Guest Author - Meg Grooms

Creating your very own country is an excellent way to understand the premises behind various forms of government and the politics involved in running a country. This mini-unity study can be expounded upon or scaled back according to the child’s age and grade level.

This study is based on the book “Lands and People” by Philip Steele, Dempsey Park Publishing, 1999.

1. Where do people live?
Determine the location of your country on a globe. Will your country be arid, often flooded, subject to a monsoon? What will be the size of your country and the population? Create a map including environmental aspects. Will your country have rainforests, deserts, rivers? How will the population access clean water? Remember that you are creating a country from the beginning, cities aren’t built yet and a large portion of your population will be nomadic. Alternately, create a modern country and determine what environmental effects your country is contributing to the globe.

2. Name your country & create a flag
Flags are symbols of the country and represent the country’s ethnicity, agriculture, beliefs, etc.

3. What is a government?
Define a government simply. Examine different sorts of governments (kingdom, parliament, dictatorship, democracy, republic, etc) and determine which your country will be. Create and name your leaders, creating a biography for each.

4. Additional Ideas
Create a writing system, create 3D models of an ethnic village, create trade & exchange routes with other countries. Create a weather disaster based on the geographical region and examine how it affects agriculture, trade, and daily life. Create a caste system within the country, how do the castes affect each other? Create a national holiday and determine how it is to be celebrated. Create a national sports team to foster national unity. Create an ethnic dinner based on similar regions. Create a national religion; determine how it affects the daily lives of citizens, and how it reflects upon neighboring countries. Do this project within a homeschool group and host a cultural fair where each family can present their country. Determine how the various countries would get along, act as the country’s foreign representative and create trade pacts & alliances. Use a video camera to tape a tourism video for your country.