Geo-Tour is a family curriculum to study Geography, Literature and writing together. The focus for this curriculum is to learn to write well with a copywork and dictation approach to writing well by mimicking well written authors. I have provided writing throughout related to the literature being studied; parents are also encouraged (and is scheduled) to have their students learn to write well with Writing with Ease and Writing With Skill programs. These programs are well designed.
"Young students who learn to write well need one-on-one instruction—something which your child’s classroom may not offer.
In The Complete Writer series, Susan Wise Bauer turns every parent into a writing teacher. No experience is needed.
Drawing on her fifteen years of experience in teaching writing, Susan lays out a carefully-designed sequence of steps that will teach every student to put words on paper with ease and grace. This alternative plan for teaching writing combines the best elements of old-fashioned writing instruction with innovative new educational methods—and explains why so many writing programs fail." -Well-Trained Mind
Science is lightly covered throughout using a DK Encyclopedia. I would suggest that students in grades 7-8 add on science. Grammar is lightly covered for grades 3-5. Otherwise, I do not recommend adding any grammar or spelling this year, I would like to see your family focus on learning to write well with the side benefit of learning proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, proper sentence and paragraph structure. You will need to add math for each student. Your youngest children may need to add in phonics.
This is a ONE-YEAR Curriculum (36 weeks) for you to use with all of your children in Grades 3-8 to learn together. If you have a set of younger children as well; you can then cycle through this program again later when the younger set gets a little older.
NOTE: This curriculum has been written for grades 3-8. If you have a high school student who would like to take this with the family it would do well, just make sure you add in Writing with Skill, grade level math, and Science.
Items to purchase:
Geo-Tour II Curriculum Textbooks
Geo-Tour II Reading books
Writing
Math

wbcgeotouriisample.pdf |
Geo-Tour II Curriculum Packages
Geo-Tour II Textbook Curriculum Package- Grades 3-8
WBC Geo-Tour II Lesson Plans Grades 3-5 in print & spiral bound
WBC Geo-Tour II Lesson Plans Grades 5-8 in print & spiral bound
Memoria Press Geography II Textbook
Memoria Press Geography II Teacher Guide
Memoria Press Geography II workbook
DK Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia
Big Fantastic Earth
Where is the Great Wall?
Usborne Illustrated Grammar and Punctuation
Children Just Like Me
Usborne Illustrated Aesop
Ashanti to Zulu
Cricket in Times Square set (TG, ST workbook, Novel)
NOTE-- you will want to purchase the Reading literature from the links below.
Geo-Tour II Textbook Curriculum Package- Grades 5-8
WBC Geo-Tour II Lesson Plans Grades 5-8 in print & spiral bound
Memoria Press Geography II Textbook
Memoria Press Geography II Teacher Guide
Memoria Press Geography II workbook
DK Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia
Big Fantastic Earth
Where is the Great Wall?
NOTE-- you will want to purchase the Reading literature from the links below.
Geo-Tour II Lesson Plans
Geo-Tour II Manual in print
Full Grades 3-8 in print & spiral bound
Full Grades 3-5 in print & spiral bound
Full Grades 5-8 in print & spiral bound
Save by buying in the textbook package
Geo Tour II Manual In PDF
Full Grades 3-8 in PDF download lesson plans
[uses spine books Memoria Press Geography I set & DK Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia; sold separately]
Geo-Tour II Textbooks
Geography II: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Oceania, & the Americas Teacher Guide
Ā Each lesson includes physical features, history, and culture. Students will continue to deepen their understanding of past and present as they learn about ancient and modern countries.
Geography II: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Oceania, & the Americas Student Workbook
Each lesson includes physical features, history, and culture. Students will continue to deepen their understanding of past and present as they learn about ancient and modern countries.
Geography II: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Oceania, & the Americas Student Text
Each lesson includes physical features, history, and culture. Students will continue to deepen their understanding of past and present as they learn about ancient and modern countries.
DK Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia
Ideal for projects, or just for fun, this fact-filled kids' book of general knowledge features bite-size chunks on the Arctic and Aztecs, X-rays and zoos, plus everything in between. From glaciers, insects, and myths to scientists, space missions and world wars, this comprehensive encyclopedia is brimming with topics to wow young readers.
