I wanted to do a geography with my son but knew textbooks would not be a good fit. Reading living books was a perfect solution .
936215
Can not wait to start this book.  I wanted to do a geography with my son but knew textbooks would not be a good fit. Reading living books was a perfect solution but how to organize information was a struggle. This book will help us keep up with books read, information collected, and foods eaten as we go thru our studies.
1021503
The pictures an information in this book are amazing. I bought this to teach social studies/geography to my kindergartener. We will use this as a reference book for years to come.
1810301
I homeschool my daughter, and found Sylvan books to be a perfect addition to our studies. They're perfect for her level, and exactly what we needed.
1072664
My son goes to a French Immersion preschool & I studied French in college, but that was, let's just say, awhile ago. So, I wanted to start getting some childrens books to keep up with French at home and to help me practice my pronunciation. This book was the perfect fit. It's easy enough for me to read fluidly & for him to understand without me having to stop to give him context in English (he gets frustrated when he doesn't understand what's happening). :) Love it!
2034952
He borrowed the book at school and would not let it out of his sight! I was happy to finally see his huge interest in reading. He asked me to buy his very own book and I am doing just that. We both have enjoyed it so much  I want him to have his very own to remember the fun we had together.  sharing it.
2311497
Remember when you went to grade school (a/k/a grammar school; a/k/a elementary school), there were some subjects you did wonderfully in and others were more challenging? The grammar school I attended taught Geography--the geography of New Jersey. So, I could name the 21 counties that comprise New Jersey, knew about the farming belt and the wetlands and the pine barrens, had a rudimentary understanding of the climate, and knew the names of all the significant cities.

That rich background in Geography has made me what I am today--totally lost. You see, if I'm in New Jersey, I know which direction is north, south, east, and west, but outside of New Jersey (or New York City), I could get turned around in a closet. Which is why I celebrate the publication of Reader's Digest's "I Used to Know That: Geography (stuff you forgot from school)". It's not that it reminds me just what I forgot from school; it tells me everything I might have learned had I attended public school.

Every few months someone publishes the startling fact that Americans don't know their geography. Unfortunately to understand either current events or history, some basic geographic knowledge is required. Knowing that Cuba is "somewhere in the middle of the Caribbean" or that Afghanistan is "way east" doesn't help put events in perspective.

Written by Will Williams and Caroline Taggart, I Used to Know That: Geography is a wealth of geographic knowledge broken down into various fields of information. In addition to allowing the readers to place countries, cities, oceans, and continents on the map, there is a generous supply of information on things about which we sometimes wonder (Whatever happened to Upper Volta? It's now Burkina Faso. Rhodesia? Zambia and Zimbabwe.)

Liberally sprinkled throughout "I Used to Know That: Geography" are "Geo Gems," bits of information about various areas. For example, earlier weren't we wondering if there were any active volcanoes in Antarctica? "There are at least two active volcanoes in Antarctica--Mount Erebus, which has a permanent, molten lava lake, and Mount Melbourne. There may be more buried beneath the ice." When the temperatures are soaring and you think you live at the hottest spot on earth, isn't it reassuring to know that the hottest spot on earth is actually in Australia? Well...reassuring if you're not in Australia.

"I Used to Know That: Geography" is the ideal reference to have if you need to know where in the world you are, and everyone else. Information on climate, topography, geography, oceanography, resources, and animals are just a few of the areas upon which this fine little volume touches. I've already learned a lot of things I should've learned in school (or that our teachers forgot to teach us), and every time I open to a page at random, I learn something else. Now that's cool.
4148369
This is a great tool for learning the locations of all of the countries of South America since all of the pieces are shaped like the countries.  And learning country locations is the first step in a good geography foundation.  I have found that the school systems place far too little influence on geography these days.  So, I decided to give my kids this step up in this important yet often overlooked field.  I later noticed that this product can now also be purchased as a set of all the continents with a good overall discount as well.
3028769
LOVE them.  We got the paperback set and are thrilled.  We home school and needed some math reading.  These books were perfect and even my 3 year old enjoys being read the triangle and circle books.  They cover a variety of concepts so you can use the books from age 3 through age 10 including: add, subtract, multiply, divide, 2D shapes like trapezoids and equilateral triangles, sets, measuring length, fractions, time, even and odd numbers, etc.  I was rather impressed at how simple the books made the concepts especially given how some of these concepts are often left to high school (like geometry class for example).  Bravo for making these silly yet full of learning math books that actually make a child want to read math - my son is very reluctant to do math time but he loves these books.  We are going to buy the Word Fun box set as well on punctuation and parts of speech.
1694549
These are really great stories. They prompt questions about vocabulary and geography. I like that there are three books in one, so its great to take on a trip. It is also very good value for money.
1895444
We enjoy TOOBs as supplement to our homeschool works. Goes great with three part cards and other books. My son can recognize all of these landmarks now.
4977288
My son has been struggling with Scholastic's "Accelerated Reader" program for four years. He reads his books and speaks intelligently about them but does not do well on the tests.  Frustrated, I bought this book when my son decided to read My Side of The Mountain. My thinking was that if I could get into a Scholastic study guide then maybe I could understand their testing methods.

