Geography

We spent most of the weekend out of the house enjoying the company of friends and the autumn sunshine, maashAllah. I seem to go through cycles of being indoors a lot and then out a lot. The state of the housework is a good indicator of what cycle I'm in.
Anyway, today was a busy learning at home day, so I hardly saw any part of the house that is not the kitchen and dining room.
Geography. Last year we didn't do much geography related work. I seem to remember some good documentaries being watched, and of course some library books with geography themes, online puzzles and games but no more than that. For this year I thought we'd try the Trail Guide to World Geography by Cindy Wiggers. I first heard about this on a blog somewhere I think, and then I read more about it on a forum where it was given a good review by a very experienced home educator, so I thought I'd give it a go. it basically provides a structure for a touring study of different parts of the world, along with the learning of geographical terms and facts. I like the fact that it is not too prescriptive. There are lots of ideas to investigate, but you can use the structure to investigate the countries further in any way you want to, looking at the aspects most interesting to your own children. Some will want to know more about the animals, others about the culture, the landscapes or even the foods. In a way these things may seem obvious, but when you work mostly on your own you lack that other person to bounce about ideas with, and this book can act like the other half of the dialogue. It suggests something, from which you think of something else, and so on. I imagine it will take a long time to use this book fully, as we'll be constantly digressing...
There are also lots of accessories to go with the book if you like, but I'll be improvising as usual!
The boys will be working on this in topic blocks, a couple of weeks at a time inshAllah, then a break for something else and so on.
Ia is also getting her own spin off version. When the boys were her age they did a "Where I live" project, which I am planning to do with Ia this year too, inshAllah. However, hers has been extended to cover looking at the continents and oceans first too. We'll have a look round the continents coming to Europe last, then we'll zoom into the UK, then into our town and the local streets, rather in the way you can zoom in and in on Google Earth, until you can almost see your house. There you go, that's my plan, a project version of zooming in on Google Earth. Let's see if it works, inshAllah!