Mapping Skills and Geographic Terms

My new afterschooling practice is reminding me that homeschooling activities need not be, "Okay, JillyBoo, leave your fun, imaginitive activity and sit down for some boring work!" This morning, I used her role-playing sailing-on-a-boat activity as an anchor activity (pun intended!) for using some rudimentary mapping skills.

She had loaded up a sleeping mat with all of her favorite animals for the ride of a lifetime! JillyBoo picked out a pair of old gift wrap rolls for oars and I threw her learning log and pencil box on the ship. Then we were off!





We are on our way to "The Other Side of the Island," a dark place where we really can't see anything. This was my first introduction of the idea of Map Key, which is an essential early skill in geography studies. We had to determine the difference between an ocean and a river, graphically speaking, and JillyBoo didn't quite grasp the "less is more" idea in regards to map key icons. I was secretly pleased that she added three roots to each tree-why not?

I worked in my "Learning Log" simultaneously, taking notes and also modeling the journal. She showed me how to draw the map, she picked the geographic icons, and I demonstrated the spelling. She commented that, "It's easier to draw the pictures so that you don't have to write on the map." I didn't want to burst her bubble-the drawing was so cute, how could we mar her work with place names? Maybe next time!

Another bonus of this activity is that as we wrote, I reinforced the phonograms needed for the words, and she copied my penmanship, which was helpful. JillyBoo is truly lacking in the manuscript department, and I'm considering ordering the Handwriting without Tears program. I'm hopeful that activities such as this will help us avoid pain when she enters American school for the first time.

I really enjoyed playing with JillyBoo as we learned, and am going to search for more authentic opportunities for extending our play into educational pursuits.