Geography is a subject that I start to focus on in our school around fifth grade which is the grade my daughter will be in this Fall. She loves music and is always singing which is why I was curious to review the Geography Songs DVD Set by Kathy Troxel and see if it would be a good fit for her. It contains 40 Songs along with Performance Tracks and Quizzes for the songs.

Kathy Troxel is the author of this DVD set. She has a Bachelor of Music degree and she has taught in both public and private schools. In addition to running Audio Memory and teaching, she has also homeschooled her own children. Kathy created these geography songs for use in any school setting. The Geography Songs DVD Set is designed to teach children of all ages to sing their way around the world. They teach the names and locations of all the countries of the world, the continents, and the oceans. It also teaches the capitals, provinces and territories of Canada, the states of Mexico, and the States and Capitals of the United States of America. It even has a song about the Solar System. It sells for just $30.00 on the website. There are additional resources you could use with this DVD set, but they are not required to use the DVD.

This Geography Songs Set was super easy to use. We just popped it in our DVD player and hit play on track one of each disc. Track one is the one that plays all the songs on the DVD. I decided that listening to and watching the whole disc would be the best way to start this program. After we watched each DVD over the course of a few days, I had my daughter start learning the songs. I had her watch and listen to each individual song a few times. The songs tell about the country and famous things associated with it. An example is the British Isles, the song showed that it includes the countries of Ireland, England, Wales, and Scotland. These countries are across the channel from France and you can find Big Ben, bagpipes, and the Beatles were from there. This is just a small part of what the song said. It detailed many more places and many more facts along with the capitals.

The next part of the DVD was the performance track. This was the music and the words to the song, but my daughter had to sing it instead of it being sung to her. This part really helped her learn about each country. The repetition of hearing it sung to her and then having to sing it for herself helped her remember the facts and places. After the performance track there was a quiz. Sometimes it was fill in the blanks from the song and other times it was a map that she could pause and write out answers to on a sheet of paper. These quizzes just helped to reinforce what she learned in the song.

Some of the songs have been easier for her to learn and remember than others, but I must admit that I would struggle to learn a song about Uzbekistan too. My daughter is still working through all 40 songs and trying to learn them. We will continue using this set for school this year as part of our studies so that we can learn more of the songs and more about the countries around the world.

If your student is like mine and loves music and catchy tunes, this Geography Songs DVD Set would be perfect for them. It is easy to use and it makes learning about Geography fun. This makes it a win in my book.

-Product review by Cassandra Holdeman, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, August, 2018