Why should we study history?
“The kind of events that once took place will by reason of human nature take place again.”
−Thucydides
“The kind of events that once took place will by reason of human nature take place again.”
−Thucydides
I was given the chance last week to preview MapTrek/Ancient World courtesy of MamaBuzz and Knowledge Quest.
MapTrek is an invaluable resource for parents, teachers, bible students and vacation bible schools! If you home-school your children, you NEED this resource!
Kids are visual when it comes to history. If a teacher shows up in a pilgrim costume and talks about how “she” lived upon arriving in America, most of the students will recall more from her demonstration that learning it by rote from a history book. Take them to see an actual battle ground so they can see the terrain and they will understand why a siege lasted so long and was so hard in the Civil War.
MapTrek combines lesson plans with maps that can be filled to help children understand the history and geography they are learning about. By filling it in themselves, it helps underscore and entrench the lesson in their memories.
MapTrek has FULL color historical map atlas for the teacher (with all the needed answers!), and full color outline maps for students. Included is also a sample lesson plan. Level A is for children who are in grades 1-4, Level B is for students in 5th through 8th grade, and Level C is for high schoolers (9th through 12th grade). If a child is advanced, they can skip to the next level.
Teachers can use the blank maps or the atlas map at the beginning of the lesson plan. It is very personal as to how you use the maps- allowing for a greater flexibility!
Maps include: - Sumeria
- Mesopotamia
- Ancient Africa
- Old Kingdom of Egypt
- Ancient Egypt
- Early Greece
- The Assyrian Empire
- Phoenicia’s Trading Empire
- Israel’s Divided Kingdom
- Ancient India
- Ancient China
- The Founding of Rome
- Babylonian Empire
- The Persian Empire
- Greco-Persian Wars
- Golden Age of Greece
- Ancient Europe
- Alexander the Great
- The Punic Wars
- The Roman Empire
- The Roman Empire Divided
- Barbarian Invasions
The maps are also beneficial for reference during vacation bible school or regular bible studies, as there are numerous religious maps as well, such as:
- Descendents of Noah
- Called Out of Ur
- Abraham’s Journey
- The Promised Land
- 12 Tribes of Israel
- Solomon’s Kingdom
- Palestine during time of Christ
- The Early Church
I love that you can save the pdf file to your computer and pull it up whenever you need it, no having to go back online and enter subscription info to get the map you need. It also allows you to work the maps into your own lesson plan on pdf. At only $14.95 per edition, I think they're better than a book that will gain dust on the bookshelf!
I would have to say this is one of the BEST resources I have seen in a long time, and I’ll soon be getting the rest of the series for my home library! Check it out- I know you’ll want to add it to your library too!
Oh and if you sign up on their main page for their bi-monthly newsletter, you can get historical biographies, timeline activities, unit studies (helpful for homeschooling!) and even Globalmania e-books! Check them out- it might convince you to buy your own MapTreks!
Disclosure: I received a review copy of MapTrek from Mama Buzz and Knowledge Quest, free of charge, for me to review. I was NOT told how to review the book however.
