Mapping the World by Heart?? opinions?

[creekmom]

The Homeschool Buyers Co-op is featuring this product at a group discount right now, and I was wondering if any of you have used it. Some questions:

 

Is it worth the price?

Is this something I could do on my own?

What makes the program unique?

 

Thanks!

 

I wanted to add this link https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/index.php?option=com_hsbc_epp_order&Itemid=1458

Edited April 9, 2011 by creekmom
added link

[Flux]

:bigear:

I have the same questions...

[abbeyej]

I don't like it. I like the *idea*, but there's little or no information about *how* to teach kids to "map the world by heart". It mostly comes down to a list of geographic features for them to learn. Not useful and not worth the money, in my opinion.

 

A far, far better product to consider (and, no, lol, I'm not connected to it in any way, I just love it) is Mapping the World with Art by Ellen J McHenry. There are 30 lessons, consisting of a history chapter to read (chronological history of efforts to map the known world), a series of activities (from which you can pick and chooses -- some illustrate scientific concepts, some are games to play, some involve cooking or baking -- you don't have to do them all), and a map to learn to draw from memory. For the maps, you can watch the video which takes you step-by-step together with mnemonic devices, or you can look at the step-by-step instructions in the book. By the end of the year, you should be able to draw the entire world from memory *and* close-ups of various regions.

 

It's geared for kids in grades 5+. But the drawing aspect can be used with younger children, if they're patient and focused and won't panic over mistakes along the way.

 

You can use the whole program as written, or just use the drawing lessons to supplement other history, geography, or literature studies.

[Violet Crown]

Mapping the World By Heart is one of our few expensive flops. I couldn't figure out what to do with it, and I don't think I'm stupid. I gave it free to somebody else who was longing for it; I couldn't bring myself to take her money for it.

[Cindy in NY]

I don't like it. I like the *idea*, but there's little or no information about *how* to teach kids to "map the world by heart". It mostly comes down to a list of geographic features for them to learn. Not useful and not worth the money, in my opinion.

 

A far, far better product to consider (and, no, lol, I'm not connected to it in any way, I just love it) is Mapping the World with Art by Ellen J McHenry. There are 30 lessons, consisting of a history chapter to read (chronological history of efforts to map the known world), a series of activities (from which you can pick and chooses -- some illustrate scientific concepts, some are games to play, some involve cooking or baking -- you don't have to do them all), and a map to learn to draw from memory. For the maps, you can watch the video which takes you step-by-step together with mnemonic devices, or you can look at the step-by-step instructions in the book. By the end of the year, you should be able to draw the entire world from memory *and* close-ups of various regions.

 

It's geared for kids in grades 5+. But the drawing aspect can be used with younger children, if they're patient and focused and won't panic over mistakes along the way.

 

You can use the whole program as written, or just use the drawing lessons to supplement other history, geography, or literature studies.

 

I totally agree. The only thing I ended up using from Mapping the World by Heart was the lesson on longitude and latitude. Mapping the World with Art, however, is going very well. The kids and I are really enjoying it.

[Satori]

:bigear: Everybody keeps telling me I need to get one of these programs for my daughter who loves to draw maps by heart. She drew a bigger than life US map last month.

 

But I hear the words "most expensive flop" and hesitate. I know the Ellen McHenry has a few free chapters on hers, I suppose I should check it out now. There was a third mapping program people were suggesting to me at the time, I'll check that out too.

 

Ah, here it is, editing my post to add the 3rd mapping book people were suggesting on my blog. It's for grades K-5, instead of starting for older children like the others. Anyone have any experience with this one? If not, I'll get it and then post a review.

Mapmaking with Children by David Sobel (not to be confused with David Smith who made Mapping by Heart)

Edited April 9, 2011 by Satori

[Five More Minutes]

:bigear: Everybody keeps telling me I need to get one of these programs for my daughter who loves to draw maps by heart. She drew a bigger than life US map last month.

