Geography

We love Geography Songs! My girls have been able to memorize quite a bit by these songs and they can easily apply these to maps at a very young age. They love to sing so they are very interested in doing geography.

A small illustrated children's book about two children who visit a number of their neighbors of different ethnic backgrounds and discover that each of their cultures uses rice in their cooking. Includes recipes in the back. A good way to introduce children to our country's ethnic diversity without getting "politically correct." (Warning: We get hungry every time we read this book.)

• Count Your Way Through Japan
• Count Your Way Through Mexico, etc.

This new two-book set on United States Geography provides everything you need for a homeschool Geography Bee or an interesting U.S. Geography supplement for a wide age range.

A memory game showing 36 pictures of outstanding sites worldwide.

While looking for something fun to add to this year's curriculum purchases, I discovered this memory game in the Montessori Services catalog. I can't tell you how much fun we've had with it. The whole family down to the 2 1/2 year old have enjoyed rowsing games of memory while learning about important historical, cultural and religious sites from around the world.

The cards are approximately 2 inches square with full color pictures of famous sites. There are a high percentage of Catholic sites:

A history and science picture book that covers the development of man's understanding of the shape of the earth focusing on the discoveries of the Greeks and on the voyages of Christopher Columbus and Magellan.
Currently out-of-print

I have just finished planning the school year for my 5th and 8th graders using the new CHC Lesson Plan Guide for the Middle School Years, and I have never had such a productive and enjoyable time of it! Normally, I like to plan, but there never seemed to be enough time or information in one place to do it effectively or efficiently. I prefer a customized curriculum for each of my students, emphasizing their particular interests while shoring up their weaker subjects. With six students alongside little ones, planning the school year's curriculum is a very time-consuming process.

The supplements are carefully woven into the third grade lesson assignments, but for those who prefer not to use the lesson plans the supplements alone could easily be used for enrichment and would make purchasing the plans worthwhile. For example the book report supplements contain clear guidelines for helping young students write book reports, a checklist to help the student in their efforts, creative ideas for written reports or oral reports and hands-on project reporting.