Serious Fun With Homeschool MAPS!

You may recall that we finished our unit study of England about two months ago, but one thing that we never did finish was our map of England!

Being that we are almost through with our next country study (China!), I decided that we would use a few days of our Christmas break to pound it out.

It was incredibly easy - and fun. Who would have guessed?

Poster board - Purchased two for $1.00 at Dollar Tree

Other supplies - Markers, black sharpie, water colors

I traced out the borders with pencil and then marker, and then worked with the 7yo to paint land-green and water-blue. We worked fast (as you can see) to avoid losing his interest (which doesn't take long!).

[Click to enlarge for more clarity of detail]

Then I went back through all of the topics we studied, and marked up the map to show where they were located. This was the fun part!

Home education is full of surprises. I often start doing a project (like poetry, or history, or field trips - or maps!) thinking that it will be hideously dull, but we'll do it because it has to be done, and voila! What do you know? It's fun! We learn a lot and we enjoy it at the same time. This map is now adorning our freezer, and China will be coming up next week.

Happy Saturday, everyone!!

* P.S. Yes, I know that some of our markings are based on fictional or semi-mythical characters. That's because he's seven and we want to have fun! (Not to mention that fiction is an important part of culture!) The movements of kings and armies will wait a bit - you know, till he's eight.