Has anyone used Galloping the Globe or other method for preschool?

[iteachmine]

I have been looking into ways to help teach my preschooler about "geography". What method/program did you use to begin this type of teaching with a 4yr old?

I did not homeschool my older child for preschool, so this stage is "new" to me. :-)

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Linda]

I'm using Galloping the Globe now with my 5 and 6 yo. It's a great introduction to other countries, landmarks, famous people, etc.

We pick a country and we locate it on the world map and the globe. I print off a little copy of the flag and stick it in a pretend passport (found in the scrapbook aisle at AC Moore).

Then we read whatever we can find on the country--picture books, encyclopedia entries, whatever. Depending on the country, we may go deeper with artists or inventors or other famous people from the country.

Throughout the week or two, we color pictures or I print some off from the Internet. Maybe we do a related craft and, if possible, we end the study by eating at a related restaurant.

At the end of our study, they narrate a few sentences and all of our coloring pages, drawings, and whatever else we may have created go in the handy dandy notebook.

Geography was sorely overlooked in my own education, so it's been a blast for me. Oh, and the kids seem to be retaining a lot too :).

Hope this helps.

[kalanamak]

anything formal. I have a globe, a map the size of a placemat (it is paper and in a tearaway pad, so I could write on it and them start with a fresh one tomarrow), and a big classroom sized cardboard book (goodwill) with the continents and oceans.

Any time I was reading, and a place was mentioned, I pointed it out and talked briefly about it. We pointed where relatives live, and I trailed a finger along drives I've taken. I mention famous places there. We looked at photos of the Taj Mahal or Delphi, etc and I'd point their location out. Learning about kangaroos? Point out Australia

It helps I've been on 5 continents, in 49 US states, and my dad was a prof of geography, but I think anyone could do this at a level a 4 year old would appreciate.

For K4 and K5 I did only the three R's and hands on science tricks, and all history, etc was integrated with what we were reading. Just my approach. Having the maps, globe RIGHT THERE made me remember to do it. HTH

[K&Rs Mom]

I used GTG with my 5 & 3yo (she turned 3 halfway through) and was amazed how much the younger one retained. She was mostly tagging along with big sis, but has no problem keeping up and still remembers at least some of the info months later. I didn't do the "full" program, just the geography part, focusing on a country or two each week. My intent was mostly to do a quick overview of how different cultures are, and give them a general idea where things are in the world, and it definitely accomplished that! :) I've read "news" reports that a large percentage of highschoolers can't find their own state on a globe, and we're past that anyway....

If you want a more full-structure preschool program, check out www.letteroftheweek.com - it's free, and has several levels so you can move up if it's too easy, or you can finish one and move right into the next if you're going quickly. I've heard great things about Five In A Row also, and our library has at least one of them, so that's another place to check.

[SandraDumas]

but you will learn a little geography with Five in a Row. I can't say enough about Five in a Row. Their website is www.fiarhq.com I think FIAR is a wonderful start to a Classical education. Getting children to love books and learning, and getting mom to see literature through the trained loving eyes of Jane Claire Lambert is highly useful for a CM or Classical mom. There are also story disks that you color and put on your map as you go from book to book, and several titles teach more than one country or place.

[KIN]

We did this in K and loved it!