With 50 states and 195 countries (including the Holy See and the State of Palestine) it can be daunting to tackle geography at any age. Stories abound about how school children are ignorant of basic geography and social media is always pointing out the hapless soul that doesn’t know that Africa is a continent and not a country.
Not wanting my son to be one of those aforementioned people, I started early with his geography education. We travel quite a bit, so we began “collecting” states. Any time we entered a new state we had to stop and get a photo in front of the “Welcome to” sign. I also started including him in trip planning, so he could get comfortable looking at maps, both print and digital.
Of course, as he got older, the need for a more focused approach became apparent. I remember reading many years ago about a homeschool mom that bought her children educational placemats. The children would see the map of the United States or the Solar System or the letters of the alphabet at every meal and it would eventually stick. Well, I decided to take that idea and go a step further. I started by posting a placemat map of the U.S. on the refrigerator door. My little one saw the map everyday and started asking questions. At that point I knew he was ready to begin a more structured study of the 50 states.
I took an afternoon and made two sets of cards. The blue ones ask him to find specific states, but the white ones are a little trickier. Those cards ask a question that points him to a particular place. Sometimes he knows the answer (what state were you born in?) and other times he needs to ask someone the answer. For example, with the world map (which we just added) the question might be “where is the Eiffel Tower located?” He knows it is in Paris, but he needs to ask someone what country Paris is in to find the answer to the question on the card. I change out the cards every day and he always has one blue and one white card. I have 100 cards for the U.S. map (50 blue and 50 white) and I am working on the cards for the World map. I am making those cards green and yellow so I can easily keep them separate from the U.S. cards. Once I get to the beginning of the stack, I mix them up and start all over. Repetition is key here, although at the end of the year I will be updating the white cards to keep it interesting.
I have made map work a regular part of his schoolwork. While the activity is not on the easel, there is a reminder on the whiteboard to do his map work. It is also convenient having the maps posted in the kitchen so I can answer those spontaneous geography questions that pop up from time to time. I also use the maps as a general guide to show Jack where we are going when I am planning our various trips. So far the system is working great and Jack is beginning to form a mental map of the world and his place in it. I have plans to start including State and Country capitals, spoken languages and cultures.
