April 2nd, 2010 / 2 Comments » / by Terri

Have you ever been teaching a history lesson when one of your children pipes up with a question. “Mom, is Carthage a city in Oregon or some other country?” Oh dear, you think to yourself and then calmly explain, “Honey, first of all, Oregon is a state, not a country. And Carthage no longer exists, but I think it was located on the northern tip of Africa across the Mediterranean Sea from Italy.” After receiving two or more questions along this vein, you realize that you need some better resources.

Actually, you only need one, but I’ll explain more about that later.

Homeschooling parents are experts at juggling, but sometimes in the hullabaloo of school and life, a ball gets dropped.  More often than not, that ball is geography.  Who has time for geography when the three R’s need to be taught, the science experiment from yesterday needs to be cleaned up, the dishes need to be done and three loads of laundry are waiting to be folded.

Besides, geography isn’t that important, right?  Really, who is going to care if my child knows where Chile is located?  It’s not a big deal, really, is it?

In truth, Americans are among the most geography-illiterate residents on the planet.  Sadly, when it comes to geography, Americans just are not measuring up. In a National Geographic survey, it was found that 49% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 could not locate the state of New York on a United States map. 88% of these respondents could not find Afghanistan on a map of Asia. And, perhaps most shocking, is that 11% of these Americans could not locate their own country on a world map!

American students, in general, have a very limited understanding of world and even U.S. geography in comparison with their counterparts from around the world. European students, for example, have a much better handle not only of their own surrounding geography but of the entire world as well. It is the same with students from Asia and many other parts of the globe.

Perhaps you are thinking that I am only referring to public school students. But in reality, homeschooled students often suffer from this same lack of knowledge in geography as well. The two subjects most neglected in the homeschooling arena are writing and geography. I am not entirely certain why this is so, but I can speculate… Skill areas, such as math, grammar and spelling are easier to measure than the artful skill of writing and so it gets pushed aside. Similarly, history and science require such large portions of time that geography is often left in the cold.

The little-known truth about geography is that it is not a difficult subject to teach! The teacher does not have to master the topic before challenging his/her students to increase their knowledge and skill in this neglected area. In fact, this subject can be combined easily with history, adding very little additional studying to the family’s full schedule.

Are you ready dive in and discuss some fun and effortless ways to teach geography? Well, hold on for just a moment more… first let’s take a minute to discuss why learning geography is even a necessary component to one’s education. I mean, honestly, why would anyone need to know where Timbuktu is located? (By the way, in case you do not know, it is a city situated smack dab in the center of Mali, a country in western Africa, just south of the Sahara Desert.)

First, we need a working definition of geography. According to Noah Webster, geography is “the study of the earth, or the terrestrial globe, particularly of the divisions of its surface, whether natural or artificial, and of the position of countries, kingdoms, states and cities.” In essence, geography is the spatial aspect of earth study and is integrally related to its sister subjects of history, ecology and the economy.

Consider this perspective… All wars that have been fought throughout history have been over geography, which, of course, ultimately boils down to greed. The source of tension between lords and tenants, neighboring kingdoms, settlers and natives comes down to this one particular thing – who owns the land currently and who has enough power to take control and keep it!

Physically speaking, the landscape of our earth has changed little over the course of time (with the exception of the Great Flood and its aftermath), but the historical events that have transpired over even just a portion of this ground has had and continues to have tremendous impact on that locale as well as the world as a whole.

We must take an interest in and even study geography because it is an aspect of studying mankind and his development and movement over the face of the globe. We should not only concern ourselves with the name or even the course of a given river, but we would do even better to make an attempt at understanding the societies that have grown up and then departed from that river, the trade that was conducted up and down that river, the connections that that river makes to other waterways and its overall significance to the local and worldwide economy. Many people do not realize that geography is more than just naming countries, cities and landforms. It is the study of the land as it relates to people, their history and their resources.

If we truly want to understand another culture, to reach out in missions, to bring aid to hurting people and share the love of Christ beyond our local borders, we must study geography. Cultures are significantly defined by their geographical limitations and whereabouts.

Geography is a natural extension of history, literature and science. It just makes sense to learn it along with these other subjects. Yes, teaching geography can be painless and your children may even develop an “obsession” with finding locations on the map! Here are some ways to incorporate geography into your daily studies.

