The Geography Course I Was Looking For

From time to time, we receive or hear about extraordinary testimonials created as a result of someone's experience with Country of the Week. This is a special piece, which we are so grateful to haven been permission to republish here.

Written by Chandra M.

Did anyone read the title and panic, thinking to themselves “I’m not teaching geography!”? Having homeschooled for just over three years, I am still fighting the occasional wave of insecurity that I might not be sufficiently educating my children. I am continuously evaluating available resources and, more importantly, asking myself what do I really want my children to learn? I was fortunate to come across Dave Ternier’s program “Country of the Week” and after more than a year of weekly countries, my children are just as excited about the program as they were when they got their first “country of the week”.

I have put the program information upfront in the article for those with limited time that are just skimming this magazine, likely to be called off to household emergency within the next minute or two. The remainder of the article is simply my thoughts on the program and how the program has worked for us in our life.

What is “Country of the Week”? It is a very well named program as each week, information is provided for one country. The information includes a weekly colourful cover page, a worksheet with the country’s flag to colour and a space to write what the child has learned, a selection of internet videos and other items. All items are delivered electronically so you will need a printer. The category of “other items” includes things that are not included with every country. Some examples would be worksheets (crossword searches, word puzzles, dot-to-dots, themed colouring pages), recipes, country game cards, and country fact cards. Complete details about the program are available here.

I was initially attracted to the Country of the Week program because learning about world countries appealed to me. I suspect at the start, I could probably name about 50 countries, having a multicultural background and having travelled internationally occasionally. Since the Country of the Week program would include 200 countries, I was curious. I acquired the basics for the programs (a binder for each child, a wall map of the world, and access to a coloured printer). Since this program was essentially a complete unknown to me, I signed up a few weeks before I planned to share it with the children so that I could review the material first. Dave had developed the program for his two girls, but I was going to throw three boys, Miles (10), Mikko (8) and Lawrence (4), into it. I was curious if it was robust enough to work for our family.

I won’t spoil the surprise of finding out which country is first, but I was hooked immediately. It was a county that I had visited, knew well from history studies, spoke some of the language and was eager to share with the family. What I loved about the material presented, was that it was not the overhyped information that I knew. The facts were listed on the cover sheet (capital, languages, population, location) but the video links provided an appreciation of some of the more unique aspects of the country. This country is fairly well known so I was curious to see if the same quality of information would be presented for lesser-known countries; I was not disappointed.

Each country we explored was presented in a refreshingly positive light. There have been some countries that I knew only from news stories documenting war and genocides. Through Country of the Week, we have learned about their joy in daily life, unique creations and interesting environments. At some point, my children will learn more about the negative side of these countries but I am so happy to be able to have them learn the wonderful things first.

I’ve been keeping my own binder with the countries sorted by continent. It gives me a nice place to keep interesting stories specific to cultures or locations. For example, one of my story-a-day calendars had a lovely paragraph about a sports team covering their tattoos to be respectful of the nation where they played. Instead of being a random tidbit, this story will be incorporated into the larger picture of this country when it is our “country of the week”. From a dollar store, an otherwise unremarkable rubber stamp has become our “on-time” stamp, reserved only for pages completed the week we studied the country. I like that I can use my time to accommodate the unique interest of my boys, such exploring rail transit, because the basic template for the country has been provided. I am also enjoying seeing how others are customizing their experiences (documented on the Facebook site) and I am continually inspired by their posts. I was particularly amazed by a story repeated here, and also on the Wisdom Facebook Page, about the ongoing story of a family from Quebec who are taking their children on journey to see the world before the children lose their eye site to a genetic disorder.

After several countries have been completed, basic game cards with flags and the country fact cards are available. We have used them for quiet games like “Memory” and rowdier games that involve snatching a country card that matches a particular qualification (starts with the letter “A”, English is a primary language, has stars on their flag, or anything else that comes to mind). The latter game can be rather animated if the cards are spread around the room.

This is one program that, despite being about four years in length, I don’t feel the need to rush for imaginary deadlines. There are no wrap ups before Christmas, evaluation points, or units to complete before vacation. Throughout the first year, Dave provides suggestion for those that have missed several weeks on how to catchup and shows pictures of his own family doing just that. We have occasionally done a “country of the day” but usually I just plan to take this program with me. We have taken this program on vacations and family visits. As long as I have either access to an internet device (or have printed off a few pages beforehand), it is easy entertainment for the kids. I suspect some strangers watching the videos over my kids’ shoulders in the airport in Toronto imagined that we were going to much more exotic place than Eastern Canada.

And speaking of strangers, this program has also provided a great link for turning strangers into friends and reconnecting with some friends that have become strangers during the isolation of the last two years. We now had a reason to reach out to friends who visited a particular country, friends who have dual citizenships, and a military neighbour who was assigned a tour of duty half way around the world. We went to local ethnic restaurants and bakeries where my kids eager chatted about their country of the week and made new friends.

We are also developing a better sense of our place in the world. Through this program, my children explore living conditions, culture, manmade and natural wonders, and even the way children travel to school, presented in small pieces each week. While they are learning that we are blessed to live in Canada, they are also learning that the world is an exciting place filled with many good people who love their home. This is exactly the geography course for which I was looking. In our lifetime, political boundaries may change but cultural traditions, natural and manmade wonders, and the love of life are everywhere. The lessons being learned from this program go beyond a list of facts and define the world in terms of experiences and adventures.

This article was originally published in The WISDOM Family Magazine, published by WISDOM Home Schooling and is reprinted with permission.