Do you own an atlas or use the internet?

[LNC]

I have a globe, maps and a geography encyclopedia. I saw this NG Family Reference Atlas in the WTM logic section:

http://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Family-Reference-Atlas/dp/1426205430/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1291997510&sr=8-4

 

Do you have this (or something like it) or just use the internet to find info? It seems expensive for something that will become outdated quickly.

Edited December 10, 2010 by LNC

[Hedgehog]

We use both. My dc don't use the computer much, and hardly ever look at anything on the Internet - they'll look in our Philip's School Atlas while I might check the Internet to see if the information is up to date.

 

Generally speaking, despite information books going out of date, I'd always choose to use a book (a personal preference). After all, we all managed just fine with books, when we were kids.

[skueppers]

I think a well-stocked reference shelf is extremely important for education and for daily life. The Internet is great, and I use it all the time to get information about places, but it does not replace a printed atlas in my home.

 

I don't know if I would choose this particular atlas- I own a big Oxford atlas for adult use and a smaller National Geographic Atlas for Young Explorers that I use with my (younger) children.

 

Of course an atlas will not remain current forever, but the experience of using a printed atlas is different from using the Internet, in a way I think is valuable.

[regentrude]

We have an atlas - the physical geography will not become outdated i out lifetime, only the political will. More important: we also use a globe which is much better to visualize actual spatial relationships.

We also use the internet, but will normally just grab the atlas or the globe and bring it to the table when a question about some country arises at dinner.

[LNC]

This is the atlas that was recommended in WTM logic section. Which other atlas would you get? We have 1000's of books with a well stocked reference shelf. I just don't know that we would "use" the atlas often.. When do you reach for it?

[SailorMom]

Both :)

[kewb]

Atlas, Globe, Wall Maps, and Internet.

[Tammyla]

I purchased an atlas at a library sale for $1.00, we use the internet and the giant book.

[Lady Florida.]

We use both.

[skueppers]

This is the atlas that was recommended in WTM logic section. Which other atlas would you get? We have 1000's of books with a well stocked reference shelf. I just don't know that we would "use" the atlas often.. When do you reach for it?

 

I have the first edition of the WTM, and already owned an atlas before homeschooling was on my radar, so I've never looked to see what is recommended and how it might differ from what I have.

 

I usually use my atlas, the Oxford Atlas of the World, when I want to look at geography in more detail than can be seen on the globe or wall map. This often happens when thinking about either current events or history. The atlas I have even contains street maps of the central parts of important cities.

 

The particular atlas I have also contains helpful world maps showing things like rainfall, population density, standards of living, and energy production. It really helps me to understand the "big picture" on these issues.

 

I also use it when thinking about things like ocean currents, the solar system, moon phases, plate tectonics, and the atmosphere.

 

I don't know that I have ever used the section that describes each country. I would normally use the CIA World Factbook on-line for that, or use an encyclopedia, depending on the level of detail I needed.

[Mommybostic]

I just received National Geographics World Atlas for Young Explorers, and it's really cool! It has tons of Internet links in it for the NatGeo site with games, videos, still photos and articles. The atlas itself has articles, full color photos, and is very user friendly, imo. My son loves it.

 

We also have two globes. We have a large globe that I have had since school and which is probably outdated, but my son likes to compare the atlas with the old globe to see if anything has changed. He also has the Leap Frog interactive globe--it has a little pen, and when you touch the globe it gives you information. It has a dial by which you chose what information you want--continent, country, capital, populaton, etc. It also has a game where it calls out a country, state, etc., and the child (or adult!) touches that country, and you see how many you can get in a set amount of time. This is a wonderful learning tool, and even though it is small, I would recommend it for anyone. I haven't seen much mention of it in any of the threads I've browsed on here, but I think it is a fabulous resource.

 

Sorry I got off track there, but I do think having the atlas is really good idea.

[dee67p]

I was a TA for Geography professor and still use my copies of Goode's world atlas often. We have a globe too. AND we use the google.maps.com often

[LauraQ]

We have:

 

- CIA World Factbook (useful for logic & ret stage reference),

- Usborne Encyc of World Geography (useful only for grammar stage or as very basic jumping-off point for logic stage)

- Rand McNally Answer Atlas http://www.amazon.com/Rand-McNally-Answer-Atlas-Geography/dp/0528838725/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292190562&sr=1-1 (we got more mileage out of it in late elem years, less now)

- several historical atlases like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Historical-Atlas-Ancient-World-Haywood/dp/1586632388/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2RWM9V7EHT2QN&colid=19RF4N7JM7E6F

- Holman Bible Atlas http://www.christianbook.com/holman-bible-atlas-thomas-brisco/9781558197091/pd/97095/1152437312?item_code=WW&netp_id=113420&event=PPCSRC&view=details (the text is more impressive than the maps)

 

I want:

- Hammond Historical World Atlas http://www.amazon.com/Hammond-Historical-World-Atlas-Corporation/dp/0843713917/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I36WGHBLL60NW3&colid=19RF4N7JM7E6F

- The best world atlas available, so far it looks like this one is the winner, but we'll see