As the owner and creator of Knowledge Quest maps and timeline products, it is my desire to help make the teaching of history and geography a breeze and an enjoyable activity for home educators. As a homeschooling mother myself, I understand the challenges of fitting it all in and and still retaining that "love for learning" in the midst of the chaos of home life. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 23 May 2007 15:47:00 -0500 Wed, 23 May 2007 15:47:00 -0500   Did you know that just days after Jamestown was built it was attacked by 200 armed indians?  This attack happened 400 years ago this Saturday and resulted in the death of one man, and the wounding of another eleven.   In conjunction with the Home Educators Association of Virginia, Knowledge Quest is pleased to provide a quad pack of Jamestown resources for your family to enjoy during this momentous quadricentennial year.  Included in this Quad Pack is a Biography of Pocahontas, an audio about John Smith, a map of Jamestown and the surrounding areas with lesson plans and finally, a timeline of events.  To claim your access to these resources, go to www.knowledgequestmaps.com/signup.htm.   Wishing you the best, Terri http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/332697/ Wed, 23 May 2007 15:47:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/332697/ I have had an interesting week to say the least.  In reality, it has been very unusual and full of ups and downs.  More like a roller-coaster than a walk in the park, if you know what I mean.  Let me share some of the details...   On Tuesday, I read a quote by C.S. Lewis that said something like this (paraphrase) - As Christians, our mistake is not that we ask God for too much, but rather for too little.  We are content to act as a child making mudpies in the alley when what God wants to do is give us a holiday at the seashore.  Wow!  Perhaps I am guilty of this very thing.  My prayers are often so general, not specific, and I worry about asking for too much.  I mean, truly, isn't His salvation enough for me?  How could I ask for anything more.  Then, I realized that God is truly like a parent.  As parents, we want to give our children the best things, but we also want them to ask for our help also (in a polite and respectful way, of course).   So, I decided to pray more specifically for what my heart truly longed for.  I told the Lord my fears and hopes and laid them at His feet, and then I went to sleep.   The next morning, I woke up to find that my daughter had caught a severe case of the flu.  Nursing her all day, I began to worry about dehydration.  Then another child contracted the virus - this time, the baby.  I worried again about keeping her hydrated and about how to manage the situation at home with two very sick children.  Then, I received the phone call.  My active and healthy 66 year old mother was going in for a quadruple by-pass surgery.  I cried out to the Lord, "Please Lord, bring her through this surgery.  I am not ready to lose my mother."   As it turned out, during the surgery, the doctors found that there were not four clogged arteries, but six.  They did six by-passes that afternoon in a 10 hour long surgery.  I have not even heard of having six clogged arteries.  My mother was just a heart-attack waiting to happen.   During all of this I must mention that our house in on the market and we had to keep packing up the kids and the sick supplies (basin, paper towels, etc) and leaving the house for buyers to come through with their realtors.  Oh my, this was getting exhausting.   Now, it is Sunday.  Before church, my toddler came across my freshly poured coffee cup and decided to take a sip.  She must have slightly burned her mouth because she proceeded to drop the coffee cup and spill its contents all down the front of her body and onto the white carpet.  My oldest daughter pulled off her pajamas to check for burns and my husband dove into the job of cleaning up the stained carpet.  Thankfully, she did not appear to be burned.  Thank the Lord, it was not McDonald's coffee served at boiling hot temperatures!   This morning in church we sang a song about trading in our sickness, sorrows and pain for the joy of the Lord.  Sounds like a good exchange to me!  After a long week, the sun is out today.  My daughters are well, the toddler isn't burned, the other children did not catch the flu, my mother is in recovery, the house is still in beautiful condition, and we are safe and well in the arms of our Lord.   As I look back on this week, I realize that I prayed more fervently, more often and more specifically than I have in a long time.  I also experienced more trials than I have in a long time also.  Is this a coincidence or am I in the middle of a lesson from God.  He has answered all of my prayers this week except for the two that I prayed on Tuesday night.  How will he answer those?  I do not know but I wait in expectation for what my good Lord will do.   What do you have in store for us this next week, Lord? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/304578/ Sun, 25 Mar 2007 14:17:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/304578/ http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CommunicationFUNdamentals/286776/Speak+ JoJo is homeschool blogger of the week and she wrote a great article on sharing curricula.  Take a moment to read it. All the best, Terri http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/287605/ Mon, 19 Feb 2007 12:48:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/287605/ Our illustrator is working on the drawings for our new book coming out later in the spring called What Really Happened in Colonial Times.  