A cursory glance through this curriculum elicits several descriptive words: detail, depth, creativity, and flexibility. This course combines a textual history of maps and map-making with innumerable activities. Through hand-drawn and edible maps, star charts and video documentaries, games and watercolors, students will see the world portrayed not only as an atlas shows it but also in a way that can't be contained between the covers of a book. There are 60 pages of historical readings (well illustrated with photos, maps, and drawings) which chronicle exploration and mapping from the time of the earliest maps through the 1800s. Accompanying these readings are 90 pages of drawing lessons that guide students step-by-step through freehand drawings of islands, countries, continents, and other geographic locales. There are also over 100 pages of supplemental activities including review worksheets, games, art and craft activities, links to online videos (map projections, virtual tours of globe factories, bios of explorers, etc.), and quizzes. Additional resources supplied with the book are DVDs that contain actual drawing lessons for the map drawing activities and a printable PDF version of the curriculum. While the drawing lessons don't have you labeling every single island, river, or mountain on the planet, the detail of the coastlines, borders, major cities, and main geographic features is such that you should be well prepared for the final project: drawing your own map of the world. Colorful and distinct, this curriculum has enough variance for both the eager and reticent cartographer.
Ellen McHenry's Basement Workshop videos & materials are excellent!
It is important for children to know geography.
I have a visual and kinesthetic learner
Saw this at a homeschool convention several years ago while my kids were too young and have come back to it.