DK'sĀ Children's Illustrated EncyclopediaĀ brings history, nature, geography, and science to life with a clear, child-friendly style and more than 3,000 illustrations, photos, cut-aways, and maps. It has been fully updated to include all the latest political, social, and cultural events as well as scientific breakthroughs.
Scheduled spine book for Geo-Tour II program
DK Children Just Like Me
Highlighting 36 different countries,Ā Children Just Like MeĀ profiles 44 children and their daily lives. From rural farms to busy cities to riverboats, this celebration of children around the world shows the many ways children are different and the many ways they are the same, no matter where they live.
Scheduled in Grade 2 Social Studies as well as Geo-Tour II Lesson plans.
Usborne Illustrated Grammar & Punctuation
A beautifully illustrated book to assist with learning Grammar and Punctuation rules.
Supplement to any program.
Also found on the Geo-Tour II Lesson Plans.
Usborne Illustrated Stories from Aesop
Wonderful stories that teach a lesson!
Read aloud with your student from JrK- grades 4
Scheduled read aloud in Kindergarten Lesson Plans.
The Cricket in Times Square Teacher Guide
Ā The Cricket in Times Square TeacherĀ GuideĀ contains all answers toĀ The Cricket in Times Square Student GuideĀ as well as all quizzes and tests.Ā
The Cricket in Times Square Student Study Guide
The Cricket in Times Square Student GuideĀ consists of lessons for the 15 chapters ofĀ The Cricket in Times SquareĀ each containing vocabulary work, comprehension questions, questions for discussion, and enrichment activities. The appendix includes a map of New England, a map of New York City, images of an Afghan Hound and a Chinese pagoda, and illustration pages.Ā
Ashanti to Zulu (GR 3-5)
The True Story of Balto (GR 3-5)
Dr. Seuss The Great Doodler (GR 3-5)
The Cay (GR 5-8)
The Cricket in Times Square (GR 3-5)
The Cricket in Times Square Student and Teacher Study Guides (GR 3-5)
Flying the Dragon (GR 3-8)
Force & Motion in Sports (GR 3-8)
Grizzly Trap (GR 3-8)
Henry Reed, Inc. (GR 3-8)
Mala, A Hero for All (GR 3-8)
Amazing Animal Journeys (GR 3-8)
Skyscrapers (GR 3-8)
Rickshaw Girl (GR 3-8)
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (optional)* (GR 3-8)
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons (optional)* (GR 5-8)
Shadow Spinner (GR 3-8)
A Single Shard (GR 3-8)
Sky High George Ferris's Big Wheel (GR 3-5)
Usborne Illustrated Stories from Aesop (GR 3-5)
Welcome to Wonderland Home Sweet Motel (GR 3-8)
Welcome to Wonderland Beach Party (optional)* (GR 3-8)

gradechartwritewithease.pdf |

These workbooks provide lessons, student worksheets, and teacher instructions for every day of writing instruction. Each covers one year of study.
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These workbooks provide lessons, student worksheets, and teacher instructions for every day of writing instruction. Each covers one year of study.
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Provide your students with frequent, focused skills with this Reproducible Edition.
Teacher pages each week and reproducible student pages.
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Provide your students with frequent, focused skills with this Reproducible Edition.
Teacher pages each week and reproducible student pages.
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Give your sixth-graders the fun and focused writing practice they need to become to become strong and successful writers. The 125 engaging, 10- to 15-minute lessons support any writing program.
Weekly Teacher pages and Reproducible student pages.
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Daily 6-Trait Writing gives your seventh graders scaffolded, focused writing practice. Each of the 25 weekly units provides trait-based writing activities that cover the essential traits of strong writing: ideas, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, voice, and conventions. The weekly units present a writing skill on Day 1, and writing activities progress in difficulty until students apply what they’ve learned to a writing prompt on Day 5.
This book contains Teacher Pages each week & Reproducible student pages.
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This groundbreaking new writing series combines time-tested classical techniques―the imitation and analysis of great writers―with original composition exercises in history, science, biography, and literature. You will need both the student and teacher edition.
