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What is orienteering? Basically it is how to find your way from point A to point B. This would be a great unit to use with a geography study, a camping activity, hiking, mapping activities, etc.

1. Locate as many different types of maps and charts as you can that include the area where you live, your state capital, or an area you wish to visit. Use the maps to tell about the area.

2. Pretend that you need to explain what a map is to someone who speaks your language but has never heard of a map before. Using at least four of the maps you have collected, explain what maps are and the information each map gives.

3. Know the length of your pace. Find out how long it takes you to walk about 1 mile comfortably over fairly level ground, then figure out how long at this rate it should take you to walk the distance between two points you have marked on a map.

4. Draw a sketch map to a favorite point you could get to by walking. Ask someone to test your map by following it. Include compass directions and a legend (key) explaining the symbols you used.

5. Draw a map of your neighborhood locating landmarks, streets, paths or trails, bodies of water, and other details. Include a legend (key) to explain the symbols you used, compass direction, scale, and other information.

6. Show that you know how to use a compass by:

§ Explaining how to adjust the difference between true and magnetic north
§ Setting a given bearing and following it a short distance
§ Sighting on an object, going to it, and returning to your starting point

7. Show how to find the four cardinal points by using the sun, stars, or other natural signs.

8. Tell what natural signs a group that has lost the trail might use to find its way home.

9. Develop an indoor/outdoor game or activity for small spaces that could help others learn how to use a compass.

10. Make a three-dimensional model of a portion of a topographical map to show contour intervals of the hills and valleys.

11. Using a half of a potato to represent a hill, make a topographical map of the potato to show its contours.

12. Plan an imaginary orienteering hike with at least six stations. Draw the route you would take between stations and what you would see along the way.

13. Set up a miniature compass walk in a nearby park.

Copyright 2001 Kathryn Martinez. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

About Kathryn Martinez: I'm a SAHM, home schooling mother of 4 children, 1 husband, and a neurotic cat. This is our sixth year of home schooling. I worked for over 10 years at USF in an education and training department. I hope that by sharing my experience with other home schoolers, both the new and the not-so-new and those just considering home schooling, I will pass along all the help that was given to me when I first started out.

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