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JennGM
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CrunchyMom wrote:
I agree, Jen. Honestly, I think Social Studies is a silly name given to a subject that was intended to be a vehicle for promoting politically correct multi-culturalism at the expense of serious history study. I don't think it is really important as a subject since so much of that which is legitimate is covered in both history and geography. It seems like a subject that tries to be "all things to all people" without covering any of it very thoroughly. 
Just my not-so-humble opinion  Not trying to ruffle feathers or anything. I was just having a discussion with a friend where I concluded that so much of home schooling choices has to do with what works psychologically with the mother. I'd probably study a lot of the same things that someone else would label "social studies" but the name itself carries negative connotation for me. |
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Lindsay, we're on the same page. I was merely voicing that it covers the modern "Social Studies" but as far as using that term I.HATE.IT. 
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Jennifer G. Miller
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CrunchyMom
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Mackfam wrote:
CrunchyMom wrote:
| Is the Beautiful Feet Guide the sort of thing that could be spread out over a couple of years? |
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Absolutely! The guide is set up to coordinate with one of Holling's books at a time, so you could just follow the guide (I did so loosely even when we used it) as it corresponds to the Holling book you and the boys are reading. There is no particular order.
In my opinion, studying the Holling C. Holling books using this guide, would be best done over a period of years (2 - 3) anyway because of all of the rich literature rabbit trails the guide offers.
NOTE for use of the guide -- the Beautiful Feet guides are written with a Protestant emphasis. This is so easy to deal with - simply don't read a suggested resource.  It's one of the reasons I appreciate these guides so much - they're guides for me, and the children don't need to know if I've made a quick sub. This is seen more in other guides I think (I only have a few), but I wanted to give a heads-up for the Geography through Lit guide. There are only a couple of areas I found I wanted to make a substitution:
TREE IN THE TRAIL:
Lesson 8 - Suggested reading on the Cimarron Crossing emphasizing Jedediah Strong Smith, a Protestant (Methodist) man who really did live a wonderful life and is a fine example of a mountain man, trailblazer, adventurer (his story really is a very interesting one!!)...BUT...if you're looking to emphasize a Catholic perspective along this period of history, you might consider substituting or at least adding. We enjoyed reading a little about the Cimarron Crossing of the Arkansas river and then researching the many Catholic mission churches along the Santa Fe trail.
MINN OF THE MISSISSIPPI:
Lesson 2 - Just be aware of a suggestion to use a creationist resource on dinosaurs. This is an area that a family can easily substitute their family preference for teaching on dinosaurs. |
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I got my materials, and they are GORGEOUS! Did you actually draw on those maps like the guide suggests? I want to frame the maps they are so pretty. I think it might kill me to color on them 
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Lindsay
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Mackfam
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CrunchyMom wrote:
| I got my materials, and they are GORGEOUS! Did you actually draw on those maps like the guide suggests? I want to frame the maps they are so pretty. I think it might kill me to color on them |
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Well...yes and no!! We do color and illustrate the maps, but I bought some creamy colored card stock (which is a close match to the map) and the kids do the illustrating on the card stock, cut it out to be very trim (sometimes even matching the background color of the map so it blends) and then they glue it onto the map. The kids prefer this because they worry about making a mistake on THE BIG MAP and it's also nice because they use a variety of mediums for their mapwork and illustrations. This gives the map a neat collage look - sometimes they watercolor and sometimes they use color pencil, and one child even used a marker once {{which did NOT make me happy...but you know how you choose your battles...I didn't go toe-to-toe on this one}}. By the way, we used this method a lot...to correct mistakes on the map. Once, Sarah mis-spelled something, so she re-wrote it on the cardstock, colored it to match the background, glued it in place....whew!!
I know the maps are gorgeous now, but trust me, after all the hard work they do on the maps, you'll be REALLY attached to them!! I don't save much of my kids schoolwork AT ALL (who has room for all that stuff???) BUT....I save these maps because they become SO special! Sort of like the BOC. Such precious memories looking back at Sarah's maps....her sweet writing...and the little turtle she made...and the Conestoga wagon. swoon
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Jen Mackintosh
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JennGM
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Did you laminate your maps, Jen? That was what was recommended to me.
(I bought mine this weekend at IHM, too, from Sacred Heart Books and Gifts. Apparently it was a popular item!)
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Mackfam
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Nope. I didn't laminate. You'd have to do that after the maps are completed (which takes some time...it took us a couple of years to finish) and by then I loved seeing it just as it was....so didn't laminate.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Aagot
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I had the kids trace the maps onto paper (white paper on a roll from Wal-Mart). They did this by carefully taping the originals onto our window and then taping the white paper on top.
They loved the books and I appreciated the guide which I did tinker with at times.
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CrunchyMom
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Mackfam wrote:
| Nope. I didn't laminate. You'd have to do that after the maps are completed (which takes some time...it took us a couple of years to finish) and by then I loved seeing it just as it was....so didn't laminate. |
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Where did you keep it all that time?
