Invite your children to embark on a learning journey like no other as you explore the world around you through great books and rich times of play, laying down a strong foundation that will make future learning come alive!
Foundations matter. GO GLOBAL was designed to lay down the essential foundations of learning about where we are in time and space. This program invites parents and kids to explore where they are on the map and to branch out from there to explore this big, beautiful world in which we live. A foundation of geographical awareness and an understanding of where we fit in time-wise with history makes future learning more meaningful because there is immediate context.
HOW we teach our kids matters. Children thrive when learning in a small, interactive environment which is what makes our homes such powerful places. They are mesmerized by the power of narrative and learn so much through engaging books. They want to talk to you about everything they are learning and noticing. Adding a playful component seals the deal by cementing into long-term memory these new discoveries they’re making about the world around them and how they fit into it.
GO GLOBAL lays out a road-map to make this trifecta of learning through reading, talking, and playing an easy reality in your home.
Do you long to have a home full of good books and filled with laughter and delight as kids dive into learning about new things, but don’t have the time to search out and preview books, collect activities, and figure out how to put it all together?
Do you want to embrace learning as a natural part of living where everyone is learning (including you!), but don’t know where to start?
GO GLOBAL is an easy-to-implement curriculum based on living books, movement-rich activities, and cross-cultural exploration geared for 5 to 8-year-olds (and any younger siblings).
- Full year of curriculum: 36 weeks. GO GLOBAL is designed to take up a traditional “school” year. But it is also put together in a way that invites you to linger over sections where you want to dive in and explore more or we free you up to just make a quick run through of other areas making it easy to scale and personalize if you prefer to be more flexible.
- Comprehensive: Covers geography, science, history, world cultures, and literature; everything but phonics/spelling and math. GO GLOBAL is not designed to be a curriculum that you add to a litany of other programs. It invites families to dive deep and immerse yourselves in what you are learning about by connecting multiple disciplines naturally and seamlessly. This amplifies learning while making the planning process easier for mom!
- Literature-heavy: hundreds of previewed and high-quality book recommendations. Books unlock the imagination and open up the mind to different worlds. They draw people together relationally as you enjoy captivating books. These books have been vetted based on content, quality of the writing, illustrations and presentation, and worldview/age-appropriate factors.
- Movement-rich: Simple ways to let your children move and solidify understanding and long-term learning. Many of us have kids who love to move! But most curriculum is designed to work in the context of sitting still. Hands-on learning often means a coloring sheet offered, an occasional recipe to bake or flips over into messy craft overdrive. GO GLOBAL embraces a child’s need to move and connects great books, with thought-provoking questions, and then simple experience rich activities that will engage the imagination and propel children into the realm of discovery.
- Easy-to-use: Daily lesson plans, 4 days per week. Each week begins with an overview showing the main themes to focus on. Next comes materials list so you can see at a glance what you might need to collect or confirm that you have at home. This is followed by the book recommendations. There is a primary group that the following activities are based around. These are all currently in-print books that should be at your local library. A secondary book list has more books for those that want to go deeper or find alternative book recommendations.
Includes: The bound GO GLOBAL book and an exclusive resource page with links to all of the extra resources you’ll need – the timeline tutorial and timeline figures, songs, video recommendations, templates, full-picture tutorials, etc. This will save you time having to hunt them down on the internet or worry about objectionable content that you might find while looking.
You’ll want to add: We have three extra resources that you will want to purchase to amplify the impact of GO GLOBAL.
- GO GLOBAL game – this bendy-twisty, fall-down funny game is a fabulous way to playfully solidifies your growing mastery of the continents and oceans of the world. It also includes trivia cards for each continent. There are extra challenges and play elements included exclusively in the GO GLOBAL curriculum that utilize the big floor map included in the game. A giant fabric world map, playing cards, and printed instructions in a sturdy box will become a staple of play time for years to come!
- Penguin Bingo – This game will be a fun way to see how sharp your observation skills are and if you can tell the difference between an Adelie, Emperor, or a Chinstrap penguin! (digital download)
- Australia Concentration – This fun game tests the power of paying attention and reinforces key elements from a journey through Australia! May the sharpest “mate” win! (digital download)
Rarely can I find a curriculum that combines my desire to inspire learning through well-written, language-rich literature and my kids’ desire to wiggle. GO GLOBAL masterfully pairs them both. Packed with mom-tested lessons and kid-approved activities, this curriculum is an incredible gift to the homeschooling community and will, no doubt, help moms cultivate a sense of curiosity and lead their children to a deeper understanding and appreciation for other countries and their cultures.
