Google maps
For a fun twist on geography, go to Google Maps and type in pyramids. Make sure you are looking at the satellite or hybrid version, not just a map. You’ll see the choices at the top right part of the map.
The detail is amazing, and has improved since the last time we looked. We can now see the old dead Suburban parked below our house.
We just spent over an hour looking at our own house and friends’ houses, the swimming hole, hubby’s place of employment, our church (the shot was taken the day we parked next to the other family with a white 15 passenger van), WalMart, the pyramids and Sphinx, the Nile delta (it really is a triangle of green), Beijing and Tokyo (the houses were packed tightly w/no yards at all), the Eiffel Tower, Ireland, the Bible lands, Madagascar, Honolulu, Hawaiian volcanos…you get the idea. The exclamations and squeals abounded.
You could just type in each destination, but it’s even more fun to zoom out as necessary and navigate your way from one place to another. I think the girls had even more fun when I let them have a turn. 
This strikes me as a wonderful way to make geography “real” while improving map-reading skills and a host of other skills at the same time.
More incredible destinations:
Cathedral at Notre Dame - check out the cross visible from above
Stonehenge
Hoover Dam
Panama Canal
Beth’s family enjoyed looking at Disney World
Add yours in the comments!
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Filed under: homeschooling
That is uncanny! I was just showing my 12 year old Google Earth today! Thanks for the ideas for new destinations.
I love google maps. google earth didn’t work quite so nicely on my pc. but, google has some awesome things online.
Kimberly
We love Google earth in at our home. Another place to look up is Disney World,the kids loved pointing out different rides and then remembering all the fun we had there.
Wow, this is SO cool!!!
We also love Google Earth. My husband and I like to go on “vacations” together. We’ve explored Hawaii, Brazil and Italy, among others.
Recently, he and his dad had a look at Vietnam where his dad did three tours with the US army. That was a really interesting experience for my husband,as his dad knew all the different places just like he knows the place where he grew up.
We enjoy Google Earth also, and you can do the same with MapQuest.
When I find a piece of property online to consider (we are still looking for a large acreage, y’all, probably in the Southeast US) I enter the address, then zoom in as far as it will go and survey the surrounding area.
That way I can tell if it is actually as secluded as it has been advertised, what the neighborhood looks like, is it green or dry, trees, etc.?