 

But I hear the words "most expensive flop" and hesitate. I know the Ellen McHenry has a few free chapters on hers, I suppose I should check it out now. There was a third mapping program people were suggesting to me at the time, I'll check that out too.

 

Angela, I'd really like to hear more about your decision when you arrive at it. I'm curious to know, too, if/why you feel a program might be valuable when your daughter is already drawing some maps by heart? (And beautifully, I might add - I've seen the pics! :))

 

Right now I have the Draw, Write, Now series and it has a fairly gentle introduction to drawing the world map by heart. I think I'm going to start with that and then probably expand based on the advice / comments from this thread.

 

Mary, thanks for starting this discussion ...

[Satori]

Lynnita, I think we'd get farther if we could learn from people who have experience teaching children mapping. Right now our only tactic is to use latitude/longitude lines. I think it would also be helpful to follow rivers for some borders. But I'm sure these programs will give us more much valuable direction.

 

We also learned a lot from the book The Core with her blobs and great lines. I'll have to pull out our Draw Write Now books and show her the pages on mapping the world.

[Five More Minutes]

Lynnita, I think we'd get farther if we could learn from people who have experience teaching children mapping. Right now our only tactic is to use latitude/longitude lines. I think it would also be helpful to follow rivers for some borders. But I'm sure these programs will give us more much valuable direction.

 

Thanks for the reply, Angela - that makes a lot of sense and was what I was thinking without being able to articulate it as well as you have. I was inspired to start some mapping by heart after reading The Core but have wondered how to implement it in real life. (I was also inspired by the photos of Satori's work! :))

[SnMomof7]

I would love to hear your thoughts on whatever program you decide to try Satori! I love the idea of mapping by heart, but I'd need a lot of hand-holding as the teacher.

[cjgrubbs]

You can see Mapmaking with children on Amazon and see some of the pages and a few reviews. I don't have it, but this might go well for our geography study this upcoming year!

[MeganW]

You really don't need a program to get started. We based use The Core's "blobbing method". It's a method of learning to draw the world map from memory. They start by learning where to draw the "great circles" (equator, tropic of cancer, arctic, etc.). Practice until too easy.

 

Then they have you add the Prime Meridian (straight line down the middle of the page). Draw a "blob" (oval) with the focus being getting the location right. For ex for Africa: Does it start above or below the Tropic of Cancer? Does it go past the Tropic of Capricorn? Does it extend farther east than Europe? Farther wets? does it run into Austrailia? Does it share space witht eh Prime Meridian? Etc. Then you practice drawing a general outline of Africa. Etc. Etc.

 

I bought those world map placemats. I then used Sharpies to draw a simplified outline around each continent, and to trace the Arctic Circle, Equator, etc.

 

If you do trace your continents with Sharpies, you may want to draw simplified lines to represent the borders to make it easier for kids to replicate. I tried to limit it to 5 or 6 dots, then connect those dots to make the border. Like Africa is a triangle below the equator, and a rectangle on top with a corner cut off. South America is pictured in this blog if you scroll down.

http://memorize-maps.blogspot.com/

 

 

I do NOT let them trace, and my kiddos are 5 1/2 & 4. They are able, with practice, to draw very rough (but recognizable) outlines. In fact, they can probably do a better job than most adults in America at this point!

 

The real plus to the placemats is that they look at them while they are waiting for dinner to be served, anytime we talk about "Aunt Helen in Montana", when they overhear us talking about the earthquake in Chile, or when their school friend is going to India for the summer. They LOVED tracking Santa across the world last year using that NORADSANTA.org. They really enjoy it finding places that are relevant, and can point out more places than I can!

 

Be sure you coordinate your colors. In our house, purple is for North America, magenta is for South America, green is for Europe, aqua for the Arctic Circle, red for the Tropic of Cancer, etc. Everybody's map uses the same colors. The huge wall map uses the same colors. Even the globe - I used a Sharpie to outline the continents & trace the major lines.

