In February we focused, for Dallin, on North American geography. We are splitting this study into two parts. Generally, the geography of one's country/continent is done in fifth grade in Waldorf schools, but Donna Simmons of Christopherus puts U.S. geography in grade 4, and branches out to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean in grade 5. I decided that four weeks was simply not long enough to devote to our home country, so we did the United States from the east coast to the Mississippi River this year, and will finish the prairie states, the West, Alaska, and Hawaii, as well as the rest of the continent, next year.
My wonderful, wonderful source for this block was this e-book guide from Meredith at A Waldorf Journey. I had searched and searched for just the right resource for this block. I had the Christopherus curriculum, but just wasn't moved by the material there. I looked at many blogs of homeschoolers and at other Waldorf curriculum sources for geography, but nothing grabbed me until I found Meredith's guide--it was wonderful! She directs the teacher to specific stories and online content that really brought our block to life. I am not going to share those specific ideas here because you have to buy her e-book!
The one thing that I did use that was recommended in Christopherus was the Sara St. Antoine series, Stories from Where We Live. This is a series of stories and essays based on different geographical regions of the United States. I read at least 2-3 of these stories for every region we covered. While most of the ones I chose for Dallin were very adventure-oriented, they were also quite nature-focused.
The Waldorf approach to geography is focused on the land and how people use the natural features of the land. While we did learn the locations and names of various states, I focused on the region as a whole and what the land is like, as well as what people do for a living to use that land, both now and in years past.
We started out by doing an overview of the continent, talking about what a continent is, longitude and latitude, the poles, equator, etc. Mapmaking is another HUGE component of a Waldorf geography curriculum. I was so nervous and prepared for much fighting about this, but Dallin loved drawing maps and did very well with it.
He started out by doing a grid map of North America:
I think he did a pretty darn awesome job on this! (I didn't have the heart to tell him that the proportions were a bit off on the northern end of things...)
Then we focused on on the U.S. We made a salt dough relief map and painted it to reflect some of the different regions.
Areas we studied:
New England--the role of the Atlantic Ocean for fishing, whaling, etc. The development of port cities. The effects of the rocky terrain. Maple-sugaring. We watched YouTube videos of clam-digging, a lobster boat, and maple-sugaring. Dallin read Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen. (It technically takes place in eastern Pennsylvania.)
Dallin drew this map freehand!
This drawing idea was from Meredith's e-book.
I found this wonderful book, A River Runs Wild by Lynne Cherry, in our local library... just by chance. It's about the history of a river in New England. It shows what the river was like when only Native American tribes lived in the region, how the river was transformed as white colonists moved in and eventually developed factories that polluted the river, then how it was restored to it's original state of beauty. It has beautiful illustrations.
Great Lakes region/Northeastern forests--logging, use of the lakes for shipping, route to Atlantic Ocean via St. Lawrence Seaway, the Erie Canal and how it made New York City the city it is today. I had Dallin read Holling C. Holling's book Paddle to the Sea, a story about a little carved canoe that travels from the shores of Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean.
Appalachia--how the mountains were a barrier to settling lands to the west, coal mining, isolation of the people.
One of the fun things we did was to make can-jos (a smaller version of a washboard bass) as we learned about Appalachian music. This was one of those projects where Dallin exclaimed that homeschooling is so much more fun than public school (as I let him drill through the #10 cans with a power drill). These can-jos really play! You can easily find instructions online. One other fun thing we found was a website with instructions on how to talk Redneck.
South--suitablity of climate for crops like cotton, rice, etc. and how that contributed to development of plantations, we talked more about slavery than I intended. How can you not? We also looked at the bayous of the Gulf Coast and watched a YouTube video of a boatride through a Louisiana bayou.
We mapped the South--both Dallin and I.
Mine. (I mapped New England on the chalkboard too, but had no camera to record it.)
Dallin's. This one is totally freehand as well.
Mississippi River--route from Great Lakes to Gulf Coast (with the help of some canals), effects on nearby southern plantations, development of steamboat travel. A great story resource was Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi, his account of his time as a steamboat captain. This can easily be found free online. I used only a couple of child-appropriate excerpts.
Heartland (kind of petered out on this, we'll pick it up again next year)
I didn't have Dallin do a lot of summary-writing in this block. We focused on dictations (which he enjoys) and a bit of copywork. His big writing project was a report on the state of his choice. He chose Rhode Island. I think he picked it because he figured the smallest state would mean a shorter report. He was extremely impressed by the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head were invented in Rhode Island.
The afore-mentioned e-book from A Waldorf Journey had detailed instructions on how to help the child put together a state report.
I had grand plans to do lots of singing and cooking throughout this block. The cooking didn't happen--at all. But sing we did!
Songs we sang:
Yankee Doodle
This Land is Your Land
Cape Cod Girls
The Erie Canal Song
Buffalo Gals
This Little Light of Mine
Michael, Row the Boat Ashore
The Crawdad Song
Arkansas Traveler
Shenandoah
Dallin learned--and sang lustily almost every day--all seven verses to Yankee Doodle.
The biggest thing Dallin gained from this block was a desire to move! We looked at a topographical map of the United States and discovered that we live on the edge of the section labelled "barren wasteland". He has not stopped reminding me of that fact since we read it. Every single area we've studied, he wants to live there. Even Louisiana. I ordered free travel brochures from as many states as I could find them available online. The best one we got was from New Hampshire, and I have to admit that I'm tempted to move there myself! Either it's the most beautiful state in the U.S. or just the best at marketing itself.
This last picture has nothing to do with our block, but I had to show off Dallin's awesome watercolor painting that he did at our last homeschool co-op get-together! He created this using only the primary colors red, yellow, and blue.
My wonderful, wonderful source for this block was this e-book guide from Meredith at A Waldorf Journey. I had searched and searched for just the right resource for this block. I had the Christopherus curriculum, but just wasn't moved by the material there. I looked at many blogs of homeschoolers and at other Waldorf curriculum sources for geography, but nothing grabbed me until I found Meredith's guide--it was wonderful! She directs the teacher to specific stories and online content that really brought our block to life. I am not going to share those specific ideas here because you have to buy her e-book!
The one thing that I did use that was recommended in Christopherus was the Sara St. Antoine series, Stories from Where We Live. This is a series of stories and essays based on different geographical regions of the United States. I read at least 2-3 of these stories for every region we covered. While most of the ones I chose for Dallin were very adventure-oriented, they were also quite nature-focused.
The Waldorf approach to geography is focused on the land and how people use the natural features of the land. While we did learn the locations and names of various states, I focused on the region as a whole and what the land is like, as well as what people do for a living to use that land, both now and in years past.
We started out by doing an overview of the continent, talking about what a continent is, longitude and latitude, the poles, equator, etc. Mapmaking is another HUGE component of a Waldorf geography curriculum. I was so nervous and prepared for much fighting about this, but Dallin loved drawing maps and did very well with it.
He started out by doing a grid map of North America:
I think he did a pretty darn awesome job on this! (I didn't have the heart to tell him that the proportions were a bit off on the northern end of things...)
Then we focused on on the U.S. We made a salt dough relief map and painted it to reflect some of the different regions.
Areas we studied:
New England--the role of the Atlantic Ocean for fishing, whaling, etc. The development of port cities. The effects of the rocky terrain. Maple-sugaring. We watched YouTube videos of clam-digging, a lobster boat, and maple-sugaring. Dallin read Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen. (It technically takes place in eastern Pennsylvania.)
Dallin drew this map freehand!
This drawing idea was from Meredith's e-book.
I found this wonderful book, A River Runs Wild by Lynne Cherry, in our local library... just by chance. It's about the history of a river in New England. It shows what the river was like when only Native American tribes lived in the region, how the river was transformed as white colonists moved in and eventually developed factories that polluted the river, then how it was restored to it's original state of beauty. It has beautiful illustrations.
Great Lakes region/Northeastern forests--logging, use of the lakes for shipping, route to Atlantic Ocean via St. Lawrence Seaway, the Erie Canal and how it made New York City the city it is today. I had Dallin read Holling C. Holling's book Paddle to the Sea, a story about a little carved canoe that travels from the shores of Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean.
Appalachia--how the mountains were a barrier to settling lands to the west, coal mining, isolation of the people.
One of the fun things we did was to make can-jos (a smaller version of a washboard bass) as we learned about Appalachian music. This was one of those projects where Dallin exclaimed that homeschooling is so much more fun than public school (as I let him drill through the #10 cans with a power drill). These can-jos really play! You can easily find instructions online. One other fun thing we found was a website with instructions on how to talk Redneck.
South--suitablity of climate for crops like cotton, rice, etc. and how that contributed to development of plantations, we talked more about slavery than I intended. How can you not? We also looked at the bayous of the Gulf Coast and watched a YouTube video of a boatride through a Louisiana bayou.
We mapped the South--both Dallin and I.
Mine. (I mapped New England on the chalkboard too, but had no camera to record it.)
Dallin's. This one is totally freehand as well.
Mississippi River--route from Great Lakes to Gulf Coast (with the help of some canals), effects on nearby southern plantations, development of steamboat travel. A great story resource was Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi, his account of his time as a steamboat captain. This can easily be found free online. I used only a couple of child-appropriate excerpts.
Heartland (kind of petered out on this, we'll pick it up again next year)
I didn't have Dallin do a lot of summary-writing in this block. We focused on dictations (which he enjoys) and a bit of copywork. His big writing project was a report on the state of his choice. He chose Rhode Island. I think he picked it because he figured the smallest state would mean a shorter report. He was extremely impressed by the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head were invented in Rhode Island.
The afore-mentioned e-book from A Waldorf Journey had detailed instructions on how to help the child put together a state report.
I had grand plans to do lots of singing and cooking throughout this block. The cooking didn't happen--at all. But sing we did!
Songs we sang:
Yankee Doodle
This Land is Your Land
Cape Cod Girls
The Erie Canal Song
Buffalo Gals
This Little Light of Mine
Michael, Row the Boat Ashore
The Crawdad Song
Arkansas Traveler
Shenandoah
Dallin learned--and sang lustily almost every day--all seven verses to Yankee Doodle.
The biggest thing Dallin gained from this block was a desire to move! We looked at a topographical map of the United States and discovered that we live on the edge of the section labelled "barren wasteland". He has not stopped reminding me of that fact since we read it. Every single area we've studied, he wants to live there. Even Louisiana. I ordered free travel brochures from as many states as I could find them available online. The best one we got was from New Hampshire, and I have to admit that I'm tempted to move there myself! Either it's the most beautiful state in the U.S. or just the best at marketing itself.
This last picture has nothing to do with our block, but I had to show off Dallin's awesome watercolor painting that he did at our last homeschool co-op get-together! He created this using only the primary colors red, yellow, and blue.
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