With our oldest stepping into middle school this year, I may seem a bit obsessed with geography, but it’s for good reason. I’ve realized how challenging the memorization of world geography can be.
Result: I’m starting to slowly equip our current 4th grader for it.
After asking our 9-year-old to trace South America daily for a few weeks, I’ve found the value in simply tracing maps to gain familiarity of world geography.
Aside from blob maps, map-drawing has seemed a bit elusive for him in the past, as he’s not much of a spatial reasoner. However, after just a few weeks of map tracing, he has memorized nearly half of South America (i.e., he can draw and label nearly half the countries freehand from memory). The surprising thing? He is loving it!
And aren’t we seeking to cultivate a love of learning?
We are taking it slowly, working through South America and transitioning to Africa later this semester. You might want to start with Africa and transition to South America. Either way, I have a freebie for you, thanks to special permission granted from Daniel Dalet of d-maps.com. I’ve put together a simple atlas of maps that are easy to use with tracing paper. I’ve also included a map-tracing geography plan in the form of a loop schedule, the timing of which you can adjust for your own family’s needs or wishes.
My goal with this is not to produce mastery of world geography before middle school but rather to provide familiarity with the continents and countries to lessen the load when a student formally tackles memorization of the world. South America is one of the simplest continents to start with, so we’re starting there and working our way casually around the globe for the next two-three years using the maps below. My hope is that the daily exposure to world geography will provide him with familiarity that will help him later down the road when he is officially memorizing the world.
Care to join us? Let us know if you decide to try it out!
Download the HHAW Printable Atlas (7.6 MB).
In elementary school, our youngest children memorize all the countries of the world through Kathy Troxel’s Audio Memory Geography Songs CD/Booklet. Highly recommended!
Geography Songs CD, Book, & Map Kit
Memorize the world through song! Divided by geographical regions, these echo-style songs make it simple to memorize the countries of the world. The audio CD includes 34 songs that teach the names of 225 countries, the continents & oceans, and the planets of the solar system. This resource is used in our Mission: World Wonders and Mission: Faith Forgers curriculum.
Suggested grades: Elementary through Middle School
Price: $22.95
Format: Kit consists of an audio CD, a 25″ x 36″ world map with items to label and song lyrics, and a family-reproducible workbook with lyrics and maps.
After your student has a concept of the world with blob mapping, you will want to focus on drawing each continent in greater detail. For this, we recommend Draw the World.
During our study of American history we use Draw the USA to memorize the states. It’s a great way to simplify memorizing how to draw the USA free-hand. In fact, if you’re memorizing how to draw the world freehand, we highly recommend the entire Draw the… [Continent] books by Kristin Draeger.
For more detailed instructions, grab a copy of Draw the World and/or Draw the USA.
Draw the World
Learn to draw the world from memory! Draw the World provides students with a simple method of committing a continent outline map of the world to memory. Through simple, step-by-step instructions, students learn to draw each continent as it connects to neighboring continents. This resource is also used in the Mission Pacific Peacemakers Six-Week Unit Study.
Suggested grades: Elementary through High School
Price: $19.95
Format: Paperback.
Draw the USA
Learn to draw and label the United States of America from memory! Draw the USA provides students with a simple method of committing the map of the USA to memory. Through simple, step-by-step instructions, students learn to draw each state as it connects to neighboring states. This resource is used in Units 5 & 6 of our Mission: Lasting Liberty curriculum.
Suggested grades: Elementary through High School
Price: $19.95
Format: Paperback.
Fortunately, we’ve already memorized the countries of the world through Kathy Troxel’s Audio Memory Geography Songs CD/Booklet which is used in our Mission: World Wonders and Mission: Faith Forgers curriculum.
Geography Songs CD, Book, & Map Kit
Memorize the world through song! Divided by geographical regions, these echo-style songs make it simple to memorize the countries of the world. The audio CD includes 34 songs that teach the names of 225 countries, the continents & oceans, and the planets of the solar system. This resource is used in our Mission: World Wonders and Mission: Faith Forgers curriculum.
Suggested grades: Elementary through Middle School
Price: $22.95
Format: Kit consists of an audio CD, a 25″ x 36″ world map with items to label and song lyrics, and a family-reproducible workbook with lyrics and maps. Purchase here on Christian Book Distributors.
To learn how to draw each continent freehand, check out the Chalk Pastels Membership (which includes hundreds of simple art projects to reinforce history, literature, science, and other subjects.) For more resources for world geography, world missions, and world cultures, visit the geography section of our website.