 

When we draw the maps, we use those color crayons. "Everybody get out your dark orange crayon! Let's look at Africa. Is it north or south of the equator? Is it east or west of the Prime Meridian? What shape is it? YES! A rectangle sitting right on top of the equator, with a corner cut off the top, and a triangle below!" Etc. etc. I guide them through placing the rectangle & the triangle.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

We do a "hotdog" fold (longways) and a "hamburger fold" (shortways) first. Draw equator & PM. Add Tropic of Can, Trop of Capri, Arctic C & Antartic Circle. You HAVE to have these lines BEFORE adding any continents!!!

 

THEN go to continents. I always start with Africa b/c it is in the middle. If you start with some of the others, and they draw too big, they can't keep going b/c they are out of room! If Africa is oversized, they can still put other continents on the map, they just end up a little skinny! :) If you do Africa FIRST, then Europe, then Asia, you are much better off than if you start on the left side of the map and work your way over, like would naturally be your inclination!

[FloridaLisa]

I've taken 4 of my kids through MTWBH (so far), including one co-op class. I use it as a broad vision for our geography study, but I add lots of books and lots of hands-on activities to flesh it out. When I first bought it years ago, I thought the lesson plans were missing! After investigating, I realized I had all of it. :001_huh:

 

I actually *love* the first few lessons in MTWBH. I always start with the map distortion lesson, followed by the elevation map lessons. These are really good and I've not seen them in any other curriculum. After that, though, MTWBH is pretty much a list of countries, capitals and major physical landmarks by continent. At that point, we take the vision but add in our own stuff (for the bulk of the year really).

 

There is a wonderfully-detailed plan to draw a Mercator projection with latitudinal/longitudinal lines at the end of the year. The student then spends 2 - 3 weeks at about an hour per day drawing the world by memory, filling in countries and physical features and decorating with a map legend and such. The final project is an amazing keepsake. You can find many examples of these final Maps by Heart by googling.

 

As much as I love the idea behind MTWBH, I can't in good conscience recommend it as its full price. If I found it at a rock bottom price, yeah, I might pick it up. I'm a collector of geography resources and have lots sitting on my shelves, though, so someone else may see little value in the few lessons actually used.

 

Hope that helps,

Lisa

[Hebrews3:13]

I am currently using Mapping the World by Heart with a group of high school students as part of a World Geography co-op. There is a syllabus available via Hewitt and that is what I shaped my course around. http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/book/bsingle.asp?i=2801

 

Most of our class time is spent mapping the different areas (maps come with the course) and also giving oral reports over the country they chose in our current area.

 

We are doing our final area right now and then will begin practicing for our final map. I can tell you that my daughter can now locate with EASE about any country you can throw at her along with major mountain ranges, rivers, etc. I have been impressed by her ability to do this with only the outline of these countries. Africa in particular was not easy and now she says Australia has been challenging because of the many islands in that area. Otherwise, she went easily through North America, South America, Asia and Europe.

 

I did struggle for a while (she can zoom through a map) to make sure she was spending enough time to earn a credit. I decided to supplement their work some half-way through the year to include some tidbits I had from other resources. I decided to include some literature that would force them to make a map and discuss the geography mentioned in the book.

 

I have found some helpful geography games online this year that the kids have enjoyed as well.

 

I think the book is helpful. The syllabus added a lot more to it. The basic idea after going through the early lessons on the basics of maps is just handing them a copy of the blank map and an atlas and letting them map. It serves them better to find the places on their own. They become handy with an atlas and it sticks better in their minds. You really do not need someone to hold your hand. You can sit down and do it too I promise you will learn a ton! It really is not a difficult subject to teach. (That is my inner cheerleader!).:tongue_smilie:

 

I do not think the final map is necessary. I think it is something impressive to show friends at parties, but unless you continued reviewing I am certain they would lose some of it. :) I think spending a month or so of each school year on a continent mapping the places in the book, spending time on the culture- maybe choosing a country or two and learning about them, then adding in a book or two with geographical references (over the entire year) would be splendid at a younger age. If you can get your children to know that you will have accomplished so much.

