares.  So stop giggling if you already knew about em.  The most exciting part-outside of the fact that now I can start each study with a book as the lead in and it fits the Charlotte Mason method, and it is just so beautiful and, and, and...can ya tell I am excited about it?  Best yet-our library has em all-now that is like a one in a thousand chance and I am so geeked!  So-then I searched and saw that they also have this baby available-so I put it on hold (since it was one thing our library didn't own) and got it today-not that I am big on teacher's guides (always seem to not follow em too closely) but figured I could glean some useful ideas to make this a great stroll thru the USA.  Take a look-see here...

Look how nicely each book is illustrated and ties into something major the state is known for!

The series is called Discover America State by State-but when I did the search thru the library-I had to look for each individual state's book-guess our library website is a bit fussy-LOL, so anyhoo-when you go to the State Symbols site-just look on the side-bar for that state and you will have the name.  

I will take some notes and let the rest be (in the guide) but I am always looking for ideas-now to find time to go thru it!

The HIP Pocket Change (US Mint) site has lots too.  I actually downloaded the quarter info-the background about the decisions behind the state's quarter design-look under the extra resources sections for each year...they are about 2 pages long each. I just ran those off.  There is also the full quarters listing in picture form under the 2008 stuff.  If you go thru the earlier years, you won't have em all.  I ran those 2 pages off and then cut out the quarters to add to the info packet for the individual states.  There are also coloring pages that you can run off (good for younger siblings to keep em busy) and lots of other links/activities.  

Found this one, but haven't explored it yet: Teacher Guide to the 50 States

A to Z Teacher Stuff has a recipe for edible state maps (why not enjoy a wee bit of food when doing this heh?)

Maps that Teach  offer up some good online links/activities

The US50 site offers up those stamps I downloaded. I did have to shrink the size of em a bit, and tried to fit as many as possible on the page too.  They have more state info to help you with your studies as well. The license plates are from MS Word-images, I think the only one I couldn't find was SC, so I searched the internet and found one that would work-sized it and added it to the document to print.  

I will also be using a few goodies I was able to review whilst being on the TOS crew:

The Little Man in the Map is a delightful way to learn the states and where they are located on the map.

My Review 

HS in the Wood Olde World US Maps  I will be using the states maps and notebook pages, and the brochure document too-I think that one is under the World maps tho.  I will have to double check-but these are sooooo nice and perfect for this study.  I am also the materials for the Geography Center.  But if you are on a super tight budget, you can find most downloads for free from various other sites-they simply won't be as detailed or have all the data, but they certainly can create a lovely notebook for your student.  I suggest Googling or doing Swagbuck searches, which frankly is a great way to get free $ (Swagbucks that is-you can join and earn-I have already earned $20 worth of free Amazon gift cards just by searching!) Click the icon below and it'll get you there.  :o)

 My Review

TOS Travel the World eBook I will pull some elements out of this eBook to help with our studies too.

My Review

I also have a mishmash of atlases, coloring books or map books about the states, and of course-where would I be if I didn't tie in some kinda lapbook to this?  Well-I purchased 

Hands of a Child (look for this particular lapbook via their search)
 and will pull out components as needed. 

10 Days in the USA

This is on my wish list-a nice to have but not totally necessary...

I have found flashcards at the dollar section of Target, a poster listing the state names/capitals at the Dollar Tree and so forth. Been building the collection for some time and now when we get to it-I can draw from all sorts of good products to make this a fab project.  OH, and I have 2 fun puzzles-one of the USA and one of the world, which will show up in the workboxes here and there too.

HTH ya out too.  So that is the big stuff-I am sure I have more, but it gives ya a good idea of what one can use to pull together a study.  I have seen a few other great ideas from my pals via their blogs too-but since I am pretty sure I have enough to make this a detailed enough to remember kinda study-I am using what I have available.  :0)

Well she is almost completed...but well-here ya go....the Geo Center

I will have to post another post with the links and sites where I found the majority of this stuff...as I am just too pooped to do so today.  But here it is -almost.  Yah see, when I work on these sorta things-I have it all in my head, unfortunately-that means there may not be parts of it available in the real world. Sigh.  So I am still looking for a poster I can chop up or a big pic of a globe for the lonely spot next to the maps holder...so pretend to see one OK?  Then, the Flora and Fauna-that is something we will work on in spurts-I just have to decide if I will do a long strip of Velcro across that section (couple actually) to then have the child pop up some critters and plants that are found in that region of the world or a different approach...I dunno...I will get to it when I get to it, I suppose.  As we learn stuffalage about the said region, then I will add information cards into the pocket for that stuff, and I want to add a few more Lat. and Long. maps with more detailed number listings, for the teen to use.  But for now-this will do.  I also have two teeny tiny compasses I got in a science kit last year...aren't they just so cute?  Well, I suppose if you want one of those, you can look at the dollar store to see if they have a wee bigger one available. Or maybe you have that kit too-I have to check the name but it was one I ordered for free last year-but I Velcro'd them up there too.  The picture of the compass is so I can say to the boy, "Hey, where is the Pacific Ocean from our location?"  He will have to figure it out by using the fake compass....yes, I do enjoy torturing my kids.  LOL

And what else?  All the stuff is Velcro'd to make my life easier for switching out maps and labels, as mentioned in the previous post....I think that is it for now....again-look for the info links later.

