WonderMaps: Maps Could Become Your Favorite Part of Teaching!

     Maps...some people love 'em, and some people hate 'em. 

     Now, rumor has it that men won't use maps...or at least, ask for directions.

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     I think that's why GPS devices were invented - so men could use them without looking less manly while doing so! 

     What about your children?  Do they enjoy using maps?  Or is it tiresome or boring to them?

     I've been using a mapping product this spring called WONDERMAPS, by Bright Ideas Press. 

        It. Is. Awesome! 

     I'm not new to Bright Ideas Press.  Our family has been using their fabulous history products (The Mystery of History, by Linda Hogan) for over six years now.  I went from greatly disliking history to having it be my favorite school subject in our home, all because of Bright Ideas Press.  In the future, we plan to use Bright Ideas Press' All American History books.  We've also used their Illuminations program for 3rd-8th graders that combines literature, geography, language arts, writing, spelling, and a lot more using The Mystery of History texts as the spine, for the whole family. 

         But I just have to tell you about WonderMaps!

WonderMaps
by Bright Ideas Press

     WonderMaps is a new mapping software that uses layers which may be turned off or on to customize the type of map that you may want to use in your own geography, history, art, science, and literature studies. 


     Here's a nice tutorial to explain how the WonderMaps program works for you:

     WonderMaps is a beautiful collection of over 350 different maps.  When you download WonderMaps, you'll see the Home Page, which provides you with several different avenues of how to use WonderMaps.

     As you can see on the Home Page, above, links to the Teacher's Guide, Contact & License, The Mystery of History, All American History, and the four options of viewing maps are easily accessible.

The Teacher's Guide

     I found the Teacher's Guide very simple to use.  The one-page Quick Start Guide was just enough to get me started.  Don't you wish everything had a one-page Quick Start Guide that was truly useful?  The tutorial video explained the depth of this software.  WOW!  I liked seeing the two bonus free MP3 parent training sessions for me to listen to at my convenience.  Nice!  I always appreciate some homeschool parent-teacher training! 

     The extra resources contained in the Teacher's Guide were also unexpected and very helpful.  I already was familiar with making salt-dough maps, and we've done quite a bit of mapwork in our home over the years, but the extras here will still be useful in the future.

Maps by Title

     Maps can easily be viewed by title, as you can see, above, using an alphabetical index.

Maps by Time Period

     You can see that no matter which era of history you are learning about, you can easily view the maps as they are divided into four major eras of time.

     See how you can use the timeline feature to find the map you are wanting?  Easy!

Maps by Theme

   And look!  You can even look up maps by specific themes that cross various eras of time.

Maps by Textbook

     WonderMaps can be used with any academic curriculum, regardless of the publisher or the source.  However, if you do happen to be using The Mystery of History or All American History, an added bonus is that the maps for the lessons in those curricula are already here on WonderMaps for your use! 

     WonderMaps are:

• historical or modern-day maps
• outline, reference, political, or topographical maps
• black-and-white or color maps
• maps that have featured layers that can be toggled on or off:  names, border, rivers, cities, physical features, and graticules

     WonderMaps includes:

• 60+ maps of the world
• 60+ maps of the United States of America
• 125 historical maps, including 25 biblical maps
• the complete map sets from The Mystery of History vols. I-III and All American History vols. I and II plus answer keys for maps from The Mystery of History vol. I (2nd edition) through volumes III
  

So...what do the maps LOOK like?

     Here's a view of the world map.  Notice that by clicking on the blue text, you will be able to zoom in on that area and get a closer look.  If you click on any black text, a new map will open.

     So, here's a map of Australia, after zooming in on the Oceania region.  It's in full color, with all layers ON.

     Here's the identical map with most of the layers taken OFF.  Are you beginning to see the kind of flexibility you have with this amazing software?  It's so quick and easy to arrange the layers to your teaching needs, and click on the print icon at the top of the window.

     The layers feature enables you to show or hide certain elements of the map, such as rivers, voyages, battle locations, city names and locations, modern-day borders, topography, the map's key, and much more.  Turning layers on and off is as simple as a click.

