One of my favorite subjects is Social Studies.  I enjoy everything it has to offer from geography to culture studies to history.  While Caleb would prefer to study science all day long, he did like the curriculum we used for fourth/fifth grade history/geography.

This is a Christian Light Education text book.  Christian Light Education is my favorite for both learning to read and reading as a subject.  Their text is Bible based, character building, and well written.  I wrote about it in “How I’m Growing Strong Readers”

Their fourth grade Social Studies text is titled “Into All the World”.  This is a fitting name as it goes through each continent giving an overview of the physical, political, and social attributes of each.  Several countries are looked at in depth to give the kids a “feel for” that part of the world.  History and religion are woven into the text.

I like that you can choose how you want to go through it.  You can order LightUnits to go along with the book, which is a workbook type program, or you can use the questions and supplementary activities in the book itself.  Caleb and I read the questions at the end of each section together and answered them orally.  He does better this way and I had less to correct  😉

New terms are in bold print with a glossary in the back.  Much to Caleb’s disappointment, I did make him copy the new words and their definitions.

At the end of each section are review questions, new terms, and a long list of supplementary activities.  I chose from the suggestions and Caleb did a wonderful job making charts, lists, and researching additional facts.  He learned many skills outside of the information itself.

Along with review questions are Bible references related to the text.  The students are often asked to read verses in the Bible and answer questions.  We did not always go over these questions, but I do like how God is a main focus.

Each page has colorful photos, maps, and charts helping the students to visualize and “visit” different places, learn phrases in different languages or read Bible verses written in foreign text.

You can also order a packet of maps to color and label of each continent and country studied.  We put all of the colored maps into a binder and now have a colorful little Atlas.  This was Caleb’s favorite part of the curriculum.

A packet of tests and quizzes is also available.  I had Caleb take most of them.  They were pretty hard so studying is a must.

If you follow Christian Light Education’s program it is meant to be completed in one year.  We took two years to work through this text book for two reasons.  1. It is a long book and we alternate Social Studies and Science by months.  2. I wanted Caleb to practice researching, writing, and organizing with the reports and charts.

We both learned a lot from this curriculum and enjoyed the adventure it provided us!

Check out these homeschool posts!

My Really Horrible First Day of Homeschoo

Easy Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum