Okay, homeschool moms! I guess I am not as smart as I think I am. I have been looking at my map aids CD and wondering where my children are to find the answers to the maps. I have not gotten all of the books yet (I will be getting many from the library), but are there resources you are all using that I can have that all of my children can go to to fill out their maps? Is there one or two resources I should just have on hand? I have an R, a D, and a LG. I am nervous about beginning TOG. What would I do without Jesus?
Karen

My boys can find almost all of the locations they need in a fairly good atlas that I found at a garage sale. Another resource we use is the Tapestry website - look in both the general geography links and the ones for your specific link. And then, if all fails, I make sure I have the teacher's map handy!

I also keep my teacher's map handy. If my kids can't find the places they need to label in their work, we use the teacher's copy. I'm not so picky about *where* they find the answer, but that they are able to learn the locations they are labeling.

Where did you get your teacher's map? Was I supposed to get one with the map aids? I may be suffering from Overwhelm Blindness.
Karen

When you put in your Mapaids CD the teachers maps are all there, I think there at the far right hand side!
kim

Are we suppose to have the kids look up what to write on the maps? I always have my teacher map and we all sit down and label them together. Do you think they retain more looking it up themselves?

BTW Kim and Jan we are in Kansas too!

My somewhat random comments:

In theory, your children should be able to find most locations in their readings. At least in UG and D levels there were generally maps in their books. BUT not everything TOG lists is there.

As Shelley has said the teacher's map is a good thing to have printed out and ready to go. You'll also want them to understand what you expect them to do to find a location and that you'll be okay if they can't find it.

We did Year One last year, and many things we couldn't find were also not in standard atlases. I imagine as we get closer to present day, that will change.

My D level student labels the maps himself, but the with my UG, we look at them together. I've developed a simple method of printing out the map locations with blanks next to them and then letting my child come up with a "code" to mark things on the map. Small, neat handwriting is not a skill here, and looking at my own and my husband's writing, I don't think it ever will be. As an example if they were to label the Nile River, they might decide to use "NR."

We are finishing up week 2 Y1 today. What I have had my UG and D kids do is this; if they cannot find it in the reading books for the week, they get on Wikipedia and search there, then the last resort is the teacher map. I do not let my children have free reign of the internet. I only have one window open to Wikipedia and trust them to stay there and search for what they need. They enjoy being able to work on the computer some. I copy the page that has their geography sites listed and they mark them off as they find them. Learning where to look for the answers is important, whether online or in books.

I have another question regarding the maps. How do you incorporate map work/geography into the history readings? How do you relate one with the other? For instance, you read about Creation in Genesis, and one of the activities suggests to have the kids draw a map of Pangaea. But the map that corresponds with the week is something else. How do you know what they are supposed to map, and how does that correspond with the reading?

- Diana

Diana,

This is an easy one The Geography assignment is listed in the Student Activity Pages (blue pages) each week. Print out the Student Pages from the Loom CD and the maps from the Map Aids CD. These will relate directly to the history topic for the week. In addition, there is on Overview of the Geography assignments on the Overview Pages in your weekly plan (Yellow pages after the reading assignment charts).

Hope this helps!
Eia

I guess I'll have to read over the student pages again. I printed them all out, but didn't notice that part. Thanks Eia!

okay still a little confused. I have been sitting down with my 2 UG and LG and we label the map together. This is a little boring. Do you just hand them their maps and they keep track of them for the week and they label places as they come across them in reading or do you let them sit down once a week or so and look at an atlas to find the places. Thank you for all your help. I am hoping to make geography a little more exciting. my girls love this subject but dislike labeling their maps.

Amy,

One thing to remember is that part of learning *is* simply "boring" sometimes (as are some parts of adult life). Your students are in the season of preparation, and some of that preparation is just good, old fashioned work. So, yes, the idea is that they look at a resource map (digital, atlas, Teacher map--whatever) and learn by the tactile practice of writing matching labels on a resource map.

That said, here are some ideas:
*You can use our listed map labels but allow students to express map work differently: to make cookie maps and eat them, or to make salt maps with "flag labels."
*You can go to your library and take out travel books for the areas you're studying, or videos. Showing students a "look from the ground" adds a lot of interest.
*You can find recipes typical of the region you're studying and eat some ethnic foods.
*Kids can dress like the natives of an area.

So, there's lots of creativity that can spice up geography work; in the end though, there's plain and simple work too, imho.

HTH!

Glad to hear that it's just old fashion look it up work. That takes a lot of pressure off me
Geography was not exactly my best subject.

I've just been having my kids look at the teacher map and label theirs accordingly. They don't really like it, though. I've given them the choice to color it if they want, but they usually don't want to. We started with week 4, though (in Classic Year 1), and we are starting week 1 this week, so maybe after learning the basics, it will be easier. My ds HATES doing "boring" work, though. He used to be at a charter school that was Montessori based, so most of what they did all day was play to learn, which resulted in him not learning much, which is why they're home now! Hopefully he'll get used to doing some of the boring stuff and have enough fun doing the projects to have a balance.

- Diana