[EKS]

It's expensive, but even worse, it doesn't tell you how to take a kid from not being able to "map the world by heart" to being able to. It is just a series of lists of places and a packet of maps. Not recommended.

 

However, I would recommend taking a look at Mapping the World with Art. It is what I was hoping Mapping the World by Heart would be but wasn't.

[creekmom]

I don't like it. I like the *idea*, but there's little or no information about *how* to teach kids to "map the world by heart". It mostly comes down to a list of geographic features for them to learn. Not useful and not worth the money, in my opinion.

 

A far, far better product to consider (and, no, lol, I'm not connected to it in any way, I just love it) is Mapping the World with Art by Ellen J McHenry. There are 30 lessons, consisting of a history chapter to read (chronological history of efforts to map the known world), a series of activities (from which you can pick and chooses -- some illustrate scientific concepts, some are games to play, some involve cooking or baking -- you don't have to do them all), and a map to learn to draw from memory. For the maps, you can watch the video which takes you step-by-step together with mnemonic devices, or you can look at the step-by-step instructions in the book. By the end of the year, you should be able to draw the entire world from memory *and* close-ups of various regions.

 

It's geared for kids in grades 5+. But the drawing aspect can be used with younger children, if they're patient and focused and won't panic over mistakes along the way.

 

You can use the whole program as written, or just use the drawing lessons to supplement other history, geography, or literature studies.

 

Thank you for the information! I will definitely look into Mapping the World with Art.

[creekmom]

You really don't need a program to get started. We based use The Core's "blobbing method". It's a method of learning to draw the world map from memory. They start by learning where to draw the "great circles" (equator, tropic of cancer, arctic, etc.). Practice until too easy.

 

Then they have you add the Prime Meridian (straight line down the middle of the page). Draw a "blob" (oval) with the focus being getting the location right. For ex for Africa: Does it start above or below the Tropic of Cancer? Does it go past the Tropic of Capricorn? Does it extend farther east than Europe? Farther wets? does it run into Austrailia? Does it share space witht eh Prime Meridian? Etc. Then you practice drawing a general outline of Africa. Etc. Etc.

 

I bought those world map placemats. I then used Sharpies to draw a simplified outline around each continent, and to trace the Arctic Circle, Equator, etc.

 

If you do trace your continents with Sharpies, you may want to draw simplified lines to represent the borders to make it easier for kids to replicate. I tried to limit it to 5 or 6 dots, then connect those dots to make the border. Like Africa is a triangle below the equator, and a rectangle on top with a corner cut off. South America is pictured in this blog if you scroll down.

http://memorize-maps.blogspot.com/

 

 

I do NOT let them trace, and my kiddos are 5 1/2 & 4. They are able, with practice, to draw very rough (but recognizable) outlines. In fact, they can probably do a better job than most adults in America at this point!

 

The real plus to the placemats is that they look at them while they are waiting for dinner to be served, anytime we talk about "Aunt Helen in Montana", when they overhear us talking about the earthquake in Chile, or when their school friend is going to India for the summer. They LOVED tracking Santa across the world last year using that NORADSANTA.org. They really enjoy it finding places that are relevant, and can point out more places than I can!

 

Be sure you coordinate your colors. In our house, purple is for North America, magenta is for South America, green is for Europe, aqua for the Arctic Circle, red for the Tropic of Cancer, etc. Everybody's map uses the same colors. The huge wall map uses the same colors. Even the globe - I used a Sharpie to outline the continents & trace the major lines.

