We started by making a "Post-it Note" map back in July 2018. It was incredibly generalized, and not at all perfect:
Em reviewing about the cities (orange notes) and water bodies (blue notes), July 2018
We learned the major seas ("The Dead, the Red, and the Med"), added the Sea of Galilee, and talked about some of the major cities, both past (Caesarea Maritima and Capernaum) and present (Dan, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem). It was helpful in figuring out basic directions, such as the Galilee is north of the city of Jerusalem, the Jordan runs down in the east side, or the Red Sea is farthest south. And we started becoming familiar with the names and general locations of places in the Holy Land.
Post-it notes being what they are, this was a ephemeral map. Eventually, all the notes were removed, displaced, or lost--which was okay! It was expected. But as we approach the T-18 months mark, it is time to do something different. And slightly more permanent. (Imagine the mom in me getting excited and cringing at the same time.)
Bring out the permanent markers and a video projector!
Here Gee is using a laser pointer to indicate different countries surrounding Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
And here are my five children, from 15 to 8 years old, writing on my wall with black permanent markers. (Cringe!) (But awesome!)
More jostling, drawing, and complaining when a sibling got their shadow in the way.
There were surprisingly few arguments, though.
Here is the finished product! (Click to make it bigger)
It's pretty faint, which is okay by all of us. There are no names, no cities, no lakes or rivers (except as delineated by a border). But this is the blank slate on which we can talk about ancient events, Biblical events, more recent events, physiographic locations (mountains, rivers, valleys), and current events. We'll use paints (maybe), more post-it notes (definitely), and (probably) even more permanent markers. And when we are done, we'll paint it over with marker-blocking primer and paint--and maybe start on our next great adventure!
