A while back I had a reader ask me about teaching geography without a textbook. I have several ideas about that from teaching geography with literature to making passports and stamping them as you learn. Another way I’ve been able to add to my learner’s geography knowledge has been through some exposure to foreign money. I think there is something special about actually seeing the money and touching it.
How we used money for a geography study:
DK Eyewitness: Money
Mechanical man spent a good amount of time just looking at the coins and studying their differences. When possible we identified what they were and then looked for the country on the map. I am lucky to have an older son who collects coins; it was easy for me to come across real foreign money as he had collected it from all our travels over the years.
After covering history and more on money, the book covers money of over 13 countries and locations!
When you don’t have access to real foreign money you can buy Toy World Foreign Banknotes
DK Eyewitness Money covers how money is made, it’s uses in various circumstances and then goes into various countries and the money they use.
More ways to tie in money with geography.
There are unlimited ways you could work money into a unit or geography lesson exercise. You might like to have your child:
- Research and draw money used by a few countries and add to a nation notebook.
- Print images and use them on a presentation board. Have you child learn a little about each and tell the family what he learned.
- Write a report on the Euro and identify the countries that use it.
- Collect US Quarters for a state study. State Quarter Map – Us State Quarter Collection
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- Make a list of nations and the money they use.
What other ways would you or have you used money to teach geography in your homeschool?
