How We Use the Trail Guide to U.S. Geography - Geography Terms

We have been using the "Trail Guide to U.S. Geography" by Cindy Wiggers for our geography studies for over a year now. This resource is wonderful! I have decided to do a series of posts in which I show how we use this resource to study the geography of our country.

For years I had felt guilty because we really weren't studying geography in a systematic manner. For me, the "Trail Guide to U.S. Geography" is the perfect geography curriculum. Our geography studies are completed together which works really well for my children (7th, 5th, and 3rd grades).

While the curriculum can be completed in a year, I decided to take a slower pace and complete our study of United States geography over a two year period. The "Trail Guide to U.S. Geography is such a rich resource of ideas, even with two years in which to work through the text, I had to pick and choose which activities we would complete for our homeschool. There are just so many ideas in the text and geography is just one part of our school day. We usually spend about 20 - 30 minutes on geography studies each day.

One of my geography goals for my children is for them to understand geography terms. For example, if one of my children is reading a book and comes across the geography term, "knoll," I would like for he or she to be able to picture in his or her mind what a knoll looks like. To help to meet this goal, each week we add words to our Illustrated Geography Dictionary.

The template for the Illustrated Geography Dictionary pages is included in the back of the Trail Guide to U.S. Geography. I simply made a bunch of copies of the template at Staples at the beginning of the school year. Each week we add two geography terms to our geography dictionaries. Two geography terms are suggested for each state in the Trail Guide to U.S. Geography. If we were working through the text in one year, we would add four geography terms each week. I write the word and definitions on the white board in our school room and the children write down the term and definition in their dictionary and then illustrate it. Their geography dictionaries are truly turning into treasures.

My middle son (5th grade) usually manages to add some humor to his illustrations. His illustrations have a comic book quality to them, complete with little captions and funny quotes.

My youngest (3rd grade) sometimes struggles with drawing the pictures for the geography terms but he is usually happy with his efforts. He sometimes adds a funny touch to his illustrations as well. He needs more space in which to write the definition so he only puts three terms on a page.

My daughter's dictionary is quite lovely. She so carefully draws each illustration, using one of the resources that I have available for them as a guide. While she doesn't enjoy drawing the pictures as much as her brothers, she does a wonderful job.

I use two main resources to help the children with their illustrations. The first resource, that I adore, is the book "Geography From A to Z, A Picture Glossary" by Jack Knowlton. Sadly, not every term is included in this book, so I also use Rand McNally's Geographical Terms laminated map with pictures on the front and definitions on the back. So far, I have only encountered one geography term that did not have a picture in either of these resources. Then, I used the internet to find some suitable pictures to illustrate the geography term.

Working on our Illustrated Geography Dictionaries is just one way that we use the Trail Guide to U.S. Geography. The other ways in which we use this resource for our geography studies will be discussed in future posts. If you would like to hear about other homeschoolers and their homeschooling ideas, check out Thirsty Thursday.