An Idea

Geography is one of those subjects that we haven't really hit hard yet. We often have a world map on the island in our kitchen under clear plastic. As the boys are eating a snack, we sometimes quiz them on the location of countries or they often ask us questions about certain countries. But we've only done one year of a formal geography curriculum. This year we've been so busy with our other subjects that once again, geography has fallen by the wayside. That is until I realized I was missing an opportunity to learn more about geography while doing "school prayer time".

We love the ministry of Voice of the Martyrs and so we get a lot of correspondence from them. A few weeks ago we got their annual prayer map. It shows all the countries that are hostile or restricted nations toward Christianity. Everyday the boys and I choose a country from the map and pray for our brothers and sisters in that country. We wanted to know more about each country and so we ordered the 2011 report from VOM that gives information about the persecution in each country and even a little about the country's history, economic status, or government(you can get 10 of these books for $5). So now while I'm reading about the country of the day, the boys make a flag for the nation about which we are learning. Then we pray for that country. We were doing this for a few days when I realized that we were "doing" geography. Each day as I mentioned a country they would run to the map in search of the country and discover its location. I love combining subjects, so you can image how happy I was that not only were the boys learning to have hearts for the world, but they were also learning about the locations of African and Middle Eastern countries. SCORE!!

After we finish the persecuted countries, I think we may just go on to learn about and pray for the rest of the world.....I'm thinking we've got a couple of years of geography lined out now. :)

Just thought I'd pass that "accidental idea" on to you today.