Geography Fair 2024
Geography
Geography is often defined in terms of two branches: human geography and physical geography. Human geography deals with the study of people and their communities, cultures, economies, and interactions with the environment by studying their relations with and across space and place.
Physical geography deals with the study of processes and patterns in the natural environment like the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere.
For the purpose of this, we will mostly focus on HUMAN geography and will be pulling in physical geography as we go. As is the beauty of homeschooling you can keep this as simple or in-depth as you want depending on the age that you are working with.
Most of these resources are FREE!
U.S. Geography
We kicked off our state study by reading Flat Stanley….and then sending him off!
Family and friends were amazing in accepting our Stanley and sharing pictures with us!
Click the picture to see several options to choose from!
I have seen U.S. State geography taught in two ways: alphabetically, or by when they gained statehood! For the purpose of geography, I chose to cover these by when they gained statehood.
This allowed us to really pay attention to where the states were located, and why they are shaped the way they are!
Creating a notebook is an excellent way to keep things hands-on.
U.S. State Study for Homeschoolers
In addition to those notebook pages, I added a free coloring page and free flashcards from Crayola.
Coloring pages/flash cards. I had him cut out and glue the flashcards to oversized index cards and we kept them in a pencil holder bag in the notebook!
Next, I did a little research on Pinterest and found things that each state was known for.
For instance…
Delaware: The state bug is the Lady Bug and we made peach floats and crab cakes!
Pennsylvania: Magic Tree House books are set there, the Ground Hog, and Hershey is considered the Chocolate Capital of the United States.
New Jersey: First Drive-in, Honey Bees, etc.
So we played on those themes through the week.
All kids love getting mail so this addition to our state’s study was really fun for him. At Ben and Me, you’ll find the sites to order tourist info from each state!
Some states go all out with books, brochures, and full-sized maps! This part does require a little planning ahead as it can take 4-5 weeks for you to get the things. The downside is you’ll eventually have a LOT of stuff to get rid of! LOL, but this really brought the states home! EVERY state!
Many states have distinguishing landmarks and PaperToys has FREE printables where you can fold 3D models of them. These include…
- Mississippi Queen Riverboat
- Mount Rushmore
- Statue of Liberty
- U.S Capitol Building
- White House
- World Trade Center Complex
- Wrigley Field
- Brooklyn Bridge
- Chrysler Building
- Empire State Building
With more in production!
Cooking across the states is a yummy way to help remember the states and their geography.
For instance, in Delaware, we made crab cakes and learned of its coastline!
It’s always easier to learn things through song and this state song video is excellent!
It pairs the singing with the showing where they are!
The video has short and sweet videos on all 50 states. Kids LOVE an excuse to watch YouTube!
Now. If ALL of that isn’t enough and you would like to add more crafts, printables, and food options, the Homeschool Giveaways and Freebies have completed a total unit study on each of the 50 states!
World Geography
In keeping with the previous theme this can be as simple, or have as much added in as you want.
The Social Studies are my favorite thing and I always tend to stray off on rabbit trails with the kids!
That being said, having a path to follow is helpful! For that, I like All-In-One Homeschool.
This is a completely FREE resource!
What I intend to use in the coming months is Let’s Go Geography. They offer a FREE geography lesson!
I downloaded and printed it and really like it! The cost for this program is you get 32 weeks of lessons that can be used with multiple kids in varied grade levels
for only $16.99 for one semester or $27.99 for an entire year. So not free, but a very reasonable price.
The FREE lesson is “Our Amazing World” and a perfect getting started point!
THis is when I start adding in the extras.
Something my son does is spend 20 minutes a day touring museums. Thanks
to Google Arts and Culture Collections, there are hundreds of museums from all over the world that he can stroll through virtually.
Choosing the directions and artifacts he wants to look at. If you go to Google Arts and Culture and click on a museum if there is a little person icon on the cover photo can be toured virtually.
