At one time or another, most homeschool families come to a point where they have to make decisions on cutting activities. There are so many worthwhile opportunities out there and we really don't want our children to miss any of them. Even if this hasn't happened to you, I do hope you understand what I'm about to say.

After 3 and a half years of Geography Club, I regret to inform you that I will no longer be able to continue with this activity. With two children beginning high school (one wanting to go to college) and an otherwise demanding schedule, I feel the need to cut certain activities from my schedule at this time. For now, Geography Club is one of them.

I think the kids did a great job on their annual projects for the Christmas party. I've also seen growth in the maps they draw each month. I encourage you to continue having them draw maps at home on a regular basis.

If you have prepaid for the year, I will be issuing refunds for the second half of the year.

I did have a field trip planned for May to attend the Greek Festival in Camp Hill. The field trip was tentative, and I hope to still be able to do it. Please watch for announcements concerning this field trip this spring.

The decision to discontinue Geography Club has not been an easy one. I have truly enjoyed exploring the 5 themes of geography with your kids and will miss meeting with them. There is a possibility that Geography Club will be offered again next year as part of the co-op. That can be discussed at future planning meetings.

Again, thank you for allowing your children to participate in Geography Club and giving me the opportunity to work with them and the opportunity to get to know them better. They are awesome kids.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Years.
Sincerely,
Patti

February 2011 Meeting

The meeting scheduled for this Friday, Feb 18, will end at 3:30 rather than the usual 4pm.

From the National Council of Geographic Education:

Most social studies textbooks have one or more historical maps. What are these maps based upon? What do they tell us about the mapmakers’ understanding of places near and far? In this activity students will look at examples of historical maps and note the differences with modern maps.

They will examine maps of a place over time to see how knowledge of a place changes over time.

This month we will be taking a look at historical maps. If your child has a history book that displays historical maps, your child is encouraged to bring it to the meeting this Friday.

Our next Geography Club meeting is coming up this Friday, January 21. To help prepare for the class, I am asking each family to bring information about one of the "Microstates", countries with less than 200 square miles, that we will be learning about. (I have assigned the countries further down in this email so that we don't have too many repeats).


What does Ms. Patti mean by "find information"?

Have your child bring a book on the country or find information on the internet and print it out to bring along. The information should include a little history (some countries are newer than others and may have very short histories), population, products of that country, physical characteristics (mountainous, island country, etc.), currency, religions, life expectancy, etc.

Your child does not have to study this information ahead of time. He/She simply needs to bring it.

Here are the countries we will be studying. Please look for your child's name and have him/her bring information for the country listed next to his/her name. I tried to make it easy on the moms and gave siblings the same country. If your child would rather work on the same country as a friend, let me know because we can adjust this easily.

Abel ~ Andorra


Cooke ~ Antigua and Barbuda


Dean ~ Barbados


Fisher ~ Grenada


Hunt ~ Liechtenstein


Kehr ~ Maldives


Keller ~ Malta


McKinney ~ Marshall Islands


Sanders ~ Monaco

Sigmon ~Vatican City


These countries are extra. If you can also bring information about these countries or would rather do one of these, let me know. It won't be a problem to switch.


10. Nauru
12. Saint Kitts and Nevis
13. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
14. San Marino
15. Seychelles
16. Tuvalu

Bringing this information to this Friday's meeting will help the flow of activities for the meeting go smoothly. Thank you all in advance.

Plans are under review

Plans for the next several meetings are under review.
Some parents have voiced concerns about the alternate plans and I'm attempting to make the original plans for the year to work.
I will let all parents know what we are doing by this Friday evening.

I apologize for any inconvenience.
Patti