Geography or Cartography?

Are you looking for a geography or cartography program? I have great news for you!

I first looked at National Geographic's Map Essentials program the year I began homeschooling. Back in those days to buy NG's student publications you had to contact one of their representatives and place an order. I sent an email out and eventually corresponded with a very nice man who agreed that the program would be great for homeschoolers but that you couldn't buy single copies of the student books. He was sorry that he couldn't help me. Eventually I found that Great Books Academy had them for sale. Due to the price I hesitated and looked for other geography programs. I found the Trail Guide series, which we are using and enjoying. But I still wanted a bit more cartography.

This year I bit the bullet and ordered the Map Essentials program. Unfortunately one of the books appears to be on indefinite backorder. I started trolling the internet and what did I discover? National Geographic is now selling their books individually. To regular people not just institutions. And at a cost significantly lower than GBA. It is a bit tricky to navigate their website to find these items. Here are my tips:

• Register with the site-be sure to choose the "Not in District" and "Not in School" options
• You will be asked for an institution name-I used Chartwell Academy with no problems
• Find the Map Essentials page HERE
• When you scroll to the bottom of the page look for the Materials section and click the plus sign for the grade you are interested in
• The teacher book is listed at the bottom for single copy purchase
• To purchase Student Books and Student Response Books click on the plus sign next to the set of 5 and you will find single copy options in the new menu (you can later adjust your cart to reflect the number of copies you would like

I chose to purchase a single copy of the student text (I only have 2 students sharing the books) but purchased multiple copies of the response book. My printer would cost more than $2.08 to copy for each child. For the program you only need atlases to complete the work.

I decided to go back and start with Grade 1 work (even though the kids are a bit older) since the knowledge seems to be cumulative. I suspect that we will zip through some of the early grade and be back on course in no time.

National Geographic appears to (finally) be offing its school texts to everyone these days so dig into the website and have fun!