If you are a member of the Adventure group I have taken these museums, sorted out the ones you can tour, and arranged them by country making them easier to align with your geography lessons!
As before, food is always a great way to help make a region stick in the memory.
For World Geography you can’t beat World Market. I can’t even count the number of countries represented at Whole Market. You can search their website by country and they will show the things they have.
You can also check the back of the packaging in the store, it’s listed there. They have cookies, candies, drinks, and main dishes!
My son will tell you his favorite way to visit new countries is through LIVE animal cams.
His favorite is to watch the sunrise over Africa. They have 4 cameras trained in different areas of this East African reserve.
An added bonus to this is that you can teach about time zones. Here in Alabama we have to wait for about 9:30pm or later to catch it.
If you are an Adventurer I have gathered animal cams in 11 different countries, and provided unit study materials to accompany them.
In addition, I have recently discovered National Geographic Education.
They have Classroom Resources, Professional Development, Student Experiences, and a blog!
Osearch Tracker allows you to track animals all over the world as well. They use maps heavily as well. “Their mission is to return the balance and abundance to the ocean, through research, education, and previously unattainable data in the ocean.
So far, they have tagged 330 animals and you can watch and follow their journey, in the deep blue sea!” You can see the tagged animals’ lifespans, and track their movement around the oceans and waterways.
While I was finding animal cams, I stumbled across another site that has LIVE cams of many famous places all over the world!
As with the animal cams this gives you an opportunity to teach map skills and time zones! Skyline Webcams has over 50 cams where you can find where the location is, watch Time-lapse videos, and check out the weather!
Once you have covered some area the GeoGuessr app is an excellent and addicting game of trying to figure out where in the world you are by being dropped somewhere at random at Google Street view!
Sometimes they are easy and they give you signs, MANY times you just have to try and guess by what you have learned and seen in your research of countries.
A fun video to try and learn all the countries is Nations of the World – With Lyrics – Animaniacs.
Something for younger kids is PBS’s Let’s Go Luna HQ! Check out the Broadcast Schedule, or watch anytime here at PBS Kids or on the PBS KIDS App!
I LOVE lapbooks and if they are something you enjoy Homeschool Share has MANY countries available for easy print and use.
In addition to lapbooks for specific countries, there are lapbooks for books that go with specific countries like “The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship: A Russian Tale” and many more!
This will require a little more digging on your part. But this site has a great search engine to help you find what you need.
All-In-One Homeschool, the FREE site from earlier, also has Music Geography and
Cultures
“The focus this year is on learning about instrument families and individual instruments. They will learn about how each instrument makes music and will listen to music featuring each instrument. Students will also learn about composition,
instrumentation, pitch and dynamics in music. Finally, students will learn about types of instruments used around the world.”
These are many of the places I pull from, and I know I have more I am leaving out (don’t worry, I will add them as they come to me 😉 ) but these are also great starting points. From here you can branch off even more, as far as the rabbit hole takes you.
We have used SKrafty, online Minecraft games, Teachers Pay Teachers, free printables to study holidays from all over the globe, and finally, we have MANY maps hanging on our walls.
I can’t even tell you how often we have used those maps in discussions of the smallest to biggest things!
Happy traveling!
Geography Fair Sponsors
Genesis Remodeling & Repair
Owned by a local homeschool family, we love serving both the homeschool community in town and the larger Mobile community.
Teach M::bile
TeachM::bile is open to help your family navigate the many aspects of homeschooling.
Erin's Gulf Coast Homeschool Adventures
Unlock a world of exciting, educational experiences for your homeschooling journey!
Compass Point Christian Academy
A Christian academy located in Saraland, AL.
Child of the Wild
Our mission is to encourage curiosity, exploration, and a deep appreciation of nature through child-led free play in the great outdoors along the Gulf Coast in Alabama.
Gaillard Tech Services
Professional Web Development, Coding Tutoring, and Tech Services in the Mobile/Baldwin area!
