Today’s students tend to have little awareness of where places are in our world. They lack general knowledge of where particular countries and cities are located, much less on what continent they can be found. With GPS technology, mapping skills are not as needed. As long as the voice guiding us to our destination can be heard and understood, we don’t really need to comprehend anything about maps.

This World Mapping course takes students around the globe where they will learn about the continents, countries, major cities, oceans, mountain ranges, and many other geographic features. They will become so familiar with how the parts of the world fit together that by the end of the year, they will be able to confidently draw and illustrate a map of the entire world from memory. No matter what their skill level is, students will rise to the challenge and even surprise themselves at how much they’ve learned. I’ve never had a student NOT be pleased with the outcome!

We will be following David Smith’s Mapping the World by Heart. Atlases and a geography encyclopedia will be purchased by the teacher and handed out in class, as well as all required maps, handouts, and pocket dividers. These are covered by the “$50 materials fee,” which will be collected the first day of class. 

Other than the class materials listed below, no other purchase is necessary.