4 Ways to Groom a Geographer!

​IKEA, the humongous home furnishing store, arrived in our town just in time for Christmas in 2016. When my son and I dropped in one afternoon, I was immediately overwhelmed! It is one gigantic labyrinth!!! I don't like mazes, let alone life-size ones! Blessed am I that MY SON SAVED ME!!! He possesses a geographic, navigational mind, and HE LOVES THAT STUFF! So, how do you groom a geographer? How in the world does a teacher/mom with minimal "mapmatical" skills augment the mathematical, geographical, navigational competence and innate intrigue of her child? Here's what we do.

When we walked in Ikea that day, my son was in HEAVEN because of the immense size of the store! I was in love with the selection and prices! But, as we kept walking, I was getting turned around and confused (not realizing there are arrows being projected on the aisles of the store to at least let you know if you're walking toward the exit waaaay around on the other-other side!). But, since he loves mazes, he was having the time of his life, not realizing I was almost in utter disarray!

Somehow, he caught wind of mom acting "weird," and offered to lead the way. I was ready to turn BACK and get out of dodge, but he fervently INSISTED, "MOM! Just trust me! You'll see."

I was completely lost, but I let him do what he does well - navigate. I followed behind him and his "vehicle" (shopping cart), having given up ALL hopes of making it out of this store in one mental piece. And before I could say for the last time, "Sweetheart, are you SURE we're going the right way," we arrived at the warehouse (the last department)!!! He touted this handsome, "I told you so" look, and all I could say was, "WOW! You ARE good at this!” (Secretly I was thanking God for keeping me all together and showing me the door!)

My son really is my “buffer,” or according to dictionary.com, “a person who shields and protects against annoyance, harm, hostile forces, etc., or that lessens the impact of a shock or reversal.” He's my “geography buffer!” Following in Dad's shoes, definitely NOT MINE! :)

All that to say, once we discovered his ability and joy in navigating, geography, maps and globes, we made sure to surround and submerge him in as many geographical activities as we could.

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​Now, despite the fact that our current world is majority digital and technological, there are some things that are still better learned, retained, and even enjoyed "hands-on" (physically). If you have navigation-minded students at home, I decided to add in a few "old school" methods for  heightening his directional abilities and skills. Tangible, foldable maps of your city, and US road maps with the spiral binding have made great mapping activities at home and on the go. Globes and world wall maps are invaluable resources that digital maps and apps simply can't sufficiently replicate.

Together, we have enjoyed learning longitude and latitude on wall maps and globes. We've had separate, individual continent maps on the walls in our hall since he was maybe 3 or 4 years old. It's our "Geography Hall" in honor of the famous concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, "The Carnegie Hall." We have also created entire field trips and various activities all centered around his interest in geography and navigation.

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Here are a few of the many activities we've engaged in over the years, and many we still enjoy.

1) "Get Me There"
​Road Map Challenge

• This is a "game" we made up along the way...
• First we purchased an up-to-date map of our city
• We studied our map several times for a few days prior to our activity, just to familiarize ourselves with the map keys and location, parts of town we hadn't explored, and landmasses we hadn't observed from an aerial view
• Then we chose one location to literally drive to on our field trip day (pre-scheduled)
• It was totally my son's duty to get us from home to the location and back only using the tangible, printed, foldable map
• He pre-mapped the route, we packed up to go, and hit the road. He told me what directions to drive in, when and where to turn, and how many miles we were away from our destination.
• We made it there, just as he planned, and it was SOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!

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2)   Map Puzzles

• We have map puzzles for the United States, Africa, Asia, the continents, etc
• You'd be surprised at how many wonderful maps we found at Dollar Tree! (See more about our Dollar Store Must-Haves here.)
• ​Educational stores like Knowledge Tree often have map puzzles, which can sometimes be pricey, but if your student loves geography as much as mine, it's worth the investment
• Amazon carries tons and tons of puzzles of all continents, regions, kind, count, shape, color, etc
• We have even played "timed puzzle competitions"

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3) "Where in the World Am I?"

• This is an oral game that we play using any map, depending on our chosen criteria of the game each time we play. As he got older, we were able to expand our searches across many continents.
• It’s similar to the game of Charades where you give specific clues little by little as the other person tries to guess your location. So, today's challenge may be only cities in the US that start with the letter C. If it's my turn, I'd start revealing my clues, like "I'm in the eastern part of the US. I am not a state capital. My state borders the Atlantic Ocean." By now, he will have guessed that my chosen city was Charlotte, North Carolina, and so on.
• This can be as broad or specific as your student's level, and it's adjustable as you go. It's also a  great road trip game to play in the car.
• You can also try "what am I?" in the form of a science game (animals, anatomy, botany, planetary, chemistry, biology, etc.)

4) Interactive and Board Games

• LeapFrog Tag USA Maps with the LeapFrog Interactive Pen
• Scrambled States of America - (pictured) board game that came with our My Father's World curriculum a few years ago, and we LOVE this game!
• Geo Bingo which is Bingo but with states, countries, and capitals.
• Flash Cards - these are sold everywhere, and there are so many to choose from (read more about how to implement the use of Flash Cards in your homeschool here).
• Map apps for your smart phone or tablet - some test students on states and capitals, such as "US States Quiz" app, and "Countries Location Maps" quiz app
• Free computer games for learning cities, states, countries, and capitals
• Free printable continent/country maps to label and color
• Coloring books from the dollar store with maps and countries

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Over the years, it seems that our son's love of geography is developing into many different aspects and evolving into various facets, all in which have proven to be quite helpful along OUR journey together. If you find that your student has illustrated an interest in ANYTHING, I'm sure there's a book, activity, and/or app that will help mold that interest into something creative and productive.

As always, I hope this article helped spark at least a thought for you to pursue. Be sure to like and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram for continuous crafty, artistic, and educational activities, projects, books, recipes and more. Enjoy! :)
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"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."
Nelson Mandela

We HIGHLY and THOROUGHLY recommend the following products to enhance your home and school's geographical learning environment, allowing for engaging activities that are both fun and educational all at the same time!

Scrambled States of America Card Game

LeapFrog Tag United States Map

USA Map Floor Puzzle