Earlier this year we learned about the continent of South America. We learned the names of the 12 countries and 2 territories, their capitals, flags, language(s) spoken, and location on the map. (I think the kids learned better and faster than I did! I still get some of the flags and locations mixed up.)
We used the South America song from Kathy Troxel’s Geography Songs CD to learn the country names.
We checked out several books from the library to learn some about the people, climate, and landforms this continent.
South America by Rebecca Hirsch
This is a simple, easy reader picture book geared towards the younger children.
South America by Libby Koponen
A book from a good series (“True Book” series) covering the basics for a slightly older audience than the previous book.
South America by Michael and Jane Pelusey
I like this series too. It covers some of the same information that the previous one does, but it also has some details about some of the individual countries (like religions, languages, natural resources, crops, etc.). It presents this information in a chart format, so it was perfect for practicing our skills at reading and interpreting charts.
Seven Natural Wonders of Central and South America by Michael Woods and Mary Woods
I was fascinate by this one, though we didn’t read much of it together.
In all of these books, we had to edit out and/or discuss the “millions of year” fairy tale. It was fascinating to learn about the Amazon River/jungle/animals, the Atacama Desert, the Andes Mountains, the waterfalls and other amazing things God made on this continent!
As we learned about the various countries, I tried to make connections with people we know: we know some missionaries in Chile and Venezuela, my uncle was on a mission trip to Brazil, a friend flies planes to various countries in South America, the in-laws of a lady from church were moving to Columbia, etc. I also briefly related the story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot who were missionaries in Ecuador. (I also knew a foreign exchange student in high school who was from Ecuador.)
It has been interesting to me to realize how many people I know of or in so many different countries of the world!
I would have liked to have read some stories, either fiction or non-fiction, from these countries, but we were still trying to work our way through a biography of Gladys Aylward in China and by the time we were done with that (or even before) I felt that we needed to move on to another continent.
I have since found some good sites and ways of searching for books set in different countries, so maybe someday we will go back and find some of those for South America.
We are now working our way through Western Europe, but that’s for another post…