     A map of Lewis and Clark's expedition could be used as a reference map in your history studies, or by turning off the "voyages" layer, you could have students retrace the explorer's route with colored pencils.  This makes it simple to have map quizzes and tests, if you desire those, based on what has already been studied, simply by removing certain layers. 

     Bright Ideas Press  has developed an extremely innovative mapping and geography product for educational use in all types of situations:  homeschooling, public and private schooling, and even at the college level.  This is a terrific product that I really like because of its ease of use, the variations that can be made within individual maps to fit my purposes, and because of the high quality of most of the maps.

     Here are some notes of importance:

1. The licensing agreement allows this product to be used on two computers in the same household, plus a backup copy saved on disc or other backup device.
2. If your computer uses Adobe Acrobat Professional version 8 or lower, this software cannot be used.  Simply download the free version of Adobe Acrobat 9.1 or higher, and you will be ready to access WonderMaps.  

     The easy way to check which version of Adobe your computer uses is to open up your version of Reader and under “Help”“Check for updates.”    If you have an older version than 9.1, go to www.Adobe.com . Install version 9.1, reboot, and try again.  Mac users often find that PDF files default to opening in a program called “Preview”.  This is fine for simple image files, but WonderMaps' PDF files are complex, and Preview can’t handle them. If Adobe Reader is installed on your Mac, control+click the file you’re trying to open and select “Open With“—>”Adobe Reader.”  If Adobe Reader isn’t an option, you need to download it from the above link and install it.

Final thoughts...

     We will be using WonderMaps for years, if I can figure out how to make a backup copy on a DVD or CD.  I'm not terribly wonderful at doing things like that, for some reason.  If I was buying this on my own, I'd definitely be buying the version on CD.  I've had two many hard drive failures, even with doing backups, that have failed.  Whether you choose to download this product or purchase it on CD will be up to you and your family's needs.

     I'm not sure if it's just my own copy of WonderMaps, or if this is for all purchased copies as well, but for some reason, my copy of WonderMaps has just a blank page for an icon on my desktop.  I'd prefer to have something more specific to WonderMaps instead of something just generic.

     It is curious to me that there aren't any maps of individual African countries.  Only Egypt can be pulled up individually.  The other countries in Africa are only in a regional view.  If I was looking for just one African country, I would need to enlarge the regional map so that the nation fills the entire page.  Then, I would select "print current view."

     I was thrilled to see maps for The Mystery of History and All American History, but I should note here that the maps for those texts are not the same high quality maps you'll find in the regular WonderMaps versions of maps.  Instead, these are the maps which were published in the original texts of those history books.  Because of this, the quality varies greatly from book to book.  I was disappointed to learn that the specific maps used in these texts are actually not WonderMaps versions where the layers can be easily removed or added.  Yes, I realize that I can go through the normal WonderMaps list of maps, and make a map based on what I want to see on that map, but I was really hoping that WonderMaps for each text had already been provided for each lesson that suggests mapwork.  Maybe this is something that Bright Ideas Press will consider including in the future.

     Regardless of the ages of your children, the type of history/literature/music/arts/sciences/geography curricula you use in your home, or your educational situation, WonderMaps will meet your needs for easily customizable maps.  I highly recommend this product!

     Keep in mind that with any 1st edition mapping product, there may be a few errors.  Bright Ideas Press has already been working to correct any errors that may have been found, and updates will be provided at some point in the future. 

     WonderMaps sells for $49.95 from Bright Ideas Press.

     For those of you who subscribe to The Old Schoolhouse magazine, you may check your newest issue for the WonderMaps advertisement for a "20% off" coupon code for WonderMaps!

     Read what other homeschooling parents on the TOS Crew have to say about WonderMaps!

     What kind of geographical or mapping curriculum do you already use with your children?  Do you think that this WonderMaps product would enhance your own curriculum?

Discloser:  I was provided with a free copy of WonderMaps for the express purpose of sharing my honest opinion with you, my readers.  No other compensation was provided.

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