This evening a really interesting question was asked...."what qualifies a landmass as a continent?" As homeschoolers, I encourage my kids to use the resources available to them in order to answer their questions, but the answer to this seemed illusive. I expected a very clear set of standards to set continents apart from other landmasses but I was disappointed. Apparently there is no consensus about what qualifies and children in other countries are taught differing numbers of continents....varying from 4-7. I'd love to hear your input.
What qualifies and landmass as a continent and how many continents were you taught there are?
I was thought 5 continents: The Americas, Eurasia, Africa, Australia and Antarctica, looking at landmasses the Americas should be separate IMO. Europe a continent ? Geo-politically yes, as a landmass is more like a big peninsula.
If I were to teach my kids, I'd approach this subject on multiple aspects, like: landmass, geo-politics, etc... so they are presented with a broader picture of the whole.
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I learned that there were 7. North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa Antarctica, and Australia. I definitely will be teaching my children a more well rounded view of this subject rather than just "these are the ones"
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In the US, I think everyone is taught seven. It's definitely somewhat arbitrary, sort of like the definition of "what is a planet"... and the continents themselves have formed, broken up and reformed over billions of years.
Depending on how old your kids are, I'd introduce them to plate tectonics, show them maps of what the Earth used to look like in the past, and then have them develop a definition of what a continent is themselves.
This also then gives you the tools to tackle the next logical puzzler - how many oceans are there?
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This is what I love about homeschooling....we get to draw our own conclusions rather than being taught something arbitrary as truth.
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