Note: We are homeschoolers, using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures this coming school year. This post mainly has to do with my planning specific to that curriculum, but contains lots of fun links. :)
In preparing for the fall, I came across "continent boxes", a super neat way to make geography hands on and fun for my little ones! This blog has some great photos and ideas of what to put it each box. Here is another blog with details on how to do this. This person on Pinterest has several boards with ideas pinned for continent boxes. I'm excited about putting ours together. (ETA: Here is a forum thread with tons of ideas.)
This blog has ECC specific printables and a link to the MFW Blogroll.
Homeschool Share has some geography related lapbooks.
This is a blog that contains a years worth of weekly posts about ECC.
Paper dolls from around the world will be fun to make.
Here are more coloring pages from around the world in case we need them, and flag coloring pages too.
We purchased the dvd series Planet Earth to use throughout the year. I'll have to screen it for predator scenes, but there is some gorgeous scenery in it that we will enjoy. Someone put together this list of countries studied in ECC and related parts on the dvd:
Week 5-6 Mexico: "Deserts" Disc 2 Episode 2
Week9-11 Brazil: "Jungles" Disc 3 Episode 2
Week 12-13 Norway: "Seasonal Forests" Disc 4 Episode 1
Week 14-15 France: "Caves" Disc 2 Episode 1
Week 16-17 Germany: "Fresh Water" Disc 1 Episode 3
Week 18-20 Kenya: "Great Plains" Disc 3 Episode 1
Week 23-24 India: "Mountains" Disc 1 Episode 2
Week 27-28 Japan: "Ocean Deep" Disc 4 Episode 2
Week 29-30 Russia: "Ice Worlds" Disc 2 Episode 3
Week 31-32 Australia: "Shallow Seas" Disc 3 Episode 3
Week 33-34 Antarctica: "From Pole to Pole" Disc 1 Episode 1
My Father's World has a message board with plenty of ideas to go along with ECC, books, websites, CDs, games, and more. I'm going to start with ECC as is for the most part and then pull in other resources if we need them.
We will also be using the library often and finding books about the countries that we study.
Not really ECC related, but we made a trip to Costco today and I picked up a giant package of glue sticks, a large box of copy paper, and a package of 3 ring binders, all at great prices. :) I also just had a new printer delivered to my doorstep the other day. The girls will be excited to go pick out a few new school supplies soon too.
I joined this yahoo postcard group and haven't looked into it much, but we'll be trading postcards with people later on this year.
I'm looking forward to starting - just a few more weeks of summer!
Wow! Thanks for the ideas! We are doing ECC this year too. I would love to hear how you like the postcard yahoo group when you start using it.
ReplyDeleteWe loved our year with ECC and I am already looking forward to another journey in a few years to come with my littlest ones.
ReplyDeleteI also created some Continent Boxes and we love them!
Here is a link:
http://allofakindfamily.blogspot.com/2011/04/geography-continent-boxes.html
Blessings on your World Journey ahead!
~Tamara
Yes, you are the first link in my blog post! ;) Thanks for the ideas!
DeleteLooks like fun. I have some "country expert" posts on Compassion Family. I'm thinking more in terms of where your sponsored kids live, but you might find some good links, book suggestions and other resources in those posts that would go along nicely with this curriculum.
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of the Families of the World dvds? We've gotten several from our library and love them.
Thank you! I'll check those out (the posts and the dvds)! :)
DeleteThis is so helpful! We will be beginning our first year of homeschooling and we are excited to begin ECC in a couple of weeks. Thanks so much for your time and thought that went in to this.
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