Sigh... Just opened my credit card statement and hmmmm.... $13.95 a month- that is how much I am paying every month for Little Passports. That's about $167.40 a year and it really hit me. WOW... am I really getting my monies worth??? I love to try new things and was hooked at the thought of my son running to the mailbox, all excited to get something new. But... that excitement maybe lasted 5 minutes. Sigh...
Now please do not get me wrong, I absolutely love and am a very big fan of American Entrepreneurs, Little Passports is a very cute product, but for 13.95 a month for shipping and handling, a piece of paper with facts, a postcard, a little trinket, a sticker flag, country label, and pointer for the map, a little card with your internet access, couldn't I do better with my money? This price point is just so high! Like I said, this is $167.40 a year! And being the frugal Renaissance mama I am, I considered the fact that I could not resell any of it on Ebay ;) So, I reconsidered and decide that for geography and culture, I would go back to the old plan, a much less expensive plan!
So back to the old ways I go....
I was/am using
A Trip Around The World, , there is also
Another Trip Around the World and
A New Trip Around the World. These books are K through 5, there are 12 countries covered in each book and about $12.00 each new. They have printable maps, relevant facts on language, culture, food and recipes, printable flags, and a list of recommended books. I love these books! So much information and very inexpensive, oh and you can resale them ;)
Instead of a huge map on the wall, may I suggest a
educational jigsaw world puzzle!!! I LOVE PUZZLES, LOVE THEM!
Sit with your children the first time and discuss the puzzle, while you put it together (and if you are anything like me you really start saying things like "I did not realize those countries were so close"). Then have them practice on their own, if they enjoy it, and they will build familiarity with the puzzle through time until they an ZOOM through it really fast. Meaning that if they are zooming, they are remembering and internalizing where countries are. The beauty of puzzles is that they have to really focus on individual pieces, and I like to time my son, the faster he gets, the more he is learning and he loves to get a little prize (okay, that might sound like a little bribery, but trust me, if he truly did not want to do it, I would never push him) But in the end, they are learning.
But I realize the "mail thing" is a big draw to kids, children love to get mail! But maybe get a few magazine subscriptions, like National Geographic or Click. My son is so excited and reads from cover to cover Boys Life! But there are so many great publications out there!
