Travel the World

This school year, our kindergartner will be learning about the world, one continent at a time.

We are using these three books as spines for this year long world study:

1. National Geographic Beginner's World Atlas
2. The Usborne Book of Peoples of the World
3. The Usborne World of Animals (out of print, a more recent version can be found here)

Other resources, which we will use from time to time, include:

• Geography Through Art, by Sharon Jeffus & Jamie Aramini
• Missionary Stories with the Millers, by Mildred A. Martin
• Galloping the Globe, by Loree Pettit and Dari Mullins
• Children Just Like Me, by Barnabas & Anabel Kindersley
• The Usborne Book of Houses and Homes, by Carol Bowyer
• The Usborne Book of Peoples of the World, by Roma Trundle
• Around the World Coloring Book, by Winky Adam
• Holidays Around the World Coloring Book, by Joan O'Brien
• Christmas Aound the World Coloring Book, by Joan O'Brien
• The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book, by Bob Hartman

A couple more resources I found at our local library:

• Around the World in 80 Tales, by Saviour Pirotta
• Geography Crafts for Kids, by Joe Rhatigan & Heather Smith

Along the journey, we're adding plenty of other books specific to the continent or country we are studying, too.

Through it all, our kindergartner is creating a notebook which records our travels while noting his learning.

The very first page in his notebook he completed during the first few days of school.  We wanted him to know Who owned the earth.  He traced the words and added a bunch of stickers to decorate. {The cover of his notebook has a passage from Acts 17.}

Before we selected a continent to study, we introduced him to the world as a whole, and then taught him about globes and maps.  To help him better understand the difference between a map and a globe, I tried this little orange peel idea I have used with each of our children.  {Not sure where I first heard about this idea, but am ever grateful as I have used it many times to explain maps and globes.}

Our first stop: North America.