 

When we draw the maps, we use those color crayons. "Everybody get out your dark orange crayon! Let's look at Africa. Is it north or south of the equator? Is it east or west of the Prime Meridian? What shape is it? YES! A rectangle sitting right on top of the equator, with a corner cut off the top, and a triangle below!" Etc. etc. I guide them through placing the rectangle & the triangle.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

We do a "hotdog" fold (longways) and a "hamburger fold" (shortways) first. Draw equator & PM. Add Tropic of Can, Trop of Capri, Arctic C & Antartic Circle. You HAVE to have these lines BEFORE adding any continents!!!

 

THEN go to continents. I always start with Africa b/c it is in the middle. If you start with some of the others, and they draw too big, they can't keep going b/c they are out of room! If Africa is oversized, they can still put other continents on the map, they just end up a little skinny! :) If you do Africa FIRST, then Europe, then Asia, you are much better off than if you start on the left side of the map and work your way over, like would naturally be your inclination!

 

This is awesome! Thank you for taking the time to write down how you do geography!! :001_smile:

[creekmom]

I've taken 4 of my kids through MTWBH (so far), including one co-op class. I use it as a broad vision for our geography study, but I add lots of books and lots of hands-on activities to flesh it out. When I first bought it years ago, I thought the lesson plans were missing! After investigating, I realized I had all of it. :001_huh:

 

I actually *love* the first few lessons in MTWBH. I always start with the map distortion lesson, followed by the elevation map lessons. These are really good and I've not seen them in any other curriculum. After that, though, MTWBH is pretty much a list of countries, capitals and major physical landmarks by continent. At that point, we take the vision but add in our own stuff (for the bulk of the year really).

 

There is a wonderfully-detailed plan to draw a Mercator projection with latitudinal/longitudinal lines at the end of the year. The student then spends 2 - 3 weeks at about an hour per day drawing the world by memory, filling in countries and physical features and decorating with a map legend and such. The final project is an amazing keepsake. You can find many examples of these final Maps by Heart by googling.

 

As much as I love the idea behind MTWBH, I can't in good conscience recommend it as its full price. If I found it at a rock bottom price, yeah, I might pick it up. I'm a collector of geography resources and have lots sitting on my shelves, though, so someone else may see little value in the few lessons actually used.

 

Hope that helps,

Lisa

 

OK..... now I want to purchase it again! :tongue_smilie: I can't make up my mind! I'm wishing I had known about it at the Cinn. convention... It is an updated edition, so I'm wondering if it has lesson plans now.

[creekmom]

I am currently using Mapping the World by Heart with a group of high school students as part of a World Geography co-op. There is a syllabus available via Hewitt and that is what I shaped my course around. http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/book/bsingle.asp?i=2801

 

Most of our class time is spent mapping the different areas (maps come with the course) and also giving oral reports over the country they chose in our current area.

 

We are doing our final area right now and then will begin practicing for our final map. I can tell you that my daughter can now locate with EASE about any country you can throw at her along with major mountain ranges, rivers, etc. I have been impressed by her ability to do this with only the outline of these countries. Africa in particular was not easy and now she says Australia has been challenging because of the many islands in that area. Otherwise, she went easily through North America, South America, Asia and Europe.

 

I did struggle for a while (she can zoom through a map) to make sure she was spending enough time to earn a credit. I decided to supplement their work some half-way through the year to include some tidbits I had from other resources. I decided to include some literature that would force them to make a map and discuss the geography mentioned in the book.

 

I have found some helpful geography games online this year that the kids have enjoyed as well.

 

I think the book is helpful. The syllabus added a lot more to it. The basic idea after going through the early lessons on the basics of maps is just handing them a copy of the blank map and an atlas and letting them map. It serves them better to find the places on their own. They become handy with an atlas and it sticks better in their minds. You really do not need someone to hold your hand. You can sit down and do it too I promise you will learn a ton! It really is not a difficult subject to teach. (That is my inner cheerleader!).:tongue_smilie:

 

I do not think the final map is necessary. I think it is something impressive to show friends at parties, but unless you continued reviewing I am certain they would lose some of it. :) I think spending a month or so of each school year on a continent mapping the places in the book, spending time on the culture- maybe choosing a country or two and learning about them, then adding in a book or two with geographical references (over the entire year) would be splendid at a younger age. If you can get your children to know that you will have accomplished so much.

