GEOGRAPHY FOR KIDS

Now that summer is over, it's back to school and back to homework season.  I can't believe how quickly times goes by! It seems the school years just fly by.  After a long summer at home, I am back to "hockey mom" duty and after school "homework helper" in between my blogging and internet marketing.  

As I was helping my son with his geography homework, trying to help him learn the 7 continents, and 5 oceans, I figured, I'd share with you the information gathered, in case your kids need this kind of information for school or if you just want them to learn it and get a head start.

So here is a quick summary for your kids in case they are studying the continents and geography this year like my son is.

What are the 7 Continents of the World?

1. Africa

2. Antartica

3. Asia

4. Australia

5. North America

6. Europe

7. South America

Africa is the second largest continent in the world. It is also the second largest continent in the world in terms of population. Africa is commonly referred to as the black continent by many. 

Antarctica is the southernmost continent of all. The geographic south pole of the earth is contained in this continent. It is made of large permanent glaciers that surround the South Pole.

Asia is the largest continent on earth covering about 9 percent of the earth’s surface. It is also the most populated continent on earth, home to an estimated population of around 4.3 billion people. This large population makes it an important part of the world economy.

Australia is a single country continent. It is the sixth largest country by total area, and is also the smallest of all the seven continents. Because of its size, and isolated location, it is also called as island continent. 

North America is a continent which lies wholly in the northern hemisphere. It is bordered by Arctic Ocean in the north, Atlantic Ocean in the east, Pacific Ocean in the south and west, and South America and Caribbean Sea in the south east. North America lies almost wholly in the western hemisphere

Europe is the second smallest continent in the world. It comprises the westernmost peninsula of the giant Eurasian landmass.

South America is a continent located in the western hemisphere with most of its land area lying in the southern hemisphere and a relatively small portion in the northern hemisphere. It has Pacific Ocean to its western side, Atlantic Ocean in the north and eastern side, and North America and Caribbean Sea in the North West side.

What are the 5 Oceans?

 

• Antarctic Ocean
• Arctic Ocean
• Atlantic Ocean
• Indian Ocean
• Pacific Ocean 

Here is a list of all the continents with the highest populated cities in each:

Continent	Area (km²)	Population	Most Populous City
Asia	43,820,000	4,164,252,000	Shanghai, China
Africa	30,370,000	1,022,234,000	Lagos, Nigeria
Antarctica	13,720,000	4,490	McMurdo Station, US
Australia	3,478,200	29,127,000	Sydney, Australia
Europe	3,930,000	738,199,000	Moscow, Russia
North America	9,460,000	542,056,000	Mexico City, Mexico
South America	6,890,000	392,555,000	São Paulo, Brazil

(Source: http://www.7continents5oceans.com/)

NOTE:  If you would like this study guide emailed to you in PDF printable format, email: MommyWarriorLady@gmail.com with Subject line: 7 Continents Study Guide.

Stop by and visit other Mommy Warrior pages as well on Twitter, Instagram and Google+

HOMEWORK AROUND THE WORLD

Is Homework Overrated? Statistics Say ‘Maybe’ 

Homework. Does it help students become smarter, or is it just overrated? The results are in, and all signs point to homework only being moderately helpful, at best. Although the amount of homework assigned to students varies greatly by nation, it appears that allowing kids time to be creative and resourceful has a greater long term benefit than homework. 

South Korea leads the world in education, and students receive less than three hours’ of homework, on average, each week. Although it would be unfair to assume that’s the only reason South Korea has a high level of academic success, it’s true that the countries handing out significantly more homework – such as Russia (9.7 hours) and the United States (over 6 hours) – generally tend to find themselves lower on the academic rankings list. 

It’s also interesting to note that the United States spends a larger amount of money per student than any other country in the world. Despite this, and despite assigning a large amount of homework, the US still lags behind as only the 17th best education system in the world.

