Homeschooler Savvy

Teaching History and Geography using Sonlight Curriculum

Sonlight Curriculum for History and Geography

Love looking at books?  Love Reading to your kids?  Try this curriculum.

PROs: This curriculum has a wonderful way of teaching history and geography by immersing the children in very exciting and factually accurate novels which correspond with the time or place being studied.  Through reflective questions posed after each chapter (questions and answers are provided by Sonlight), they come to understand better what they have read.  Their comprehension and vocabulary soars.  Each curriculum can be used with multiple grade children (they guide you fairly accuratly). 

My children have become voracious readers, which I attribute to the emphasis on reading great books through the Sonlight Curriculum.  They look forward to snuggling up on the couch or before bedtime for the stories and often beg for us to read just one more chapter. 

Cons: You are supposed to read to your kids, your kids are supposed to read the books allocated for them.  This takes more time than simply handing them a history or georgraphy workbook.  At least somewhere in the vicinity of 30-45 minutes a day of you reading and about 30-45 minutes a day of them reading.  Of course this varies depending on grade and age. 

One problem is that sometimes the books I am reading are so exciting I sneak ahead, which makes it harder when I have to read it over to the kids.  This is a weakness I am working on.  Sometimes the kids get through the story books they are meant to read so fast they get ahead of the rest of the curriculum.

I began using the Sonight Curriculum for History and Geography just after I finished using the Montessori Method to teach my first child to read.  It is a transition which worked for us!

Any other experiences with Sonlight History-Geography?

Don't forget to about using Google Earth and Geography together.

Aussie Kim

Integrating Google Earth into History and Geography

No matter which Geography or History curriculum you are using (or if you are unschooling), you can REALLY jazz it up and give your kids a more wholistic view of the world with GOOGLE EARTH.

This is how we use it: When studying China we learnt about the Terracotta Warriors or the Entombed Warriors, we were then able to enter the town name on the Google Earth screen, and we were instantly "Flying" over to China, and ZOOMING down to the town of Xi'an for a look around. 

People post their snaps (photos) of these locations onto Google Earth.  You are able to see what the place looks like by clicking on these photo sites, as well as viewing the aerial images that make up Google Earth.  On top of this, Google Earth includes photos and information about significant places on the map as well. I promise you (and the kids!) will want to stay on Google Earth for hours!!  They notice things on Google Earth that no amount of talking will explain to them. After looking at some of these towns in China, my kids were amazed at how close the houses were together for such big cities. Go look at Mount Everest or see how BIG the Amazon Jungle is (and how much of the edges are logged!), or how LONG the Mississippi River is!  Like I said, you could stay on there all day!

This simple addition to our schooling has made a big difference to the childrens' perspective on the earth and the topics of geography and history.  Try it yourself! 

Google Earth Free Version

This is a photo (taken from an aeroplane (airplane) of where???  Clue: it is the capital of Australia! (Double click = more detail)

P.S. With this version you can also "fly" around the solar system.  Now how about that for improving your science curriculum!

PPS Put a timer on before you start flying around the world, or leave this activity as the thing to do once the other schoolwork is done......(trust me on this one...we did it wrong, so you can do it right!)

Aussie Kim

Here's a P.S. from LA Sue - The Sphinx and the Pyramids are our favorite things to visit using Google Earth.

What's your favorite?