Isn't this fantastic? By the way, her name is Narcissa Whitman and she traveled in a covered wagon out to Oregon Territory.  What an amazing woman!  Can you see the strength in her face?  She had to be strong and courageous to make such a trip, in my opinion. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/283289/ Sat, 10 Feb 2007 12:19:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/283289/ This is the exciting part of publishing a book!  Actually, it is all exciting... getting the book out of the author's head and onto paper, editing, illustrating, designing the cover, formatting, shipping the final product off to the printer, proofing the proofs, returning them and then the waiting...   We are working with a new author on this particular set of books.  His name is Joel King and he is a homeschool dad who has a passion for history and geography.  You can see that when you flip through the pages of this new book.  You are going to love it!  It is already getting rave reviews.  Check out the cover and then read these reviews and you will see what I mean.   You can even download a free sample here - www.knowledgequestmaps.com/prod5.htm.  Enjoy!   Here are some of the great reviews:   http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Homeschool_Reviews/Geography_products.php   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/tn3jcarter/218599/Review%3A+The+Star-Spangled+State+Book+%26+Workbook.html    This last one hasn't been posted online yet, but Heidi has given me permission to post it myself:   The Star-Spangled State Book is a great U.S. geography resource book.  It contains a wealth of information on each of the 50 states, and the pages are colorful and fun to look at.  The Star-Spangled Workbook is designed to be used with The Star-Spangled State Book.  When used together, these two products form a very thorough and interesting U.S. geography curriculum.  The Star-Spangled State Book and Workbook are written specifically for homeschoolers in grades four and up.   The Star-Spangled State Book organizes the states in alphabetical order.  For each state, it tells the capital, the date the state entered the union, the state’s population and population ranking, land area and ranking, the state’s three most populous cities, a picture of the state and its flag, two interesting stories, and a list of facts about the state.  This book also contains “Geoquizzes”- these are fun but challenging ways to test your knowledge of the 50 states.  The Geoquizzes cover state recognition (by shape), capitals, borders, and trivia.   The Star-Spangled Workbook is designed to coincide with The Star-Spangled State Book.  It is a 36-week course, divided into two semesters.  It is based on a 4-day per week schedule.  By the end of the course, students should be able to identify all the states, locate them on maps, recall basic state facts as well as some trivia, know the state capitals, and know which states border which.  All the lessons are contained in the Workbook, which also includes the answer key and a progress report.   I am very impressed with this course!  I cannot wait until my daughter is a few years older and we can use these geography lessons in our homeschool.  The author has thought of everything and included it in these two books- all you need to supply are some pencils and crayons, and maybe a U.S. map and/or a globe.   These products are available individually (if you choose to use this program with multiple children, each will need his/her own Workbook), or as a combo package (which contains one copy of each book).  If you are looking for a solid U.S. geography curriculum for your upper-elementary student, and if a Christian worldview is important to you, I encourage you to check out The Star-Spangled State Book and Workbook.   -Product Review by Heidi Strawser, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC, October,2006 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/282235/ Thu, 8 Feb 2007 11:17:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/282235/ What exactly is it about geography that makes it a subject that many home educators have become loathe to teach?  Is it because we ourselves feel so inadequate in our own knowledge of the subject?  Is it because we cannot find a curriculum that lays out a systematic and incremental course of study, and is fun to boot?  Or is it because we have finally realized that the world is really not so small after all, as the song of the same name implied and the accessibility of the world by way of the Internet has led us to believe?  Is it not true that the more you learn about a country or a region of the world, the more you realize the vast amount of terrain there is still yet to know?   Sadly, when it comes to geography, Americans just are not measuring up.  In a National Geographic survey, it was found that 49% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 could not locate the state of New York on a United States map.  88% of these respondents could not find Afghanistan on a map of Asia.  And, perhaps most shocking, is that 11% of these Americans could not locate their own country on a world map!   American students, in general, have a very limited understanding of world and even U.S. geography in comparison with their counterparts from around the world. European students, for example, have a much better handle not only of their own surrounding geography but of the entire world as well. It is the same with students from Asia and many other parts of the globe.   