Let’s Go Geography Continents, Countries, & Cultures allows a Junior High student to explore the world through research.
So how do you use the book?
Start with the Curriculum Lesson
First, let’s start at the beginning. The Let’s Go Geography curriculum is structured so you can use its foundational geography lessons for all ages.
With that in mind, we suggest you start with a foundational geography lesson from the curriculum to include all the ages & grades in your home.
The foundational Let’s Go Geography curriculum for Year 1 is available here.
Your age-inclusive geography lesson would introduce the country to your students. All students will…
- read basic facts and information together
- find the country on their CONTINENT maps & explore further as directed
- color the flag (Jr. High uses colored pencils) & put it in the appropriate place (on the Atlas journaling page 1 for Junior High)
- look at photos & read their captions
- view the short videos included in the lesson
Follow Up with Continents, Countries, & Cultures
After these activities are finished, students will break off to their own assignments, depending on their age.
Grades K-2 make a craft, which is included in the curriculum.
Grades 3-5 have their own journaling in Discovery Packs (sold separately).
The Junior High grades turn to Continents, Countries, & Cultures for a COUNTRY map and 2 journaling pages to complete, as well as a Geography Glossary Term to define & illustrate. The Teacher Key (required) is sold separately.
4 Parts to Every Geography Assignment
In a homeschool, the student will complete four assignments like this:
1) First comes the Glossary. Students will define & illustrate the new word, using an atlas, a dictionary, or the internet to look things up.
2) Secondly, the Country Map asks questions & helps the student notice and identify key places. There is one worksheet per country. Colored pencils are required for working on the maps. Often, the student will need another resource (an atlas or a map from the internet) to complete this page.
3) Lastly, students will use the information they just read & watched with their siblings to complete the 2 Atlas pages, but they will have to do further research via books, an atlas, or the internet.
4) When the work is done, and before the teacher corrects anything,
the student should share his/her research audibly with his teacher, as well as other siblings, if desired.
The Teacher’s Turn
And then it’s time to correct the student’s work.
After the student’s oral presentation, the teacher quickly scans the Atlas page 2 for handwriting, neatness, spelling, and thoroughness. If the research was sparse, the teacher can check the Teacher Key for other ideas.
Next, the teacher reviews the completed Glossary term, & then corrects the Atlas page 1 and the Country Map, using the Teacher Key.
Time for Geography
So how long does this take?
Keep in mind that all homeschools are different, so the following are purely estimates!
All students will need about 15 – 30 minutes to go over foundational facts, pictures, and video clips in the Let’s Go Geography lesson. Then the Junior High student will need about an hour to finish the Glossary, the Country map, and the 2 journaling pages. This time includes researching in books, an atlas, or the internet, and writing down his or her observations.
Junior High Geography Schedule
The Junior High Schedule is slightly different than the Let’s Go Geography curriculum. Younger grades focus on 30 different countries/regions per year, while Junior High does 27.
Why the difference?
Junior High has 3 Review Days for games or quizzes. Since these students are putting so much more work into their assignments, they need the breathing room that the Review days give them to refresh & recharge.
Of course, you still have the option to cover all the curriculum countries if you desire. If you would like to include ALL the countries, combine the Review days with one of the countries not included in the Junior High book. This means you would read the foundational facts, find locations on continent maps, and look at the photos & video clips in the curriculum for that country. You just wouldn’t be doing any written work or adding anything to your own Atlas for that country. Although the written assignment would be the Review Quizzes, the student would still get a good look at the country. Again, this is purely optional, based on your own preferences.
CLICK HERE to try the Let’s Go Geography core curriculum with a FREE Sample Lesson.
CLICK HERE for How To Use Let’s Go Geography Junior High in a Classroom
Have any questions? Feel free to contactus@letsgogeography.com!