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Lindsay
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Mackfam
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Inexpensive art portfolio that slid behind a bookshelf but could easily be pulled out when we worked on it.
We did keep one map out though - the one being worked on. We kept that in a clear plex poster frame which protected it from enthusiastic toddler writers. It was easy to remove for working on, and return the plex cover when the child was done with their mapwork.
(I'm linking quickly to give you an idea of what we used...I don't know if I've linked to the correct size art portfolio or poster frame....but hopefully you get the idea!)
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Jen Mackintosh
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JennGM
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CrunchyMom wrote:
Mackfam wrote:
| Nope. I didn't laminate. You'd have to do that after the maps are completed (which takes some time...it took us a couple of years to finish) and by then I loved seeing it just as it was....so didn't laminate. |
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Where did you keep it all that time? |
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Haha, Lindsay. In my mind I have a similar question, but it's more like "Where did you hide it? How did you protect it all those years?"
Could it be because I have boys?
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Mackfam
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JennGM wrote:
| Could it be because I have boys? |
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I do too, which is why I keep the CURRENTLY BEING WORKED ON map in a poster frame.
I'm having a hard time imagining how you would work on the maps if they were already laminated. You could enjoy the maps as they are, but you wouldn't be able to illustrate them or make them your own.
I measured the maps - they're 24 x 18 and fit our 24 x 18 plex poster frame exactly.
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Jen Mackintosh
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CrunchyMom
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Maybe I could mount it in a frame without a glass and keep it hung high on the wall so it could be worked on while still in the frame and then hung back up?
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Lindsay
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I was remembering this conversation as I was re-reading the Mater Amabilis Geography Helps Page tonight.
There are some good quotes here:
Quote:
Charlotte Mason on Geography
`Geography is, to my mind, a subject of high educational value’ [HE, 271]
`The peculiar value of geography lies in its fitness to nourish the mind with ideas, and to furnish the imagination with pictures.’ [HE, 272]
`How to begin? In the first place, the child gets his rudimentary notions of geography as he gets his first notions of natural science, in those long hours out of doors of which we have already seen the importance. A pool fed by a mere cutting in the fields will explain the nature of a lake …’ [HE, 273]
‘What next? – Give him intimate knowledge, with the fullest details, of any country or region of the world, any county or district of his own country.’ [HE, 274]
‘Geography should be learned chiefly from maps. Pictorial readings and talks introduce him to the subject, but so soon as his geography lessons become definite they are to be learned, in the first place, from the map. This is an important principle to bear in mind. The child who gets no ideas from considering the map, say of Italy or of Russia, has no knowledge of geography, however many facts about places he may be able to reproduce. [HE, 278]
‘Perhaps no knowledge is more delightful than such an intimacy with the earth’s surface, region by region, as should enable the map of any region to unfold a panorama of delight, disclosing not only mountains, rivers, frontiers, the great features we know as ‘Geography,’ but associations, occupations, some parts of the past and much of the present, of every part of this beautiful earth.’ [PE, 224]
Geography
Home Education, pp.271-78
Philosophy of Education, pp.224-340
Out-of-door Geography Home Education, pp.72-77 |
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And, an explanation of why/how MA used the framework that it did, which fits in with the earlier discussion on this thread:
Mater Amabilis wrote:
Why Geography and Earth Studies?
In geography, probably more than in any other subject, there is a wide difference between the British and American approaches. As a British homeschooler discovering American homeschooling catalogues I was bemused by the lack of resources available for one of the core subjects – geography. In British schools geography is typically given equal weight to history as a subject; in America this was clearly not the case. Then I came across a bafflingly unknown subject called ‘earth science’. Eventually the penny dropped. What Americans call earth science, the British include in geography. In the UK, geography covers all aspects of the study of the earth, its physical attributes and its peoples. Reading Charlotte Mason’s writings on geography and looking at old Parents’ Union School programmes make it clear that she too saw geography in this broad sense. We have opted to take the British approach and include earth science with geography to give a broad overview of all aspects of God’s world. For the sake of clarity we decided to use the term Geography and Earth Studies.
Our Approach
Charlotte Mason’s approach to geography in the early years of a child’s education including a substantial activity based element and a considerable amount of outdoor work. Tasks set included modeling geographical features with sand and clay, making plans of the local area and learning to tell time and direction from the sun. Often the work was personal to the child – learning about places visited by family members, studying familiar places. She advocated reading books of travel to introduce the child to ideas about the world (as part of the ‘children’s hour’ rather than as school work), and also prescribed a definite course of study from living books. In the absence of any books she considered suitable for introducing geography to children she wrote her own, the Ambleside Geographies.
