Learning US Geography Can Be Fun…Really!
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Have you ever seen the Jay Leno spots where he asks people on the street very easy questions and inevitably they get them wrong? Surely you’ve heard the reports of high schoolers given a map of the world and they can’t fill in the names of the countries?
These are just a couple of examples of how our students are not learning the basics of geography or history and that is truly a shame. Our public school system seems to be introducing more complex ideas to our elementary kids but if they don’t know (or remember!) the basics, how can they become informed adults?
Since kids are constantly looking for fun, why not add some fun to geography lessons? With the Highlights’ Which Way USA series, your student gets a fun puzzle book and foldable map of each individual US state.
Not only do the kids learn specific details about each state, such as famous people and places, the puzzles involve map reading, logic, math computation, reading comprehension, scrambled words, and spelling.
Which Way USA is a monthly, recurring club, so every month you will receive two workbooks in your mailbox. Although the age recommendation is 7-12 years old, I think children younger than 3rd grade will struggle since there is a lot of detailed reading involved. These workbooks can also serve as a reference guide for any reports your student may do on the states.
For many kids, the traditional classroom setting is not ideal for learning or remembering important information. This series is a fun way to reinforce those geography lessons!
Highlights’ Which Way USA series and be lots of fun to do with your child. We like to snuggle on the couch for a few minutes in the afternoon to do a puzzle and read a story together. It’s a great way to connect and learn a little at the same time.
Another fun way to learn geography are the free downloadable Map Games by Owl and Mouse Educational Software http://www.yourchildlearns.com/mappuzzle/europe-puzzle.html. Timed or untimed, with capitals or without they are fun ways to practice recognising the shapes of states or countries and putting them back on the map.