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?
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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