Why This Geography Map Is Perfect For Homeschool

Hajime Narukawa has created a map of the world that will turn your homeschool geography curriculum upside down — literally. It fits beautifully with a Montessori homeschool approach and will get kids genuinely excited about learning about our world.

The Problem with the Map We All Know

For decades, we have used various versions of this classic world map:

The familiar Mercator projection — widely used, but significantly distorted.

While familiar, it is an inaccurate depiction of the actual size, shape, and layout of Earth. It’s quite difficult to accurately depict something round on a flat, rectangular surface. The standard map vastly distorts the size of the oceans (especially the Pacific), makes Africa far too small, and Greenland drastically too large. Antarctica is barely represented, when in reality it’s one of the largest continents.

Meet the AuthaGraph

Narukawa’s creation is, perhaps, the most accurate map you could include in your homeschool studies. Called the AuthaGraph, this map divides the world into 96 sections, projects it onto an inflated tetrahedron, which when unfolded becomes a rectangle. The result of this multi-step process may be the most accurate world map ever created.

The AuthaGraph map — winner of Japan’s Good Design Award Grand Prize.

The AuthaGraph won the Grand Award from Japan’s Good Design Awards and is now featured in student textbooks across Japan. Remarkably, this map can even be manipulated to feature any point of the world at the center and still remain accurate.

Why It’s a Great Homeschool Teaching Tool

Narukawa acknowledges the map is still a work in progress and some areas remain slightly distorted. But for homeschoolers, it provides a far more accurate view of our world than the maps most of us grew up with.

One of Narukawa’s goals was to accurately depict the areas near the poles — in part to raise awareness of rapidly melting ice caps. That makes this map not just a geography tool, but a conversation starter about climate and our planet’s future.

What do you think of this unique and revolutionary map? Is it a teaching tool you’d use in your homeschool? Let us know in the comments!