Perhaps you are thinking that I am only referring to public school students.  But in reality, homeschooled students often suffer from this same lack of knowledge in geography as well. The two subjects most neglected in the homeschooling arena are writing and geography. I am not entirely certain why this is so, but I can speculate… Skill areas, such as math, grammar and spelling are easier to measure than the artful skill of writing and so it gets pushed aside. Similarly, history and science require such large portions of time that geography is often left in the cold.   The little-known truth about geography is that it is not a difficult subject to teach!  The teacher does not have to master the topic before challenging his/her students to increase their knowledge and skill in this neglected area.  There are many wonderful resources out there that will help you teach your students world geography and most of them are inexpensive or even free.   Are you ready dive in and discuss some fun and effortless ways to teach geography?  Well, hold on for just a moment more… first let’s take a minute to discuss why learning geography is even a necessary component to one’s education.  I mean, honestly, why would anyone need to know where Timbuktu is located?  (By the way, in case you do not know, it is a city situated smack dab in the center of Mali, a country in western Africa, just south of the Sahara Desert.)   First, we need a working definition of geography.  According to Noah Webster, geography is the study of the earth, or the terrestrial globe, particularly of the divisions of its surface, whether natural or artificial, and of the position of countries, kingdoms, states and cities.  In essence, geography is the spatial aspect of earth study and is integrally related to its sister subjects of history, ecology and the economy.   Consider this perspective…  All wars that have been fought throughout history have been over geography, which, of course, ultimately boils down to greed.  The source of tension between lords and tenants, neighboring kingdoms, settlers and natives comes down to this one particular thing – who owns the land currently and who has enough power to take it and keep it!   Physically speaking, the landscape of our earth has changed little over the course of time (with the exception of the Great Flood and its aftermath), but the historical events that have transpired over even just a portion of this ground has had and continues to have tremendous impact on that locale as well as the world as a whole.   We must take an interest in and even study geography because it is an aspect of studying mankind and his development and movement over the face of the globe.  We should not only concern ourselves over the name or even the course of a given river, but we would do even better to make an attempt at understanding the societies that have grown up and then departed from that river, the trade that was conducted up and down that river, the connections that that river makes to other waterways and its overall significance to the local and worldwide economy.  Many people do not realize that geography is more than just naming countries, cities and landforms.  It is the study of the land as it relates to people, their history and their resources.   If we truly want to understand another culture, to reach out in missions, to bring aid to hurting people and share the love of Christ beyond our local borders, we must study geography.  Cultures are defined by traditions, shared values, available resources and geographical limitations and whereabouts.  If we truly want to believe once again that this is a small world after all, we must take an active interest in our world’s geography and the people groups who are scattered around the globe.   Stock up on games!    So let’s get started.  How can we study geography with our students in such a way that it does not become dry and boring?  Meaningless repetition and memorization can lead to drudgery for anyone.  What's more, how can we teach it without being knowledgeable ourselves?  Well, there is a reason why geography bees (and spelling bees for that matter) have cropped up all around this country and even around the world.  Why not take a subject that has the tendency to become tedious and make it a game!  Geography is the ideal subject for game playing and competition.  (You may prefer to downplay competition in your school or home, but there are many games that do not require competition.)   Here are some great games that you might consider playing with your children:   Map puzzles (traditional and computerized) Geography hangman (traditional or online) Borderline card games MapTangle (like Twister®) HopOff (like hopscotch) Carmen Sandiego computer games Online computer games   It certainly does not hurt to stock up on some physical games to put on your shelf to pull down when the kids get bored, but there are also many free and interesting geography games available on the Internet.  For a compilation of fun and challenging online games, download our brand new ebook entitled Globalmania: Master World Geography in Just 7 Months.  It is located here - www.knowledgequestmaps.com/globalmania.htm - and it is free of charge.  Included within the ebook are several labeled and unlabeled maps of the continents and globe to aid your students’ learning.   Integrate it seamlessly!   Geography is a natural extension of history, literature and science.  It just makes sense to learn it along with these other subjects.  