Trail Guide to World Geography

[Michelle T]

Can anyone who has used this give me a review? What is a typical lesson like? Is it fairly easy for a child to do on their own? Is it interesting? Any comments, opinions, reviews are much appreciated!
Michelle T

[LisaNY]

Each "week" consists of four days. Each day has a set of questions geared to the three levels, gr. 2-4, 5-7, 8th-hs. For example, on week 22, Asia, Day 1's questions are:
2-4: In what country is the Yangtze River? What 2 countries, west of Japan, form a peninsula?
5-7: What three seas are north of Russia? What body of water separates Japan and N. Korea?
8th-hs: What region in China, known as the "Roof of the World", is the highest region in the world? The world's longest railway, the Trans-Siberian Railway, stretches 5764 miles between what two cities?

I compile index cards for all of the questions and drill my dd on them each time we do geography. (2-3 x per week) I have not been doing geography lately due to various things that are currently taking up our time.

Each "week" also consists of a "Mapping" section, where the student is given a list of items to mark on a blank map. (They use Uncle Josh's Outline maps)

A "Trailblazing" section lists various activities to choose from. (Salt maps, research/report projects, suggested videos, and more)

Students are encouraged to compile a Geography Notebook, and for each week, they are given a list of items to add to the notebook. (animal facts section, continent facts section, reports section, etc.)

Finally, an art section has suggested activities that cover arts/crafts of a particular region, learning about & drawing animals from that region, etc.

There is a lot to choose from each week, and you are not expected to cover it all. You basically tailor it to suit your needs. We covered the questions, maps, and did reports.

I really like this program, and my dc have learned a lot from it.

[HollyDay]

I didnt care for this program which surprised me. We used Trail Guide to Biblical Geography wiht MOH 1 so I thought this was going to be wonderful. But, I found the program to be very frustrating. We had difficulty finding answers to problems. The map work was frustrating. It was not as "plug and play" as I thought it would be. I spent most of the lessons searching between resources trying to find the answers. The Biblical Guide was not at all frustrating. Perhaps the limited scope of Biblical Guide made it easier to use, I dont know. This is strictly my personal experience - many, many people use and love this program. Can you view lessons online or look at someone else's book so you can see it for yourself?

[Nikita]

I've just purchased Trail Guide to use with my kids (9 and 13). I'm not keen on the Rand McNally atlases that they recommend, so I was looking at other student atlases wondering what might be good - National Geographic, Kingfisher, Oxford?

For those of you that have used this program, which atlases did you find were useful or frustrating for finding the answers?

Nikita

[JenneinAZ]

I would really get the atlas they recommend. Some of the answers are in the text sections in the atlas. Even to the point that the questions that are in the intermediate part can not be answered using the secondary atlas. It can be very frustrating.

Jenne in AZ

[Stacia]

It is as described by some of the other folks. I'm using the elementary level questions. We do the questions, mapping, and make the geography glossary for the notebook. We also add in some country reports (using their e-book form you can print), some crafts/art projects, and lots & lots of fables/stories from the part of the world we are studying (I do searches of the library system & request bunches of books).

We don't have the recommended atlas. However, I have a few others on hand that we've had for awhile. It's true that we don't always find the answer we need. But, it is helping my dd learn to research, look through multiple books for info, perhaps go to the encyclopedia, etc.... Personally, I think that's great experience & practice because real life doesn't just have one book that you can keep on the shelf w/ all the answers. Kwim? That said, I have a friend who wanted it to be 'open & go' & they do use the recommended atlas. She has said that, so far, all the answers are indeed in that one atlas.

I didn't care much for the look of the art/craft book that is recommended. Instead, we use MaryAnn Kohl's "Global Art".

We're getting a lot out of it, but I love geography, don't mind investing the time in finding lots of related storybooks, and don't mind teaching my child to 'treasure hunt' to find the answer. We don't stay on a set schedule & will probably take 2 years to complete the world trail guide. It works great for us. It might also work well if you just wanted to answer the questions & do the mapping, if sticking to the basics like that works well for your child.

As w/ many programs, I think it's the type of thing that you can love or hate, depending on how you choose to implement it & what your goals are.

Clear as mud. Right? ;)