Learn About the Periodic Table

Below are some resources to help you teach your family all about the Periodic Table. There are helpful videos, books, songs, notebooking pages, and more. Have fun!

TED-Ed Periodic Videos Click on any of the elements of the Periodic Table and go straight to a video lesson about that element. They have a lesson for every single element! This is so cool! This team of scientists has made it so simple for you to teach your kids about the elements. They show you experiments and explain each element.

Carbon - The Building Blocks of Life I like this short video from Answers in Genesis that shows the ingenuity of our Creator and how perfectly elements work together in the world around us.

Periodic Table of the Elements in Pictures This awesome table shows real life examples of where the elements can be found. You can print out this table for easy reference. There is even a downloadable set of flash cards of the periodic table. This is a fabulous resource for teachers.

Dynamic Periodic Table You and your students can click around the Periodic Table and a wealth of information will pop up about each element.

Lapbook or Notebook Your Way Through the Periodic Table

Create a Periodic Table Lapbook This lapbook found on Homeschoolshare uses the Fizz, Bubble & Flash book to reinforce teaching about elements in the Periodic Table. My kids love doing anything hands-on. This would be a fun project to do. It says it is best suited for ages 9 and up although you could let your younger children join in.

Periodic Table Notebooking Pages We have a lifetime membership to Notebooking Pages and it has been well worth the investment. It's my go-to place for ready-to-go notebooking pages for any new topic we study. They offer a set of pages for the Periodic Table that you could easily add to your science studies. There are even blank Periodic Tables that you could use in a variety of ways as your children memorize the Periodic Table!

When children are in the grammar stage (elementary years) they are ripe for memorizing facts and yearn for more.

Geography is the perfect subject to let them sink their teeth into. There is just SO MUCH they can learn.

Being a part of Classical Conversations brought to light the importance of geography. It equipped me to organize facts about geography and assist my children in memorizing them.

As is so often the case, I am merely facilitating their learning - and learning right along with them. One resource I have recently discovered is Prisoners of Geography - fabulous for us to understand the WHY behind a lot of geography and to share that with our children - particularly our Challenge age children! I also highly recommend reading the section about geography in The Core.

Create a Geography Table in your Homeschool

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As a part of Cycle 3, my Foundations student learn 24 geography facts - all of these related to the United States of America. He learned all of the state capitals, mountain ranges, rivers, lakes, features, etc...

Our last time through Cycle 3 I wanted to facilitate an even deeper understanding of geography. I created a very simple geography table. (As you will see in the video at the end of the post, I simply repurposed a coffee table and put it in a sunny spot in our home.)

If I learned anything that year, it is that the memory work in CC is ENOUGH. First and foremost, I wanted my children to memorize the grammar of geography. My go to resource was ALWAYS the Foundations guide.

*These resources are geared towards a study of US geography.

Supplies for a Geography Table

{These supplies are highlighted in the video below.}

Globe and/or Atlas

DK Atlas (recommended by Classical Conversations)

Globe

Small White Board

Tracing Paper

Notebook with LOTS of sheet protectors (I made the cover for the notebook in my word processing program.)

Continental Blob Mapping Packet (LOVE this!)

Traceable Maps (various maps I choose from CC Connected)

Sharpies

Geography Coloring Book(s)

Smart About the 50 States

Notebooking Pages (My membership to Notebooking Pages comes in handy for so many things... particularly geography!)

Daily Geography Routine

This was always an independent activity for my son. I need this time at the beginning of the day to meet with my daughter and get her moving with her schoolwork. Usually 30 minutes was spent at the geography table.

My son did the following EACH DAY:

Copy the continental blob map on the white board
Draw the blob map from memory on the white board (Doing this is SO beneficial -- I cannot stress this enough!)
Trace that week's map from the folder
Work on a state coloring page or notebooking page corresponding to the memory work
Review previous maps (this way we will be more well prepared for Memory Master at the end of the year!)
Free reading/reference: Use Smart About the 50 States.

Here's a video to explain about the geography table in more details. Enjoy!