Click here to buy the Student workbook
Click here to buy the Teacher Edition

Time-tested classical techniques--the imitation and analysis of great writers--combined with original composition exercises in history, science, biography, and literature
The Student Workbook encourages independent composition, while the Instructor Text contains easy-to-use supporting information for the teacher, rubrics for grading, sample compositions, and dialogue to use while teaching. Together, the Student Workbook and Instructor Text provide a full year of middle-grade writing instruction, preparing students to enter high-level rhetoric.
Click here to buy the Student workbook
Click here to buy the Teacher edition
Where Is The Great Wall?
More than two thousand years ago, with his land under constant attack from nomads, the First Emperor of China came up with a simple solution: build a wall to keep out enemies
Scheduled in Geo-Tour II
Big Fantastic Earth
Discover the earth's most amazing natural wonders inĀ Big Fantastic Earth!
Scheduled In Geo-Tour II
Amazon Links

Grades 3-8 Read Aloud for WBC Geo-Tour II curriculum.
When twelve-year-old Sugar's grandfather dies and her gambling father takes off yet again, Sugar and her mother lose their home in Missouri. They head to Chicago for a fresh start, only to discover that fresh starts aren't so easy to come by for the homeless. Nevertheless, Sugar's mother has taught her to be grateful no matter what, so Sugar does her best. With the help of a rescue dog, Shush; a foster family; a supportive teacher; a love of poetry; and her own grace and good humor, Sugar comes to understand that while she can't control the hand life deals her, she can control how she responds.
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Step into reading level 3
It is one of the worst storms ever - the snow has not stopped for days and it is 30 degrees below zero. But somehow Balto must get through. He is the lead dog of his sled team. And he is carrying medicine to sick children miles away in Nome, Alaska. He is their only hope. Can Balto find his way through the terrible storm? Find out in this exciting true story!
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In 1925's historic great race of mercy, a group of brave mushers travel 700 miles to save the small children of Nome, Alaska from a deadly epidemic.
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he 1893 World’s Fair organizers wanted something big to draw people to Chicago . . . something that would rival the Eiffel Tower. George Ferris, an American engineer, had the idea for an observation wheel that passengers could ride on. People laughed at his idea. They said it would never work. But it was a huge success, with thirty-six cars that could hold over 2,100 riders! That’s some big wheel! Ferris wheel lovers can thank George Ferris for never giving up his dream.
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Biography Reader about Theodor Geisel and his transformation from a doodler into the beloved Dr. Seuss. Little Ted Geisel always had a sketchpad and pencil in hand. He was a Boy Scout with a penchant for creating zany creatures. He grew up with a love of books and words from his mother, and his inventor father spawned a wildly imaginative and perfectionist side. It’s no wonder that these qualities led to the beloved work of Dr. Seuss, the Great Doodler.
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optional reading for Geo-Tour II plans
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Tree-ear is an orphan boy in a 12th-century Korean village renowned for its ceramics. When he accidentally breaks a delicate piece of pottery, he volunteers to work to pay for the damage. Putting aside his own dreams, Tree-ear resolves to serve the master potter by embarking on a difficult and dangerous journey, little knowing that it will change his life forever.
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Phillip is excited when the Germans invade the small island of Curaçao. War has always been a game to him, and he’s eager to glimpse it firsthand–until the freighter he and his mother are traveling to the United States on is torpedoed.
When Phillip comes to, he is on a small raft in the middle of the sea. Besides Stew Cat, his only companion is an old West Indian, Timothy. Phillip remembers his mother’s warning about black people: “They are different, and they live differently.”
But by the time the castaways arrive on a small island, Phillip’s head injury has made him blind and dependent on Timothy.
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American-born Skye is a good student and a star soccer player who never really gives any thought to the fact that her father is Japanese. Her cousin, Hiroshi, lives in Japan, and never really gives a thought to his uncle's family living in the United States.
Skye and Hiroshi's lives are thrown together when Hiroshi's family, with his grandfather (who is also his best friend), suddenly moves to the U.S. Now Skye doesn't know who she is anymore: at school she's suddenly too Japanese, but at home she's not Japanese enough. Hiroshi has a hard time adjusting to life in a new culture, and resents Skye's intrusions on his time with Grandfather. Through all of this is woven Hiroshi's expertise, and Skye's growing interest in, kite making and competitive rokkaku kite flying.
