There are 11 chapters and I spaced each chapter over two weeks, occasionally three (chapters 8-10 were quite detailed), reading a few sections per week and she narrated after each section.

We skipped the writing suggestions (Postcards Home) and most of the activities except for those Moozle decided were interesting enough to warrant an effort and I added in some videos.

This is an outline of what we did.

 

 

Short & easily done in a week.

Pg 9-11; 12-13

Countries & coastlines (but sadly no Australia!) 

 

 

Pg.19-20; 21-22; 23-25

 

Meteors & shooting stars

Atmosphere song

 

Pg. 31-33; 33-35; 35-37

Auroras seen from the north of Scotland. 

 

An explanation of what causes the above.

 

 

Pg.43-45; 45-46; 47- 49; 49-50; 51-52

 

Sheppard Software have some free online map activities which are great for all ages. Some of them are quite difficult but with a bit of practice you\’ll know all the Chinese provinces and other random information that might just be useful one day…

 

 

Pg.57-59; 60-62; 63-64; 65-66

Activity pg. 71-72

 

 

Learn about rip currents, how to identify them, avoid them or how to escape if caught in one. We had a holiday last year and swam at an isolated beach which had some strong rips and we spent some time looking for the safest places to swim. I never knew how to identify rips and I was caught in one when I was in my teens – very frightening, not to mention highly dangerous. If I\’d had this information at the time I would have known what to do.

The moon & tides:

The Gulf Stream – a bit of history here. Benjamin Franklin was the first person to map the Gulf Stream:

 

Ocean currents & Salinity 

 

Chapter 6

 

Pg.73-76; 77-78; 79-80; 80-81

 

An explanation of the seasons:

 

 

Pg. 91-93; 94-96; 97-99; 100-101

 

This video on earthquakes is very good but I only let my daughter watch it up until 2:10 as it has footage of a little girl crying as an earthquake occurs and people being swept away by tsunamis later on. It has a great view of the San Andreas fault line and it would probably be fine for an older student but preview first.

 

105-107; 108-109; 109-110; 111-113

Activity pg 116-117 & 118

Good explanation of plate tectonics for children:

 

Chapter 9

 

Pg.119-122; 123-125; 126-128; 128-129

 

Volcano Adventure is a great book I\’d recommend while we\’re on the topic of volcanoes.

Activity pg 133-134 – the results weren\’t spectacular. Last time one of the boys made a volcano in the sandpit and it was impressive.

 

Cinder, composite and shield volcanoes & how they are formed:

Geysers – what they are and how they erupt:

 

Rotorua Geysers, New Zealand. Rotorua has been called The Sulphur City and the geothermal activity permeates the area with a distinctive odour. The colours of the rocks, terraces and water (a beautiful intense aqua in places), around the area are stunning.

 

Chapter 10

 

Pg.135-137; 138-140; 140-141; 142-144

 

Globe Unwrapped shows how a globe becomes a map (the website is slow to load).

 

Chapter 11

 

Pg.149-151; 152-153; 153-155; 156-159

 

Longitude, Latitude & Prime Meridian:

We were trying to work out time differences when my husband was overseas for work.
How come where Dad is it\’s Wednesday and he\’s just about to go to bed and it\’s Thursday lunchtime here??
These videos were helpful:

The concept of different times in different places takes some mind bending so this video might go over the heads of younger children and would be better for an older student: