Visualize World Geography

[Kerileanne99]

So I am on bed rest and enjoying way too much time 'resting on my laurels!' Luckily, LO is still young enough to think she has hit the jackpot with extra cuddle time, reading time, and new math/geography apps.
She continue to fascinate me with her RB approach to memorizing geography! Kids!
Anyway, I did a BrillKids search on the VWG. Program (link below) and can find many references but no specific persons using it and for what ages.  Anybody have it/ happily using it?

http://www.visualizeworldgeography.com/catalog.html?Vl=1&Tp=2

[Kimba15]

I also want this but I am eagerly awaiting reviews.

[Mandabplus3]

I checked it out. It looks great. It obviously works because I now know where chilli Argentina and Bolivia are and I could draw the shapes for them too! Amazing.
I would use these. With lots of age groups. From the videos I found ( probably 5 or 6) it seems to be a bit overpriced. For $200 I would like some states too, just so the information is complete. The quality is OK, not fabulous but definately good enough. I am curious to know how far they stretch those stories to teach every country, what an imagination!
However is it worth $200 to understand and locate every country? Yep I reckon it would be but maybe not for just one or two kids. I would happily buy it knowing I can teach many many kids for that money
So how do I find an extra $200 in my budget don't tell hubby!

[mypashmina]

if you want to learn all the countries, this is free on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9205D7519041E377   

[Mandabplus3]

Ok so we bought it we really like it. It's very left of the middle, it will work well with lots of kids. There are a few questional visuals ( turkey is a vulture and it shows a dead bloody carrion) however still great with heaps of review involved in each section.
I was in stitches listening to Kuwait and a couple of others. Will never forget them again!
The complete kit comes with an incredible amount of information. Daunting. It's a teachers resource. For brillkids mums the videos and a few maps would cover it. Or perhaps just the story book and a mum with an active imagination for those who have little kids. The videos are very fast paced. You will need to watch and rewatch as well as play, pause and discuss each point. their is a phenomenal amount of information!
I think its a bit pricey. It's a little home made in presentation but the overall qualiy is their when you look into it, so don't let that discourage you.
The DVDs play one topic at a time s you have to keep selecting and pressing play...no good ass a full play review session but does give time for discussion.
Overall thumbs up.

[Mela Bala]

We bought the program awhile ago and still haven't opened the package since we have been soooo busy. 
But the laminated maps (awesome quality) and workbooks that came with the program look great!! 

Thanks for posting this and reminding me about what is collecting dust over here.

Mandabplus3 thanks for your review about the product.  What age do you think is appropriate to start using this program?

Kerileanne99  I hope you are getting the rest you need 

[Mandabplus3]

I think basically all ages but as usuall there are a few things you will need to explain. And prescreen to be sure. As we watch I can flag the problem areas for everyone. The bloody carrion was the only questional bit in most of the Asia DVD we watched.
The issues with young children will be the vocabulary. For instance today I had to explain "bangs" as in hair to my three before they could get the nemonic. Also the actal names of the countries aren't always obvious in the sentences. This won't matter for kids familiar with the country names but I can bet even mums will learn a country or two they didn't  know existed! I sure did! So pause and chat about the country name. The DVDs are divided into very short, usually 2 country sessions of about 3 minutes ( I didn't time it Ok  ) so watching one session at a time then using the maps to locate and discuss would be perfect from age 2 up. Under two will be mum watching to teach baby later probably. The picture representations are mostly cute and simple enough for kids.
Oh yes the maps are great quality and worth it! I forgot to mention that. They are tough almost child proof!

[DadDude]

I'd love to see it, but I just can't see plunking down $200 on the set. I love geography and have probably invested twice that much in various media for teaching geography, but really, I need to know more. This was produced at home. Is the writing and fact-checking, at least, professional? Can I trust the pronunciations of the words and other information on the videos? The video content is reasonably interesting to me, but I don't know if it would be to H. The voiceover for the videos on their homepage isn't professional, and the background music is a similar techno beat in all the same videos. I don't know, but I'd worry a bit that the voice and music might get old.

Isn't the primary selling point of the package that it teaches the names, location, shape, borders, etc.--the information contained on an outline political map of the world? Well, that's significant. I just don't think it's worth $200. It might be worth the $55 for the book with the mnemonics...but I can't even view sample pages of that anywhere... The reviews are very positive and it's nice that some kids apparently like it. My guess? H. would like it too and we wouldn't regret spending $55 on a book. But I don't spend that much on any book without seeing something of it.

