Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. Because I liked Let’s Go Geography so much, I am now an affiliate. If you click through one of my links and make a purchase, I will receive a commission.
My daughter didn’t get much of an education in geography. We didn’t use a homeschool geography curriculum. I tried to pull together maps, books, and free resources from the internet, but nothing really caught her attention. She hated coloring maps. It was too much work to plan, so the content was rather haphazard and incomplete.
My five year old son is getting a radically different experience thanks to Let’s Go Geography. We’ve been using Let’s Go Geography, Year 2 for several weeks now, and we’re very pleased with the program.
Key Details of “Let’s Go Geography” Homeschool Geography Curriculum
- Let’s Go Geography can be used with several students at once in grades K-5. If you have a big family, one subscription will cover everyone.
- A yearly subscription includes two semesters of work, or 32 lessons.
- It’s a digital product. The lessons come in pdf format that you can download.
- You have access to the lessons for two years, so you can work through them at your own pace.
- Components of each lesson include maps, flags, music, videos, reading, writing, coloring, and a craft.
- Each lesson is for one week and you can split up the activities as you wish.
- Kids create a travel journal notebook to store their work.
- Kids can print and assemble a passport.
- Printable checklist with visual cues for each lesson to encourage independent work.
- A world tour that covers all seven continents can be done in three years with the use of this curriculum.
- Curriculum can be used for homeschool co-op classes. Classroom tips for different age groups are provided.
- Additional material are needed: a binder for the travel journal, paper and printer for printing, and basic art materials.
- Flexible curriculum because you don’t have to use every activity for every lesson.
Highlights of Our Experience
Using Let’s Go Geography has been a positive learning experience for my son. Given his personality, that’s saying something. He gets easily agitated when I try to “teach” him anything. But with this program, he looked forward to learning and never once complained.
Making A Travel Journal
Making a travel journal notebook the very first day set the tone for the whole course. My son eagerly colored the cover and slipped it into the sleeve on the front of his three-ring binder with pride.
I think it was motivating for my son, because it made him feel like a big kid doing real schoolwork. He was so proud of his travel journal that he had to show his dad and big sister at dinner time. And the next morning he came to me asking to do his geography work!
Labeling & Coloring Maps & Flags
The first activities in each lesson is map work and coloring the country’s flag. Kids get to color the country or states according to the script or choose the colors they want. Then there are questions that parents can ask to help your children get familiar with different aspects, for example, like where the country or state is located in respect to bodies of water.
Students color a small flag and glue it to their continent page in their notebooks. They’ll have a collection of maps al in one place to refer to when they finish the program. My son worked took his time to color the maps correctly, a sure sign that he enjoyed making them.
Watching Quality Videos
Watching the videos in Let’s Go Geography is my favorite aspect of the curriculum. When you can’t physically visit a place, a video is the next best option.
I love the quality of the videos. They’re succinct, yet full of information. These well-produced videos are visually appealing to watch. In just a few minutes your children can see the natural beauty of the Grand Canyon, the preparation of traditional food by a famous Mexican chef, the wildlife of Costa Rica, and the grandeur of Versailles.
There are at least four informative videos to watch per lesson, in addition to two music videos to highlight a country’s national anthem and traditional song or music style.
Some of the videos are not narrated, but accompanied by music so you can focus on the natural beauty of the location. I liked this because it made it easy for my son and I to talk about what we were seeing.
In the lesson about the Pacific Northwest, my son loved watching the inner workings of a sawmill in Washington state. We watched it at least five times, because he wanted everyone in the family to see it with him.
The videos in this homeschool geography curriculum are linked through SafeYouTube.net. making it much safer and less distracting for children viewing. This eliminates other video suggestions or unwanted ads from popping up on the side. Let’s Go Geography also has an internet safety page that gives specific precautions to take if you’re concerned about your child using YouTube and the internet.
Writing What You Learned
My son loved writing about what he learned each week. He is only in kindergarten, but he still wanted to write something. Sometimes he wrote a word with a small illustration and other times he wrote a sentence.
I liked this part of the lesson because it made us reflect what we had learned about that part of the world. It’s an open-ended writing activity that helps children choose what’s most important and summarize. It’s suitable for kids of all ages.
Giving kids the lined paper printables for each country is better than giving them a worksheet of fill-in-the-blanks or basic questions. My son isn’t summarizing yet, but he always had something to add to his paper that was important to him.
Easy, Engaging Craft Activities
Each lesson in this homeschool geography curriculum includes a simple craft as a culmination activity. These crafts entail painting, cutting, and glueing with basic materials you typically have around the house. You won’t need to run to the store each week to get special materials, an important factor for busy parents.
The author of the program does recommend using scrapbooking paper you can find at your local craft store or order online for the craft projects. You can print out the templates on regular construction paper like we did, but know that the quality won’t be as nice or durable.
For example, when my son glued on the tissue paper to make a sunset, the construction paper background got flimsy the more glue he added to it. It would have been better to use thicker card stock paper for his background, but construction paper sufficed.
Things to Consider Before Purchasing “Let’s Go Geography” Homeschool Geography Curriculum
If you need a homeschool geography curriculum that can be used with several age levels, actively engages your children in learning general knowledge about the world and its cultures, and is easy to implement for parents, this program is for you.
There is minimal preparation needed for each lesson. I read through the lessons and printed off copies of the maps, flags, coloring page, and craft template (when needed). Then I hole-punched each page and added them to my son’s travel journal notebook. It was quick and easy, taking about ten minutes of my time. I waited to gather the art materials from our closet on the day we did the craft.
This program wouldn’t be a good fit for screen-free families or those looking for a traditional curriculum. Let’s Go Geography features several short two-five minute videos per lesson to present information and some lessons have links to geography websites for reading more information. There is no textbook or workbook.
Another thing to consider is that if you want hard copies of books on the countries you are learning about, you need to locate those from your library. There is no recommended reading list.
However, Let’s Go Geography is a complete curriculum when you use what’s available in the PDF lesson plan. Additional books will supplement the program, to go more in depth on a topic, but are not necessary.
The Geography of the World Atlas by DK is recommended reading for each lesson. We requested a copy from our library, but it’d be best to purchase one to have on hand all year.
From my experience using this curriculum with a young, active learner I would highly recommend Let’s Go Geography to anyone looking for an easy to use comprehensive homeschool geography curriculum that kids will enjoy.
If you’d like to read what others have to say about Let’s Go Geography, check out these reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew.
