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2001, Catholic Heritage Curricula, unknown, softcover, Catholic
This new two-book set on United States Geography provides everything you need for a homeschool Geography Bee or an interesting U.S. Geography supplement for a wide age range.

The Participant/Student Book (softcover - stapled), is a study book for learning facts and figures in preparation for a Geography Bee. Three summary charts provide a quick reference on Name Derivations, Famous Natives, Mottos , Landmarks, Catholic Facts, Historical Facts, Industry, Admission Dates, Capitals, Flowers, Birds, Nicknames and Trees for each state. The bulk of the text consists of Study Sheets on: Capitals, State Flowers, State Birds, Nicknames, State Trees, Famous Natives, Landmarks, Catholic Facts, Historical Facts, Name Derivations, Mottos and Industry. In addition to a simple chart for each category, the Study Sheets provide a "To Learn More" segment which provides detailed information about each item. For example, the State Flower section includes a description of each type of flower and the Famous Natives section provides a brief biography of a famous native from each state as well as an extensive list of other famous natives. Of special interest is the "State Catholic Fact" section which provides Catholic connections for each State and which should provide a starting point for studying more about Catholic influences in the United States. The last half of the book offers various worksheets and other masters to photocopy - State Profile (can be used to record or test information for each state), State Flowers to color and learn, State Birds to color and learn, simple outline maps of each state, and a full outline map of the whole United States. Also are included are a partial listing of Catholic-named Cities of the U.S., a Bibliography, Sources for Further Study and Internet Sites for Further Study.

The Coordinator/Parent Book offers master category cards and a certificate of honor to copy and color for an official-looking Geography Bee, a spreadsheet of basic facts, and extensive sets of questions on three different difficulty levels for each category of study in the Participant Book (State Capital, State Flower, State Bird, State Nickname, State Tree, State Landmark, Famous Natives, and State Catholic Fact). The third difficulty level also offers questions regarding State Historical Facts. Because questions for each category are listed separately (rather than being intermixed), families could choose to focus on just a few category or difficulty levels at a time if they wish. Each question in this book provides the answer directly after the question in boldface type for ease of use.

I'm very, very impressed with the scope and quality of this Geography program. In the past, Catholic Homeschoolers have had limited resources available for State History and Geography (particularly from a Catholic perspective). These materials provide a welcome solution to this need as well as a wonderful project to be undertaken by a Catholic homeschool group or just a few families getting together. Highly recommended.

Sometimes your casual pick-up-what-looks-good from the library hits jackpot--last week it was one of those instances for us. Close to the Wind by Peter Malone gets very close to being the picture book par excellence. In every aspect, this gem brings the very best of the world of picture books: beautiful, detail-rich illustrations, a captivating story, plenty of educational content, and great use of visual diagrams, side notes and explanatory illustrations.

Good picture books, I am always exclaiming, are so helpful in the homeschool. What did we know about the Beaufort Scale before this find? Next to nil. Now, not only we learned about the useful scale that measures wind based on detailed observations, we also learned information on ship-building, sails, the life of sailors, curious entries in sailor's glossary, how many trees are cut down to build a ship, and the sad destiny of many ships after their many years of service.

• Count Your Way Through Japan
• Count Your Way Through Mexico, etc.

When I was little I had a fascinationg with learning how to count to ten in various languages (over the course of time I learned to count to ten in about six different languages). It's a small task, manageable by a young child, that provides great satisfaction, and serves as an introduction to other languages and cultures. As a mother, I was naturally drawn to these interesting and unusual set of books that teach you how to count to ten in each language while illustrating and explaining different aspects of that country's culture and traditions.

This is a fold-open playboard (when open it measures approximately 22" x 15") with a simple World Map (continents and most countries labeled). The border is made up of flags of the world. Included with the set is a sheet of 104 small (approximately 1" x 1/2") vinyl cling-type stickers of animals, architecture, mountains, etc. of the world. Examples include: Victoria Falls, the Great Pyramids, the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, a Giraffe, Penguins, the Great Wall of China, the Eiffel Tower, a Cedar of Lebanon, a train from the Trans-Siberian Railway and a Dutch windmill, Also included is a sheet explaining each sticker. A sample description is this - "17. Lighthouse. This lighthouse stands on the south coast of the United Kingdom. It warns passing ships of danger from nearby rocks." My children have really enjoyed this creative way of "studying" Geography. It's an especially nice diversion for use in the car. On the downside...the stickers are small and rather easy to lose. Also, the stickers themselves are not numbered, so we numbered the "storage sheet" by hand in order to make the description sheet useful.

A small illustrated children's book about two children who visit a number of their neighbors of different ethnic backgrounds and discover that each of their cultures uses rice in their cooking. Includes recipes in the back. A good way to introduce children to our country's ethnic diversity without getting "politically correct." (Warning: We get hungry every time we read this book.)

We love Geography Songs! My girls have been able to memorize quite a bit by these songs and they can easily apply these to maps at a very young age. They love to sing so they are very interested in doing geography.

This inexpensive (approximately $15) jigsaw puzzle provides an easy and fun way to learn World Geography. Pieces are cut along country borders (although larger countries are split into pieces). Colors are simple and continents, oceans, countries and capitals are clearly marked. A few of the smaller countries are joined together in one piece. Canada is broken up into pieces cut along the province borders. The United States is broken up into pieces composed of one or two states each.

You might think the oceans would be diffcult to assemble given the vast areas they cover. Well, they thought this through pretty well. The ocean pieces connect with traditional jig-saw shapes (except for island pieces). Even better, they are printed with information about each of the countries of the world - in alphabetical order - in order to easily identify the general area they belong in. If you start by piecing together the border and then the oceans, the country pieces will stay together quite nicely. A nice picture of the map on the box makes a very helpful reference.

My nine-year-old son and I really enjoyed assembling this puzzle over the course of two days. Because of the amount of information on each piece (country, size, shape, etc) it is much easier to assemble than a standard jigsaw puzzle with the same number of pieces (There are just a few pieces that you will need to identify simply by color and shape - both in the ocean and in a few of the very large countries). The puzzle is recommended for ages eight and up. Children younger than eight might be frustrated by the coordination needed to work with some of the smaller pieces. Some of my younger children (as young as five) did enjoy helping put together the border pieces.

A great value and highly recommended!

A memory game showing 36 pictures of outstanding sites worldwide.

While looking for something fun to add to this year's curriculum purchases, I discovered this memory game in the Montessori Services catalog. I can't tell you how much fun we've had with it. The whole family down to the 2 1/2 year old have enjoyed rowsing games of memory while learning about important historical, cultural and religious sites from around the world.

The cards are approximately 2 inches square with full color pictures of famous sites. There are a high percentage of Catholic sites:

Cathedral of Aachen, Germany
Palace of the Pope, Avignon France
Chartres Cathedral, France
Cathedral of Cordoba, Spain
Cathedral and Monastery "Victorious Holy Maria" in Portugal
Cathedral of Cefalu in Sicily
Church of Sagrada Familia, Spain
Reims Cathedral, France
Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, Spain

Other sites are:

Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
Stonehenge, Great Britain
St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow
Cathedral of Canterbury, Great Britain
Nemrut dagi, Turkey
Easter Island, South America
Temple of Katmandu, Nepal
Schwe-Dagon-Pagode, Birma
Stupa of Borobudur, Indonesia
Todaidshi-Temple, Japan
Amun-Temple, Karnak Egypt
Uxmal, Mexico
Madrese Schir-Dar, Russia
Tula, Mexico
Taj Mahal, India
Temple of Abu Simbel, Egypt
Hagia-Sofia, Turkey
Maccu Picchu, Peru
Acropolis, Athens
Sphinx and Great Pyramid
Wailing Wall, Jerusalem
Menhirs of Carnac, France
Temple of Hera, Italy
Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy
Athos-Monasteries, Greece
Malawiya Minaret, Iraq
Schah-Mosque, Iran

Included with the game is a fold-out sheet with black and white images of each of the sites along with a brief description and location.

A history and science picture book that covers the development of man's understanding of the shape of the earth focusing on the discoveries of the Greeks and on the voyages of Christopher Columbus and Magellan.
Currently out-of-print