Boy howdy! Survival mode has hit me quite a bit this semester! Between directing a homeschool community, directing a toddler, and directing a middle school student (not to mention the rest of the family), plans just don’t happen as planned around here.
I’m often derailed. Not just my plans, but my thought processes in general. All of them. Writer’s block. Thought block. Finish-a-sentence block.
But alas! Winter break is quickly approaching. Although it’s been a busy and hectic few months, it’s been full of blessings. (That’s not to say I haven’t completely blown it multiple times as a wife, a mom, a teacher, and a director. It’s just… well, God’s grace is sufficient in my time of need. His grace has abounded from every which direction, and I thank the Lord for this family that keeps me so busy. After all, the opposite of full is empty, and empty is not what I want my life to be.)
Okay, enough said. I was supposed to be writing about flashcards.
But I’ve missed blogging – just writing about my random thoughts and journaling our family’s life. I miss it. It’s therapy. Only… my thoughts get stuck and I can’t get past a couple of sentences. So I’m not sure it’s really therapy if I can’t even think of sentences I want to write.
Thus, I make flashcards… because that requires a whole lot less thinking for me. And our oldest son has really kind of needed them. We discovered that short-term memory is not super-effective, especially when you have an exam on the Western Hemisphere next week, and you suddenly (or not-so-suddenly) can’t remember any of the Lesser Antilles.
These flashcards aren’t really what I wanted as a finished product, but I figured my chances at blogging are much fewer and farther between nowadays, so I better get what I have out there while I can. (Everyone else in the family is sleeping right now.)
A few things (disclaimers, provisos, quid pro quo) about these cards:
- For the Lesser Antilles, you may need a microscope to see which islands are highlighted. These are the maps I originally downloaded and used to make our flashcards. Over the break I hope to go back and make better cards for the Lesser Antilles, but every time I say “I hope to…” anything, it seems to come to an abrupt halt.
- To accommodate for this Lesser Antilles challenge, we’ve placed the cards on a ring in the order that they are drawn (from the top down). To further help with memorizing the order that we chose to draw them, Stephen and I made up a little mnemonic song to the tune of “Pop Goes the Weasel.” Volcanic Slides Attract, Goofy Daring Men, Since Boasting Sometimes, Grants Tribulation (Virgin Islands, St. Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Grenada, Trinidad & Tobago). I don’t know. It’s probably easier to just memorize the names of the countries, but we had fun trying to come up with a mnemonic that didn’t really make sense. We even drew a comic strip to go with it.
- Unlike the European Flashcards, these flashcards don’t include an option without the names on the country side. To drill which country is which, we are simply covering up the country name that’s on the bottom of the flashcard. It gets really challenging when those cards happen to be the Lesser Antilles. (hahaha! I love driving my 12-year-old bonkers!)
- Since they aren’t countries, the Canadian provinces are not in this card set. (Actually, I haven’t had time to pull province cards together. More specifically, Stephen seems to have Canada mastered, so I haven’t forced myself to find the time to make them.)
- Not all the countries in the Caribbean are listed. Just the ones we’re memorizing.
- et cetera
Alrighty! You can download the North America, Central America, South America and Caribbean flash cards by clicking on the following link:
HHAW America Countries Capitals Flashcards
When printing with Adobe Acrobat Reader, be sure to select “Actual Size” under the “Page Sizing and Handling” section. When printing in Mac Preview, be sure the print scale is set to 100%.
If you prefer not to print flashcards…
Check out Memoria Press’s flashcards. This is a great alternative to printing and cutting them out yourself!
If you’re memorizing how to draw the world freehand, we also highly recommend the entire Draw the… [Continent] books by Kristin Draeger.
We use Draw the World and Draw the USA in our Mission: Great Commission curriculum.
Draw the USA
Learn to draw and label the United States of America from memory! Draw the USA provides students with a simple method of committing the map of the USA to memory. Through simple, step-by-step instructions, students learn to draw each state as it connects to neighboring states. This resource is used in Units 5 & 6 of our Mission: Lasting Liberty curriculum.
Suggested grades: Elementary through High School
Price: $19.95
Format: Paperback.
Draw the World
Learn to draw the world from memory! Draw the World provides students with a simple method of committing a continent outline map of the world to memory. Through simple, step-by-step instructions, students learn to draw each continent as it connects to neighboring continents. This resource is also used in the Mission Pacific Peacemakers Six-Week Unit Study.
Suggested grades: Elementary through High School
Price: $19.95
Format: Paperback.
Draw Mexico, Central America, and South America
Learn to draw the Americas and Antilles from memory! Draw Mexico, Central America, and South America provides students with a simple method of committing an outline map of this region of the world to memory. Through simple, step-by-step instructions, students learn to draw Australia and the Pacific Islands.
Suggested grades: Elementary through High School
Price: $19.95
Format: Paperback.
Draw Canada & Greenland
Learn to draw Canada from memory! Draw Canada & Greenland provides students with a simple method of committing an outline map of this region of the world to memory. Through simple, step-by-step instructions, students learn to draw Australia and the Pacific Islands.
Suggested grades: Elementary through High School
Price: $19.95
Format: Paperback.
Fortunately, we’ve already memorized North & South American countries through Kathy Troxel’s Audio Memory Geography Songs CD/Booklet.
Geography Songs CD, Book, & Map Kit
Memorize the world through song! Divided by geographical regions, these echo-style songs make it simple to memorize the countries of the world. The audio CD includes 34 songs that teach the names of 225 countries, the continents & oceans, and the planets of the solar system. This resource is used in our Mission: World Wonders and Mission: Faith Forgers curriculum.
Suggested grades: Elementary through Middle School
Price: $22.95
Format: Kit consists of an audio CD, a 25″ x 36″ world map with items to label and song lyrics, and a family-reproducible workbook with lyrics and maps. Purchase here on Christian Book Distributors.
To learn how to draw each continent freehand, check out the Chalk Pastels Membership (which includes hundreds of simple art projects to reinforce history, literature, science, and other subjects.) For more resources for world geography, world missions, and world cultures, visit the geography section of our website.
