How Homeschoolers Study Geography

At our house, hockey reigns supreme. Football season has its place. College Lacrosse and Pro Soccer does too. One of the littletons watches all sports. When the Olympics come around, we are glued to the TV, enjoying all the events. But, above all it's hockey! As far as actual participation, only one in our family has the talent and bent and he has chosen his path...hockey.

In case you are confused about our zest for hockey, here is a picture of our living room. Notice that we have no coffee tables, side tables, end tables, and all furniture is placed around the perimeter of the room. This is to allow maximum space for the hockey rink. We play from door to sofa. The piano bench is the penalty box. Be certain to take a close look at the goals...one side is a set of french doors, with windows flanking the sides. And yes, we play with real pucks. How we have never broken or cracked a pain of glass or the TV, is an act of God. On the other side, the goal is the love seat. Here is a picture of the fan globe that was broken by my oldest when he raised his stick to celebrate a goal. We play full contact, and it can be one on one, a solo game, or a family match up. It is played everyday. Always found in the living room are hockey sticks, helmets, and pucks. OH, one of the littletons has a puck collection. These pucks have been caught or bought at games. My office is adorned with hockey memorabilia, and thus dubbed, the hockey room. No, we are not Canadians (although one son is pushing for us to move there) we live in balmy SW Florida. But I digress.

Homeschoolers are well known for the inventive way they teach children concepts. In out home geography is not a popular subject. Come Playoffs, it's time for some geography. One wall in our dinning room has a map in the center. This map begins with the logo for each team located on its designated city. As the regular season winds down, teams that are not going to make it to the payoffs (oh poor Hurricanes. The shame!) come off the map. This continues until there are only 16 teams left. At that point we print off the rankings for each division (east and west) and post it next to the map. We look at the location of the teams (not evenly dispersed geographically). As the Playoffs begin we track mileage for teams and figure out how many total miles each team has travelled before the end of round one. To the left of the map we have a Playoff chart. One side for the 8 western teams and one side for the 8 eastern teams. These also have team logos that move as teams advance or are eliminated. Statistics and probability are lessons for that chart. We discuss likely weather conditions and compare with actual weather conditions. We investigate the difference in ice at the different forums. (Did you know that although all hockey is played in an indoor temp controlled environment, the consistency of the ice varies depending on area climate and altitude?) There is so much to learn. Every team has a hometown, with a history. Every team has a history and stats. Specific players all have history and stats, as well as geographic backgrounds. Demographics are wide and varied.

All this to say, that when it comes to teaching children, textbooks are not always the best resource. Interaction and memorable lessons have long lasting impact and allow a child to think. One more reason to homeschool!

How Homeschoolers Study Geography

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