The Old Schoolhouse® Product & Curriculum Reviews
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Knowledge Quest Maps Review by Gena Suarez
P.O. Box 789Boring, OR 97009
(877) 697-8611
http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/
A few months ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Terri Johnson, creator of the increasingly-popular Knowledge Quest Maps. Her story is rather intriguing, and is quite parallel to a number of homeschooling families. See a need - then fill it! Terri, who homeschools her five children, wanted to teach history the right way – that is chronologically of course! And she wanted to incorporate geography at the same time. So, Terri sought out to bring "life" into teaching history lessons, by buying blackline maps for her children to color and follow. It made sense to her that when something visual was placed in front of them while they learned of historical events, they would retain the information and enjoy the lesson all the more. Unfortunately, there was almost nothing available in the way of lined maps -- at least not a lot that Terri felt she could use.
So, she did what any self-respecting, innovative homeschool mama would do. She drew the maps herself, at home. No, they are not "amateur", like something I might attempt to scare my children with. These are great! She set out to create something useful for her own home school, but once the word got out ....WOW. Gregg and Sono Harris wrote a glowing review about them. Not only that, but Susan Wise Bauer, who was currently working on her The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, was quite taken with the new creations and requested permission to use them in her book, which is proving to be highly desired by homeschoolers in its own right. The rest is "history".
We at The Old Schoolhouse are impressed with what Terri has accomplished and recommend her maps to homeschoolers. They are excellent for history lessons, but can be used for even more. You'd be surprised at how effective map use can be for many different subjects. They follow a chronological progression of history and are broken down into four major time periods: The Ancients (5000BC-500AD), The Middle Ages (500AD-1500AD), The Age of Exploration (1492AD-1850AD), and The Modern World (1850AD-Present). There are different sets to choose from or you can purchase the whole set for a very reasonable price. Knowledge Quest Maps certainly have homeschoolers' best interests at heart! The Old Schoolhouse says two thumbs up and well done, Terri!
