Customer Reviews

A Childs Geography Explore His Earth

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This is more than your typical geography book. In addition to such mundane terms as the equator and the hemispheres that we are all familiar with, you'll learn about the atmosphere, seismic waves, the hydrosphere, cartography...166 pages may not seem like much but this book has a lot to offer. Its conversational style and well thought out activities will make it a welcome addition to your homeschooling library. Examples of activities are making a model of the atmosphere, making an edible earth out of ice cream, investigating the earth's plates with play dough (including a recipe for making your own play dough), making a clock to tell the world's timezones, and much more. It includes a CD with templates for some of the activities as well as copywork.

But what I love about this book is its focus on the fact that this is God's world, not ours and how awesome His world is. The quality of the book itself is very good, the pages are thick and glossy, and full-color pages are alternated with black-and-white pictures.

My only real qualm is that this book is not available in hardcover, preferably a library binding, because I know I'll be using it for many years to come!

Forget the kids; I love this book. (Though the kids delight in it as well.) The lessons are so interesting and so well structured that even a less organized homeschooling parent will find him/herself planning out time to fit them into the day. My very imaginative 6 year-old LOVES the "Tell the folks at home all about it" sections. She amazes me with her anecdotes and her retention. Sometimes I catch myself wondering if we were really there, and I just imagined it came from a book. We have tried all the projects so far, and enjoy them immensely. They are inspired. Seeing the paper mache' globe hanging in my oldest daughter's room spurs conversations that reinforce what we have already learned as well as igniting interest in the next lesson... The quality of the actual book is excellent, text is age appropriate without being "dumbed down" like so many texts these days. I cannot be effusive enough with the praise.A Childs Geography Explore His Earth (Childs Geography) BUY THIS BOOK. Your children will want to save it to teach their own kids some day!

Some of our best homeschooling moments have taken place with this book! Written in a way that engages the child, I would say it would be enjoyed by any elementary-aged student. We have been using it for ages 5-11.

The book is divided into eleven chapters and includes read-aloud portions, notebooking activities, and hands-on projects. There is also a portion in each chapter titled Reaching Out to His World. These sections brought about our most meaningful discussions and prayer. At the end of each chapter there are additional resources listed for further exploration.

In my opinion, this could really be considered a unit study on God's earth that covers history, science, geography, missions, Bible, narration, writing, vocabulary, art...and probably more.

The title of this book is a bit misleading. One typically thinks of continents, locations, topography, and maps when you think of geography--or at least I do. This is not what volume 1 is about. Instead, Volume 1 is essentially a study of earth science. Some of the topics covered are the lower and upper atmospheres, the continents and oceans, the structure of the earth, latitude and longitude, and earthquakes and volcanoes. Typically, all of these fall under the study of earth science.

What makes this curriculum different are two particular aspects of how Ms. Voskamp writes about this subject.
1) She endeavors to inspire a wonder of God's creation in students. Frequently, scripture is cited and God is given frequent credit for his creation.
2) She is not disparaging of others who do not recognize that this world we live in is God's creation. I think it is wise to speak the truth in love, but we do not need to be disparaging.

The book is made up of 11 lessons. These lessons could be done once or twice a week. They are similar to unit studies, but I wouldn't divide them up over more than 2 days. In each lesson, there is a portion to read with your children. Then, there are a few short comprehension questions. After the lesson, students are asked to write a post card to someone about what they learned. There are templates for post cards on the CD-ROM enclosed with the book. You could mail the post cards or collect them in a notebook. Then, there is a section titled Reaching Out to His World which is intended to prompt students to think about the needs of other people. A list of possible books you can read for further resources follows. For each lesson, a field trip idea or other exploration and learning craft are also included.

As I read through this book, I was very impressed. I look forward to using this curriculum with my children. It lends itself to working well with multiple elementary age children. I think this curriculum would best be suited to grades 1-6. I loved how she spoke about the Lord and creation. I have been looking for a book like this that would help me explain that God has created everything and how marvelous that is! The sections on reaching out to the world will open up great opportunities to help my children become more aware of the struggles and suffering of others. I read through each craft and thought they were all feasible, made with inexpensive ingredients, not too labor intensive, and would be genuinely fun.

The only suggestion I have is in regard to supplemental resources I'd recommend. Definitely, you'll want to have a globe. There may also be concepts in this book that are difficult for students to understand the first time around. Beakman's World is an old show that you can watch instantly on Netflix. Several of the episodes are on concepts in this book. Veritas Press publishes a book and workbook (sold separately) titled Legends and Leagues. This book and some of the workbook could be tacked onto the end of this curriculum. It is helpful that each lesson has suggested reading resources. You may find that these resources help make up for the lack of pictures in this book. The pictures in A Child's Geography are small and there aren't as many as I have typically found in science books at the library.

I love the content of this book. It is well written. I do wish there were more pictures, but that can be supplemented. My plan is to use this in our fourth grade curriculum. I will follow it up with an Evan-Moor geography book and then do a study of the state we live in.

Please note that I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from Bramley Books.

Our family enjoyed this book last year in our homeschool. It gives a wonderful, rich, homey feel to the study of the earth and its geography. It is written directly to the reader and makes an excellent read aloud. The explanations of difficult to understand concepts (such as why it is hotter in the summer when we are farther from the sun, and colder in the winter while we are closer to the sun) actually clarified some of my own thinking. One of our favorite projects was tracking the "ship wrecked shoes" using lattitude and longitude. Talk about making a dry subject interesting. This is a lovely book that will appeal to many people (especially to those following a charlotte mason philosophy) and has been an asset in our home.

Our homeschooling family downloaded the e-version of this book, and we are enjoying this vocabulary packed curriculum. The writers do more than just talk about the geography of the world, they give reason and direction and inspire the reader to think. There are pictures and charts, ideas for exploring outside of each chapter, and we are taking our time in order to glean everything we can from the book. We recently discovered that there is even a review section in the back, which I am using as a basis for testing them on the covered material. We LOVE this book!

Ann Voskamp,(loved by many for her blog at AHolyExperience and her New York Times Bestseller, A Thousand Gifts), combines a heart of mercy with the mind of a scientist in this delightful and informative curriculum.

This book teaches so much more than geography!

Science, history, compassionate ministry, the Word of God, as well as geography, are all introduced by a warm and playful narrator who speaks to the reader as to an old friend. Facts come to life through illustrations and analogies. It takes true mastery of material to bring such substantive concepts down to the simple presentation contained in this work.

Lessons lead students to further studies by offering links and choice reading recommendations. In keeping with its appealing and effective layout, vocabulary words and important concepts are clearly identified by bolded text and illustrated where appropriate. There is much on these pages for little eyes to explore as they snuggle beside their adult reader.

Clear, usable teacher instructions and reasonable materials lists make it possible to actually do the optional activities described in the book. (The activities are truly optional and learning can be complete without them).

Each chapter contains a "Tell the folks back home all about it!" section which presents Charlotte Mason style prompts to help students narrate what they have learned. Notebooking postcards written by students create a collection that can serve as flash cards to help them retain their discoveries.

The "Reaching out to His world" section provides practical ways to extend the love of God to the people on our planet.

Accessible to little ones--yet filled with profound insights for the adult readers--this lovely book's high gloss, colorful pages abound with the love of Christ and the wonder and glory of God.

I love that "A Child's Geography" is written so simply, yet gives a wonderful depth of relavent information that leads the teacher and student on a wonderful journey through the world. It gives hands on activities and lists other outside sources that draw the student closer to the subject, tying the student to the place being studied. Some of the activities include notebooking & mapping activities, and "Excursions" that bring it to life, with text that is written with the curious student in mind, so they may practically apply it to their life. CD at the back of the book includes maps, quizes, postcards, and a Plate Tectonic Puzzle. Love it!

We bought the e-book version of this when Knowledge Quest first created it, and we loved it so much we bought the hard copy of the book when it came into print! (Snuggling on the couch with a good book with my five children is so much better than reading from a computer screen.)

We used this book in correlation with another Geography curriculum; we loved the way the narrative style incorporated all the things that we were learning in a grand story of the incredible world that surrounds us. Highly recommended by everyone in our house!

My daughter loved, loved, loved this book. She loved the readings, activities, notebooking, and especially the projects. She used it when she was 11 and was able to do most of it independently. This book makes learning geography fun.