Geography at the Little Library

“The Water Rat was restless, and he did not know exactly why. To all appearance the summer’s pomp was still at fullest height…But the constant chorus of the orchards and hedges had shrunk to a casual evensong from a few yet unwearied performers…and there was a feeling in the air of change and departure...One gets unsettled, depressed, and inclined to be querulous…The Rat was a self-sufficing sort of animal, rooted to the land, and, whoever went, he stayed; still, he could not help noticing what was in the air, and feeling some of its influence in his bones.”

–The Wind in the Willows

I, too, find myself feeling restless as the final leaves meander down, the crickets fall silent, and early nights foreshadow housebound winter days. But like Rat, I’m bound to my home and cannot join the general “southing tendency” of the winged creatures. Instead, I pull books from the Little Library’s shelves and travel the world with kittens on my lap and a fire on the hearth. We’ve travelled around the world dozens of times since beginning our homeschooling journey four years ago. I’ll share a few of our travels here to help you plan your own fireside ramblings.

Kindergarten:

We enjoyed an adventurous kindergarten year thanks to the From Dawn to Dusk series. My girls especially liked the real photos in these books, and years later, still enjoy thumbing through them. Before reading each book, I hid a surprise from that land for them to find – a reindeer Christmas tree ornament for Lapland, a kite for Japan, a Chinese jump rope.  Then we cooked a meal or snack from that culture. A book like Eat Your Way Around the World could be helpful but of course the Internet abounds with recipes, too.

First through Third Grade:

My favorite U.S. geography book for this age is Cross Country, which follows the Page family on a car trip from California to Washington, D.C. I printed out an enormous map on which the girls traced the journey; labeled states, capitals, and major cities; and drew significant landmarks.

After that fun trip we were ready to venture farther, so we circumnavigated the globe with Hilyer’s Child’s Geography of the World. Each chapter covers the terrain, major cities, and products of the land in Hilyer’s cheery, chatty style. But to really get the feel of the place, we matched Lucy Fitch Perkins’ Twins series to the various countries we visited.

Fourth Grade:

We’re back in the U.S. this year, and I couldn’t be more excited about our trip. I’ve had this beautiful old series – The Story of New England, The Story of Florida, etc – on my shelves for a few years, but it just dawned on me that these books pair almost exactly with the states Lois Lenski covered in her regional series. We’ll read The Story of…books for information on the states’ history, terrain, plants, and products and then live there awhile in the Lenski books. This replicates my strategy with the Twins books but on a higher reading level.

For map work we’re going to try Draw the USA, a fun project in which you literally learn to draw a map of our country. Eventually we’ll move on to the rest of North America because I’m dying to read the Pictured Geography series by – who would have thought? – Marguerite Henry of Misty of Chincoteague fame! She wrote Canada in Stories and Pictures, Mexico in Stories and Pictures, and a number of others about South American countries. Will wonders never cease?

Other resources:

For older kids, come check out such classics as Haliburton’s Book of Marvels and Van Loon’s Geography. Landmark books like Exploring the Himalayas and The Conquest of the North and South Poles give children a deeper journey into a region. If you’re studying a specific biome, books like All About the Desert or One Small Square: African Savanna will take you there. You’ll find tons of atlases to choose from, including my favorite, The Children’s World Atlas. We have plenty of fun geography fiction for all ages, from Anna Hibiscus to The Wheel on the School and A Long Walk to Water.

Make the Little Library your first travel stop. Breathtaking views guaranteed!