Tour a Country

Pack your bags and don’t forget to bring your camera! Tour a Country is a hands-on student course that provides a fully guided tour of eight different countries which have been selected for their historical, geographical, and cultural features: Canada, India, Peru, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and China.

Your child will “tour” one country each month by researching its attractions, historical people and places, saints, Catholic shrines, animals, and natural wonders in the Children’s Catholic Encyclopedia of Geography. The child will then compile a report on the country in the format of a travel brochure, using the images and templates included in Tour a Country. For the final assignment, your child will dress up in the “native garb” of that country and give an oral presentation about the country. By the end of the year your child will have completed eight travel brochures and have a passport full of exciting memories!

Each country tour includes:

• Passport page
• Travel brochure
• Full-color images of native animals, historical people or places, Catholic shrines, and saints to be cut out and used in the travel brochure
• World map showing where in the world the country is located  
• Words to Know
• Ideas for enrichment activities, including a list of historical fiction

Research Skills
Besides learning about geography and world cultures, your child will also learn important research skills. These skills include:

• Using an encyclopedia, including alphabetization and encyclopedia guide words
• Using a glossary
• Understanding maps
• Compiling reports in the form of travel brochures
• Giving oral presentations

This geography program begins with a series of worksheets that instruct the student in how to use alphabetical order to look up topics in an encyclopedia.

Independent Learning Skills
The program also teaches independent learning skills. All of the information needed to complete the program can be found in the Children’s Catholic Encyclopedia of Geography and on the back of the Folding World Map. This means that the child can complete the research independently, without needing parental assistance.

A daily schedule for this core text is available in CHC Lesson Plans for Third Grade.

Note–the Folding World Map and Children’s Catholic Encyclopedia of Geography are required to complete this course.