Monday, August 22, 2011

Intellego, We May Have A Future

Snowy likes maps. He liked learning about maps more than anything else we've done this year. We worked our way through the activities in my old Jacaranda Primary School Atlas; it's got a map of the world I used to dream and plan my travels, once paroled from school.

Now I'm not a curriculum person. There's a reason for that. Stroppiness. Also, a good dose of CM and a natural preference for living books. Ouch, I've been corrected on that one before! I mean books with a strong narrative. So for the longest time I didn't really believe in curriculum. 

However. I was clicking around the net one day last week, trying in vain to find a history project based on quilting and the Civil War, which I thought I'd bookmarked but hadn't, when I came upon  Intellego Maps K-2. I'd say it was an impulse buy, but it took too long for that. Password amnesia.

Anyhow, I talked it up to the boy over the weekend. He was vaguely interested. This morning he was downright squirmy as we worked our way through 'What I know about maps and globes' and 'What I'd like to learn about maps and globes.'

But then we got to the making of  treasure maps! I realise I could have arrived at the making of treasure maps without curriculum, except that I didn't. It took Intellego saying click here and do this next to think "Oh, a treasure map! What a good idea!" And that, I suppose is the point of curriculum; it's like the mama bird, chewing things up for you so everything is nice and digestible. Quite pleasant, really. I could get used to it.

I like the way this photo has books in the background.

We distressed the map to make it look old; snip off the edges, paint with a squeezed out tea bag, crumple, dry with a hair dryer.

Snowy drew a map using landmarks and co-ordinate clues.

Nice big sisters reading their first co-ordinate clue.


The treasure ( hidden in the letter box, otherwise known as B1 ) was two Milky Ways and a packet of gum.

Snowy hasn't enjoyed his schoolwork this much since...the last time we did maps. And thanks to Intellego, we'll be doing map stuff for weeks to come. Ooh, I could totally do an ad for Intellego...

3 comments:

  1. Oh isn't it nice when you do find a curriculum that works though. I know there's not alot that we have used that the both the kids and I have been happy about :-)

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  2. we've finished up with that one and really enjoyed it, as well as world history volume 1

    you're quite lucky to get two chocolate bars and gum by way of the treasure map... i got a chewed up dog rawhide hidden under the northwest corner of his bedroom rug for ours! ;)

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  3. Will try it with my boy. He's great reading maps, but had a really tough time trying to map out our town. A treasure map for a smaller area will probably work out much better. Love the pictures!

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