Hi,
Okay, I've printed base maps on cardstock. I've gotten the impression that I don't have to print on the transparencies, we can just fill them in w/sharpies. What I am not understanding is how to figure out what to do and when. I'm looking through the blue pages in unit 1 for dialectic and rhetoric and there doesn't seem to be consistency w/instructions. I've read the loom helps and it was very helpful, but I still do not understand how to know what to do and when. Help!

We did print ours on on the transparencies after printing our base map on cardstock. I purchased our transparencies at an office supply store. You just have to make sure you print on the "right" side of the transparency (one side just gives you runny printing). It really looks very nice when you are all done. I have made multiple layer transparencies for cummulative map projects and have labeled them as we have filled them in weekly. We labeled ours with the fine Sharpie markers.

Hope that helps,

Lisa W.

I'm with you Kim. I'm a bit lost. I also printed the base map on cardstock, but the following week's transparencies look different from the base map, so how does it overlay and match? Also, with Wk1 are they supposed to draw in the routes taken by all those tribes? I'm finding the instructions lacking and being new it's even more confusing.

Hi Michele,

my ds did the transparency maps last year. I found the most helpful guideline was the table of contents on the MapAids disk. Under the column "Transparency Project" it will tell you whether an overlay is needed that week or not. For our overlays, I did not print the transparency, but just put a blank one over the base map that matched for that week.

some weeks you'll see "No overlay this week", and for those I just had my son do the paper map from the D/R column. So you'll end up with a combination of transparencies for some weeks, paper maps for others.

That table of contents was my main go-to guide!

have a great year!

Hi Jana, thank you for your reply. We just finished week 3 and we've only filled in paper maps. I think what I'm looking for is more specific instruction. For example: On the first transparency, fill in bodies of water, on the second transparency, fill in muslim territories, etc. I haven't figured out what to include on the transparencies for the weeks that they are used. thanks for any tips/suggestions. Kim

Hi Kim,

of course, this is only the way *we* did it -- I bet if you asked 5 folks, you'd get 5 different answers

First, on the base maps, you would label all geographic things: bodies of water, mountain ranges, deserts, etc. If you want to color the water, do this on the base map as well. Then, the changing elements, like cities, territories, and pyramids, go on the transparencies when they are called for in the individual week assigments.

I'm one to let my kids use the teacher's maps, and not an atlas. I know they'd probably get more from using an atlas, but this is one area where we try to save some time. And having done things this way for 6 years now, I do believe they are learning!

So what I do is, I have a notebook with all the teacher maps for the unit printed and placed in order. I keep this in a central location, and my kids know where to find it.

Each week, I take the teacher map and look over the things marked there. I highlight on the teacher map all the places, routes, etc. that I want my kids to put on their maps. I use their geography assignments in the SAP's as a guide as well. If they need to shade in territories, I note that on the map too.

Then, I look at the map aids table of contents, because if it says "Overlay" then that means my student has a base map that fits this project, and they can use a transparency. If it says "No overlay" then that means there is no comparable base map, and they need a paper map.

If they use a transparency, they just paper clip a blank one onto the base map, and using a fine point sharpie, they add all the highlighted things from the teacher map. Then we 3-hole-punch it and add it to their notebook.

Hope this helped, and wasn't too basic! I think everyone can make the maps their own, and find a process that works for their family. Feel free to tweak it however you need to!

btw, while my ds enjoyed the transparencies as something different and is glad he did them, he did decide this year to go back to doing all paper maps. He liked the variety but felt it's just easier to do them all on paper. (He was 9th grade when he did them)

blessings,
Jana

Jana, thank you for the insight. I guess I've been looking for specific instructions as far as what to label or fill in on each transparency. But it seems to be more of a custom-do-what-you-want project. I like your idea. Thanks for all your help. Happy togging! Kim

Thought I'd jump in with a question of my own. I've always have a nagging feeling that I'm not really "getting it" with this project.

Janaa, approx. how many layers of transparencies do you use with each base map? We never use more than one, and my thought is, "what's the point"? They are using transparencies with the regular maps, fill in cities, geographical regions, battles, whatever, then the next week we usually move on to a totally different base map.

If I'm hearing correctly, Jana, you use a different transparency for geographical regions, one for cities and country borders (political), one for battles, etc.? Is that right?

I understand there isn't one true "correct" way to do this, but I just never feel like we're getting the most out of the assignment.

Thanks, Laurie

I too am a bit confused but thought it might be because I am using a MAC so the user interface for MapAids isn't as clear as it was on the PC.

I've used TOG for many years and only did a few overlays - mostly with Years 3 and 4 - wars and battles. But now we're in Year 2(3rd time around), I'm trying to see how that all works out.

I love the idea of having all the teacher maps in one book!! Wow- good saving of time and ink.

Is it possible to pdf the Map Aids table of contents? Or is that copyright info?? I can no longer access it.

Hi Laurie & Sharie,

I hope I can say something helpful here! we only did transparencies one year, so I am certainly no expert!

We only used the transparency project with Y1, so I can only speak to that year plan. We printed out all the base maps that were listed in Week 1 of the transparency project column on Map Aids.

It turned out that we didn't do very many transparencies -- we did mostly paper maps.

Looking at my son's map book from last year, he has 1 transparency of the cities of Egypt overlaying the base map of Egypt, 1 transparency of the Ancient Americas overlaying the America's base map, 1 transparency of Noah's Descendants overlaying the base map of the Near East, and 4 transparencies on the Promised Land map: Abram's Journey, Conquest and Settlement, the Rise of Saul, and the Divided Kingdom.

The rest of his maps are all paper maps.

In my planning, I would look at the Dialectic map assigned for a given week. Then I would look through the base maps that I had printed from Week 1. If the dialectic map from the given week "matched up" with a base map from Week 1, we did a transparency for that week's assignment. It might be cities, it might be trade routes, it might be territorial divisions, whatever was marked on the teacher map for that week is what we put on the tranparency.

We did a separate transparency for each week's assignments.

More often, the Dialectic map assigned that week did not match up with a base map -- usually the assigned map was a "zoomed in" picture of an area, not the large continental views of most of the base maps. So for those weeks, I just printed out the Dialectic map and he filled it out on paper.

It turned out at the end of the year that several base maps were not even used in the Year 1 plan. I assume that if we had continued our transparency project for all 4 year plans, we would have ended up using those base maps later on. Then of course after the 4th year we would have many more transparencies for all the base maps, and a very nice atlas covering our studies!

Again, I hope this is somewhat helpful. I'm not sure we did things "right" -- I'm just sharing what we did!

Blessings,
Jana