Like many homeschool families and educators, I have spent a fair amount of time browsing the internet and making wish lists of books and curriculum I would like to have for the new school year. There are so great products and resources available that adhering to a budget can be troublesome if not near impossible.
“If only we could get curriculum for free!” I have often heard my friends proclaim. I am delighted to take part once again in the annual Back to School Toolkit Giveaway.
This post contains affiliate links for resources we absolutely love and truly depend on.
Back to School Giveaway
This year, I am giving away a geography themed basket loaded with resources that will provide you and your children with activities and lesson plans to keep you busy all year long.
Bright Ideas Press has donated their popular WonderMaps CD. Designed with easy-to-use layers that allow you to enjoy great customizable features with just a click, WonderMaps is the perfect addition to your geography resource library. WonderMaps was created not only with hundreds of world maps but also a large selection of historical maps that cover everything you need for The Mystery of History vols. IIII and All American History vols. I & II.
Also included in the Travel Around the World basket are the following resources:
Discovering China (Multicultural Education Series)
, by Dianna J. Sullivan, was written for grades 4-8. This paperback guide provides a great start to a unit study on the culture of China. It includes many printables and activities to learn a few Chinese phrases and to explore the Chinese calendar, holidays, folktales, and cultural traditions. It even includes recipes for popular stir fry! 48 page paperback
Australia: An Interdisciplinary Unit by Merle Davenport was developed for grades 6-8. It covers the physical geography of Australia as well as the cultural geography. Some of the activities include making your own Boomerang, creating a timeline of historical events, graphing natural resource exports, making a star projector to learn about the constellations to compare how navigation differs in the southern hemisphere, and learning the strike (slang) of Oz (Australia). 48 page paperback
The Galápagos islands were originally called the “Enchanted Isles” because the capricious meandering of the Humboldt Current had the effect of making the islands disappear and reappear to passing ships. The Galápagos Across the Curriculum is a fun, hands-on life science unit study that provides ample opportunity for kids to explore the diversity and remarkable history of the islands. This unit study is full of inquiry-based activities and lesson plans that can be easily integrated into a larger life science curriculum. 12 page eBook (PDF)
The perfect accompaniment to your Galápagos unit, Galapagos Bedtime Stories by Paula Tagle Saad is charming book with many watercolor depictions of the animals in the archipelago. As the protagonists of the tales, most of the tales are told from the perspective of the featured animal. Factual information about life cycle, habitat, feeding, etc. are woven throughout. It also includes a glossary of terms in the appendix.
Find more giveaway baskets at the iHomeschool Network’s annual Back to School Toolkit Giveaway – Giveaways Galore! There are over 34 baskets!!
There are so many wonderful products in these baskets, I encourage you to enter them all.
You won’t want to miss Barb’s Handbook of Nature Study basket or Brenda’s Essential STEM Supplies.
What a neat idea. Would love to win a basket
Looks amazing! We’re studying Darwin this year, and especially love the look of the Galapagos unit!
Great resources! We’ve been dying to try Wondermaps!
this year we are going to focus on Europe. Last year was the Middle East
We are focusing on the ancient world (incorporating History and Geography).
What a fun way to start the year!
We’ll be focusing on the US this year.
Europe and Asia
We are going to be studying American history and geography this year.
I would love to try Wondermaps! We started geography for the first time this year and finding quality maps has been difficult.
Wow! How exciting! This is going to be my first year homeschooling. My daughter who is 7 years old. We would be beyond blessed to win. Thanks you for this opportunity.
We are planning on studying Europe and Australia this year and maybe some of Africa if we get to it.
This is perfect timing! We are planning on studying World Geography Countries and Cultures this year. This basket would be a wonderful blessing for our family! Thank you!
We are doing a big study on Africa as we have a very close friend who spent a year there as a missionary and my daughter wants to learn more about the culture.
We’ll be studying ancient history this year, so the eastern world.
We’re studying Ancient World cycle 1! this year, and also classification of life charts.
