Travel the World! TOS Crew Review

For my first review as part of The Crew, I was given the chance to review a module from The Old Schoolhouse Planner. The Planner is an amazing thing to behold! Each month is separated and given a theme, then there are pages and pages of information to download and print.

The module I was given was June 2010. It is titled Travel the World! and it is all about Geography. Now I have to admit that we are not big Geography fans at our house and it hasn’t been a subject that we have covered very much. So when I saw this as an option to review I was both intrigued and scared! Several questions were chasing each other around in my head. How guilty was I going to feel because my kids didn’t know what they should and would it be interesting enough for us to get through it?

I almost passed this one by. This was the one and only time on The Crew that we got to choose what we would review and I almost let it pass us by. I am so glad I didn’t.

I downloaded the module rather quickly and immediately started reading it. I couldn’t believe that what was listed in the Table of Contents was really in the download. There is a lot there! I scanned it quickly but wanted to get started right away.

What I found was exciting. The material was written in a style that was easy to read and to the point. There weren’t any extra flowery things, just the pertinent information. Now don’t get me wrong, it isn’t dry and boring, just succinct. I appreciate that, so do my kids. Although when I told them we were going to be doing Geography they let out a collective moan! They were not looking forward to doing this.

Thankfully when I started reading, they were intrigued. The module starts out explaining what Geography is and quickly moves on to explaining globes and why they are always tilting to the side. It sounds simple, I know, but when I read the explanation my kids got it. The light bulb came on and stayed on all the way through learning about latitude, longitude, the equator, and maps.

We moved on quickly covering the Oceans and then the Continents.  Each continent is covered individually with many facts about it listed with a map beside it.  There are also links to click that take you to sites that further explain what they are talking about or to games that everyone can play.  We didn’t follow every link, there were just too many!

Included in this module are worksheets for the kids to do. They were pretty basic but they covered the basic information that all kids need to have in Geography. The girls had a great time doing the Crossword Puzzle and the Word Search. I let them use the module so that they could sharpen their skills at finding the information they couldn’t remember and it worked like a charm because the information is laid out in a style that is easily accessible.

We didn’t do the Lapbook that is included. My kids just don’t like them. I wish they did because I think they are cool! The Lapbook materials that are provided are meant to just get you started and they provide several links to keep you going.

Next are Maps to label. Each continent map has drawings of things that that continent is known for. I thought that was a great idea to trigger the child’s memory so they could remember it more easily.

The next item in the module is a section of Copywork. There are several options to choose from with different writing fonts. Simply choose the one you want and print it off. What a great way to practice handwriting, study Scripture, and review what you just learned.

This module is appropriate for Elementary ages through Middle School. The worksheets were on the easier side for the older girls but they learned a lot from it and I just required them to do a little extra like following some of the links and taking the quizzes. There is also a High School Expansion section that takes it up a notch. I let my 7^th grader do a bit from this section and found myself wishing for more.

To round out the study on Geography there are some recipes to try out from different regions of the world. We have found this to be an excellent addition to our studies to really bring everything together.
We had a great time working through this module. It was informative and easy to implement. The next time I download one, I would probably take a little more time to look through it and choose not to print some of the pages. I am pretty cheap when it comes to printing and there were a few pages that were completely covered in ink. There are also pages at the end that are just advertisements. I would not print those; having them linked is what is needed most so I would just leave them on the computer.

All in all, we loved it. And at just $7.95 it’s a great value. If you want to purchase one of your own go here. While you are at The Old Schoolhouse Store website check out all the other Modules and ebooks they have, you won’t be sorry you did.






**I was given this product for free by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine for my honest review.