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happymama
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| Posted: Feb 06 2008 at 4:14pm | IP Logged
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so I'm planning my continent kits. i've read through the threads here and seen some of your blog pictures. Here's the question that's still unresolved in my mind:
I intended to present puzzle maps along with the continent kits. I have the MontessoriForEveryone kits and puzzles from Alison's (well, not all of 'em yet). I'm not sure what to do with the flags from MFE besides use them as 3-part-cards. It's be nice if there were little flags that actually stood up in the individual puzzle map pieces. Does the child just LOOK at the country on the map and then LOOK at the flag? I'm not sure much of a connection will be made that way.
I'm asking, because it seems like a lot of work to print/laminate/cut and present each of the flags!
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Feb 07 2008 at 8:37am | IP Logged
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You may want to contact Lori herself about her materials. She is a member of this board and is very active on the early childhood forum.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Feb 07 2008 at 1:03pm | IP Logged
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I felt my maps were a little under-utilized as well. I felt sure I was not tapping the potential within. I am pregnant this year, and allowing the natural rhythm of the days to be more of a guide than my own pre-conceived notions out of a necessity to survive! Here's what I discovered in particular about the Montessori maps and our geography plans in general.
First, The maps themselves are the best teachers. I simply pointed out which maps I wanted which child to work on, and they got them out and worked. I have an 11, 7, and 3 yo, so I had different expectations of each. The 11 and 7 learned the maps, then drew their own maps, tracing from pieces they were working with. They labeled these, and sometimes added to the labeling. This is the ideal place to add flags to me. But...I found that flags were too much all at once. We just focused on the maps themselves. Now, my 3yo just uses the maps sensorially right now - obviously no mapping.
I intend to purchase Lori's Geography kits for next year, but found that this year we moved best by just learning the puzzles and making our own and labeling. Relaxing on my part allowed me to see that these maps were so useful in history studies and lit studies as well. Your littles are too small for some of that.
If you'd like to do more with the flags, I might suggest you download these flags from Montessori Materials. Print them, and then have your 5 yo work on cutting them apart. Once he's done, you can have them collect the different countries flags in containers or your continent boxes. Then, when he completes a map tracing of his own, he can glue the flag to the appropriate country. As a control, Montessori Services has some neat laminated cards with all of the flags of the world printed on them. I'm not sure, but you might be able to find this as a download somewhere for free online too.
The maps are definitely a set of items that we will build on each year, so I don't feel bad that we didn't do much with flags, animals, or anything else cultural this year. We just spent the year learning some basic geography. Next year, we'll dig more into flags, etc.
BTW, I got burnt out with all of the print/laminate/cut of three part cards, but the payoff has been so big this year. All those flags would be mind-boggling though. 
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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happymama
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| Posted: Feb 07 2008 at 1:24pm | IP Logged
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thank you! Especially the idea of not needing to do it ALL this year. I, too, am pregnant (and sick!) and cutting back a lot of my plans. I can see how the puzzle maps and a simple continent box could be a great place to START, and then add flags and so on as time goes on... Ahhh, I love not trying to follow a "curriculum"!!!
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: flags, puzzle maps
