One of the best ways for children to experience mapping is to create their own map from start to finish starting with a blank piece of paper. Map making has been such a fantastic hands-on geography learning experience for our children, our home school, and our homeschool co-op.
Are teaching astronomy this year? Do you want the kids to really enjoy it! Do you have a little astronaut running around your house or a star gazer who pours over astronomy books?
Being involved in age-integrated homeschool co-ops for many years has been a blessing for my children and me. We have worked really hard to NOT imitate a traditional school setting in our co-op but to give it more of an extended family-type atmosphere.