 

 

The link to Hewitt's lesson plans is very helpful. It's nice to know it's available if the lesson plans in MTWBH are lacking. -BTW- My husband found a great app to supplement geography if you're interested called "tap quiz map". My kids love playing it!

[creekmom]

I found this review from the author on Amazon. It addresses the criticism a lot of you have of the program (doesn't show you "how" to teach):

 

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A comment from the author, September 7, 2010

By

David J. Smith (North Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews

(REAL NAME)

 

 

This review is from: Mapping the World by Heart (Ring-bound)

A Comment From The Author...

 

The biggest criticism that seems to appear in the reviews here is that the material doesn't tell people "how to teach their children how to draw the world". This is completely on purpose. Read on.

 

In my view, the job of the teacher is not to TEACH how to draw the countries and land masses, but to give children lots of opportunity to FIGURE IT OUT FOR THEMSELVES, to TEACH THEMSELVES. And the program is designed to help teachers and homeschoolers to find ways to help children teach themselves, and has worked succcessfully for 20 years.

 

Also note that the new publisher does not ship a VHS tape, and that the maps and contents are all new since the Summer of 2010.

 

How to prepare kids to map the world by heart...

 

I suggest doing nothing at all about learning borders and continents and so on during the school year -- to impose an overlay of "memorization" on all the regional maps creates a constant sense of panic.

 

Instead, the students teach themselves how to draw the boundaries and borders during the "getting ready" time, in the 3 weeks before they make their final memory maps. They study and memorize the borders, they create their own mnemonics, and they teach them to each other.

 

Here's the general order of what I do...

1. Run off lots of blank maps in the grid you've decided to use.

 

2. For each student, run off one filled-in map to be used for checking.

2a. Post one filled in map on each available window in the classroom, so students can hold their hand-made maps on top and check their work.

 

3. Students practice every night -- start with the point where 0 degrees of longitude meets zero degrees of latitude, and learn the coast of Africa, each night a little more. Africa generally takes a week. But by then, they are already "learning how to learn..."; some students will be very "right-brained", and try to do connect-the-dots and other literal techniques; others will be very "left-brained", and will focus on shapes and general relationships. Most students find a method somewhere in between that works for them.

 

4. In class each day, hand out a blank map and say "show me what you learned last night". This will give you a good idea of how they are doing.

 

5. Let students ask questions of each other -- I call them coping questions. They can ask these out loud, or if they think everybody else knows it and they'll embarrass themselves, then they can drop a card in the classroom "suggestion box". For example, you might get "I know the countries in Central America but not the order they are in; how have others learned this...", to which one or more will reply with a mnemonic ("beware of hot gorillas eating nitrates casually, pop" for example); "I can't get the top of Russia to look right...", to which somebody might say "it's a triangle, and here's how I make it..."; "how did you learn the African countries on the Mediterranean, to which somebody says "a MALE from Tunisia..."; etc., etc.

 

6. Bit by bit, students make sense of it all; during the actual map-making, they can review at home each night for the section they plan to do in class the next day. It really does work.

 

I hope that helps.

 

David Smith, author of "Mapping the World By Heart" Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

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Comment Comment (1)

[stripe]

:bigear: Everybody keeps telling me I need to get one of these programs for my daughter who loves to draw maps by heart.

I've seen your blog.

 

Satori doesn't need anyone's program, and neither do you.

 

That US states map was awesome.

[abbeyej]

I found this review from the author on Amazon. It addresses the criticism a lot of you have of the program (doesn't show you "how" to teach):

 

Right. You get some maps. You get lists of geographic features. You teach the kids some basics about how maps work (which a lot of us who are interested in geography have already taught our kids anyway with other resources) and then you say, "Hey, learn to draw this."

 

Um.

