Geography

We're going to do "Mapping the World by Heart" this year, and as a little warmup I'm using some colorful, blank U.S. maps I found at American Science and Surplus. I bought just a single pad of 50 blank maps at my local store, but the online store has them bundled with a 30-sheet pack of filled-in maps.


Anyway, this morning during homeroom: POP QUIZ! The kids had to complete as much of the US map as they could, from memory. State names were the minimum requirement; bonus points for capitals, lakes, rivers, mountains, neighboring countries and bodies of water. They did pretty well! And so did Mom (whew), although my 8 yo daughter was tickled to point out that I'd inadvertantly swapped New Mexico and Arizona.

Anyway, it's just a warmup. By the end of this year they'll have to draw the whole country free-hand and fill in everything listed above. At least, that's my hope.