Gentle Geography Resources for the Early Years

Hi friends!

Let’s talk about geography in homeschool.

By now, you know that we are mostly focused on language arts, math, and handwriting, but we have started to sprinkle in more geography, science, social studies, etc. to keep things interesting. These topics can be really fun at these young ages because it’s mostly reading fun stories, experiments, activities, etc. We chose to use Me on the Map from Little School of Smiths and really enjoyed that as a jumping off point. It was a short unit study and just enough for us. Because to be honest, I don’t think we will invest in a robust formal curriculum for some of our minor subjects for a good while.

Instead, we have started with a gentle intro to geography. I like the idea of slowly introducing concepts and gauging interest, so aside from Me on the Map, I have grabbed a few living books, workbooks, maps, puzzles, and games. I strew these around the house for exposure and to see if it sparks interest or conversation. And it has! For example, one week my husband was traveling for work so I took out a giant US map and left it on the dining room table. Sure enough, my kids asked about it and I showed them how far Dad had to travel. They asked where some other family members lived and now they can point out random states that they feel connected to, aside from our own. Such a simple thing but hey… little steps! And that, my friends, is a quick lesson in geography for a 4 and 6 year old.

So today, I wanted to share some of these resources we have with you. You don’t have to have them, but I do like that they are going to grow with our family over the years and as we progress. I grabbed a few that I wanted to invest in from Thrift Books and some of these I will be taking out from our library from time to time, so you can totally do this on a budget. x