How to Use the Global Explorers Curriculum: A Quick Start Guide

Welcome to the Global Explorers Club!

Whether you’re a homeschooler, classroom educator, or a family exploring world geography together, I hope this guide will help you feel confident getting started with the Global Explorers program.

Our curriculum is designed to help children connect with the world through stories, art, science, cooking, and culture at a pace that works for you. Each unit is flexible, literature-based, and intentionally open-ended, encouraging meaningful exploration rather than rigid checklists.

What Makes Global Explorers Different

Global Explorers isn’t a textbook or a rigid program. Instead, each country unit study is a thoughtfully organized collection of lessons and activities that encourage immersive, hands-on learning. Your students will be able to:

Learn through stories, art, cultural activities, creativity, and discovery
Make connections across subjects
Follow their curiosity and explore at their own pace

Our goal is to help you raise curious, compassionate learners who love exploring the world together.

Getting Started: A Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Choose a Country

Pick a country that matches your child’s interests, a holiday, or something you’re already reading. Each individual country unit study is self-contained, so there’s no required order.

Step 2: Open Your Files (or Digital Planner)

When you download your selected country unit study, you’ll find the following:

A Read Me: How to Use Guide that includes the link to the optional Notion curriculum database and a suggested weekly rhythm
A 1-page Unit Study Overview Sheet
Lesson Plans (PDF) with embedded links
Printable Resources, including mapwork and journaling activities, sentence strategy worksheets, science notebooking activities, and more.

Within the Notion Curriculum Planner:

Each country has its own “lesson hub” with clickable activities, videos, and a prep list.
You can check off what you’ve completed, drag-and-drop lessons on the calendar, and add your own links or ideas.

NOTE: Notion is completely free to use, and no subscription is required. It’s included to help you track and organize your lessons and to keep all your resources in one convenient place.

Step 3: Begin with a Story or a Map

There’s no better way to start exploring a country than through stories and maps.

Read a picture book or folk tale from the included suggestions, and watch the bookmarked travel video found in the Notion database to pique your children’s interest and help them visualize the country before diving in.
Pull out a world map or open Google Earth together. Find the country and zoom in to explore cities, mountains, and rivers.
Encourage your children to journal or draw their first impressions using the Wonder Wall printable or a simple notebook.
They may start to work on the mapwork or Global Explorer’s Journal early in the week, using a children’s atlas or Google Earth and other reference books as needed.

Step 4: Pick One Hands-On Activity at a Time

Our curriculum doesn’t require a strict schedule. Simply choose one or two activities a day, or a few per week, based on your interest and available time.

For example:

Monday: Geography & Mapwork
Tuesday: Folk Tale, Story, or Writing Activity
Wednesday: Science Topic
Thursday: Art, Music, or Craft
Friday: Cooking, Games, or Virtue Reflection

There’s no wrong way to do it. The goal is connection, not completion.

Follow your child’s curiosity, pause when something sparks deeper interest, and skip what doesn’t fit right now. Whether you spend a week or two on one country or linger for longer, our lessons aim to help children better understand the world while building empathy, gratitude, and respect for people and traditions different from their own.

Step 5: Mix, Match, and Make It Yours

Global Explorers is designed to grow with your family.

Younger children might color maps, listen to stories, play games, and join in on arts and crafts.
Older children can undertake the writing and notebooking activities, literature studies, conduct research, and help cook traditional foods.
Mix your Global Explorers activities with other resources you already love.

You can study a single country for a week, a month, or longer. It’s entirely up to you.

Most importantly, enjoy the process. You’re helping your children see the world with wonder.

What a Global Explorers Week Might Look Like

Each family finds its own rhythm, but here are a few different ideas:

2-4 lessons per week if you’re rotating through other subjects
Daily immersion week if you’re focusing on a single country at a time
Mix and match: Choose one geography, one art, one science, and one story activity each week.

Remember, the Global Explorers curriculum is intentionally flexible and open-ended. It’s designed to make learning engaging and memorable through a variety of books, videos, and hands-on projects that help students understand cultures, people, and places beyond what a textbook can offer.

Here’s just one possible schedule to help you visualize how a week with Global Explorers might flow. Please, please, please use it as inspiration and not a prescription! You can mix, skip, or rearrange activities as you like and adjust as needed for younger or older learners.

Monday:
- Explore the country using a children’s atlas or Google Earth.
- Complete the mapwork activity and/or the Global Explorer’s Journal page.
- Read some of the suggested books together.
- Begin discussing the selected virtue.
Tuesday:
- Listen to the Circle Round folk tale and complete the writing exercises.
- Continue reading or explore optional online resources (such as Mama Lisa’s World or the Quilt of Belonging).
Wednesday:
- Dive into the suggested science activity or notebooking lesson.
Thursday:
- Complete the art, music, or craft lesson.
- Continue reading and discussing books related to your country study.
Friday:
- Try a recipe together, play a traditional game, watch a documentary, and celebrate the week’s discoveries!

Some families prefer to stretch one country over several weeks, while others explore a new country each month. Follow the pace that keeps learning joyful and sustainable for your family.

Our Family Rhythm

In our own homeschool, we typically study one to two countries per month and incorporate a Global Explorers block into our daily routine so our country studies flow naturally with our week.

Our daily rhythm often looks something like this:

Morning Basket: Read-alouds, mapwork, and picture books
Global Explorers: Hands-on cultural lessons, art, science, and writing
Learning Basket: Independent learning activities, journaling, and projects

This approach has been the sweet spot for us: structured enough to stay on track, but flexible enough to follow our curiosity and move things around as needed.

Common Questions

Do I need all the suggested books?
Not at all. The reading lists are recommendations. Use what’s accessible at your library or substitute similar titles.

Do we need to complete every activity?
No! Each lesson and activity stands on its own. Choose what fits your family’s time and interests.

What ages is this best for?
The curriculum is designed for elementary through middle school and works beautifully with multi-age families.

Next Step: Choose Your First Adventure

You’re ready to begin! Remember, each Global Explorers unit is designed to grow with your family.

If you’d like a little extra guidance or want to see real examples of how the digital planner works, explore our continent-specific Quick Start Guides below:

How to Use the South America Unit Study Bundle
How to Use the Asia Unit Study Bundle
How to Use the North America Unit Study Bundle
How to Use the Africa Unit Study Bundle

Start with the continent or country that excites your child most. Once you begin exploring, you’ll quickly find your own rhythm and flow.

Wondering if Global Explorers is the right fit for your family?

Take a look at our 10-question guide to see if our flexible, family-style approach fits your homeschooling style.

read the guide

However you choose to use Global Explorers, I’m so glad you’re part of this journey. Remember, there’s no single “right” way, only the one that fits your family’s rhythm and sparks your children’s curiosity.