Teach Geography in 5 Minutes?
This may sound like a late night infomercial gimmick, but it’s true! We really do spend about 5 minutes a day on geography with some pretty impressive results.
There are some subjects that don’t require you to spend a lot of time. In fact, this is something we work on during lunch on most days. Continue reading to see how I teach geography in just 5 minutes a day and how anyone can do it too.
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Why Geography?
Geography is a great choice because it’s a very visual subject and it can be taught to kids of different ages at the same time, but I can see this working for other subjects that require short lessons and regular, quick revision.
Because we learn geography during lunchtime, I have two maps hung up near our kitchen table. One is a world map and the other is a political map of the United States with capital cities, most populous cities, and each state’s flags and date of statehood. They are big enough so that everyone can see them clearly from the table.
Make It Accessible
Another benefit of having maps hung up somewhere central in the house is that we can quickly reference them. Whether we are learning about the Egyptian pyramids or reading a novel set in India, we can go to the map and see where these places.
Make It Applicable
Whenever we are planning a vacation or have friends who move abroad, we go straight to the map. Mark the places you’ve been.
When a subject directly applies to their lives and the things they are experiencing, kids naturally soak up the information.
The Strategy
So this is the strategy we take. We keep things really informal, so there’s no pressure. It’s really just a casual discussion and I’ll do a rapid fire quiz at the end. The kids are used to this, and they stay engaged because they know the lessons are really quick and won’t get boring.
So what does this actually look like in practice? Let’s say one week I want the kids to learn how to identify the seven continents. One day I’ll point to them and list them for everyone. Then I’ll see who can list all seven correctly out loud. We’ll go over this a few times, and then I’ll point to each continent to see if anyone can identify it without help.
If they can, great! If they can’t, then no big deal. I’ll end that lesson by naming each continent while pointing to them.
Progress Not Perfection
The next day, I’ll start by asking who can name them out loud. Someone might be able to list all or just some of them.
It’s important to remember to always look for progress not perfection. Then I’ll point to a continent and see if anyone can name it. See how many they can name then go over it a few times all together.
If they are struggling with this, I won’t add anything to the lesson yet and just focus on regular review. If they are quick to recall all of the information, I’ll add something else in for them to remember for the next day. For example, I’ll point out the equator and the poles or show the difference between lines of latitude and longitude.
By the end of the week, the continents will most likely be mastered and the lessons can move on to the oceans or something similar.
Revision Is Key
This doesn’t mean we will totally move on and not review continents anymore. I’ll bring it back into the quiz time at the lesson’s end every once in awhile just to make sure it hasn’t been forgotten.
Making sure that the lessons stay fresh and interesting is important, so moving onto something new after about a week keeps people engaged.
All of this can be adapted to fit different age groups, and the older ones will naturally retain more of this information than the younger ones.
When I started this, I had a two year old who wanted to join in. Most went over her head, but she was soon able to learn how to identify most continents, where we are on the world map and the map of the United Sates, as well as the the cardinal directions with ease just from hearing it regularly.
After learning the map basics, continents, and oceans, more detailed information can be added. Countries, states, and capital cities can be brought in depending on the level your kids are at.
Fun Practice is Effective Practice
The idea is to provide small amounts of information each time so that it’s easily learned. Just like with reading practice games, keeping things fun and light makes the lessons more effective. As you build on this with more information, it will feel easy and still only take about 5 minutes each time.
While you are always looking for progress and not perfection, eventually mastery will happen if you review small lessons every day until they have instant recall. You’ll be amazed at how much information your kids will amass with this short daily practice.
So there you go! A simple and effective way to teach geography in 5 minutes!
Continued Reading
I highly recommend reading diverse books from different countries. Not only is it a wonderful way to expose kids to different cultures, it also gives you more opportunities to connect cultures to the countries on the map.
<<<For an extensive compilation of diverse picture books and chapter books, check out my boards on Pinterest
I’m constantly adding to it, so follow me (check the Pinterest widget on the right sidebar) to see all of my updates I make on there.
Can you think of any other subjects that would do well with this method? Have you used this method in your own homeschool? Let me know in the comments below!
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