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by Justin D'Ath
Ready for an adventure??
Click here to Buy on Amazon

Henry Reed has arrived in Grover's Corner--and the town will never be the same. While spending the summer with his aunt and uncle, Henry comes up with a sure-fire money-making project: Henry Reed, Inc., Research. Henry's neighbor, Midge Glass, has an even more sure-fire hit: Reed and Glass, Inc. Now with Henry's ingenious mind and Midge's practical reasoning, Reed and Class Inc. turns into a huge success--while creating more bewildering and outrageous schemes than the town could have imagined.
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Naima loves to create the traditional alpana pattrns Bangladeshi women and girls paint in their homes. Her designs are always the best in the village. But Naima wishes she could help earn money for her family. Her friend Saleem can drive his father's rickshaw. If only I had been born a boy, Naima thinks.
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Every night, Shahrazad begins a story. And every morning, the Sultan lets her live another day -- providing the story is interesting enough to capture his attention. After almost one thousand nights, Shahrazad is running out of tales. And that is how Marjan's story begins....
It falls to Marjan to help Shahrazad find new stories -- ones the Sultan has never heard before. To do that, the girl is forced to undertake a dangerous and forbidden mission: sneak from the harem and travel the city, pulling tales from strangers and bringing them back to Shahrazad. But as she searches the city, a wonderful thing happens. From a quiet spinner of tales, Marjan suddenly becomes the center of a more surprising story than she ever could have imagined.
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Welcome to Wonderland Book 1
Eleven-year-old P. T. Wilkie may be the greatest storyteller alive. But he knows one thing for a fact: the Wonderland Motel is the best place a kid could ever live! All-you-can-eat poolside ice cream! A snack machine in the living room! A frog slide! A giant rampaging alligator! (Okay, that last one may or may not be made up.) There’s only one thing the Wonderland doesn’t have, though—customers. And if the Wonderland doesn’t get them soon, P.T. and his friend Gloria may have to say goodbye to their beloved motel forever.
They need to think BIG. They need to think BOLD. They need an OUTRAGEOUS plan. Luckily for them, Gloria is a business GENIUS, and OUTRAGEOUS is practically P.T.’s middle name. With Gloria’s smarts and P.T.’s world-famous stories and schemes, there’s got to be a way to save the Wonderland!
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There’s always something wacky happening when you live in a motel, and P.T. (named after P. T. Barnum, of course) has grown up at the world’s wackiest! When word gets out that the hottest teen idols in Hollywood (plus current YouTube sensation Kevin the Monkey!) will be filming their next movie—Beach Party Surf Monkey—right in St. Pete’s Beach, Florida, P.T. and his friend Gloria know that the Wonderland would be the perfect location. Now they just have to convince the producers!
But when things start to go wrong (crazed fans? missing stars?), it will take all of Gloria’s business genius and P.T.’s wild stories to save the movie before both it and the Wonderland are all washed up!
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Cricket in Times Square study guides- some lessons provided in the manual, this would be in addition to those.
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes- This book is a Japanese drama of the tragedy resulting from the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima during World War II. Strongly suggest that parent(s) read prior to reading it aloud to the family. – it is a short read
WARNING/NOTE: Mom and I both read this book and feel that families can glean a lot of insight into Japanese culture/thinking as well as information regarding a major historical event that affected many lives. Due to the sensitivity of the book’s contents, this book is optional and would only be suggested as a read-aloud so that families can discuss the sensitive topics as they arise.
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons- This is one of those diversity titles that does really give you insight into the view of stations in life in an Arab nation. However, there are several warnings I will give for reading this book. I enjoyed the storyline of seeing a frustrated daughter in an impossible situation where there was a need to help the family financially and of eventually seeing her fall in love. On the back of the book it says 12 and up; I would say for a mature 12 and up who really enjoys reading historical fiction and understands in reading such that they will read about customs, viewpoints, etc. from a foreign viewpoint.
Welcome to Wonderland Beach Party- This is the second book in the series and is read at the end of the year; can be optional but a fun book! No warnings for this book.