Yes, teaching geography can be painless and your children may even develop an “obsession” with finding locations on the map!  Here are some ways to incorporate geography into your daily studies.   Fasten a large world map to the wall – the bigger the better.  This map can be either labeled or unlabeled.  If you choose an unlabeled map, have a globe on hand for looking up locations.  On this wall map, have your students mark locations when they run across them in their studies, whether it be the name of a country they just read about in their literature reading, the name of a city where an inventor was born, or the location of a famous battle.  Marking locations on a map can be done a few different ways.  Straight pins can be outfitted with a labeled “flag” which identifies the place.  Simply fold a rectangular piece of paper around the pin, glue it to itself and label the specific place name with a fine point marker on the “flag”.  These place-marker pins can be stuck into a map that has been adhered to a foam backing (spray adhesive works best for adhering paper maps to foam board).  Or, if the map is not laminated, and if this activity meets with your approval, the children can mark the location with a dot using a marker and then write the place name directly on the map itself.  This usually works better with a blank unlabeled wall map.   Another activity that incorporates geography into their other studies is for your children to label and color notebook sized maps which correspond with the topics they are studying in history or learning about in their assigned reading.  Again, this activity is best used in conjunction with a globe so they can see where the area is located in relation to the rest of the world and to gain the distance perspective that only a globe can give because it is not distorted as a flat map is.   Keep it colorful and appealing!   Geography should be fascinating.  Maybe it is not to you, but spend a little time with someone who loves geography and history and that enthusiasm will begin to rub off.  The materials that we keep around our home should be eye-catching if we want our children to take notice of them and flip through them.  Place some big, bright children’s atlases on the coffee table.  Fill your bookshelves with books that are interesting and colorful and are asking to be noticed.   At Knowledge Quest, Inc., we are publishing a brand new book that teaches your children U.S. geography.  It is called the Star-Spangled State Book and it is loaded with colorful pictures, interesting facts and challenging quizzes that will draw your children into its pages and keep them there.  You can download a free sample from the book here.  These are the kind of books that you want around your home.  Your children will be in danger of learning their geography without having to be prodded by you.  Keep your eyes open for these types of resources when shopping with your favorite educational suppliers and browsing your local library.    It is not so much difficult as it is just a new mindset to keep, that geography really isn’t so scary or hard, but can be learned through many fun and enjoyable avenues.  Give your children delightful resources and a challenge they cannot resist and watch them take off!   Warm Regards,     Terri Johnson Knowledge Quest, Inc. www.knowledgequestmaps.com - try our maps free! www.bramleybooks.com - we are looking for authors for our new book www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest - see what we're up to. www.kqbusiness.com - our business helping your business to succeed!   Terri Johnson and her husband Todd operate Knowledge Quest, Inc., a company which specializes in the publishing of maps, timelines and historical biographies.  Their mission for the company is to help make the subjects of history and geography enjoyable for both teacher and students.  They have created and published over 20 history and geography resources.  Terri’s Blackline Maps of World History have been widely recommended in the homeschool community and beyond.  Knowledge Quest, Inc. won the “Excellence in Education” award granted by The Old Schoolhouse magazine for best geography company two years in a row.  Terri resides in San Antonio, TX with her husband Todd and their five children whom she teaches at home. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/281340/ Tue, 6 Feb 2007 20:22:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/281340/ I hope that you are enjoying a wonderful Martin Luther King day. It's cold here, so we're having a nice fire and listening to some great audiobooks.  The kids are listening to "Indian in the Cupboard" and I am listening to Harold and Cindy Rushton's brand new Family Business audios.   I'll tell you more about that in a minute.   But first...   We sold out of all of our glue-blobbed timeline books and our dented map books.  We'll let you know when we have more available because everybody loves a bargain.  We do still have the Wonders of Old timeline CDs and the American History map CDs available at a 50% discount until the end of the week.  Last chance to snap these up at this price.   They are listed at the bottom of the page here:   www.knowledgequestmaps.com/blobndent.htm   Next Book in Biography Series...   We are thrilled to have chosen our biographies for our next "What Really Happened..." book about Colonial Times covering the time period from 1600 to 1850.  You are going to love it!  We have notified the authors and are now in the editing phase.   Would you like to write for our final book in the series covering the modern era from 1850 to the present?  