Fasten a large world map to the wall – the bigger the better. This map can be either labeled or unlabeled. If you choose an unlabeled map, have a globe on hand for looking up locations. On this wall map, have your students mark locations when they run across them in their studies, whether it be the name of a country they just read about in their literature reading, the name of a city where an inventor was born, or the location of a famous battle. Marking locations on a map can be done a few different ways. Straight pins can be outfitted with a labeled “flag” which identifies the place. Simply fold a rectangular piece of paper around the pin, glue it to itself and label the specific place name with a fine point marker on the “flag”. These place-marker pins can be stuck into a map that has been adhered to a foam backing (spray adhesive works best for adhering paper maps to foam board). Or, if the map is not laminated, and if this activity meets with your approval, the children can mark the location with a dot using a marker and then write the place name directly on the map itself. This usually works better with a blank unlabeled wall map.

An effective yet enjoyable activity that incorporates geography into their other studies is for your children to label and color notebook sized maps, on a weekly basis, which correspond with the topics they are studying in history or learning about in their other assigned reading. Maps can be labeled and colored while you read your history text aloud to your students, or as a separate activity.  Again, map work is best used in conjunction with a globe so they can see where the area is located in relation to the rest of the world and to gain the distance perspective that only a globe can give because it is not distorted as a flat map is.

Finished maps can be displayed prominently on the refrigerator or a bulletin board, or assembled into a history notebook.

Where can you find a comprehensive resource of historically based maps?  Knowledge Quest has just released its long-awaited revised map resource – Map Trek.  Map Trek is an atlas plus historical outline maps that allow you to teach geography alongside history. This is a resource that any homeschool parent can use with brilliant success, even if you don’t remember a thing from your history or geography classes in public school.

Map Trek comes in 4 volumes that have been broken down by time period.  Choose from Ancient, Medieval, New or Modern World map sets.  Lesson plans are included for students in grades 1-12 so that little preparation is required of the teacher.  Students that label and color one historical outline map per week are light years ahead in their geography knowledge than those that do not.  Currently on sale at CurrClick, you can try Map Trek: Ancient World for just $9.95 and see what a difference they make in your children’s geography knowledge.

http://www.currclick.com/index.php?discount=15894

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March 20th, 2010 / No Comments » / by Terri

I’m excited!  Today, I finished putting together the sampler pack for the Map Trek product.  This 47 page ebook comes with 32 maps plus lesson plans.  You can use and enjoy these maps without purchasing anything.  We do ask, however, that you sign up for our newsletter in order to receive it.  Of course, you may unsubscribe at any time.

Map Trek Sampler Pack

If you are already subscribed to our Knowledge Quest newsletter, then you will be receiving a link to the Sampler Pack on Tuesday when we send out our regular newsletter.

Within that newsletter will also be pre-order information for purchasing the Map Trek: Complete Collection CD-ROM, which will be available to ship out from here the beginning of April.  This CD-ROM is packed with over 340 maps and 465 pages total.  We’ve included 3 extra bonuses for you on top of the four Map Trek ebooks that you will be expecting.

Head over to our website to sign up for the newsletter, in case you haven’t yet:

www.knowledgequestmaps.com

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March 10th, 2010 / 1 Comment » / by Terri

I’ve just received news from Paul Smithson that on Wednesday he’ll be releasing a deluxe premium version of XHeader to compliment their monstrously popular free version.

If you are familiar with XHeader then I’m sure you’ll be as excited by this news as I am.

If you’re not familiar with XHeader where have you been for the last year?   They have given away over 100,000 copies of this free software in the past year.  I use it all the time and it is so helpful for creating header graphics.

Anyway, it is an amazing piece of software that lets you quickly and easily design header graphics for web sites and blogs.  Just click on the websites tab above and you can see what I have been able to accomplish in minutes using this handy software.

Amazingly XHeader is completely free and comes with 500 professionally designed header graphic templates.

In all honesty Paul could have charged $97 for this software and thousands of people would have gladly paid it – it’s that good!

If you’ve not already got a copy of the free version grab yourself a copy right now by going to:

Free XHeader Software

I don’t know whether Paul will decide to start charging for the free version once the premium version is released, but I hope not as it’s been a godsend to so many people who would otherwise struggle with designing their web site and blog header graphics.

Either way, if you don’t have it I’d grab a copy now by going to the link above. If you do already have it do watch out for my blog post later in the week when I will give you the low-down on the new premium version of the software.

