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Egypt
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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I can’t stand Geography. hahaha No really. I’m clueless. But I don’t want my kids to be. So at the advice of others I started Geography. We are doing Module 1 and therefore I opened up the blank map of Egypt and then a detailed one and Oh My Word!!! Lots of places. I can barely even read the names there are so many. And my daughter was overwhelmed with the Cairo section. But this is the map of Egypt today.
So my question is, with an 8 year old, and Egypt, how would you intro all those tiny little places. I mean there are the well defined areas like Jordan, Saudi, Syria, Sinai, Libya, Sudan. But then within Egypt, a majority of the places are all crammed together and quite overwhelming. What would ya’ll do? I’m sure that ancient Egypt is quite different and probably everything is just sort of down the Nile. But I can’t find a good free map of ancient egypt on the computer. HELP!
I found a map but I really don’t know if its a good one. They are all different!
http://www.egypt.travel/uploads/images/ancient_egypt_EN_1.gif
This is one I found. It seems simple enough. But as far as ancient egypt goes, no idea what to look for and all the ones I found were different.
Another one I found:
http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/map-of-ancient-egypt/images/map-ancient-egypt-1.jpg
All claiming ancient egypt.
I’ll tell you an approach to geography that works really well for us (me included!).
We draw a blank map of whatever place we are studying (you may trace the outline if you want, but drawing the outline on your own really makes you remember it). Then, as we study the place, we add our own features to the map. This makes the maps very meaningful. The project also is has been an easy way for me to teach how to use map legends because we add our own symbols on our maps. (The project also teaches layout and design now that I think about it.) And, it’s fun!
You certainly don’t need to label all the little towns or features as that sounds like busywork that will be quickly forgotten, unless a small place is connected to a story or historical event that you learn about.
I do this project along with my children, sort of like the mother making nature journal as the children make their own nature journals.
It’s been a great project for us! We have our homemade maps of the different places we’ve studied, along with drawings we make from the area’s folktales, history, landscape, animals, etc. I haven’t figured out a good way to store all these papers…that’s always a challenge. My goal is to bind the papers into a homemade geography book, but for now they are a pile of loose papers in a portfolio, each country kept together by a paperclip.
Also, simply hanging up maps in your home does wonders. I’m amazed at the places my kids have learned to locate because we have maps posted in the kitchen and in their rooms. Placemats with maps on them are great for lunchtime conversations. 🙂
Another idea for making your own we recently made a salt clay map of the US and then painted the landmarks we were studying.
But for the sake of map drills, how do you know which places are important and which are not so much.
Kelsymomof3 wrote: “But for the sake of map drills, how do you know which places are important and which are not so much.”
I guess I’m not doing the drills properly because we focus our geography lessons on what we are studying, not just the map in general without some context. My kids learned the basics like the continents, equator, oceans, some mountains ranges, various countries…but when it comes to more details on the map, we learn them in conjunction with our readings, not as independent facts.
I hope I’m not confusing the subject further for you. It’s just we have such fun with maps in our homeschool that I wanted to share.
I don’t have a whole lot of advice – just wanted to add my own experience: I was a bright student in school and did very well. I was taught from textbooks (as I’m sure many of you were). I distinctly remember having to study maps, cities, geography info, imports and exports, etc. I did it all, and did very well on the tests. I remember NONE of that information today. Couldn’t tell you where many of those cities are today.
I think, as Esby mentioned, that when we study “important” places just for the sake of it, we forget it. When we study them in conjunction with other things, they stick more. Look at your map of Egypt – find where the Nile is, study what a delta is, what is the capital; but don’t worry about remembering every city on the map. That is only going to frustrate all of you. As you discover information, add it to your map. You’ll discover what is “important” as you go. Giving all the information in the beginning might be sensory overload.
Just my $0.02 –
Great question! I was wondering the same thing. We are going to be starting on Egypt as well and I’m trying to figure out how to do it.Based on the answers on your post this is what I am planning on doing. The salt dough map seems to me to be the best at illistrating where the important things are. I’m going to start out with the salt dough map as the lessons suggest and then move on to the mapstudy. Using the saltdough map as our main guide. And as we are reading our history books we will label any new places on our map as well or at least try to locate it.That way there is a “reason” for them to know where these things are. To me it solidifies their learning. They can identify with the places and not just the names.. Hopefully this will work. I don’t know if the mapstudy alone is going to be enough for us. We’ll need more of a reason why we’re learning these things to go along with it..
We are doing module 1 as well with our 7 yr old. The map drill is for the entire continent of Africa. Your daughter can learn 2 countries per week starting with Egypt since we are focusing on where Joseph went and Moses comes out and we did Sudan. Then add 2 more countries the following week. I have my daughter look at the detailed map then take away and she writes the names on the blank map as I call them out. I have her copy them from a piece of paper with the names on them (She can’t spell those big countries!). She enjoys it and knows 15 so far. we just branch out from Egypt and Sudan and we are down to Somalia.
Tara
Thank you. I thought the map drill was supposed to be for Ancient Egypt only. I mustve missed that somewhere. Grrrr. I’ll do map drills for Africa instead! Thanks!
Maybe doing the Salt Dough map of Egypt confused you? It did me! I keep calling Africa “Egypt”! The Gen-Deut Ancient Egypt book says “Outline map of Africa” for map drill and to label the countries. I think this map drill is neat because I’m learning where countries are now that I hear on the news or where our church has missionaries (Kenya) lol
Tara
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