We will be accepting new biography submissions for this book until May 31, 2007.   You can read more about it here - www.bramleybooks.com   Which brings me back to what I was writing about above...   The kids are listening to "Indian in the Cupboard" and I am listening to Harold and Cindy Rushton's brand new Family Business audios.   It is fun to hear them team up to present this course because Harold's specialties include excavation and play ground installation. Whereas Cindy is a writer and information products specialist.  These two are a powerful team!   People ask me all the time how to get started in an internet business. Or ask me how they can develop their writing into a business.  Well, here are some answers for those of you that want to know more. Are you looking for an inexpensive business start-up how-to course? They are practically giving away this set of audios today!   This is what Cindy says:   It is now available! Full Business Seminar Ready to Download  Over 160 articles!  25 Ebooks!  PLUS! Extra bonus audios and extra interviews with REAL business owners!   AND! We have an insane price this week! You can get your set here: http://www.playmasters.info/business-super-set.html   I am listening to the second CD out of the 6 and I am thoroughly enjoying it.  I haven't been able to read the ebooks or articles yet, but hope to find time over the next few weeks (or months!).   If you know someone who wants to get started in business - whether it be a service, product or information business - send them this link. They will thank you for it!  TODAY is the best price on the set, by the way.   Have a great week!   Warmly,   Terri Johnson Knowledge Quest, Inc. www.knowledgequestmaps.com http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/269381/ Mon, 15 Jan 2007 10:55:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/269381/ Cookies baking, pecan pie in the oven, Christmas music softly playing... the sights, sounds and smells of Christmas.  They conjure up so many memories, so many expectations, so many hopes and plans for the future...   This is our first Christmas in our new house.  After 11 Christmases in our last place, this feels strange.  But we have grandparents here and that makes everything right!  And I listen to a CD with the voices of old friends singing and I feel right at home.  And yet I miss our old home and our old friends and cooler weather.  But the Lord has us here for now and we are where we need to be.   My sister now lives in our city and we will spend the holidays together - all of them.  It is good to be so close especially to one who is so dear to me.  She is my sweetest and best friend!   There is still so much to do - presents to wrap, dips to make, floors to mop and tablecloths to iron, but for now, I am enjoying the sound of the cooling rain on our porch, the delectable smells from the oven and the melodic voices of folks from our old neck of the woods in Oregon.   Have yourselves a merry little Christmas!  We will indeed!   Terri http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/258676/ Sat, 23 Dec 2006 15:02:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/258676/ Last week, we ran our first ever survey and we found out some very interesting things about our company, our customers and how we are perceived out there in the homeschooling world.  Here are some more of our findings: 1. Most of our customers found us from these places: The Old Schoolhouse magazine homeschool conferences The Well-Trained Mind Tapestry of Grace Online searches 2. Many of our customers would like us to create map and timeline products that would correspond specifically with Mystery of History Sonlight Curriculum Veritas Press Ambleside Truthquest What do you think?  How helpful would these products be for you?  I would love for you to post and tell me your thoughts and wishes!  Let's hear your vote! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/253652/ Tue, 12 Dec 2006 15:18:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/253652/ Absolutely!   We just conducted our first survey and found out some very interesting things about how our company is perceived and what are customers are looking for.   Here are a few things that we found out this week:   1. 93% of our customers who took our survey are located within the United States, 3% are from Canada and the remaining 4% are scattered around the globe.   2. A whopping 10% of our customers surveyed have experienced trouble with our downloads or the downloading process.   3. Coincidentally, 14% are on a dial-up connection, while 86% have cable or DSL.   4. We are pleased to learn that less than 1% of our customers surveyed are dissatisfied with our products, while the overwhelming majority (over 99.3%) are happy satisfied customers.  Yay!   We also learned what types of products our customers are looking for and not finding in the marketplace in the subject areas of history and geography.  While some of these may be difficult to produce, others would be relatively straight-forward and may be added to our product line in the next year or so after some further research is conducted.   Are surveys helpful for a company?  Absolutely!  Thank you to all of you who participated.  Bless you!   We did draw and notify our winners and I have only heard back from two out of the four of them.  We will announce the winners of our drawing as soon as they have all confirmed. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/250637/ Tue, 5 Dec 2006 15:34:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/knowledgequest/250637/