Home School Product Reviews

I have homeschooled for 21 years, and through all of them geography is one of those things that gets “touched on” but not thoroughly taught.

This text (Daily Geography) ought to have “Easy Button” written on it, because it is so effortless to use and give your children a thorough grounding in geography.  My first grader loves his Daily Geography, and with it being taught so frequently and in small bites, he remembers it ALL.  All my other children use Daily Geography as well (grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11) and they have learned more geography with Daily Geography than any other way.  My older children use the 6+ book.

This is at the top of my list of recommendations to all homeschoolers.

One drawback for me was that I had to copy off the pages for my child, and had to cover up the answer key while copying.  It was very tedious.  I wish they had a workbook I could buy without the answer keys in it so I didn’t have to copy so much!

Laurel

Rice Lake, WI

Timberdoodle’s catalog is full of curriculum resources and products for home educators, and my girls love looking at all the homeschool supplies they feature. They were thrilled to receive a Junior Puzzleball Globe from Timberdoodle for our family to review.

The 3D puzzle made by European game maker Ravensburger features curved plastic puzzle pieces that students assemble to create a sphere. The Junior edition of the Puzzleball Globe includes 96 colorful puzzle pieces that fit together to form a globe illustrated with kid-friendly graphics of birds and animals.

The product is recommended for children ages 6 and up. My 8-year-old daughter, who has always loved puzzles, opted to put it together the first time using the numbers stamped on the back of the curved pieces. She completed the globe puzzle in one sitting and thought it was a nice change from flat cardboard puzzles. No glue is required, and the pieces fit snugly together. For more of a challenge, she’ll try assembling the globe with a map without using the numbers. My 4-year-old isn’t able to do the puzzle by herself, but the pieces are the right size for her and she is able to help her big sister. My husband and I were both surprised and impressed by how sturdy the Puzzleball is when put together! You can toss it in the air and catch it like a regular ball, and the kids even rolled it back and forth to each other on our tile kitchen floor without it coming apart.

Unlike the versions designed for teens and adults, individual countries aren’t identified on the Junior Puzzleball, so its use for geography instruction is limited. The colorful illustrations make the globe appealing to my preschooler. She is now suddenly quite interested in learning about the continents and where things are in the world!

The Junior Puzzleball Globe costs $12.75 and is well worth the price. Puzzleball Globes are also available for older children as well as teens and adults; they come in 240-, 540-, and 960-piece models that include a plastic display base and/or a metal rotation stand. Watch the video below to see how to assemble a Puzzleball and use the included puzzle guides. (The globe in the video contains 540 pieces and is larger than the Junior one, which is about 5″ in diameter.)

The preceding is reposted from the Treasure Seekers blog.

Galloping the Globe

I have really enjoyed using Galloping the Globe. I have my kids pick a country then we use this book along with any information we can find over the Internet or at the Library for a great study. We have lots of fun. Having a large family with kids in several different grades I am always glad to find good programs that I can use for all grades. I can make copies and create a special folder for each child. Saves me lots of $$.

For a complete listing of great homeschool geography games, workbooks, and textbooks visit www.timberdoodle.com.

Hugg-A-Planet's World Globe

Hugg-A-Planet’s World Globe is the most “hands-on” geography tool we’ve ever used in our household, and we’ve tried many others!  While there is still a place for all the other tools: maps, atlases, hard globes, and dry-erase friendly maps, this soft globe is the kid favorite around here, hands down.  It’s under their heads as a pillow while they listen to read-alouds, then it’s in a their hands as they scour the globe, looking for the place mentioned in the story.  Next, it’s being tossed across the room to the next child, who wants their turn to find a different thing on the map.  Before we started using this Hugg-A-Planet’s World Globe as our primary map, they never cared about having a turn.  I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in teaching their children to become geographically literate!

The Global Puzzle really is wonderful, I always find country locations I didn’t know before.  We like to assign continents of the world to the child we think most needs to work on that area.  Of course, my husband and I usually get stuck putting together the oceans; they are the tedious part.  If you love puzzles and have an afternoon to while away, this is great fun.

Read additional customer reviews of The Global Puzzle

I bought “A Child’s Geography” last year for my daughter.  I really love it because of the wonderful pictures and the easy-to-understand text.  It’s a really good introduction to the world of geography, without getting too bogged down in maps and boring statistics.  And of course, everything is linked back to God and creation.  LOVE IT!! I plan on purchasing “A Child’s Geography: Explore the Holy Land” as a follow-up study.

I debated about this for awhile and finally did purchase it.  I try to make Wednesdays game day, you have to play a game together.  So one Wednesday I brought it out.  My kids opened it a little skeptical, I have gotten some games that are just too hard.  No so here.  They all liked it!  It’s good to help with geography and thinking skills.  It’s not difficult to learn and it’s fun enough to play several times.