I love this basket!
we’re doing asia/europe
How awesome! WonderMaps!!!
We’re going to study Northern Europe this year.
This year we are focusing on countries of the Middle Ages. Thank you for the giveaway!
This would be a perfect addition to our plans to start studying world geography this year! Since our autistic son has issues not being able to understand new concepts easily, it may be a challenging year. We’re introducing places it won’t be easy to visit without a plane and passport! Quite a lot of our past homeschooling years included field trips to help him better understand what we were teaching.
We plan on starting our world geography lessons with Egypt probably. Maybe Greece? Somewhere in that area of the world. Haven’t really decided yet since we’re trying to finish up our US history and geography lessons.
I would Love to win this Basket
We want to study Japan this year.
thank you for the chance.
Europe and the Cradle of Civilization
We’re studying the Middle East and Europe this year.
The Mediterranean and Europe. She is into all things Greek and World War 2. Interesting combination!!!
We are doing Five in a Row so we will be “visiting” many places. I am stockpiling as much geography resources as I can. It’s a fun subject and having wonderful resources certainly helps me keep the girls interested, engaged and loving to learn!
We are studying ancient history and life in ancient Bible lands.
United States
We studying the ancient world in history and are planning to really focus on the Middle East for geography!
Africa
We are doing a basic overview of geography to learn continents, countries, oceans, etc. for my younger students. We are also studying the Americas in depth with older students. Would love to win!
We try to work in as many places as possible but this year’s focus will be on the United States and the ancient world for the younger one.
We are studying Ancient History this year.
We plan on studying Australia since my son is so interested in the animals there!
We are mainly studying the United States this school year
We’ll be doing US geography to go with our Modern History. We may hit some other countries through the year.
We are focusing on the US this year.
north america
We are doing a trip around the world this year. Hitting every continent.
SouthEast Asia
The United States
We are studying different areas. We are studying the United States, all 50 states and Bible geography.
We’re doing a survey of the 4 major historical time periods and their locations in preparation for the next 4 years of high school when we study each in more detail.
We plan on doing a general geography, along with Biblical geo.
We’ll be studying the USA and France
We are focusing on the United States and Asia this year.
We’ve all been looking at the Galapagos!
We are going to study North America this year along with US History.
Love geography and would love to win these supplies!
I’m swooning over the Wonder maps CD. If we win I’ll print off some Biblical maps.
We will be studying Europe and Asia this year. Thanks for the chance to win!!
We are doing general geography and focusing what sparks the kiddos interests
We will be doing a survey of the whole world this year, so these books would be helpful. Thanks for the great giveaway. 🙂
We are studying Japan this year
I have not made up my mind yet! I want her to definitely learn more about America.
We’ll be focusing on South America mostly.
The Galapagos unit study and book look like fun. Thanks
I plan on studying the US as well as Europe (since we are doing a middle ages study this year)
We are focusing on an overview of the entire world.
We haven’t decided yet but we may study South America this year.
Europe and the Middle East will come up a good bit for us.
We will be studying Ancient Greece and Rome.
We will study Europe, Asia, as well as Antarctica, and Australia.
We are going to be studying China
We are planning to study Overview of the entire world and hilippines
We will be studying Europe and the Ancient World this year. Thanks for a great basket!
The US.
We are studying the ancient middle and far east this year!
We will be doing Mystery of History Volume 4 this year, so primarily the western world.
We are studying ancient middle and far east. nice giveaway, thanks!
We are studying mainly the US this year, although we are learning about Canada a bit too!
We will be studying the ancient world this year.
We dip in and out of different countries as the interest hits, but having a Galapagos unit would definitely lead us in that direction!
the ancient world
We are studying all of them, but not in depth. We are reading about different missionaries and learning about the places they went to. Next year we will choose the one we found most interesting to study in depth.
Ancient world: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, China, India, Greece, Rome
We plan on studying Europe, North and South America this year.
