We used the geography curriculum, Our Great Big World, when our youngest children were in first and fourth grade. The Notgrass History curriculum is still my girls’ favorite! It was so good to “expand our horizons” as we considered the beauty of people and places far from home. In this post, I share how we used the curriculum and what we loved about it.
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The Our Great Big World Curriculum Package
Notgrass History promotes Our Great Big World as lessons that “guide your child across all seven continents, highlighting God’s natural wonders and amazing creatures, fascinating people God created to do fascinating things, and beautiful landmarks people have built.” It is written for first through fourth grade students. However, it can be adapted for younger or older children.
There are a lot of pieces to this curriculum. The package includes the textbook, a lesson review booklet, an atlas workbook, a coloring book, a folktales and song book, and the answer key/literature guide. The publisher also recommends seven works of literature to go along with the study. (These are available on the Notgrass History website, or you may find them at your local library.)
How We Used Our Great Big World, and What We Loved About It
The quality of the textbook images is exceptional. It’s one of the things that drew me to this curriculum as I compared it to others. “A picture speaks a thousand words” is very applicable. My ten-year-old spent an hour one afternoon just looking at the many beautiful pictures!
The lessons are engaging and a good length for elementary-age students. I read these out loud, and then we worked through the checklist at the end of each lesson. This shows everything that can be assigned: the review questions, atlas workbook page, coloring page, folktale and song, and literature pages. While these assignments are optional, the list was a helpful reference. It made our geography study feel manageable.
Review questions are provided in the lesson review booklet. There are five questions for each lesson. My first grader would struggle with words like “Appalachian Mountains” or “Lithuanians.” So we went through the review orally. Most of the questions are multiple-choice, which is helpful. Even with some of the more difficult vocabulary, my girls soaked up the lesson content.
The atlas workbook was a favorite part of our geography study! It has one page of activities for each lesson. These include step-by-step instructions such as coloring municipalities, drawing mountain peaks, or tracing lines of longitude or latitude. One page of the workbook shows beautiful cathedrals from around the world. Students draw a line to the continent where each cathedral is located.
My girls also enjoyed the mazes, word searches, and crossword puzzles. Some of these were more challenging for our first grader, but she eagerly participated with some help. The workbook pictures enhance the content and make it appealing to young children.
The coloring book has illustrations that extend the lesson content: a Czech dress, Pysanky eggs, St. Basil’s Cathedral, Mexican dancers, Chilean Miners, a matryoshka (nesting) doll. . . Many of these pictures need lots of color, which makes them fun! My girls always worked on their coloring page while listening to me read the lesson.
More of Our Great Big World to Love . . .
Family activities are also suggested. After learning about the village of Tiébélé (in Burkina Faso, West Africa), students can make a “royal court.” Buildings can be made from clay and then painted with beautiful patterns. The textbook shows designs painted on royal buildings by the Kassena people of West Africa. One example shows “Jesus est mon Sauveur” painted above a doorway.
All the suggested activities accommodate different learning styles. Other projects include creating paper volcanoes, making Polish gingerbread, and having Galapagos races. This curriculum offers so much variety!
There is also a folktales and songs book. It is a collection of one folktale and one song for each unit. It’s a hardbound book with simple, yet beautiful illustrations. My kids treasure having it on their bookshelf. You can easily access an audio version of this book as well. Just scan the provided QR code, or visit the Notgrass History website. My girls always looked forward to this part of our lesson. Sitting together on the couch (or jumping around and singing!), we thought about families in other countries, sharing these sweet stories and songs.
Literature Considerations
The literature adds another layer of depth to this study of our great big world. We like to work through the books as read-alouds. (Too soon, the kids will be too big and too busy to snuggle with mom and a book!) That said, we found A Bear Called Paddington as an audio book at our library. It was convenient to listen to on some longer car trips. (My girls probably didn’t realize we were getting schoolwork done in the car!) Paddington became a new favorite, and we had to check out more books (and a movie) about him. I was also happy to see Race for the Record included in the literature set. We love the Trailblazer series! My older kids spent many, many hours reading these books by Dave and Neta Jackson.
The answer key/literature guide includes notes about words or topics they may be of concern in the recommended books. So those elements can be reviewed ahead of time. They were minor issues for our family, but I appreciated the heads-up.
Our Great Big World is a Great Curriculum for Busy Families
There are so many enjoyable activities that can enhance your study of Our Great Big World. But you can use the curriculum in a way that works best for your family. Your youngest might only listen to the lesson and work in the coloring book. Your oldest could complete all the suggested work and also copy or memorize the lesson Scripture. If there are time constraints, you can skip the family activities, or only read a few of the recommended books. The pieces of this curriculum offer a lot of flexibility, which is helpful for busy families.
What I Appreciate Most – a Biblical Perspective
I was most encouraged to find that, in every lesson, the author has gently woven a Biblical worldview. There is Scripture included at the end of every lesson. The author shares this in a note to parents and students:
“Our great big world gives us a glimpse of the power and majesty of our God. The skies are big, but God is bigger. The mountains are high, but God’s goodness is higher. The oceans are great, but God’s love is greater.”
-Mary Evelyn Notgrass McCurdy
The material presents our world in light of God as Creator and Sustainer. A geography curriculum without such a perspective would simply be amiss.
What We Didn’t Love About This Curriculum
Each part of the Our Great Big World curriculum adds value. I can’t think of anything we didn’t appreciate!
Related Resources Offered by Notgrass History
So, is this curriculum a good fit for your family? The company offers some resources to help you understand what they offer. A video overview of Our Great Big World explains the different parts of the curriculum. Are you wondering how this might fit into your history study during the elementary years? The Notgrass History Scope and Sequence is helpful. You can also download three free units from Notgrass History at no charge!
Additionally, they offer a database of supplemental videos, books, games, printables, virtual field trips, and interactive websites. You can access these resources with a (very affordable) subscription to HomeschoolHistory.com. (Or you can sign up for a free 14-day trial.) The curriculum on its own is more than enough. But I appreciated having these resources at my fingertips when we wanted to dig a little deeper. You can find all these supplements conveniently sorted by textbook and lesson. They’ve done all the work for you! (And I love that the publisher has vetted these resources through a Biblical lens!)
The Our Great Big World Curriculum Set is a “Win”!
This curriculum is another Notgrass History “win” for us! The textbook is beautiful and the suggested activities make the lessons memorable. The coloring book and atlas workbook are engaging for young students. The folktales and songs help us imagine families far from us, but much like us. Literature about people and places from around the world add depth to the study. Finally, and most importantly – the content points us to our omnipotent God, creator and sustainer of our great big world.
You can find all the details for this beautiful curriculum, Our Great Big World, on the Notgrass History website. Take a peak!
Looking for more reviews? Find them on my Elementary Curriculum Reviews page.
