This
curriculum has four sections:
1) HISTORY LESSONS: 30 history lessons (each lesson is one doubled-side page) that tells the story
of how people gradually discovered geography and mapping over the course of thousands of years, from the ancient Babylonians
and Greeks to the discovery of Antarctica in the 1800s. For a complete table of contents, click on the blue link below.
2) DRAWING LESSONS:
30 step-by-step drawing lessons that correspond to the history lessons. (For example, after learning about the ancient
Babylonians, we draw Mesopotamia; after learning about the Greeks, we draw Greece.) Some of the drawing lessons are
split into"sub-lessons," giving you a total of about 50 drawing lessons. These drawing lessons are available
as hard copies in the book and also as recorded videos on the DVDs that comes with this curriculum. (There are
almost 6 hours of instruction on the DVDs.)
Samples
of these drawing lesssons have been posted on YouTube:
How to draw Alaska: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c974xRY5oYA
How to draw the Greater Antilles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=780TV7rC9aQ
How to draw the Nile River: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LumZbFgrAo
3) ACTIVITIES:
There are over 100 pages of supplemental activities including art projects (mostly creating maps with different types of art
media), craft ideas (high-content crafts such as making simple models of navigational instruments), review worksheets, articles
to read, recipes, board games, group games, and links to Interent sources where you can view full-length documentaries on
explorers, take a virtual tour of a globe factory, watch demonstrations of printing techniques, see unusual projections of
the globe, watch dozens of short video clips about places around the world that relate to the lessons, and more.
4) FINAL PROJECT: A MAP OF
THE WORLD There are patterns and instructions for making a world map (size options: 12"x 22" or 15"x
25" ). This final project can be in any media. The students will use everything they have learned in the drawing
lessons in order to create this map. The map can be used as a "final exam," requiring them to work from
memory, or it can be just a final review project with maps and globes available for reference.
Target age group:
grades 5-10
--Can it be used for
younger than 5th grade? You could try a 4th grader who is very interested in geography and likes to draw, but I wouldn't
go much younger than that. (However, you know your kids better than anyone, so in the end it's up to you to decide if
it's suitable for them.)
--Can it
be used with grades 11-12? Yes, just skip any supplemental activities that you think are below their interest level.
Time allowance: The curriculum is designed to be used over the course of a year, spending about
3 hours per week on it. It's possible to do it in a semester if you work five days a week with each session lasting
at least an hour, and perhaps skipping a few of the activities.
Materials needed: Basic drawing materials
each student will need: pencil with extra eraser tip, large eraser, black permanent pen (I recommend Sharpie non-bleeding pen-- a new product from Sharpie; I have more notes about pens in the front of the booklet),
compass, protractor, ruler. General art supplies to have on hand: card stock paper, calligraphy (parchment)
paper, colored pencils (I recommend Prismacolor, which are worth their price), blue watercolor paints, acrylic paints in tans
and greens, crayons in tans and greens, brushes. A more complete materials lists appears in the front of the booklet.
FREE SAMPLE CHAPTERS:
