Geography with Postcards

For geography this year, we've been exchanging postcards with people all over the world. It's been great fun, and the kids are learning so much without formal instruction. It's amazing! If you're interested in trading with us, see our postcard collection here: http://ladybugabode.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php

Some of my favourite postcard trading forums are:
http://www.postcrossing.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/postcardkids/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/postcardheaven/

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We have a world map on our table, covered in clear plastic. Every time we get a postcard from a new Canadian province/territory, US state, or country, we put a red dot sticker on the map. It’s neat to see all the dots adding up!

We also play games with the map. During breakfast, I might say “Find Cambodia, it’s east of my tea,” and the kids race to find it. They’re now getting to the point where they can guess which continent a country is in, just by the sound of it (even if they’ve never heard of it before).

I’m planning on having the kids each choose their favourite postcard to do a project with. They’ll “write home” as if they’ve been visiting that place, telling us all about their adventures.

There’s so much you can do with a map and postcards, it’s a lot of fun. I hardly retained anything from high school geography, so it’s incredible to see that my kids have already surpassed what I learned in school. I don’t think I’ll ever buy a geography curriculum. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!