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by Mike McHugh
As students move past the primary grades and begin their elementary level studies, they will greatly benefit from a series of lessons on the fundamentals of geography. This is no less true for children who attend school at home. Parent educators should take the effort to sit down with their young children and make sure that they have a firm grasp of the basics of geography. The information that follows is designed to give home educators a series of key questions and globe exercises that they can share with their students in an effort to ensure that they are properly grounded in their elementary geography skills.
Before instructors begin to utilize any of the questions listed below, they should make sure that their students have easy access to a globe as well as to a comprehensive set of maps. Students should be encouraged to locate and pinpoint with their finger any place on the globe or map that is referred to during the process of questioning. Whenever possible, instructors should let their students have enough time to identify the locations that are referenced in each lesson for themselves. Some of the following questions will likely be either too easy or too difficult for some children, therefore, teachers are encouraged to omit or modify any question that is not appropriate.
- What is the shape of a globe? What shape is the shape of a map?
- Identify with your finger the large parts of the earth that represent land.
- Point out the locations on the globe that represent large bodies of water. |
- How much of the earth is covered by water? How much by land?
- How much time does it take for the earth to rotate once (turn around completely)?
- What is the name for the most northerly point on the globe?
- What is the name for the most southerly point on the globe?
- Locate the line that runs around the middle of the earth. What is this line called?
- Locate the four oceans (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic) on a globe.
- What are the names of each continent? Locate these seven major land bodies on a globe.
- What is the largest continent? What is the smallest continent?
- What is the place off of the southern tip of Africa called? What is the area off of the southern tip of South America called?
- Point out and name the four large islands located between Australia and Asia.
- What is the name of the place where North America and Asia nearly come together?
- Locate the Amazon River in South America.
- Locate the Mississippi River in North America.
- Locate the Nile River in Africa.
- Locate the Rhine River in Europe.
- Identify the longest mountain range in North America. In what direction does it extend?
- Find the Himalaya Mountains in Asia.
- What is the name of the sea between North America and South America?
- Locate and name the sea that is between Europe and Africa.
- Identify and name the sea located south of Asia.
- Locate and name the sea that sits between Asia and Japan.
- Identify and name the long and narrow sea between Africa and Asia.
- Find and name the sea located north of Australia.
- Identify and name the large gulf south of the United States.
- Find the large bay that is north of the U.S.
- Locate and name the large bay south of Asia.
- Find the gulf west of Africa that sits near the equator.
The questions or globe activities listed above will help instructors to expose their students to some of the most crucial facts of elementary geography. In addition to these important geography basics, it is wise for home educators to make sure that their students have a working knowledge of longitude and latitude as well a firm grasp of geography facts from their local area. Many parents also find that students benefit from geography games such as “geography bees”, as well as from audio tapes or recordings that present geography facts in the form of songs or rhymes.
Since the Bible clearly proclaims that “this is our Father’s world,” it makes perfect sense for Christian home educators to spend time grounding their children in the knowledge of geography. After all, the Creation mandate extends to all of God’s creatures, for they have been commissioned to subdue the earth and exercise dominion over it to the glory of God.
Copyright 2007 Michael J. McHugh
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