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.or...er&Itemid=1458

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[CountryRose]

I just looked at this and was wondering myself! So I'm :bigear:!

[3byzaz]

JUST was looking at this also and wondering about teaching it in our co-op??

:bigear:

[SnMomof7]

I'm considering this for DD when she's older, so eavesdropping :).

[plain jane]

I have not used the program myself but spent close to a year looking into it.:tongue_smilie: From what I've read about it, it tells you what to do but is weak on the *how* to do it. I did look at it in person a couple times and IIRC, it lacks lesson plans so a lot of it really is up to the parent to pull together and implement. HSBC deal is for the newest version and when I looked into it, all the reviews were for the older one so I don't know how well it's been updated and if the revision has addressed this issue.

 

Have you read the chapter on Geography in The Core? It walks you through step by step on how to do the same thing as MTWBH but at a fraction of the cost. You do need to come up with your own maps although I think you could also buy the ones from MTWBH (which are sold separately at RR) and go about it that way.

 

 

Is it worth the price? From what I've seen and read about it, my opinion is No. It is expensive for what it is.

Is this something I could do on my own? I think after reading the chapter in The Core, absolutely it's something you can do on your own. Check to see if your library owns that book rather than purchasing it.

What makes the program unique? There are other programs that do similar things and do a better job of it (again, IMO). Another program to consider is Mapping the World With Art.

 

Thanks

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Edited April 9, 2011 by plain jane
formatting issues

[SnMomof7]

See, that is what I want to know! I need step by step teaching plans. If this new version doesn't have them, then I don't want it :).

[plain jane]

See, that is what I want to know! I need step by step teaching plans. If this new version doesn't have them, then I don't want it :).

 

Well the new website says this:

 

Comprehensive Teacher’s Guide

Contains detailed lesson plans and reproducibles for students.

 

Three new supplements for teachers who wish to focus on a special area – Mapping Canada by Heart, Mapping the U.S. by Heart, and Mapping Mexico by Heart.

 

 

 

Maybe they have completely re-vamped it? :confused:

 

There's also a sample video here.

[abbeyej]

Definitely *not* worth the money. I posted in your thread on the other board, as did some others. Here's what I said:

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.

[SnMomof7]

Oooh, checking out the Mapping the World with Art product.

 

Mapping Canada by Heart - :001_wub: (if it was easy to follow of course)

[Mom22ns]

Since someone else brought it up, dd did mapping the world with Art this year and I really liked it. Great activities and a little history lesson to go with each map. She has learned a lot and had fun with it.

 

Her only complaint is that the drawing lessons move too fast. She is constantly pausing, but sometimes still finds it difficult.

[creekmom]

Thank you for the suggestions/ critiques. I did find the author's response to the criticism that the program doesn't teach you "how" to teach it...

 

(from Amazon):

 

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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