Homeschool in the Woods Map Sets (TOS Review)

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Olde World Style Maps Page

While re-reading Charlotte Mason's Home Education over the past couple of weeks, I noticed her enthusiastically detailed advice on teaching geography--in that volume (the one aimed at the youngest children), she seems to spend more time on that than she does on most of the other elementary subjects, with the possible exception of teaching reading. It's probably not that surprising, if you know that she had already written several geography books before she ever wrote her more general volumes on education.

Miss Mason's advice for teaching geography in the elementary grades seems to take in three strands. First, hearing really interesting books about exploration and travel read aloud, maybe just during family reading times. Second, having a book perhaps more on their level, slightly more systematic, read and narrated during lesson times. (In that first 1880's book, she recommended The World At Home by the Kirby sisters, even though she called it "old-fashioned" even then. I haven't found that online, but here's a companion book, for comparison.)

And the third strand was map work. By the age of seven (having barely begun formal lessons), she expected children to already have a great deal of general knowledge about maps and about the world--and they were expected to go on from there with systematic map study. You can see a sample lesson (meant perhaps for students of about 12) here.

In case you thought I was never going to get to the product review, here it is.

You can download a whole set--actually two different sets--of printable maps--and notebook pages as well, by the very popular timeline creator Amy Pak at Homeschool in the Woods. All kinds of maps, labelled and unlabeled, suitable for all ages, useable with both black and white and colour printers. Choices include historical and current maps of the U.S.A., and historical and current world maps, or both. Examples: Paul's Missionary Journeys, Ancient Mesopotamia, The Commonwealth of Independent States (that's the Former U.S.S.R., for those of you still singing Geography Songs), Early Europe and Near East, Canada, and state maps. They also come with printable spines and covers to put in the kind of binders that have clear pockets on them.

From the website:

"It is our desire to encourage, through a variety of hands-on, visual ways, an excitement and love of learning history that leaves a student itching to know more! Mapping through history is crucial, as it helps a child determine "where" the topic of study takes place. It creates an anchor point, allowing the child to understand the topic in context to its climate, politics, and geography."

I think Charlotte Mason might have appreciated that. At least I think it makes life easier, having easy-to-get-at maps.

What is the cost? You can order these sets individually in a download for US$18.95 each or you can order them together in a Combo-Pak download for $28.95. If you'd rather have a CD, each set is $19.95 or you can get both sets on one CD for $29.95. (Something we didn't review but that looks interesting: Composer Activity-Paks and and Artist Activity-Paks.)

For more reviews of this product, see the Review Crew home page.

Dewey's Disclaimer: This product was provided free for purposes of review. No other payment was made. The opinions expressed in this review are our own.