Things have changed a lot in the 30+ years since I was a fifth grader. "Back in the day" it was more important to remember that Sam Gribley learned to make a fire using flint and steel than it was to remember the name of the character in Chapter 1 who taught him to make fire and is never heard from again.  Such is not the case on an A/R test.

The study guide is top notch.  They provide several useful tools to get readers involved in the story. The discussion topics are great.  I used them in the car as I drove my son to school.  It brought him back into the story and made him anxious to learn what adventures Sam and Frightful would have next.  The section-by-section synopses are very helpful.  The puzzles and worksheets keep the story alive and don't have to be drudgery for kids. We used the worksheets as a trivia game ... just trying to remember the details for the dreaded Test Day.

As a study guide alone I'd give this five stars.  I've only given it four because it did not, in the end, serve the purpose that I wanted it to.  Scholastic's study guide is great but their reading program and the mystery behind why they ask nit-picky questions that hang on the periphery of the story are still elusive to me and mine.
375669
This book has great illustrations and like the rest of this publishers lineup they don't dive too far into detail. This keeps my wife's 1/2 graders engaged and works as a great foundation to a weeks lesson plan.
This is a very concise and high level geography review. It works to show the class a few different types of geography and climates associated with them while giving some examples. This is a foundation to a lesson plan but doesn't have enough information in itself to be a stand alone lesson plan. It's really well done though and will be the building blocks to my wife's lessons in geography next month. She highly recommends this book!
We received this book free in exchange for an honest review
3121485
I brought my sons home 2-3 years ago out of public school. We have tried several different philosophies, and several different companies, and were not satisfied.  I got this book from a friend whose children moved on to college. After reading through it I feel like the weight is lifted off my back as far as my worries as to if my 7th grader would be ready for high school. This year he is in 8th, and we are going to spend the year going through this book, making sure at the end of the year he knows everything in it. We will use it with library books and research on the internet. This is the first book my son actually liked to read.  LOVE IT!
3021313
I was honestly not sure what to expect when looking at the cover of this book. When I saw workbook, I thought perhaps there would be some sort of activities or a more interactive format. I was again confused by labeling the book Geography, because I feel like it is more about ecosystems.
As the kids and I read it, I was impressed with the variety of types of life covered. I also again enjoyed the photo-heavy format. The vocabulary added some new words for the little person, and an opportunity for my bigger person (10 year old) to share some knowledge. All of this was super-cool. For an inexpensive book, it's a great read and gives a toe in the water of the subject without committing to more in-depth study if there is no passion found.
Overall: A nice family exploration or start to a study of ponds, swamps, and habitats. Don't expect a workbook or more than a mention of geography. Look at the animals and learn a bit from the text...
I received the Kindle edition of this book free for my honest, unbiased review.
2238212
I'm a Montessori teacher of elementary geography so I was delighted when I found this book in the library.  I purchased my own copy soon after.  There are poems extolling the virtues of geography, an amusing tribute to the equator, selections from  poems from well known poets such as Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman as well as from less familiar poets.  I use the poems to introduce new topics in geography.  They also make excellent penmanship lessons.
1590357
I plan to use this atlas in teaching United States geography to 6-12 year olds who are being home schooled. We will study the states in the order in which each area became a state. In the atlas the abbreviations of the states are  shown in the names by capital letters, which I find very helpful in teaching the abbreviations, which I think the children should learn. At the end of the year I will be able to give a much better review of the atlas, but at this point this atlas fits very well into my curriculum.
4131260
Perfect starter atlas. My 6 year old is obsessed with any fact type books. He is always asking about where other people live and what language they speak. This is a great book to introduce kids to different cultures and geography.