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Curriculum Pick: Geography

Grade 5

I almost decided to use Trail Guide to World Geography by Geography Matters this year, but I decided a week or two ago that I’d rather wait for another year, when Harbour will get something out of it too. I already own it, thanks to one of the Build Your Bundle sales from a few years back.

Instead, we’ll be using a greatly scaled-back version of the geography program in Wayfarers: Ancient History. The Wayfarers geography readings are just too much for us. I’m planning to cut the Expedition Earth book entirely, given that the book of facts just didn’t appeal to either of us last year. I plan to keep an Introduction to Geography for Children, plus the Eat Your Way Around the World and Geography Through Art. As for the novels, we’ll read through them at half the speed as scheduled — and I fully expect that we’ll listen to them as audiobooks instead of reading them out loud.

I kind of want to tack on Map the World with Art too, because my daughter enjoys drawing and I think Ellen McHenry’s curriculums always look impressive. I’m not going to decide now, though; I’ll wait for a month or so and see how full our schedule feels.

Grade 1

Just like in history, Harbour will be reading through some picture books with me so that when she joins us in the hands on activities — the art and cooking — she has a bit of background knowledge. I don’t plan to do any geography beyond that.

Pre-School

I’m hoping that Forest will eat the foods that we make with Cooking Around the World. Goodness knows my picky girls aren’t going to touch the stuff. Unless we just stick to “plain rice as found in 196 different countries”.

Jump Ahead: Our Curriculum Pick for 2017/2018

Introduction
Math: Beast Academy and RightStart
Language Arts: Barefoot Ragamuffin and Brave Writer curriculums
History: Wayfarers: Ancient History
Geography: Wayfarers: Ancient History
Science: Science in the Ancient World
Bible: Episcopal Children’s Curriculum
Foreign Languages: Speaking French with Miss Mason and François and Latin for Children
Miscellaneous: Wayfarers: Ancient History