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February 19th, 2010 / No Comments » / by Terri

Are you a homeschooling parent and an entrepreneur (or maybe a soon-to-be entrepreneur)?  Read on…

I was recently invited to participate in a telesummit with Susan Whitehead of MRS Homeschool.com.  The entire event revolves around homeschool families and entrepreneurship…two things that are very dear to my heart.

The Homeschool Biz Expo starts on Monday, February 22^nd and will feature a new expert interview every day for 10 days…and it is all free!  I’m not sure where my interview will land amidst the 10, but I’m sure you won’t want to miss any of them if you have a business that you run while you homeschool, or hope to in the near future.

I shared some of the ways our family deals with the challenges of homeschooling with teens and toddlers, as well as how we integrate our business into our daily lives.

Be sure to go and register for your pass before its too late.

www.HomeschoolBizExpo.com

Blessings,

Terri Johnson

P.S. I look forward to hearing your feedback on my session.

www.HomeschoolBizExpo.com

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January 29th, 2010 / 3 Comments » / by Terri

Frankly, my heart is heavy… weighed down by a certain realization that homeschooling families are quitting – throwing in the towel – mid-year.  This is the worst possible time to stop homeschooling your child and place them into public school.  But it is happening.  Homeschooling parents are tired, discouraged and unfocused.  The dreary weather of mid-winter isn’t helping either.  Kids often don’t get a chance to get outside and work out some of their boundless energy.   Instead, they remain inside, unmotivated, griping at each other and wasting time in front of the TV.

This sounds like a recipe for disaster, doesn’t it?  But, I am here to say that this doesn’t need to be the case.  We can do better than this.  We can not only survive homeschooling through the rest of the year, BUT we can THRIVE!!  We can give our children a better education than the public schools.  We can promote unity and cooperation between siblings and with parents.  We can have kids that have good attitudes and are self-motivated.  We can develop READERS rather than TV watchers.

Here is some help from someone who is enjoying our 12th year of homeschooling, but who has felt those mid-winter “blahs” almost every year.

Step 1

Memorize this statement, “Everything that is worth doing requires effort.”  Yes, this is true.  Think about it…  What are the things in this life that are worthwhile?  Here is a short list:

• Marriage
• Parenting
• Bible reading
• Prayer
• Eating/cooking healthy
• Exercise
• Housekeeping
• Reconciliation

On the flip side, what are some things that come really easy?  Here is a short list:

• Fast food
• TV watching
• Leaving stuff lying around
• Sleeping in
• Surfing the net
• Fighting

I am not judging any of the things in the second list (frankly, I do them all but in moderation), but I am saying that these are easy things.  They do not require effort and they are not worthwhile.  They do not have lasting effects or long-term benefits.  They are just easy, lazy things.

It is not easy being a parent, but it is worthwhile.  It is not easy to homeschool, but it is worthwhile.  If public school is the wide road, then homeschooling is the narrow road.  Homeschooling parents have taken on an extra burden, something that is often difficult and requires effort, but this burden can bring great joy and rewards.  To you and to your children.

The other day, I took my first spin cycle class (trust me, this is related to the topic – it is my object lesson or visual, if you will).  You know the kind of class where you all get on your bikes and take a ride together, but you do not leave the gym.  Yeah, well, in case you have never taken a class like this before, let me tell you, it’s tough.  At about 20-30 minutes into it, my thighs were screaming and I was ready to quit.  In fact, I looked down and I saw water droplets falling from my face onto the bike.  I thought it was just sweat, but then I realized that I was crying.  That’s bad!  But you know what, I got through that difficult part and the second half of the ride was so much better and much more enjoyable.

So, what does this have to do with homeschooling?  We hit the most difficult part of the year in January and February.  Sometimes, this time of the year can bring tears and a screaming desire to quit.  But, guess what?  It gets better!  How do I know?  Because I have homeschooled through 12 winters and experienced Spring on the backside of each and every one of them.  Halleluia!

Here are 5 tips for getting through the winter doldrums.  Trust me, this stuff works.

1. Pray – pray alone and pray with your kids.  Start and end each day in prayer.  The Lord will sustain you.  Plus, when you pray with your children, you can find out how they want to be prayed for.  You can find out what is difficult for them.  They can pray for each other and they can pray for you.  This is the best way I know to begin each day.

