Visualize World Geography

Theresa A. Blain is the founder of Tender Heart Press and author of the Visualize World Geography Curriculum. She received her B.A. and M.A. in the Behavioral and Social Sciences from the University of Chicago. Her primary area of study was in the cognitive sciences–how the brain processes information, particularly how new information is most effectively retained in long-term memory. With her understanding of effective learning methodologies, she applied her knowledge in 1997 to instruct her then two year old son, Hunter, who liked maps. This was the beginning of the VWG pictographies.

Hunter learned with such ease that the news media began to spread the word about a 2 year old boy who could identify world flags and countries effortlessly. From there, at age 3, the national talk show, Regis and Kathie Lee invited Hunter to appear with them on their show. Hunter was invited back the following year.
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno graciously invited Hunter, at age 3, to appear on the show as part of a segment called “Kids’ Show & Tell”.

Hunter also was honored by the 77th Texas Legislature with House Resolution No.74 on March 5, 2001 acknowledging his accomplishments, particularly with regard to his learning geography facts.

Soon thereafter many people, who had seen Hunter on national television, or read about him in newspapers, wrote letters to Theresa requesting her to publish a book so that other students could learn basic geography facts as effortlessly and effectively as Hunter.

In 2003, her first edition book,Visualize World Geography in 7 Minutes a Day was published by Tender Heart Press, which 10 years later, developed into a complete, video based, on-line curriculum used by thousands of students across the country.

Theresa A. Blain speaks extensively at conferences, describing the Visualize World Geography pedagogy to both private and public school Social Studies teachers. She is a member of the National Council for Geographic Education.