Trail Guide to World Geography by Cindy Wiggers

I received this e-Book as a part of my agreement to review Homeschool e-Store.com (see review here). I must admit that one area that I have NOT been good about covering as a homeschooling parent is geography. I always thought I’d cover geography along with our history studies, but I just haven’t been good at doing that. So, I’ve been looking for a good curriculum for us to use to cover World Geography as a year-long study. Trail Guide to World Geography looks like it will fit the bill quite nicely! After purchasing the e-book from HomeschooleStore.com, all I had to do was print it out and I am now ready to go. The book begins with 30 pages of overview and teaching suggestions. This book is geared towards grades 2-12 at three different levels: grades 2-4, 5-7 and 8+.

The Trail Guide looks pretty simple to use. It is very important that the teacher take the time to read the basic information at the beginning of the book so that everybody gets the most out of the curriculum. The basic goal of the Trail Guide is "to build students’ knowledge and awareness of physical and political world geography." This curriculum will work nicely along with a social studies or history program, too. There are only a few required books that are recommended to be used with the Trail Guide – The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide, Uncle Josh’s Outline Maps (or you can use any outline map source), Geography Through Art and an atlas for the age group you are teaching.

The weekly lessons consist of three sections: Geography Trails, Mapping and Trail Blazing. The Geography Trails consists of daily five-minute drills - two questions every day cover basic geography information. These questions "lay a foundation for geography knowledge." The "meat and potatoes" of the program are in the Mapping and Trail Blazing portions of the program. Students use outline maps and atlases to complete the Mapping assignments. The Mapping projects can be completed in one day. Finally, the Trail Blazing assignments offer additional mapping and hands-on activities for the student to tackle for the rest of the week. There are enough assignments for the parent to choose from – the student is no expected to complete ALL of them. They include studying crops, resources, capitals, cities and the populations of various countries. Maybe the child will make flash cards, a puzzle, or a game to play and learn.

It is recommended that each student keep a geography notebook and directions are given for setting one up. If the parent is wanting to add art projects to the study, it is recommended that she use Visual Manna’s Geography Through Art. This study will help the student learn about various cultures around the world and what a fun way to do so! The last few pages of the overview give a list of additional resources for the teacher to consider adding to the program – world encyclopedias, almanacs, cookbooks, etc. as well as a list of supplies that will be needed. The Lesson Plan Suggestions gives a sample schedule and show – by level – how to cover the material throughout the week.

Then it is time for the Assignments lists. There are 27 weeks of world geography study followed by a nine-week Geography Through Literature unit study using Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. This unit study will help reinforce what has been learned about the various continents in the previous 27 weeks, but also integrate spelling, vocabulary, science and social studies into the geography study. Ideas are also given for covering arts & crafts, math and writing/research. Finally, there is an Appendix section which contains book lists, various reproducible pages, answer keys and more.

This is a very nice curriculum and very complete, too. I do believe that my children will learn a LOT of world geography with the Trail Guide and in a very fun and interesting way! One of the best things about this curriculum is that it can be used up to THREE times with a child as they progress through the various levels. I honestly don’t believe anything is missing. The Literature study is a nice addition as it comes at the end of the year when a lot of students (and teachers!) are facing a bit of spring fever and wanting to do something a bit different. There are two other Trail Guides in the series: US Geography and Bible Geography.

... Kris ...