Cindy Downes

Oct. 17, 2005 - Blackline Maps of World HIstory - Review

Blackline Maps of World History by Terri Johnson (Knowledge Quest). This resource will help you teach the geography of the world to your children in grades 1-12. You can use it as a stand-alone map study, along with a unit study, or as a supplement to a textbook. There are four books available: The Ancients (5000 BC - 400 AD), The Middle Ages (400-1600), The New World (1600-1850), and The Modern World (1850-2004). The complete set includes lesson plans and maps that cover the time period from 5000 BC to 2004 and permission is given individual purchasers to reproduce the maps for noncommercial, individual use.

The lesson plans include instructions for completing the map exercises and several questions to answer. Your children may have to research the answers in an atlas, a history book, or on the Internet. Doing so will help them learn important information about the country or historical event being studied. As Terri says in her book, "It only makes sense to study geography alongside history. In history, we learn about times, places, and people. Each aspect of historical study is important in its own right, but they cannot be studied exclusively of one another. For example, when you study the Norman Conquests, you learn that it took place between 1066 and 1087 AD and that it was the Normans of France who crossed the English Channel to conquer Britain. After reading about this event in history, why not have the student look at a map or globe to find out where it took place? Better yet, have him label and color a map drawn specifically of that region and for that time period in history. When children have visual cues, it helps to cement fact into their minds."

I LOVE the CD version! It includes everything in the book version, but is in pdf format. (You will need the latest version of Acrobat Reader to use it. This is free software that you can download off the Internet.) What I love about the CD is that it is convenient and stores easily. You simply insert the CD, open the file to the Index, click on the chapter you want to study, and you're instantly there! Now, you can print out the lesson plan and the maps you need for the day's lesson and then put the CD back on the shelf. How easy can it get?!

For those of you who like to put together your own course of study, this resource is a must! It will go exceptionally well with The Checklist. It's in timeline sequence, as is The Checklist. As you cover the history portion of The Checklist, you can use this resource for your children's map studies. After they complete their study, check it off on The Checklist as a record of what your children have covered.

I highly recommend this resource! Also available from Knowledge Quest is Blackline Maps of American History which includes 80 maps of US history (America's founding and development) as well as historical maps that depict battles and expansion, etc. and state maps which include capital, date of statehood, state bird and flower, and other important facts. I haven't seen this one, but it should be just as well done.

<- Last Page • Next Page ->