- Jamie Erickson, homeschooling mom of 5 and author of Homeschool Bravely: How to Squash Doubt, Trust God, and Teach Your Child With Confidence
"Oh, if only my children were young again! This curriculum is exactly what I was looking for so many years ago and would have saved me hours of time spent planning my own literature-based, hands-on geography lessons. Its gentle approach to teaching serious geography concepts through meaningful work is perfect. Children will find geography to be such a joyful subject as they journey through good books and complete worthwhile activities. Parents will be thankful for the ease of use and how it can seamlessly draw multiple ages of children together for learning."
-Cindy West, speaker, author of Homeschooling Gifted Kids, and writer at OurJourneyWestward.com
GO GLOBAL is just the kind of curriculum we love for young boys - literature-heavy and movement-rich. Heather and Colene understand children and they've created a geography curriculum that kids will love and that will help them to love learning. You'll enjoy it as much as your children, too!
- Hal & Melanie Young, award-winning authors of Raising Real Men
I have been spatially and geographically challenged for as long as I can remember—GO GLOBAL looks like just the thing that may have given me “hooks” on which to hang my learning about the world around me and the cultures we studied! Colene and Heather have compiled a vast selection of quality books for perusal and read-alouds, as well as activities to make cultural and geographical literacy come alive for various levels of learners. What a gift to have all these great book lists and hands-on suggestions all in one place, lesson-planned out by the week for the busy parent who wants the structure, or simply as a buffet of choices for the more adventurous teacher.
-Vicki Bentley, mom of many, HSLDA Educational Consultant, author of Home Education 101: A Mentoring Program for New Homeschoolers, EverydayHomemaking.com
What Heather Haupt and Colene Lewis have created in GO GLOBAL is a comprehensive, well-paced, and winsome guide to learning about geography and culture together with your young student. The complementary keys to primary learning – story and hands-on experience – are the foundation of this excellent curriculum. Utilizing both classic and recent literature, you and your child will enjoy stories that engage the imagination and feed the voracious appetite that youngsters have for learning, especially for whatever is novel, adventurous, and exotic! (Frankly, I would purchase this curriculum solely for the excellent listing of Christmas and holiday books they have curated!) Haupt and Lewis pay careful attention to the brain-body connection, as well, incorporating a wide variety of activities that enlist the child’s senses and involve movement and physicality. This is not a “simply insert and press Play” curriculum – GO GLOBAL will get you and your child cuddling on the couch, extending learning beyond the school table, and experiencing wonder together at the exciting world we live in!
-Cindy Duell, AZ Families for Home Education Board of Directors, homeschool mom since 2000
Moms and children cannot help but be excited as they actively learn (and retain!) knowledge of the wonders of God's good world. This cultural and physical geography adventure will captivate every child and the clear, minimal prep will relieve busy moms.
Dr. Brian and Betsy Ray, homeschool pioneers and researchers at NHERI.org
If anyone understands the fine art of how to teach young children in an effective and engaging way, it is Heather Haupt and Colene Lewis. With GO GLOBAL, they gently introduce geographical awareness by engaging children in activities that are both fun and rich in learning. Geography is everywhere and learning about it is a part of faith-building. GO GLOBAL sets a strong foundation not only for children to understand where people, continents and oceans are in the world, it will help them understand their own place in it as designed by their Creator.
-Marcy Crabtree, homeschool mom, owner of the popular homeschool blog, BenandMe.com
One of the many benefits of homeschooling is being able to teach more than one subject at a time. GO GLOBAL is IDEAL for this! Not only do our 5-8-year-olds learn about the world they live in, they are exposed to literature rich books and plenty of movement/hands on activities which open up their minds to absorb so much more of what they are learning. GO GLOBAL includes prompting questions that will help engage our kids in conversations that are far beyond informational. They invite us to into the process of teaching our kids how to think for themselves. The preparation is minimal. The format is simple, yet the possibilities are wide open for going whatever direction our children find interesting!
-Durenda Wilson, author of The Unhurried Homeschooler, speaker, podcaster, and writer at DurendaWilson.com
We can’t wait to hear about YOUR GO GLOBAL adventure! Each journey is unique. Be sure to connect with us on Facebook and Instagram. You can tag your GO GLOBAL adventures with the hashtag #GoGlobalAdventures.