First Batch of Postcards

For our first batch of postcards we had the following locations (followed by what we learned/know about the places)

Sankt-Peterburg, Russia;  the Church of the Savior on Blood, is the building that we most associate with St. Petersburg, it is a beautiful building that is used as a museum of mosaic now

Netherlands; My favorite artist, Vincent Van Gogh was from the Netherlands, windmills are something that we see and think of The Netherlands, and we also think of tulips and flowers

Taipei, Taiwan (ROC);  We learned that Taipei is the largest city on the island of Taiwan, and that there is some very interesting architecture, including the beautiful Taipei 101 building

Brest, Belarus;  The city of Brest is along the River Bug, there is a wildlife refuge called the Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park, it is home to the rare wisent (similar to our American Buffalo)

Japeri, Brazil;  Japeri is very near to Rio de Janeiro the home to the 2016 Summer Olympics!

So... Why Geography?

Why geography?  Because I feel it is important for the girls to understand their relationship with people, nature, and the world.  Geography is fun!  Mapping, looking and finding, traveling, all of it requires a knowledge of geography.  Understanding people, cultures, beliefs, and everyday life requires an awareness of everything around you. 

That's Why Geography!

Why Geography? Google Earth

What a way to spend a day...
Seriously, when we turn the computer on and pull up Google Earth, we can spend hours just looking around at all the cool stuff.  Where we've been, where we want to go, whatever.  We LOVE Google Earth!
This is an amazing resource.  In putting together a scrapbook of my husbands trip to Europe when he was in high school, I used Google Earth and the pictures that people posted, to map out his trip and to identify buildings and sights that he saw, but didn't note down.  In the weeks of researching every picture he took on many rolls of film, I felt as if I'd been along for the ride.  It opens up the world to people who are interested, but cannot afford, to go exploring!

Why Geography? Postcrossing

I just learned about postcrossing this last week.  It sounds really neat!  What you do is send a postcard to a provided address (randomly selected postcrosser from around the world), and then you get added to the list, and you get postcards from other postcrossers.  We went to the store last night and bought some post cards to get our first batch mailed out.  We are putting 5 in the mailbox today, and can't wait to get some back!!!
We are going to use postcrossing to learn about other countries and their cultures.  We are going to get a large world map, and mark each place we've sent a postcard to, and where we receive them from.
http://www.postcrossing.com/

Why Geography? Geocaching

I have started this blog to record our adventures learning geography.  We started geocaching last March, and love it!  We've been caching in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alberta, and British Columbia, even attending GeoWoodstock!  I think that geocaching is a very valuable, fun activity to do with the kids.  They love going caching.  We have met the nicest people.  We have planned trips for the sole purpose of collecting caches, we have planned vacations to include earthcaches, and have even placed a few caches of our own.
We hope that through continued caching, the girls will learn mapping skills, how to use gps software, and to learn to appreciate nature and their surroundings, as well as their fellow cachers.