Anyway, until they at least post some pages of the book online and/or lower their price (um, $55 for a self-published book? It had better be friggin' awesome) we'll keep doing what we've been doing: reading bunches of books about countries, supplementing with various media we have on hand, especially the iPad, globe, and atlas. We're still on South America. We're reading our final book, about Brazil, as well as a chapter book about S. America (in case you're wondering, it's In the Land of the Jaguar, not that I especially recommend it: it's advanced, it's history-heavy, it's pretty dry even though it didn't seem that way at first). Next up, Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. After that, finally it's the U.S. and Canada. At the rate we're going it'll be quite some time before we've gone around the world once--on the order of 4 years is my guess. But especially coupled with Supermemo, this kid is going to know his geography. One bonus of the approach we're taking is that he is also exposed to history fairly systematically in a national and regional context. History and geography recently intersected interestingly: we were reading about the conquistadors in Story of the World and other sources, only to get the same information at close to the same time in our South America reading.

[Mela Bala]

Thanks Mandabplus3     I will look at the dvds myself and start implementing some of their vocab into the conversation with my son now.  He picks up things so quick these days he can memorize a nursery rhyme in one day and to this day he remembers them all.   I am curious about DadDudes concern about the voice and music so I may do a quick preview tonight.  But I think if my son sees a short section followed by pertaining actvities he will enjoy the dvds as he looks forward to the hands on learning. 

DadDude what you are doing is above and beyond what any program has to offer.  Your children are going to have a deep understanding of each country's geography, the people, animals, building structures, cultures etc.   They are VERY luck to have you.  

[kizudo]

So...here it is 6 months later...does anyone have further comments on this product?  Mela Bela?  Mandabplus3?  Do you still like it?  Would you recommend buying the ENTIRE package or just a portion of it?

[TeachingMyToddlers]

I wanted to point out similar products for those learning US States & capitals

http://www.amazon.com/Little-Man-Map-Remember-States/dp/0978510046#reader_0978510046
http://www.amazon.com/Little-Man-Teaches-State-Capitals/dp/0978510070

I cannot vouch for them as I do not personally own them, but I wanted to share in case anyone else may be interested. They're on my wish list.

[Mandabplus3]

Kizudo, tough call. It certainly works. My kids know LOADS of countries from just watching the videos a few times.
I don't know if I would spend the $300 if I only had one kid to use it on. They can learn the same stuff for free with repeated utube viewing of short clips. I spent the money because I teach and knew I could use it over and over.
I don't think buying part of the program would work. You need the DVDs they are the main bit. You probably don't need the maps but they would be useful for our EL flashcards kids. The book is full of questions, informations and potential tests. Unnecessary, but we like this bit.
As my kids are older I think the program is great. I can't decide if it will suit a toddler....
To get full benefit you need to do more than just play a DVD, you need to talk about the countries with your children. Discuss the stories and use a wall map occasionally.
The entire set has a ridiculous amount of information. It does have $300 worth of facts, visuals and information.

[Tamsyn]

Interesting thread, thank you for the reviews.  I am preparing for a structured geography class for my kids right now, so it was helpful.  For what it's worth, we just purchased "The Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia".  It has at least a half page for EVERY country, as well as breaking bigger countries, such as Australia, into regions with several pages.  There are maps and flags, and lots of full-color pictures.  It's 488 pages, and we paid $26 for it on Amazon.  I'm really excited to use this resource!  There is also a handy section on earth science as well.  My plan is to use this book as a spine to cover all of the nations in the world, somewhat in the style of "The Well Trained Mind".  We'll check out books from the library, and watch YouTube videos, prepare recipes, do crafts and learn songs from that region.  Some countries will get more emphasis than others of course, I may just read the little blurb in this book for some of the countries, but by digging deeper in at least a few of them, we will have a broad picture of what the world looks like today.

We love our GeoPuzzle for the US and Canada, and I would like to get more of them.  The puzzle pieces are shaped like the countries, so it's a good way to help kids figure out the shapes, and how they all "fit together."

[seastar]

Oh no, now there's something else I want! 

[kizudo]

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/mapping/outline-map/?map=Canada&ar_a=1

Straying a bit from the product of the subject line, I've posted above a link to an awesome resource that my 4 year old and I have been enjoying.  It's still in it's Beta stage, but it has been so helpful and fun.  It's an interactive map - you choose the region, take out and put in labels of landmarks/forms and resources as you wish, outline/colour in countries, etc.  A few weeks ago we were discussing the word "continent" and how Europe and Asia didn't fit our definition...and introduced the term "Euroasia".  We pulled up the world map, deleted everything, and then, following his instructions,  I typed the continent names, he chose the colour he wanted for the letters and then manipulated the mouse to where he wanted that word dropped.  Then, before printing, we added the ocean names.  He was so proud of his print-out!  I plan to use this quite a bit as we get into the different regions of the world.

Try it yourself.  It's free and you don't have to register yourself at all.  Use the vertical menu to select from "map elements", "drawing tools" and "markers".  You'll figure things out pretty quickly.

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