OK, so here ya go...I was trying to do an Image Loop of it and it dropped all the pics when I clicked something and honestly-I just don't want get my BP up today...so-well, I will upload it all on it later...but here is the 3 panels and a few close ups-

few of the close ups for ya...

The over all look [minus the MIA pieces], with added books, a puzzle and clipboards with the maps they fill out...

Geography Center info

After penning a lovely, long post noting all the areas for where I found the components, and what I did to create this-and then having it disappear into thin air-I am only going to post a quick link one instead.

Found the project board at Michaels (JoAnns in the past near school start up time) and see Target also carries them.

Velcro (need I say more?) black and white -dots are easier cuz you won't need to trim them, but not as economical Black goes on the board to fade away into the background better.  The white is for the stuff printed on the wht cardstock/paper.

Laminator-I have a Scotch from WalMart (cheapest place) but see KMart has cheaper (usually) laminator sheets (come in a 50 pk) but for the dollar or so difference-you'd eat that up in gas...so buy where you find em.
**Update: I forgot to note-you can make the pockets (which hold the goodies) with an empty lam. sheet ran thru the laminator. Cut to size, and use packing tape to secure to the sides/bottom.

Copy paper and card stock of your choice. I get mine at JoAnns (using the 40% coupon or when on sale).

Companies for materials:

Most of my maps are a part of the awesome Amy Pak kit called Olde World Map Pak (US and World included) which I wrote about in my review on my TOS blog-you can find that info here. Her site is Home School in the Woods, where she has tons and tons of great products to help you homeschool with pizazz! The Longitude/Latitude that is clipped together with a ring, the mini-map with the fishes attached, and the hemispheres section are all parts of a worksheet found under the World maps section.  I enlarged the lat./long. ones a tad to make those easier to read, prior to copying them off.

That is where I found the maps shown in the pictures, say for the world pic that I found (it is the one in the clear pocket under Long/Lat.) at ABCteach.  I also found the compass images there under the clip art. You do have to be a member to get those, but there are plenty of other sites where you can find these, you'll just have to hunt for them.

The maps are ones we found in our National Geographic pile.  They are most likely not super updated, but alas-they will do.

All the words (on the section for the reference point, all other labels) are done in MS Word.  I have lots of these uploaded on my Scribd page.  Look for the icon in the right-hand side of my blog, to get there. The ocean info is something you can type up as needed.  I just Googled the info, then typed out the important stuff.  Each continent will get some info like that too.

All of this is Velcro'd on, so that when I need to change maps-it is easy as pie.  I also have a long strip of Velcro running along the bottom of the map pocket and up the sides to give it super strength to hold those heavy maps.

The fish are a part of a little container I found at the Dollar Tree.  It had stars, turtles and other sea critters in it.  I will have turtles for the continent finding.  Simple Velcro a tiny piece to the back of em, so they can be stuck on.

Lastly, the little compasses.  Well I had those from a kit I got free last summer (some science place had those available) but do not recall who it was.  Anyhoo-you can find cheap compasses at the dollar store.  Just strap or Velcro them on for the kids to use on their excursions.

I think I got em all listed.  Use what you have to save $$, look for free downloads first. Since our geography is on going-we will have this for a long, long time.  Once done with the world geo...we'll go into the states.  So we will have a whole new slew of things for that.

HTH

Just a peek of what I have been up to...our Geography Center

OK my batteries died whilst trying to get my photo shoot in...OI.  But this is a sliver of what I have been spending my time on.  This is my Geography Center (the display board type-like my science center one).  I am using some Home School in the Woods Olde World maps (reviewing this-so look for that info in a couple weeks), and various other goodies. I also ran out of Velcro (I know-I know-that is completely unacceptable!) and altho I pretty much have the other flap thought out and done-I cannot show it b/cuz I need that Velcro to finish it up to make it all perty like.  The center is sorta thought out but not quite....I think as I go along with these projects....so it is empty at the moment.