Unlike history, geography is a subject where it simply isn’t possible to take advantage of well-written older books. The world is constantly changing – the political map of Europe is vastly different to the map of a century ago; lifestyles across the world are have changed dramatically; cities grow, new cities are built, jungles disappear, ice melts. None of the books used by Charlotte Mason herself, or even those used later by the PUS, are now available, and if they were they would be too outdated. Unfortunately, there is very little to take their place. Descriptive geography books suitable for younger children are few and far between. Substantial living books suitable for use as key texts are non-existent. Books about Britain for children are extremely hard to find. Faced with limited resources we have tried to cover a broad range of geographical topics, drawing on Charlotte’s ideas as much as possible. The availability of books has to some extent dictated the order in which we have approached topics.
Over the course of Levels 1 and 2 geography studies will include:
:: Introduction to geography through study of places with family connections.
:: A hands-on, activity based introduction to both land-based and water-based physical features of the earth.
:: Living books about life in a number of countries and environments.
:: Practical introduction to maps, plans and use of the compass.
:: Map work, aiming to build a sound knowledge of the political and physical map of the world.
:: Understanding, monitoring, recording and predicting weather.
:: Introduction to American geography using Holling C. Holling’s books.
:: An activity based geography scheme for British families. |
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Suzanne in ID
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Grace&Chaos
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Thanks Suzanne, As I'm reading through Home Education I really picked up on that gentle introduction to geography, especially when outdoors and in the early years. I loved her example of teaching time according to sun position. I had the girls go to the top of our hill and in their nature journals draw the adjacent mountains along with the position of the sun (put the time down). Later in the day they climbed back up and drew the sun's position a few more times and noting time again. It was a great nature study/geography lesson. I've tried to incorporate similar topics the same way. Islands at the beach earlier this week, direction from our home before we start our neighborhood walks...
I have the four titles by Barbara Taylor mentioned in MA for the lower levels. Has anyone used these? Enjoyed them? The lessons seem simple and spread out over two years. I was thinking about maybe using it once a week and our Hillyer as a read aloud once a week too. Expecting that it will also take us two years to get through.
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pmeilaen
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We bought the "Weather" book by Barbara Taylor and tried using it in second grade with my son. After a few weeks we gave up. Although very colorful, we didn't like the way the information was presented. The topics presented are very complex and in order to present them to young children they are very simplified. I did not think that a second grader needed to learn about high pressure and low pressure or climate. For an older child the explanations were not detailed enough. I now use some google books for the lower grades.
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Grace&Chaos
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pmeilaen wrote:
| We bought the "Weather" book by Barbara Taylor and tried using it in second grade with my son. After a few weeks we gave up. Although very colorful, we didn't like the way the information was presented. The topics presented are very complex and in order to present them to young children they are very simplified. I did not think that a second grader needed to learn about high pressure and low pressure or climate. For an older child the explanations were not detailed enough. I now use some google books for the lower grades. |
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The books do look very colorful, but I remember when I got them (several month ago) they reminded me of an encyclopedia type book. I ended up putting them aside, but the earlier post reminded me I had them. Thanks for your input. I'm going to pull them out and look again.
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pmeilaen
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Grace&Chaos wrote:
pmeilaen wrote:
| We bought the "Weather" book by Barbara Taylor and tried using it in second grade with my son. After a few weeks we gave up. Although very colorful, we didn't like the way the information was presented. The topics presented are very complex and in order to present them to young children they are very simplified. I did not think that a second grader needed to learn about high pressure and low pressure or climate. For an older child the explanations were not detailed enough. I now use some google books for the lower grades. |
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The books do look very colorful, but I remember when I got them (several month ago) they reminded me of an encyclopedia type book. I ended up putting them aside, but the earlier post reminded me I had them. Thanks for your input. I'm going to pull them out and look again. |
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Yes, they are like the books "The Well-Trained Mind" recommends for outlining and some of their narrations. They are published by Kingfisher, the publisher of the well-known history encyclopedias.
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Eva
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JennGM
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SuzanneG wrote:
Charlotte Mason on Geography
Geography should be learned chiefly from maps. |
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All very helpful, Suzanne, thanks.
This sentence jumped out at me, because we've been discussing how the use of GPS and online direction sites we're losing some key elements of learning. Now Miss Mason isn't talking travel maps here, but having those paper road maps and road atlas is just so beneficial in learning geography.
The GPS and direction sites are useful tools for us that learned on the road maps. It seems to me this falls in the same category as looking up in an encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus -- to actually go through the steps and look through real books and real maps -- are those key elements to learning? The added kinesthetic?
Just thinking out loud.
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Angel
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Bumping this thread to ask about the Beautiful Feet Geography Guide.
We're reading through the Holling C. Holling books right now (with my 8 and 6 yos). I thought it would be nice to have the maps, but how useful is the literature guide? Especially to someone who isn't going to follow it exactly as written?
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Angela
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pmeilaen
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I didn't find it very useful, I just read through the books with my daughter.
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Eva
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Mackfam
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I don't use the guide exactly as written, but do enjoy the it for ideas. I've used it loosely with two children now, along with the maps.
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Jen Mackintosh
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Halliburton or Hillyer for Geography
