Day 49 / 105 - Mastering Geography With Color -- Cycle 1

This is identical to a post I've done in the past.  Repetition provides much constancy and simplicity in our lives, so we do the same activities over and over and over.  We use a color coded system to drill Geography for Memory Master.  Since I implemented this system five years ago, I've seen it work successfully for both my children.

 I make a few copies of the maps and the Geography memory work from the Foundations Guide (pages 62, 216, and 217 for Cycle 1).  Then we assign a color for each week.  We mark that color on the landmarks on the map and mark the same color on the Geography memory work page.  We also mark whether it was on map #1 (Africa map) or map # 2 (world map).  To label all 24 weeks takes a little bit of time, but it's time well-invested.  Plus parents, if you take the time to make a map for yourself also, I guarantee you will master the Geography in no time.

This year, since my daughter is 12, she actually did all the marking and labeling independently!

But, the simplicity and the usefulness of this color-coded map comes when you begin to drill with it.  I use this map to now prompt with the Geography title and the color.  For instance I would say, "Hittite Empire in blue", or "Japan in red".  My daughter can easily locate the features on the map that she's colored.  After drilling this way for a few weeks, my children can comfortably transition to a map without color.

We have successfully drilled for Memory Master all three cycles using this technique.