Imagine all the stuff completed on this side (just pretend now...) the continents that are on the top map are actually Velcro'd to the map-they will get placed on that green card (once I have that wonderful Velcro in my possession) for storage.  The oceans one is almost done-I forgot I needed two Pacific Ocean cards-oops.  The idea with this main map is, that the student will see the world position of whatever it is we are focusing on. So when we come to studying oceans/continents-all they have to do is glance up to see its location in the world.

Then the 2 pockets below that, have a Velcro dot on them so that I can change out the labels of what it is I am wanting them to find.  Then the focus point is a map that shows what it is we are zeroing in on.  Right now it is the Pacific Ocean.  Then the child will take their sheet (that I put in their workbox on a clip board, or will have it by the display-depending on my mood) and fill in the info I want them to (in this case for my 2nd grader-it is just "North Pacific" and "South Pacific", but for my teen-she will have to note all the little seas and countries found within the map area).

The little blue card with the fish-well that is a fun one I made to fill in the blank spot below the focus map (I will explain that reason in another post) in which I took a part of a notebooking page of HSintheW's map collection, and put teeny tiny Velcro spots for the fish to go (there are 2 b/cuz the Pacific is in two spots on that map-but usually there is only a need for 1) which have the Velcro (big surprise heh?) on their back sides-so the child will put a fish on the ocean we are discussing...when we get to the continents-I have turtle erasers (found at the local Dollar Tree in the school section-in a container with a bunch of erasers) to place on the continent we're focusing on.

All of this is Velcro'd for a reason-so that I can switch up the type of study we are doing-
right now it is oceans and continents
next time around it will most likely be the states-so I need to be able to have different labels when necessary and move the position of the maps (some are vertical)
and so forth.

The idea here is to make this very versatile so I get the most use out of one of these display boards-no need to buy a new one for every type of Geography study.  I didn't that with the Space one-since we'll be studying it for a loooonnnngg time-and will cycle back to it when he is older...so I was not  as concerned with that issue for that application.  But the geography center is a different story-I am not lingering too long over any one subject-so I need it to be interchangeable with not much time betwixt subjects of focus.

Well, once the ole Velcro issue is resolved, the middle section has stuff on it, and I have the right side completed-I will post the whole enchilada for you-just wanted to tease ya and let you know that I have not fallen off the face of the earth-and that I am having a few moments of creativity.

I knew when I saw these that I could create something out of them...

but what? I bought them anyhoo, hoping my creative juices would flow eventually. It did today. I wanted to do something relating to the states and when I saw the 5 mailboxes and the letters-I decided to make a "work" where the child places the correct state under the correct region. I used the regions listed in the book, The Little Man in the Map, by Andrew Martonyi. I reviewed this book for the TOS Review Crew last year, you can read my opinion on it here.



You can use any good book which covers the states and their regions, but I really like this one. There are also a few different ways to split it up the states, but since I only had 5 mailboxes, I needed to put it into that many divisions (thankfully, the LMintheM book did just that). So I now have a fun activity to pop into the workbox, now and again, when we start our 50 states study this fall.



I found the items at the Dollar Tree in the teacher section. You will have to scope your local stores. I didn't see these but 2 weeks ago, and a couple days ago, I did. Hopefully, you will be able to find these too-otherwise, I am sure you can use MS Word images to create something similar.

You need:

2 packs of the room decor: letters (25 per pack)
1 pack of the large Room Decor with the mailboxes and boy/girl stamps
laminate sheets
markers (at least 2 colors)

I listed the full name of the state in blue, the abbreviation in red at the bottom (so the child sees the full spelling and learns the proper 2 letters used for mailing and such). I also put a "self check" on the back of the letters (MW for Midwestern states, for example). That way the child reads the book, learns the regions and then tries to place the proper letters under each mailbox heading. When done, they can flip them over to see if they match. Obviously, if they do not-they made an error.



This is what the final layout looks like when done correctly (the mailboxes can go in any order or from left to right, in proper order you'd see on the map)


The child checks the mailbox door for the region's abbreviation to check the back of the letter.

This will go into our state project collection I am gathering and creating this summer. Oh, since I only have a little boy who will be doing this, I wrote on the boy stamp picture. But if you have girls using it too, then by all means make write the same thing on it, and laminate it as well-that way the child can choose to put the header that matches their gender.

A fun geography/art project

I downloaded the Make a Globe project from Enchanted Learning. I put almost all the stuff needed into the workbox for the boy to do. He really enjoyed it, and I think I did too-kinda fun sliming up your hands with flour glue and slapping it on a balloon. The larger workbox was just perfect for this big project.



The globe is currently hanging from my kitchen light fixture, drying nicely. It should be dry by Monday to paint in the typical globe fashion-oceans and continents. That reminds me-I need to pick up some more paint. Hmmm.