Disclosure: I received a copy of this product and was compensated for my review. All opinions are my own and a positive review was not required.
I love traveling and learning about new cultures - so much that my early career choices reflected that, as I pursued a teaching career working with ESOL students (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and spent a good part of my twenties taking advantage of opportunities to either teach or learn outside of the United States. When I met my husband, I discovered that he had the same love. Together, we have seen a good number of our National Parks as well as part of Germany, and I have held down the home fort with the children when he has traveled for short-term service projects in other countries.
It's only natural, then, that we enjoy sharing that love with our children. While we haven't gotten a chance to take them beyond the U.S. border yet, we enjoy learning about other countries through our Classical Conversations curriculum and we try to supplement that with additional resources when possible - which is why I was excited to learn about the Kids Travel Calendar from Katie Horner of Paradise Praises.
I love traveling and learning about new cultures - so much that my early career choices reflected that, as I pursued a teaching career working with ESOL students (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and spent a good part of my twenties taking advantage of opportunities to either teach or learn outside of the United States. When I met my husband, I discovered that he had the same love. Together, we have seen a good number of our National Parks as well as part of Germany, and I have held down the home fort with the children when he has traveled for short-term service projects in other countries.
It's only natural, then, that we enjoy sharing that love with our children. While we haven't gotten a chance to take them beyond the U.S. border yet, we enjoy learning about other countries through our Classical Conversations curriculum and we try to supplement that with additional resources when possible - which is why I was excited to learn about the Kids Travel Calendar from Katie Horner of Paradise Praises.
The Kids Travel Calendar is a twelve-month undated calendar with blackline coloring travel pictures for each month. January, for example, features Australia, with a drawing of the Sydney Opera House, a cute cartoon kid in the foreground, and a banner across the top saying "G'day Mate! from Australia". Thus is the pattern of each month's page - a famous landmark from that country, a representative child, and a greeting in the country's native language.
There's a lot I love about this calendar. The drawings are detailed enough to be realistic representations of the landmarks, but simple enough for a child not to get bogged down when he or she is coloring. The children pictured alternate between girls and boys, making the calendar appropriate for everyone, and it's always fun to learn even just one word of a new language. Having the calendar undated means you can start using it any time of year and work together to personalize it for your family.
The calendar's usefulness is not limited to homeschooling families, obviously, but it would be a great supplement to any homeschooling geography curriculum, as families can spend time each month looking up information about the featured country, finding photographs of the landmark online, and learning how to pronounce the greeting together. As a Christian family, we will also use each month's country to learn about the history of missions in that country and what we can be praying for.
One of the benefits of this calendar is that it comes with a single-family reproducible licence, allowing you to make copies for your family's use. This makes it even more affordable (at only $5.38) and also very adaptable to other purposes (country reports, coloring book, etc.).
There's a lot I love about this calendar. The drawings are detailed enough to be realistic representations of the landmarks, but simple enough for a child not to get bogged down when he or she is coloring. The children pictured alternate between girls and boys, making the calendar appropriate for everyone, and it's always fun to learn even just one word of a new language. Having the calendar undated means you can start using it any time of year and work together to personalize it for your family.
The calendar's usefulness is not limited to homeschooling families, obviously, but it would be a great supplement to any homeschooling geography curriculum, as families can spend time each month looking up information about the featured country, finding photographs of the landmark online, and learning how to pronounce the greeting together. As a Christian family, we will also use each month's country to learn about the history of missions in that country and what we can be praying for.
One of the benefits of this calendar is that it comes with a single-family reproducible licence, allowing you to make copies for your family's use. This makes it even more affordable (at only $5.38) and also very adaptable to other purposes (country reports, coloring book, etc.).
The one thing I wish the calendar included is a label for the landmark for each country. Most of them I was able to figure out for myself, but I was stumped on a couple! I also hope that a second edition will come out soon with additional countries from South America, Africa, and the Middle East. (Of course, with only twelve months in the year, the calendar's creator had to limit herself!)
My opinion overall is a definite thumbs up! You are getting a fun and versatile product sure to spark curiosity in your children, and for a good price. You can find the Kids Travel Calendar in the Paradise Praises shop.
My opinion overall is a definite thumbs up! You are getting a fun and versatile product sure to spark curiosity in your children, and for a good price. You can find the Kids Travel Calendar in the Paradise Praises shop.
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