Making history lessons more fun

Maps that kids can color are great for adding visual and kinesthetic learning to a history or geography lesson.As a homeschooling mom I am always on the lookout for new resources to help reinforce a lesson or just make it easier to grasp.

My son is a visual learner and I know that the more pictures or visual representations I can provide, the better he will learn the topic.

So I was excited to see a product that helped me teach history and geography with a little more excitement. My son really hates listening to me just read about history to him (not to mention, history is not his favorite subject unless we are talking about inventions). I have a world map that I use to show him the area we are talking about, but it's a current map that only shows country borders.

At Knowledge Quest Maps there's a product called Blackline Maps of World History that has more than 200 world history maps that you can just print out for your use with your lessons.

There are also lesson plans included for each one to help make teaching the lesson easier. You can see the landscape (political boundaries, major cities, etc.) from the historical time period referenced on the map rather than what the region is like today. That was a huge relief to me because my only map shows everything as it is today.

Also because they are all outline maps, my son can color in regions, trace travel routes and have fun with it. It makes the lesson multi-sensory which helps drive it home for him.

The best part is if you order the complete set of World History Maps, you get American Maps for free. The World History Maps includes Ancient Maps from 5000 BC - 400 AD; Medieval Maps (400 - 1600); New World Maps (1600 - 1850); and Modern Maps (1850 - present). The American Maps are from 1000 AD to the present and includes 50 state maps.

When you order, you can download them right away and don't have to wait for anything to ship (or pay shipping costs for that matter). You can also sign up for a monthly newsletter where they share tips for incorporating geography (and the maps) into your history lessons.

So check it out. I highly recommend it. Click here to learn more about it.