Home Geography for Primary Grades

by C.C. Long, Amy M. Edwards (Editor), Christina J. Mugglin (Editor)

This classic geography book for elementary age students is newly popular again. Blue Sky Daisies brings you the same classic book, completely re-typeset in a pleasing and fresh format. Home Geography for Primary Grades, originally published in 1894, teaches children the timeless geography of the world around them. In charming and conversational prose, C. C. Long teaches the fundamentals of geography. -Navigation, directions, and the compass -Hills, mountains, and valleys -The water cycle, weather, rivers and streams -Maps and forms of land and water -Flora and fauna -Resources found in the earth -People living and working Throughout the book, teachers will find helpful writing assignments meant to help students narrate back the ideas they learned in the chapter. Oral exercises give discussion prompts. This book can be read aloud and discussed together, or assigned to independent readers followed by discussion.

Genres: Geography, Nonfiction, Childrens, History

158 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1894

Reviews

[Amy Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an old geography book popularized by the Ambleside Online booklist. (I'm a partner in Blue Sky Daisies, which publishes this reprint--we think it's a very nice paperback. Be sure to look for the Blue Sky Daisies edition.) I love reading this (and its companion, Elementary Geography by Charlotte Mason) to my kids. It's conversational tone is perfect for reading aloud to kids, and it takes geography beyond the seven continents and seven seas. Kids learn about topography, land features, as well as general features of flora and fauna in different parts of the world (deserts, grasslands, mountains, etc.). I especially like the chapters near the end which discuss the ways humans use natural resources.

[Ardyth · Rating 3 out of 5]

//UPDATE 2022-11-02//
We revisited this in P4. The first half and a bit worked well. I ended up not using the second part, which focuses on the resources of geography (plants, animals, mining) & what humans get up to in various places in response to the terrain and resources.

I love the *idea* of these sections, but it is too heavily inquiry-based for our East Asian city kid. He (and I) need direct instruction on which woods suit which types of carpentry, what plants are used for fabric or basketry or food or or, etc. Hoping The Storybook of Science will address that better for us.

// ORIGINAL REVIEW//
I liked this book, but it is not ideal for a homeschooling parent whose family lives in a high rise at the heart of a concrete jungle. I know because I tried! :-)

For the first several lessons (a baseline knowledge of local place on which everything later builds), you really need access to the outdoors, and especially visibility for the path of the sun, and some stars.

Long's book is frequently mentioned alongside Charlotte Mason's level one geography reader, possibly as an alternate -- we ended up using Mason for the reasons above, but I actually think Long would be more interactive, more interesting, and resonate better, with most P1 - P3 aged children.

This one is partly Mason's book, in scope and style, and partly a read aloud version of Mapmaking with Children: Sense of Place Education for the Elementary Years.

Mapmaking is written to the teacher as a resource for activities, and has a narrow focus (mapmaking, not general geography); this one is written directly to the children and introduces all the themes of geography. For us, this narrative read aloud style generally works better -- I'm *sharing* an expert instead of.*telling* like an expert. :)

Some relevant differences vs Mason's geo reader: she spends time on latitude, longitude and general climate zones, Long does not. He spends a good amount of time on flora, fauna and geological resources plus related human occupations connected to them (mining, farming, ironmongery, leatherworking), she really does not. Long has more content our son would've loved in P1 or P2.

Of course, the grammar here is archaic, so parents will want to be okay with that *or* be comfortable adjusting on the fly during read aloud. During my (admittedly speedy) read through, I did not see any of the problematic tones often found in old books -- issues which absolutely were present in Mason's reader. [1]

Our son is now 9yo & nearly aged out for Long, but we have a move coming up. So I'm planning to keep it one more year, and we'll see!

[1] Marjorie Lang's update to Mason's geography had not been released yet -- this refers to the original text in an unedited reprint.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up on a whim and decided to make it our geography text for the spring. It covers a great deal that is forgotten in contemporary geography courses--how to tell direction from the sun and stars, the basic geological formations, where different sorts of plants grow, things found in the earth, etc, all accompanied by related poems and pictures.

Some of it is information the girls already knew, and some fit more neatly into the category of social studies than geography, but it was an enjoyable course of study, and dovetailed neatly with some of our family explorations.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neat book we read for geography this year. I appreciate that it is very thorough and goes into many topics, such as where food comes from, how people live in different parts of the world, maps and blueprints, directional words and compasses, what resources people use, land features, bodies of water, etc, rather than just basic geography.

[Theresa M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old fashioned, but extremely well done. An excellent book for logic in map-reading, orienteering, etc.

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read aloud for Yr1 student. Info was great up to about Ch 26 (general geography, directions, climate, landforms, etc) but the final chapters are dated & not as helpful.

[A Hoppy Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Good general information that's not too badly out of date.