Chalk it up to overcrowding in the classrooms, a demanding amount of homework, or lack of parental involvement; however you slice it, there’s no easy answer to the education and homework debate. 

According to the following infographic, there’s a myriad of factors that impact the level of academic success in any education system.

Take a look at these interesting facts about homework around the world, compiled by Ozicare Insurance.

 

BATTLE OF THE OVARIES

Is it the curse of having a girl or is it just the kids in my family? Or is it all pre-tweens, because she is not even a teen yet and here I am with pre-tween nightmares already.  How can I be patient, I ask myself?  I recognize I am the fool.  The foolish mother who trust her kid and allows her privileges and trust my 11-year old when she says, "Yes, I did all my homework."  I mean I check the agenda, I follow-up but in the same breath, I am trying in the hopes that some "responsibility" and  "independence" will sink in. After all, I have been hounding about this all year long!

I have been through the "I am taking your TV privilege away, you have no phone privilege, you can't play outside privilege" routine already.  I am sick of hearing myself nag. And STILL, she tells me she has no homework! Really?  Dude! You are talking to me!  You know, "been there done that." Besides, mothers know.  We "spit" these kids out of our bodies and they think we don't know when they are lying.

Silly, stuff.  You know, telling me she doesn't have social studies homework when she really does.  How foolish is it to try to con your mother over social studies...what  a waste of grounding.  Hey, if I was going to get grounded, it was going to be for something GOOD!  LOL! 

I will never understand a pre-tween/teenagers way of thinking.  Honestly, I have a long way to go with all these battles but I am convinced this is a mother/daughter thing....a battle of the ovaries. Another challenge in the mommy warrior world!

CONVERSATIONS WITH MY 6-YEAR OLD

So I pick my 6-year old daughter up from school the other day and there is not a whole lot of conversation on the car ride home. I think to myself, what is it going to be like when she's a teenager if I am getting this silent treatment now? Let me start asking questions I think to myself. So, I ask, "How was your day?" "Fine," she says. "Anything cool happen at school?" "No," she whines. "What did you have for lunch?" "I don't remember," she claims. Okay, this is going nowhere, I think to myself. Then the inevitable whining of the afternoon begins. "Mommy, I'm hungry, Mommy, where are we going? Mommy I want to eat!" Agghhhh!! She's been in the car a total of 7 minutes and already I want to take her back to school.

Luckily, the car ride is not that long and we are home quickly. Right away, I tackle the fridge and look for some snacks for my hungry, cranky little monster. I find some Bagel Bites and a Sprite. "Here, drink," I say, as I hand her the Sprite. I figure, I can get some sugar in her until I make the Bagel Bites, so that her mood changes.

Bam! One, two, three sips of Sprite and I've got my little funny girl back! She burps, turns to me and says, "Mommy, I love when I burp through my nose because it gives my nose hairs a massage." I try to act real cool and say, "Oh yeah, that happens to me all the time." Then the conversation begins.

Somehow, it is not where I wanted the conversation to go. All of a sudden, I am the one getting the third degree. First she tells me how one of her little friends, kissed a boy and then I freak (internally of course.) Well, no, not really, I did yell, "What??" She retracts and says, "No, no I think I made a mistake." Yikes, again I think, how am I gonna deal with the teenage years?

So then, she sits on the counter to start having her snack, takes a bite and says, "Mommy, who did you go to prom with? Before I can even get the words out of my mouth, she says, "Oooh, who was it, that Manny guy? Handy Manny? (referring to my high school boyfriend.) Again, I can't even get another word out. I just nod, yes.

Then she says. "Was he cute? Was he hot? OKAY, WHOAAAA!!! Conversation STOP right there I think.  I'm like, where did you get all this? (Of course, I know the answer -every six year old now-a-days uses the terminology "he's hot" unless you live in like rural Nebraska (no offense to those in Nebraska!) Times have changed! I get no answer, just giggles.

"Okay, time to do homework," I say.. And so ends another wonderful afternoon of conversation with my six year old.