Galloping the Globe: The Geography Unit Study for Young Learners: Kindergarten Through 4th Grade

This is a great add to our homeschooling resources. Each country offers something to add onto the learning experience. The enhancing links and other resource links are handy as well

This is a great cross curriculum text that is more of a reference book but can be used alone for the lower grades. Useful for grades k-12. It suggests lots of outside reading and activities. Comes with a printable cd rom with good activities for the lower grades.

I purchased "Galloping the Globe" because my child wanted to study children in other countries and cultures. Galloping the Globe is a unit study which is designed to take you around the world in 1-3 years. The unit study is written for Kindgergarten through Fourth Grade. The curriculum is divided into the seven contients and countries within the contients. Each country is divided into the following sections: people/history, general reference books, literature, science, vocabulary, music/art projects, internet resources and the Bible. The weaknesses of the curriculum are: 1. The curriculum has no set schedule, you will have to create your own. 2. The science section is an introduction to the animal kingdom. If your child loves science you will have to supplement with additional materials/experiments. The strengths of this curriculum are: 1. There is a wealth of information in this unit study, which can be a bit overwhelming at first. However you can pick and choose what sections you would like to cover and what resources to utilize. 2. The cookbook "Eat Your Way Around the World" is an excellant resource for cooking up culinary delights from other cultures. 3. The curriculum is extremely affordable. 4. The section on "Christmas Around the World" gives you an opportunity to celebrate Christmas in the tradition of other countries and cultures. 5. The Yahoo Group which is owned by the author is a great place to meet other families who are utilizing this curriculum. Additional resources we are utilizing to complete our journey of "around the world in 36 weeks" are: V.M. Hillyer's "A Child's Geography of the World", The Walt Disney/Walden Media version of "Around the World in 80 Days", DK Children Just Like Me, DK Children Just Like Me Celebrations, DK Animal Encyclopedia, and Heaven's Heroes.

I purchased "Galloping the Globe" because I needed a comprehensive guide for teaching world geography to my children, 10, 9, and 7. This has turned out to be an excellent choice. I love the sections on each country which suggest activities, recipes, other supplemental reading and information on holidays in each country. Each month I choose a country to "visit" and go to the library and check out books for each reading level which are suggested in the chapters. Then each child reads one or two books and gives the group a report on their book. I read aloud the chapter from "Galloping the Globe", and we do a suggested activity, watch a movie, or make a recipe from the country. You will also find a fill in map for each country, and a flag to color. I wish there was another book with more countries! I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to learn about other countries.