2. Develop routines.  Use a schedule to decide how your day will progress and then stick with it.  Once a schedule is in place, your children can develop routines that can develop into good lifelong habits.  Plus, once something has become routine or habit, you no longer have to tell your children to do what they are supposed to do.  They can simply do what they are supposed to do before school, during school, in the afternoon hours, in the evening.  It becomes second-nature.  (Note – do not become a slave to your schedule; rather let the schedule be your servant.  If it gets too bossy or demanding, change it or veer from it for a time, just to show it who’s boss!)

3. Count on your friends.  Internet friends are great, but nothing can substitute for a good, old fashioned, local friend who is walking the same road as you are.  Like-minded, homeschooling friends can act as a guide for you – showing you the way to go; they might draft for you – so that your burden is lifted; they might push you – when you feel that you simply cannot go on.  I have many friends that have acted in all of these roles for me, during different seasons and phases of homeschooling.  You must let your friends help you through the rough times.  In the same way, you can help them when the going gets tough.

4. Change it up.  Mid-winter is a good time to try a new curriculum, do a unit study, go on a field trip, or throw a historical feast.  When you are feeling the blues or the blahs, throw in something new to wake everyone up.  One of the reasons why we homeschool is so that we can teach differently and learn in new ways.  This is a great time to shake things up a bit by trying something new.  Go ahead, it will be fun and you won’t get behind.  Your children can learn outside of the books for a day, a week, or more and still stay on schedule to graduate to the next grade come June.

5. Get help.  If you are truly at a place where you think that you aren’t going to make it; that you think your kids would be better off in school, then seek help.  Maybe a book will help, maybe time with a friend will do the trick.  Or maybe you need to take a class.  This is exactly why we created Homeschooling ABCs and Upper Level Homeschool.  Check these out before you throw in the towel!

God bless and hang in there.

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January 14th, 2010 / 4 Comments » / by Terri

Map Trek: New World

Atlas and Outline Maps of World History

Ready for your third adventure?

Grab your children by the hand.  It’s time to explore our world throughout history.  Let’s pick up our trek where we left off and explore the New World time period.

*** You can pick up your free maps on the Knowledge Quest web page here – http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/MapTrek3.html ***

We have heard your comments throughout the years and have set out to provide THE most attractive and highly useful map book for home educators.  You have said that you want…

1. Historical maps that will help you navigate through history studies.
2. Accurate maps that show what the world was like THEN and NOW.
3. Maps that are easily downloadable yet inexpensive to print.
4. Attractive maps that you and your children will be proud to display.
5. Lesson plans that will show you what to do with them each week.

Map Trek meets all five of these demands and more.  Here’s what the new Map Trek will provide you:

1. A full color teacher’s answer map that will help you tremendously.  Here is a sample below.  Go ahead and download this map that depicts some of the early battles of the American Revolution.  Right click and choose “save image as” to save to your computer.

*** You can pick up your free maps on the Knowledge Quest web page here – http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/MapTrek3.html ***

2. An unlabeled student map for your child to color in and label. Notice a few key features on this map. There is a slight color shading on the ocean/water areas to help your child determine which parts of the map are land and which are water. BUT the shading is minimal so as to not interfere with his creative coloring process OR to use much ink when printing from your printer. Feel free to save a copy of this sample map to your computer and print one out to see for yourself.  Right click and “save image as” to save to your computer.

Here are a couple more for you to download today!

*** You can pick up your free maps on the Knowledge Quest web page here – http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/MapTrek3.html ***

3. Lesson Plans to help you know what to assign to each of your children at their various stages of learning.  There are lesson plans included for all 32  outline maps and are broken down into 3 levels – Level A (grades 1-4), Level B (grades 5-8) and Level C (grades 9-12)

4. Grid maps and blank grids to help your kids learn to draw the land masses of our world in a fun and painless way!

*** You can pick up your free maps on the Knowledge Quest web page here – http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/MapTrek3.html ***

We’d love to hear what you think.  You can leave us any comments, questions or suggestions on our Facebook wall or right here on my blog.  Here is the link to Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/KnowledgeQuest

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January 8th, 2010 / No Comments » / by Terri

I am often asked if I will be speaking at various events and if I will be bringing some materials/books along with me.  Well, since I still have little ones at home, I do not do the big homeschool convention circuit anymore – traveling every weekend and dragging books (and kids) all over the country.  However, I will be speaking at 2 local events this spring and 1 large national event.  Here some basic information:

January 21 – PATH Co-op meets at Edgewood Bible Church in Edgewood, WA. The address is 1720 Meridian St. E., Edgewood, WA 98371. I will be speaking at the meeting on Thursday, January 21st at 7pm.