 

Whatever. We could easily do that with the materials we already had on hand. I wanted the experience of seeing how a really great teacher eases kids into creating maps for themselves. *shrug* I didn't get that.

 

Really. I think you get as much from a good atlas and some other maps. Which, as I said, if you're interested in giving your kids a good foundation in geography, you probably already have in spades.

 

I couldn't figure out what I was paying for. I do *love* the idea. But I got nothing useful from this particular program.

[Violet Crown]

In my view, the job of the teacher is not to TEACH how to draw the countries and land masses, but to give children lots of opportunity to FIGURE IT OUT FOR THEMSELVES, to TEACH THEMSELVES. And the program is designed to help teachers and homeschoolers to find ways to help children teach themselves, and has worked succcessfully for 20 years.

Well. That's a lot of $ I shelled out to be told "Of course there's nothing in it! The whole point is to figure it out for yourself! Your kids teach themselves!"

 

Suddenly I have a great and profitable idea for a complete boxed curriculum. It's not going to involve much work for me.

[FloridaLisa]

The biggest criticism that seems to appear in the reviews here is that the material doesn't tell people "how to teach their children how to draw the world". This is completely on purpose. Read on.

 

No, that's not my bigges criticism. My primary complaint is that, other than a handful of lessons on map distortion and map elevation, and detailed instructions on how to lay out the Mercator grid for the final map, the *curriculum* is simply a list of countries, capitals and physical landmarks along with the blank maps.

 

I agree with abbeyej here. We could do that by ourselves. The meat to geography is learning about the country, the culture, the people, the land and physical features, the major historical landmarks; the vocabulary; and basic earth science topics. None of that is covered in this geography course. Thus, it's just a shell and you, the teacher -- having paid somewhere around $40ish back when I bought it -- have to come up with all of the good stuff!

 

No hands-on projects other than using an orange to demonstrate map distortion (and I like that lesson). I had to research ways to extend and apply the geogpraphy my dc were using through games, activities and projects. That should be included in a pricey world geography program.

 

Anyway. As I wrote earlier, I like the MTWBH's vision. I absolutely love the maps my kids created. As a global learner, I like that MTWBH made me slow down and visually memorize the details of world geography. It just shouldn't carry a large price tag. ;)

 

HTH,

Lisa

[Jeanne in MN]

It's expensive, but even worse, it doesn't tell you how to take a kid from not being able to "map the world by heart" to being able to. It is just a series of lists of places and a packet of maps. Not recommended.

 

However, I would recommend taking a look at Mapping the World with Art. It is what I was hoping Mapping the World by Heart would be but wasn't.

 

 

Another vote for Mapping the World with Art! http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/id144.html It sounds like this may be more of what you are looking for. I think she does a great job showing us how to draw different places. I still remember Greece looking like a bear claw. She has a couple sample lessons on Youtube-

[stripe]

Ah, here it is, editing my post to add the 3rd mapping book people were suggesting on my blog. It's for grades K-5, instead of starting for older children like the others. Anyone have any experience with this one? If not, I'll get it and then post a review.

Mapmaking with Children by David Sobel (not to be confused with David Smith who made Mapping by Heart)

I just got this book and it's quite intriguing, and I suspect your daughter would enjoy it.

 

However, I have to tell you that it's not quite along the same lines as what you've been doing. He advocates understanding one's own geography as an entree into the world of maps and geography. How to understand one's house, one's street, one's neighborhood, and lots of really interesting ideas of how to encourage children to understand this. It has really nothing to do with drawing maps of the world or other continents.

[Satori]

Yeah, coincidentally, that book just arrived for me yesterday. I took a quick flip through it and it's not what I expected, it's a much smaller level (neighborhoods, etc...). Still, I hope to get some good tips out of it.

[stripe]

Not entirely relevant but I saw this on 4H's website so I thought I'd share

http://www.4-hmall.org/Product/4-hcurriculum-geospatial/08358.aspx