Learn Geography with Mail

Stephanie and Jax at Imagine our Life are currently doing a geography unit and it got me thinking about how to teach it more. Of course, I follow her blog and love that she shares her Montessori resources and ideas, but I figured I should look into the subject more if I plan on doing it also.  So I googled... and I found this page that talks about how to teach geography using the New York Times. I was drawn to #7 - "Geography isn’t just about places on a map; it’s about the people, culture, history and landscape of those places" Then I saw a review of a neat little kit called Little Passports. It is a suitcase for kids to start learning about the world through letters each month. The kids get to learn about the places and get excited about the mail they receive each month. There is a subscription and initial cost though, and it seems a bit pricey to me.

What ever happened to pen pals? It seems like such a better idea. Then you can also ask questions and continue to learn for longer than just one month (one letter) about that particular area. I know some schools do pen pals with other schools like this class that has a partner class in South Africa. Then there is also Flat Stanley. I think this is an awesome way to have kids learn about the world, seeing there own art in those places, especially when accompanied by the books. I also think it would be good to introduce the children to missionaries around the world. I already have connections to some and our church supports some missionaries. Finding a few to write to and perhaps get some photos back would be fun.
I'm sure I will find and think of more as I continue to search but I wanted to compile it so I have it all in one place to come back to later.