February 8 – CCHE meets at First Church of God, First Church of God, 3300 NE 78th St., Room 120, Vancouver, WA 98665-0656.  I will be speaking at the meeting on Monday, February 8th at 7pm.

April 8-10 – Midwest Homeschool Convention, Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.  I will have 3 workshops at various times/locations throughout the weekend.

Please feel free to come to any of these.  I would love to meet you and answer any questions you might have.  I’ll have books and materials with me that I can show you.  I also love to give away freebies.  Just send an email to me if you need more information about these meetings.

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January 5th, 2010 / 3 Comments » / by Terri

Each year I make New Year’s resolutions.  They usually involve losing weight, exercising, eating better or reading my Bible more.  I still want to do all of those things but I am already working steadily at all of them.  I am just finishing a Bible read-through (and will most likely turn around and start again in a day or two when I finish Revelation), and proper diet and exercise are happening although they could be ramped up.

So, this year I have changed my focus.  What I really want to improve on in my life is home management.  I do a decent job at homeschooling the kids and working for our business, Knowledge Quest.  Where I need improvement is keeping the children pleasantly occupied after they finish their school work and keeping the house running like clock work.  My kids have their schedules and chore charts, but need to be reminded constantly to actually do the things that are written on them.

Let’s take morning chores for example… The kids are supposed to clean up breakfast, start the next load of laundry, feed the pets, etc. before beginning their school work.  However, nearly every morning we gather at the table at 9:00 for our morning Bible time and I ask if they have done their chores and the answer (often, usually) is “no, not yet.”  And why this has not happened is because I did not remind them.  Do they need reminders every day?  I should think not.  So, I am working through the process of training the children to see their part in keeping the house running smoothly.  Besides, I really don’t want to be the nag – just the facilitator.

Funny, this does not happen at all with school work.  When they finish one thing, they move right on to the next until all of the school work is completed.  I don’t have to say a word.  How can I transfer this concept to chores, reading time and other afternoon activities.  Still working it through…

Any ideas?  I’m all ears!

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December 28th, 2009 / 1 Comment » / by Terri

This year, I sent out my very first email Christmas card (see most recent blog post to read actual card).  I spent time praying about what I should write in it.  I knew that I would write “Merry Christmas” because Christmas is such a momentous occasion for those of us of the Christian faith.  We may not know for certain that the event happened on December 25th, but we do know that it happened.  God sent His son as a baby into this world to save us from our sinful destruction.  Gloria in excelsis Deo! (translation: Glory to God in the highest!).  This is a holy and amazing event to celebrate!

However, I also knew that there would be some who would receive this Christmas card that do not believe as I do – either they believe differently about God or perhaps not at all.  There are some that celebrate different holidays during the month of December.  Did I want to alienate them by sending my Christmas card?  Absolutely not!  These are my friends – people who read my newsletters and communicate with me through email and over the phone.   I value them in my life, whether we have the same religious beliefs or not.  And I do not want to lose any friendships that I have gained over the years in the event that I might be used of God in some way in their lives down the road into the future.

And so, I took the Paul approach – speaking the truth while acknowledging other belief systems.  Paul had an amazing way of connecting with people by talking with them from a place of common ground.  He wrote to the Athenians, “I see that you are a very religious people with temples to many gods…” (paraphrase)  Did he put them down or shame them for this belief?  Did he alienate them?  No, he did not.  He acknowledged their religious belief system and then built upon it.  This was my goal – to acknowledge that we might currently believe differently and yet to proclaim the good news clearly – God sent His son to save us all!

After my card went out, I was criticized by people whom I thought would understand me best – my fellow Christians.  I was judged for coming across as politically correct or not strong enough in my core beliefs.  Those that know me well know that this is not true.  I believe in friendship evangelism.  Preachiness almost always drives away friends.  Then what have we gained for eternity?  Understanding and honesty will often soften the hardest of hearts.

I prayed over sending my card, just as I have prayed over writing this response.  Judge me if you will.  I have learned over the years that there will always be those that will judge you – it is a part of life on this planet.  But I will continue on the path that the Lord has laid out for me – to share His love with those that do not know it through compassion and understanding and truthful words.  Come what may…

I hope that you had a very Merry Christmas and experience God’s full blessings during 2010!

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December 23rd, 2009 / No Comments » / by Terri

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