When we first began with FIAR I became excited about the way that FIAR introduces geography using the world map, but realized that Claire (who was then 4 1/2) really didn't have the concept of cities being in states, states being in the US, etc. She didn't really understand that when we drove to the larger city nearby, that we were not leaving Texas (and we have to drive a LONG way to leave Texas!) :-) However, I realized from watching her play Jumpstart Kindergarten that she was VERY good at ordering objects by size. SO I came up with this idea and it really seemed to help. As we do the various FIAR titles (We started with all US locations in the very beginning to help reinforce this) we incorporate them into the system.
I used a 9 x 12 envelope and put an outline map of the US on
the outside of it. (I used one off the national geographic web-site.)
Then I used a 6 x 9 envelope and put an outline map of Texas on
the outside of it. (Allowing the kids to help with the gluing).
When we put the Texas envelope into the US envelope, I also colored
in the state of TX on the US map (with those wonderful PRANG colored
pencils). I then took 4 smaller envelopes (3 3/8 x 6 1/2) and
labeled each of them with a city or town name (our current town,
our old city, the nearby city where Jerry works and where we go
for many things, and another nearby town where we do most of our
shopping). Into each of these envelopes, we've put small cards
representing houses, churches, restaurants, businesses, service
providers, etc..
Then I used a 3 x 5 card to represent each family member (you
could use a photo). I put the card into one of the small envelopes
(our town) and then asked if she could be in our town and the
nearby city at the same time (no -- can't be in two envelopes
of the same size at the same time). Then we put all the city/town
envelopes in the state envelope and asked if she could be in our
town and in TX at the same time (yes). The same was true for the
U.S.
As we branched out into "visiting" other states and countries of the world, we used a 6 x 9 envelope for each state and a 9 x 12 envelope for each country and then used 10 x 13 envelopes to represent the various continents. (This was suggested by another 'Rower - Thanks, Tracy!)
We used this system together with our world map and globe and a geography page that I made to go with each of our FIAR books. Although we became less consistent with using the system as the year progressed, I do plan to begin using the system again this fall.