By day, Cheryl is a homeschooling mom with 7 children: 3 human, 2 feline and 2 canine. By night, she is a work-at-home mom supporting small businesses with her ghostwriting and social media skills. In her spare time she enjoys crafts, music, books, and lots of laughter. Follow her adventures (and get awesome home business tips) at www.hs-wahm.com as well as a free copy of “5 Ways to Generate Quick Cash from Home.”

Back in the Stone Age, around the time of the Flintstones, geography meant just one thing. BOOOORING lessons based on “Can you tell me where Ecuador is located on the map?” “What continent is Botswana located on?” and other inane questions that had nothing to do with my life, so who cares? But as a homeschooling mama I am discovering the joy of geography and all it encompasses.

• I mean, imagine your geography lesson starting with a cookbook, discussing the staple foods for that region, moving into fashion where you examine the traditional clothing of that region, ways that people make a living, how the type of land a group of people live on shape their economy and then topping it all off with a traditional meal from that region. Now that’s the kind of geography that I can get into — how about you?

I have learned through my desire to educate my own children that geography is as much about culture as it is about where Mount Everest can be located on the map. Buildings are just buildings and mountains are just mountains, but it’s the people who make it all come alive. When teaching your children about geography try to make it as real of an experience as possible.

• For example, if you’re studying a region that has farming as its focus, discuss what makes farming the best choice for living in this area, what type of land is best for farming, and questions along those lines. Once you’ve completed the introductory information, hop in the car and go visit a working farm! Let the children see what it takes to survive in that area. Or even better, take the kids to the farm first and then let them tell you what they’ve learned. Then go over the “textbook” information!

Of course the world is too big (and most of our bank accounts are too small) to visit each and every area of interest, but if you recreate the culture as much as possible at home  you and your children will get a lot more out of the lesson.

Continue reading “Cheryl Henderson Khalid: 5 Ways to Take Geography from Nay to Yay!”