Raising Real Men
Last year, as we made our way around the country speaking, our littlest would rouse up every few hours and say querulously, “Where are we?” “Tennessee,” or “South Dakota,” or “Saskatchewan,” we’d answer and she’d reply, “Oooo-kaaaay,” as if she were just making sure somebody knew where we were!
That’s one way our children have learned geography. Here are some other ways we’ve learned it along the way:
Maps in the kitchen. For years we had a world map and a United States map on our kitchen table (yeah, it’s huge). We bought clear plastic by the yard at a discount store to cover it. We had so many discussions about the “where” of current events over supper that included something like, “It’s in Indonesia, right there under the green beans!” Now we have a big North America map on the wall where we trace out our upcoming speaking trips for the year.
Maps in the van. Put maps for all the places you go in the van. Even with GPS and Google Maps, it’ll help orient your children–and yourself–when you can spread out a map and look at the big picture.
Apps. As I write this, two of my children have their heads together over “Stack the States,” a geography app on my Android tablet. They love to play games on it occasionally and really, they seem to enjoy the educational ones as much or more than the mindless ones.
Books set around the world. Once one of our sons was in the finals of the state level of the National Geographic Bee. They asked him one question that made my heart sink. I had no idea what the answer was and I know a lot about geography. I was stunned when he answered it correctly. “How in the world did you know that?” I asked him when it was over. “Remember that G.A. Henty novel you got mad at me for reading when I should have been doing school last week? It was With Peterborough in Spain and it happened right on that plain!” Ooooo-kaaaaay. Sometimes the Lord teaches us humility!
Like most things, if we just live life intentionally, thinking, “What can I teach my children here?” rather than “How can I entertain myself?” we’ll find it’s really pretty easy to teach our kids all kinds of amazing things!
Your friends,
Hal & Melanie
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