Africa

Global Explorers: Africa

Grab your passports and begin exploring Africa with the Global Explorers Club, a family-style “Around the World” homeschooling curriculum designed specially for elementary-age children. Together, you’ll learn about different peoples and their cultures and share engaging stories and folk tales from around the world. You’ll meet artists and musicians, sample global cuisine, create art, and play games together.

The Global Explorers Club: Africa Unit Study

After a short introductory unit introducing your family to the continent of Africa and its many countries, you’ll begin your adventure in Ghana where you’ll meet Anansi, one of the most popular animal tricksters from West Africa. You’ll begin to study the African rain forest, learn about Adinkra printmaking and Kente cloth, create Akan “brass” goldweights, make jollof rice, and learn how to play Ampe, Oware, and Pombo.

Next, you’ll head to Mali where you’ll read about Mansa Musa, a famous king from Mali who was known for his wealth, generosity, and influence during the 14th century. You’ll explore bògòlanfini, learn more about jelis, or griots, while learning to sing several traditional Malian songs, play Awalé, and more.

In Nigeria, you’ll continue your study of the African rain forest, learn about the ancient Kingdom of Benin, make decorated cloth in the manner of adire eleko, prepare plantain chips and hausa masa, and learn how to play Ayo, Dara, and Igba-ita. You’ll also meet the author Atinuke, a famous Nigerian author who has written several book series for children, including Anna Hibiscus, The No. 1 Car Spotter, and Too Small Tola.

And that’s just to start! With a total of 16 unit studies, your family will have all the support and resources you need to explore Africa.

Africa Unit Studies

  • Ghana
  • Mali
  • Nigeria
  • Liberia
  • Cameroon
  • Chad
  • Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Tanzania
  • Uganda
  • Kenya
  • Ethiopia
  • Zimbabwe
  • Botswana
  • South Africa
  • Morocco
  • Egypt

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase using these links.

the global explorers club

Subjects Included

  • Geography and Culture
  • Language Arts
  • Character Education
  • Science
  • Practical Math
  • Music
  • Arts and Handicrafts
  • Cooking

You’ll also receive more than a dozen printable resources to use throughout your study of Africa, including the Global Explorers Journal to document your family’s study of each country; sentence strategy worksheets based on Judith C. Hochman’s The Writing Revolution method; African proverbs copywork sheets, “Making Words” lists to be used for spelling games; food chain pyramid templates, place value activities, boarding passes, reading tickets, recipe cards, games, and more!

In order to help you stay organized, the Global Explorers Club: Africa includes a unit planner for each unit study.
Students can research and record information about each country using the Global Explorers journal pages.
Available in both print and cursive, the Global Explorers Club: Africa includes African proverbs copywork sheets that allow children to practice their handwriting. Older students can complete the sheet with a writing prompt, while younger students can illustrate each proverb.
Sentence strategy activities based on Judith C. Hochman's The Writing Revolution method are available for each country included in the Global Explorers Club: Africa unit studies.
The Global Explorers Club: Africa also includes sentence strategy sheets inspired by Judith C. Hochman's The Writing Revolution for each Circle Round folk tale included in the country unit studies.
The Global Explorers Club: Africa includes several book discussion guides, including The Adventures of Spider: West Africa Folktales by Joyce Cooper Arkhurst, Mansa Musa and the Empire of Mali by P. James Oliver, and Why Leopard Has Spots: Dan Stories from Liberia by Won-Ldy Paye and Margaret H. Lippert.
The Global Explorers Club uses Making Words activities which help students practice phonemic awareness and spelling. Each unit study introduces a new Making Words activity related a topic they're studying in Africa.
Together, your family can create your own "Around the World" cookbook using the included Canva recipe templates for each country that's featured in the Global Explorers Club curriculum.
The Global Explorers Club includes Montessori-inspired 3-part map cards that allow students to practice identifying the location of each country and their flags using various activities.
The Global Explorers Club includes character education as part of its curriculum, where students will learn about a new virtue during each country unit study. They can use this virtues coloring poster to keep track of the virtues they've learned about along the way.

Curriculum Planning Tools

The Global Explorers Club utilizes Notion to make homeschool planning, organization, and record-keeping a breeze. When you purchase a curriculum unit, you’ll receive access to the Global Explorers Club’s Notion template, a flexible, all-in-one online workspace that allows you to easily keep track of each unit study and make changes as needed.

The Global Explorers Club utilizes Notion to make your homeschool curriculum planning and record-keeping a breeze! The prep list for each unit study lists what materials are recommended, and, when applicable, links are included for your convenience.
The Global Explorers Club utilizes Notion to make your homeschool curriculum planning and record-keeping a breeze! Each country included in the curriculum features a recommended book list that allows you to easily keep track of which books you're family has read.
The Global Explorers Club utilizes Notion to make your homeschool curriculum planning and record-keeping a breeze! Every unit study includes a task list that provides a general overview of the suggested activities and lessons for each country.
The Global Explorers Club utilizes Notion to make your homeschool curriculum planning and record-keeping a breeze! The course schedule includes comprehensive lesson plans for each unit study.
The Global Explorers Club utilizes Notion to make your homeschool curriculum planning and record-keeping a breeze! Each unit study in the "Around the World" curriculum features both learning extensions and bookmarks.

Books & Resources

Here are the suggested books to have on hand as you explore Africa together. Remember, the Global Explorers program is flexible, and you don’t necessarily have to use all of the books listed below.

Join the Global Explorers Club today and begin your family’s adventure through Africa!

The Global Explorers Club

Africa

Discover Africa with specially-designed country unit studies that include literature, art, music, geography and culture, character education, science, handicrafts, and cooking. Best of all, a unit planner for each country helps you stay organized, freeing up more of your time to enjoy your family’s global learning adventure.

Here’s a quick guide on getting started with the Global Explorers program. If you have any additional questions, please check out the Frequently Asked Questions page.