How to Add a Map to Your Homeschool Journal
One of the most alluring parts of starting a homeschool journal (for me) was adding a map. I love maps and including a map in a journal just seemed so exciting.
So I added a map that we could plot the settings of our books. And we loved it even more than I thought we would.
Since then I’ve had a lot of questions as to how I added the map into my journal. (To be fair, I had a lot of compliments on my map drawing abilities. I wish that were so! But don’t worry, I’m sharing my entire method below and it does not rely on stellar map drawing abilities.)
There are a few ways to get a map in your journal depending on how much time and effort you want to put in – and how comfortable you are with gluing something into your journal.

Bullet Journaling with Maps for your Homeschool
We started using the bullet journal method to track more of our homeschool process a few years ago (see How to Start a Homeschool Bullet Journal here) and the maps are my favorite part.
There are so many reasons why maps are a great addition to your bullet journal that I hardly know where to begin.
First, maps are just really cool. I’m sure I get the love of maps from my mom. But they’re visually pleasing, they tell a story of their own, and it can be really helpful to see how certain subjects play out via maps.
Second, maps give us a lot of information. It’s one thing to know that a mountain range is near a certain city and another thing to see how that mountain range impacts the city.
Third, maps can help us visualize so much of our homeschool subjects. From knowing where wars were fought to where specific people were born.
The Simplest Method
The easiest way to get a map into your journal is simply to print one out and glue/tape it in. Or you can print it on sticker paper and stick it in.
There is nothing wrong with this method. The only reason I don’t use it is because I really don’t like gluing or taping things in my journal. It’s just a personal preference.
I dislike having raised parts in my journals. One way to print and stick without having the raised parts is using Washi tape to tape in the page at the seam.
If you want to print your maps, don’t miss the printable maps at the bottom of the post.
The Most Challenging Method
If I’m going to do the simplest method I might as well cover the most challenging method as well.
In my opinion, the most challenging way would be to learn how to draw maps and freehand it.
There is a great book that many homeschoolers use – Draw the World by Kristin J Draeger. This could be a fantastic opportunity to go through this book and use your new skills to freehand maps in your journal!
Even better – have your kids use these books for school and have them draw the maps into their homeschool bullet journal.

The Method for non-Gluers who are not freehand map drawers
If you (like me) are not part of the first two categories, I have good news. My method does not include gluing nor does it include learning how to draw maps freehand.
The steps are easy – print a map, using pencil or carbon paper to trace the map in your journal, ink it in. You can watch this in motion in the following video or follow the steps outlined below:
Now, the more detailed version
1. Print out the map you’d like to use. Make sure it’s the size you want the map in your journal to be. There’s not a simple way to size up or down a map after it’s been printed.
2. You either need carbon paper or a pencil. If you use carbon paper simply put the carbon paper black side down on your journal. Line up your map on top exactly where you want it to be in your journal.
If you’re using the pencil method – cut out your map but don’t get too close to the edges of the map. I like having enough extra space to hold the map down easily.
Flip your paper over and shade in the backside of the map with your pencil. Make sure to get good coverage. If you miss any parts it’ll be blank in the next step.
Hold your map up to a light to make sure you’ve shaded behind every line you want to trace.
Flip your map back over and line it up where you want it in your journal.
Protip: If your map is going to cover two pages, cut the paper in half where you want it to be split. This will make it easier to line up on both pages.
3. Whether you used carbon paper or the pencil method – continue here. Use a pencil to trace all of the lines on your map. If you don’t trace a line it won’t appear in your journal. The pencil or carbon paper will create the lines into your journal.
Do your best not the lift up your map as you are tracing. It’s nearly impossible to line up something like this a second time.
You can tape your design lightly to your journal. But I’ve found the tape can even shift slightly causing you to have to start all over.
4. When you have finished tracing your map, lift the paper and see your design transferred to your journal!
5. Using a pen or marker (or something more permanent than pencil) trace the lines in your journal. You might need to use the original design as a reference.
And your done! You now have a map in your journal.

Things You Can Do with a Map in Your Homeschool Bullet Journals
- Plan vacations (great for a geography lesson)
- Plan fictional vacations (great for a geography lesson on a budget)
- Track the locations from the books you’ve read
- Track where specific art pieces were created
- Play Globle and track what countries you’ve correctly guessed
- Historical Maps (wars)