Making Maps

We are entering our final week of school, and though the impulse to ease off the accelerator is definitely present, there are plenty of things that we need to finish up.

In main lesson we are finishing our North American Geography block. This block is as much about map-making as it is about the landscape and geography of our continent.

This year we have made many different maps of different kinds.

1. We depicted the continent with wet-on-wet watercolor.
2. We drew the continent using a grid, using colored pencil to illustrate according to the landscape.
3. We drew individual regional maps.
4. We each drew a map of our state report state, with a nicely illustrated border.

We also made maps in our ancient civilizations and Greece blocks. These maps were quite different and were drawn more to indicate the feeling of the epoch and to give the students a visual reference for some of the more important historical facts. Ancient Mesopotamia is formed by the two rivers it lies between. The city-state organization of Greece was created by the many peninsulas and islands. It is important to know the land in order to know the people.

A question was asked recently on Marsha Johnson’s Yahoo email group, Waldorf Home Educators. The question was about how all of these maps might differ from each other.

The way I think about it is that in the geography block, one of the things you are studying is map-making itself. It makes sense, then, to look at the different ways a person can make a map. The students can develop a feeling for how a gridded map is different from a watercolor map. In their activity they can experience how an illustrated map is different from a topographical map. In the geography block, the map is one aspect of the curriculum.

In the ancient civilizations and history studies, the map-making is in the service of the imaginative content that is brought. The sole purpose of the map is to help us come to understand and develop a feeling for each culture. Our map of India was quite ethereal with lovely designs around the borders. Our map of Mesopotamia was yellow with red lettering that accentuated the area between the two rivers. Our map of Greece was beautiful with rich greens and azure blues and borders of bright white.

Once the end of year hubbub settles, I hope to post photos of my blackboard drawings as well as photos of my students’ work. Hopefully these photos will help make this clear.