We’ll primarily be studying Ancient/Medieval Europe.
The North and South America
Not sure yet, Haven’t started planning yet.
The ancient area of the world.
I have heard great things about Wondermaps! I would love to win.
World Geography
We are doing Asia and Europe
We would study the ancient world.
Mid-east, Rome, Greece
USA
I’ve had my eye on the WonderMaps CD for a long time, so this is a great opportunity. Thanks for hosting it!
Also, we are studying the US this year. We have studied many other countries of the world, but we’re focusing on our country this year.
We are focusing on the Ancient world. My oldest and I plan to do a unit on Australia and New Zealand, because that’s where I spent my childhood.
We are studying the United States this year.
Ancient History here
We will probably study Europe as my 4th child is spending her senior year of high school in Germany in a student exchange program.
Ancient lands-middle East, Rome, Greece, etc.
We’re currently studying America
We will study Alaska for sure since one of their older brothers is getting a job there. My oldest daughter lives in Taiwan so we continually look for things to learn more about Asia.
We are studying Mid-east at the time of creation
Europe
Rome, Greece, and America.
United States
We are studying the world, but focusing on Europe for a while!
We will be studying through the 10/40 window this year. This looks like a great resource.
Thanks for hosting this great giveaway! We will be studying The Middle East and Asia this year.
We haven’t decided what we are going to study…
We are studying American History the first half of the year.
We are studying the US, but could really expand with these resources!
I love geography! We are finishing up a study on our 50 states, but then are moving on to studying countries around the world. So this would be great! Thanks for the chance to win!
My two youngest are studying America and my eldest is studying the world continents.
We’ll be studying North America, then moving onto South & Central America as time allows.
We’re taking a trip around the world with Confessions of a Homeschooler’s “Expedition Earth” and using Veritas Press for geography that centers on the European regions. (Because we’re studying the middle ages!)
Great way to learn about other countries.
Marilyn
United States this year.
Awesome giveaway! This year we are studying the western hemisphere.
I like the options – some I had not thought of. Nice.
We will be studying the US this year.
We are planning on doing an overview of the world this year rather than focusing on a specific region.
We are going to study the United States! Hey we’re in Kindergarten, gotta start close to home!
We’ll study the United States this year.
United States
My son chose to concentrate on North & South America this year. We’ll see if we get much beyond the USA 🙂
Northern America
Thank you for hosting this giveaway!
Studying USA right now.
We are studying North America this year!
United States
We will be studying Europe as well as several others
We plan on studying Europe this year. Thank you!
We’re going to be studying the eastern hemisphere!
We’re doing US Geography this year.
Studying the United States right now.
We will be studying the African Continent
We are studying Antarctica right now!
What a neat giveaway!
We are focusing on the US this year – but the Galapagos stuff looks super interesting!
My middle daughter has requested a study of China this year so that is in the plans. She reads everything she can get her hands on about China. I’ll be adding Discovering China to our list of resources to look for if we don’t win this one. – Lori H
Europe
We’ll be studying the US this year.
Great giveaway, thanks for the opportunity!
Weare in Kentucky, USA.
We’re studying year two of Diana Waring’s History Revealed, which takes us from AD 30 to 1799. (WOW!) So we will be focusing mostly on Europe, but will touch on other regions -including the Americas- as we move through the year. Thanks for the giveaway!
We are studying ancient bible history this year, so mostly the Middle East.
We’re planning to explore early America this year 🙂
We will be study US History this year.
We are going to study Europe
We’re focused primarily on the U.S. (North America) but Australia is also on the agenda (per one student request).
Our theme this year is Rome to the Reformation, so we’ll be studying a lot of the European areas. Thanks for the opportunity to enter this fun giveaway!
We are actually studying the United States this year, and next year we will be looking at world geography. Thanks for the great giveaway
Southern Europe
Super fun…love learning about the World!
These look great!
The oldest one is doing a study in World Geography, the middle one wants to do US history, and the youngest wants to do US Geography.