Prep - Making copies vs. writing in the book

[Julie in MN]

Geography Packets - Copies for ECC

Do you all copy the pages for these? My dd will be in 4th grade, and she is the only one using these.

My ds won't be in ECC for years, should I copy these so I will have them for him? Just wondering if the curriculum changes at all from year to year.

Thanks,
Wendy W

I might copy the packet for one continent & see how it goes. That's what I did for my "only" one doing ECC. You may find you don't use every page, or you may find one way works better than another for you.

The book is not expensive, so getting a new one in a couple years wouldn't be too bad (I doubt the curriculum would change). But having just the page you are working on out (without the page on the back side) is a nice option, and then you have the original available if your child really messes up or whatever.

I'm sure it would work either way, tho!
Julie

[Debby3]

I copied the pages so we would have the book available for the next time we use it. We ended up purchasing a copier for convenience. I feel that with the amount of copying needed, it will pay off in the end. But, if you don't mind buying another book when you need it, that is also an option. Remember, copying does take time so you have to weigh what is more important for your family: time or money.
HTH
Debby

[Lucy]

i wonder is it better (cheaper) to just buy a booklet for all the children, instead of making copies? or just one booklet for the family, and just have one person fill in the areas... any suggestions???

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:12 pm

I am sorry that I can not remember the ages/grades of your kids because different ages use a different number of pages. For instance a 7th and 8th grader(and most 6th graders) could do all of the pages. They will need direction especially at first with these pages ie. where and how to locate information. The pages for each continent are very similar so after the first couple of continents my son has begun to be quite independent in doing the pages with help from me when needed.

Kids in 2nd grade as you will see in the manual are not expected to do any of these pages and in 3rd grade only a few that you select to do WITH them. For 4th and 5th graders you just decide how much time you would like to spend with them and how independent you think they can be. Some of the pages do not require much research at all and are fairly easy to complete while others are more difficult to locate the information.
Also, since all your kids will be working on some of the same pages together you can have the older ones helping the younger ones.

O.K. so what does all of that have to do with making copies? If you think that several of your kids will be doing most of the pages then purchase extra books but otherwise just decide which pages you want the younger ones to do, run those off, and give the rest to the older child. You may want an extra book in case you need an extra copy for someone(like when they mess up and want to start over).

Hope that helps you think through what would work best for your family.
Peace,
Lucy

[s_duguid]

I don't want to have to make copies, but am not sure if my almost 9yo will be up to the World Geography pages. He doesn't like to write much and basically still needs to work on handwriting and copywork. He is around 2nd/3rd grade level. Would he be able to do the World Geography book pages, or should I just get one for my 11 yo and occasionally make copies for him?

It's up to you and the amount of copying you want to do. I chose to copy last year knowing that I would reuse the book when we cycle through again. My 3rd grader didn't do all the pages, either. For each continent, I chose which pages to do and we often did them together. It taught great researching skills. She especially loved the endangered species page. We also usually did the pages that identified cities, rivers, mountains, and the islands (this one was a little tricky at times - needed a really good atlas with very good latitude and longitude markings.) The religion and population pages taught reading and interpreting data.

You need to evaluate the cost of the extra book and the ability to tear out the pages as needed vs. the cost of your time and effort to copy plus your ink and paper costs.

HTH

[SandKsmama]

That's a tough one, just because I'm sure there are widely varying answers depending on how the family makes it work. I can tell you that when we did ECC, my 9 year old had a tough time with most of the World Geography pages, and we wound up picking and choosing some of them to do each time. If I were to go back and do it again with a 9 year old, I would make copies. But again, that's just us!

[KimberlyND]

My 8 yo (ds) didn't do many of the pages. So I just copied the ones I thought he could do.

[Kelly1730]

I've used it very little with my 8yo twin sons. It was a bit much for them so I just decided to save it for when we cycle through again and it will be all new to them at that time.

[RachelT]

We have done maybe a handful of pages over the entire year - and we only have two weeks left! When I do choose some, I usually pick the animal pages. Most of it is too much for my 9 yr old son right now and we can go through more of them when we do ECC again in a few years! I would just copy something when you need it and not get a second book.

Rachel

[sixtimemom]

The World Geography book is labeled for grades 5-8.

My youngest son is 10 and sounds a lot like your son. There were a few of the worksheets that I would have him do, but not enough to justify buying a book for him.

One thing I did do is have him do a map outline of the country we were studying. He would outline the land and the water [w/color] then I'd have him label the surrounding water and countries, major cities, rivers, mountain ranges or deserts. He would do a little bit each day and it gave him practice on his handwriting while learning about the country.

And during the year if you find that he is ready for more of this kind of work you can always order him a book.

[DS4home]

I'm not sure - should I tear out the pages of A Trip Around the World, or copy them, or have dd write directly in the book? We have an only child and no other kids coming up to use the book in the future. What did you guys do?

Thanks!
Meleasa

If your not reusing it, it might be nice to just write in the book. But then again, you might want to tear out the pages that the TM says to copy, so you can add them to the geography notebook. It's only one or two pages per country to put in the notebook. The rest of the book is used for teaching/discussion time.

I'm no help at all I guess I wouldn't bother with copying though. I would probably tear them out to keep in the notebook with the other country things.

Dawn

[Julie in MN]

In 3rd, I copied.

In 8th, I torn them out (at the perforations) and I liked that better. I even put a couple of the "FASCInating facts" and language pages in his notebook for fun & for review. And you never know if geography info is updated in the newer book etc., so I was thinking I should have just bought a new one each time?

Julie

[momtogc]

Great! Thanks for the replies! Tearing them out sounds best to me, too. I did try copying one and it didn't turn out well so I cut it out (Liberty Bell) and glued it to blue paper - it looked cute but was just way too much work for me to do that every week. Thank-you again!!

Meleasa