I was recently asked by a homeschooler if she should teach geography with history. As in, geography was included in her history curriculum, so is combining the two a good idea?
And that’s a really good question.
At the time of this question, I was participating in a Live Q & A for a homeschool summit with Embracing Homeschool. But unfortunately my brain was operating on a “I-think-I’m-awake” basis due to just plain not feeling well that day. And honestly, my answer was kind of a rambling succession of random thoughts. And because I ended up so dissatisfied with my response, I decided to answer the question with a blog post!
So here’s what I REALLY think about combining geography with history, for all the homeschool moms that have the same question.
After all, including geography with history is a very common practice in the homeschool world. Many history curricula advertise this as part of their packages. Easy, peasy. And it’s one more box checked. One more thing off your plate.
But a word of caution here. And a, “Not so fast.”
I guess it’s now obvious that I’m not a huge fan of that approach. And here’s why.
First, the geography in most of those history programs is yesterday’s world. So, yes, your child looks at maps. Lots of them, even. But they are all from hundreds or thousands of years ago.
And things today are vastly different.
Think about it. Mesopotamia of yesteryear is a far cry from today’s Middle East. The North American continent didn’t even show up on the radar that long ago.
Look at Europe. The Hapsburg Empire of central Europe no longer exists. Several other countries have taken its place. And the list goes on.
Countries come and countries go, the landmarks change, the cultures change. And that’s just for starters.
Suffice it to say that historical geography will not show your student the world he or she needs to know to live intelligently in it today. And they need to have that grasp on things. World events don’t resonate when you don’t understand your world.
Granted, some history programs branch out a little further. I use a great textbook for my history co-op classes. I truly LOVE this book. And each chapter has a paragraph or two explaining some part of the world in current terms.
It’s admirable. Helpful, even. But without my background in geography, I think I’d be a bit lost. It’s a lot of information that’s hard to relate to unless you have a vested interest in that part of the world.
What in the world (pun intended!) do I mean by that?
Think of it like this. If someone tried to explain to you their favorite way to make brownies, but you had never baked before in your life and you really didn’t like brownies, then the information would probably go in one ear and out the other. BUT…if you had just baked brownies the other day, loved baking, and wanted to have the best recipes under your belt, you would eat up that advice. (Ha! Another pun!)
In the same way, explaining the Iberian Peninsula to a student who doesn’t live anywhere close by and really could care less is pretty much wasting your time. On the flip side, if you had just explored one of the countries on that peninsula–like Spain, for instance–looked at pictures, saw video clips, and researched more via an atlas or the internet, then Spain becomes more than just a place on the map. Now you have some skin in the game. So when you transition into explaining the Iberian Peninsula, now you’re getting somewhere. The information becomes meaningful, interesting, and relevant.
When you can relate, even in a small way, the game changes.
Unfortunately, those well-meaning geography facts in your history chapter are probably not making a long-term impact on most readers. Sad, but true.
I just don’t think most history textbooks or curricula can offer the same engagement as a good geography curriculum can.
If you use your history text as your geography source, you may be able to check geography off the list, but it probably didn’t do your student(s) a lot of good, if any. As in, you may have wasted your time. Your student may still be fairly clueless about the globe and the countries on it.
As a result, I am not a fan of replacing geography completely with your history curriculum, no matter how good your history book is. Doing so every now and then may be OK, but taking the time to genuinely explore the world with a good geography curriculum should have a big place in your long-term academic plan as well.
And by a “good geography curriculum” I mean one like Let’s Go Geography. In other words, one that opens up the world via lots of photos and video clips. One that encourages fun with hands-on crafts and projects for the younger elementary child. One that requires the older elementary (& up) student to research more with an atlas or the internet. One that lets students explore their world over and above reading snippets of information from a printed page.
And that, my friends, is the answer I SHOULD have given in the LIVE Q & A the other day. But maybe my blunder was a good thing, or I may never have written this blog post!
To be fair, the questioner also asked if using personal travels as a basis for teaching geography was a good idea, but that’s a subject for another blog post. I’ll link my answer here when I’ve written about it!
