At Home with the Classical Method — How to Teach (& Learn) Geography

Oh boy, is this a weak area of mine. I’ve often felt lost in my own county (okay, even the mall), because I am lacking a mental map.  My husband on the other hand loves maps and is great at geography.  He easily forms mental maps of new areas.  Think those characteristics are connected? Yeah, me too.  Like my husband, we want our littles to understand geography and learn mental map making.  And it’s not too late for me either!  I’ll be learning geography right beside them. 

Today, as part of the At Home with the Classical Method series, I’ll share the classical ideas for teaching geography found in The Core.  Leigh Bortins challenges parents to help their children form mental world maps.  Why? “Having a basic map in our heads helps us to form accurate images of international conflicts or relive adventures with historical heroes or sympathize with the plights of man beset by natural disasters.” (p. 149)  Those are worthwhile goals!  

How do we get started?  With basic cartography; drawing maps with your child using an atlas for reference, blank paper, and a pencil. “Good education sets the bar high while giving students the practical tools to complete a goal.” (p.151)  The Core gives a simple progression for learning maps through drawing:

1. Make your own grid by folding a blank 8.5 by 11″ paper in half lengthwise and then draw a line down the crease.  This is your equator.  Next draw four lines representing the other great circles.  Label the circles — initials for younger children; full names for older children.

Repeat until easy.

2.  Do step 1 and add the Prime Meridian down the center of the page.  Adjust location, as necessary, to duplicate the map you’re using.  

3. Do steps 1-2 and add “continental blobs” starting with Africa in the center of the map.  Starting with Africa helps keep the other continents proportional.  Continue by adding general outlines of the remaining continents.  Pay attention to where they cross the great circles and lie in relation to each other.  But, don’t fret: “No perfection needed.” 

4. Repeat steps 1-3.  Now label the oceans.

Continue to practice all above steps until “fairly accurate.”  Be sure to check against a map to correct any errors.  This will be the same basic plan for each part of the map you’re learning.  

Start with the gist and move to the details. For example, for each continent, start with the outline, next add the countries, and finally add any rivers, mountains, and bodies of water. 

With each area, you’re starting with copywork and moving to memory work.  

The Core‘s plan provides for practicing the following areas once weekly for a year:

Kindergarten:      Great circle grid and continental blobs
First grade:         Australia
Second grade:     South America
Third grade:        Africa
Fourth grade:      North America
Fifth grade:         Europe
Sixth grade:        Asia
Seventh grade:   World Map
Eighth grade:      Indonesia and Antartica

If you’re starting later than kindergarten, do more than one area in a year.  On days when my littles younger than kindergarten want to join in, I’ll have these blob printables from Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood for them to trace or color. 

Around our home, we have a large scale world map hung in our school room, a globe on hand, a map placemat, laminated 8.5×11 maps in each of their travel notebooks, our CC geography triviums, and a large scale United States map in my son’s bedroom.  Keeping maps accessible to my littles gives them freedom to check them out whenever the interest strikes.  It increases our geography conversations too.   In the next few days, I’ll be sharing a map project my husband and I have been working on to document our 50 state travels. It’s simple, fun, and (I think) will keep my littles talking geography.