Waltzing to Europe

I home-school our three kids. Even when I was working two full-time jobs, it did not take as much out of me as this does. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE it- I love having a say in what my kids are learning- and making sure they do, but some days, it's a real marathon in emotional and mental endurance. However, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I adore the curriculum I've chosen. It's very time-consuming, but my kids are soaking it up, and having fun doing it.
One thing I absolutely love that came with our second-grade curriculum is "Geography Songs", by Larry and Kathy Troxel. It's basically memorizing geography by setting the list of countries in each section of the world to music. The song always corresponds to the geographical area. For instance, we just finished the Middle East. They're not only learning about that particular area, they're being exposed to the traditional music, reading about their culture and traditions and learning about how that particular country and people interact with their country and people today.
This week, we're beginning Europe. The focus being on Western Europe. The song is a very catchy waltz tune - one two three, one two three, one two three, one... Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, (one two three), Austria Belgium and Netherlands (one two three), France and Mon-a-co, Ger-man-y are allll in West-ern Eur-ope!!!
Often, the kids learn it after just one listen. I wake up with it in my head in the morning and I hear the kids singing it all through the day. Now, it may not mean much to them now, but I do know that one day, they'll hear about something happening in Germany and go, "wait a minute..." and have a better understanding of where it is, what the people and culture are like and it's relationship to the countries around it than a lot of public school kids. I've learned so much more home-schooling my children than I knew before. I think that schools in America have been too nation-centric. I remember focusing hard on our own country and never really even touching on others. I came out not knowing much, except that they existed. Now, I'm all for my kids learning about their own country, and they do, but I think it's a very big mistake to be so self-centered. Our kids will grow up to be adults- some of which may very possibly have careers that deal with other countries and cultures. I think we should at least have a base knowledge. People in other countries have a much better grasp on it than we do.
One thing I've been a little slack on this year with Crash that I made time to do with Goober is to make a point to look up and make recipes from that particular region/country. For example, when Goober was in second grade, We made falafel and a minted carrot dish when we studied the Middle-East. I think this week, it'll have to be something with sausage and sauerkraut ;).