Let’s Go Geography works perfectly as a Homeschool Co-op curriculum. Why? Because that’s what it was originally created to be!!
Of course, that’s the short version of the story. Here’s how it all happened.
[If you want to skip the story and just get to the nitty-gritty of how to use Let’s Go Geography in your co-op classroom, scroll down to the video at the bottom of the page!]
The Homeschool Co-op Curriculum Search
When I started teaching in our co-op, I quickly learned that finding Homeschool Co-op Curriculum was a challenge. A major challenge.
Actually, really frustrating.
Why so hard?
Because co-op curriculum is totally different than school, or even homeschool, curriculum.
What You Need in a Homeschool Co-op Curriculum
For starters, you need WEEKLY lessons. As in 1 per week. And enough activities to fill about 1 hour. And “regular” curriculum doesn’t do that.
At. All.
So when I started teaching co-op History many years ago, I had to create my own schedule & activities. Kind of a curriculum, but I didn’t write the content. I picked out a textbook, created a schedule for reading it, and plotted out weekly class activities and homework for the entire year, pulling ideas out of lots of different places.
OK, not too bad.
Then a year or two later I added an elementary Spanish class. Same scenario, only harder! This time I chose a curriculum, but revised and re-scheduled the thing to fit my once-a-week class. And wrote my own homework. And grabbed games and activities from everywhere else. Whew…that was work!
When my 3rd (and final) class came along, at least I was prepared to be creative all over again. But I was stumped. What would I do with geography???
A Homeschool Co-op Curriculum for Geography
It soon became painfully clear that there wasn’t anything out there that would work.
Geography Co-op Curriculum: Problem #1
First, everyone seemed to focus on the the same 10-20 countries. The “popular” countries. Countries everyone has heard of, lots of people visit, and that have lots of resources floating around the internet.
Problem. The world has more than those 10-20 countries!
LOTS more!
Geography Co-op Curriculum: Problem #2
Another problem. I needed a 3-year rotation. So the same kids could take the class for 3 years in a row and always have something new.
Yep, we were going to have to do many more than 20 countries!
Geography Co-op Curriculum: More Problems
And, obviously, if the same kids would be taking the same class over 3 years, the curriculum would have to be multi-age. In other words, kids from a span of grades could be in the same class at the same time.
And I wanted fantastic activities. And then crafts. And of course, engaging content. Oh, and the list just grew.
Nothing out there would do.
Geography Co-op Curriculum: Solution!
I had no choice but to create my own curriculum. A schedule. All the Activities. And even the CONTENT!!
It was truly a brand new curriculum. And that’s how Let’s Go Geography was born.
And it has all of those things that I couldn’t find anywhere else.
Which means, 3 Years of Weekly Lessons! That right there is a show-stopper.
And each lesson has a wide variety of activities to adapt to all different ages.
We color maps. We color and glue flags. Kids learn from books &/or video. We make a craft to remind us of our new country. Coloring pages are optional. Writing is an activity for older kids.
Oh, so much fun. Kids learn by seeing & doing. The activities involve them in the learning process from start to finish!
And I’ve already done all the work so you don’t have to. Just open and go!
Geography Co-op Curriculum: How It Works
So you’ve read all about it, but you’d love to see how it works in a typical classroom setting. I’ve got that covered for you!
Watch this video to see all the elements involved in a 1-hour, small classroom setting. I show you how I use everything, both in the K-2nd grade setting and with grades 3-5.
Want to know more?
Read about the curriculum here, and then
CLICK HERE to learn how Let’s Go can meet your homeschool co-op needs.
