How to Start a History Homeschool Lesson
Start a History Homeschool Lesson
When it comes to studying history, there is a lot of information to learn. This can be overwhelming for children and lead to them getting bored or even giving up. It is important to find a way to make the study of history fun and engaging. This is usually done by using a homeschool history curriculum that focuses on hands-on learning. The students can be involved in activities such as reenactments, making food from that time period and listening to music from that time. This will help the children to remember what they have learned.
Many homeschool history curricula take either a lecture-style or narrative approach to teaching. The lecture-style approach is more common and uses a textbook type of writing. This can be helpful for students who need to be pushed through the material and can be more engaging for those with attention issues.
Narrative history on the other hand presents facts in a more story like format. This is more popular with Charlotte Mason methods of teaching and learning. Students read a good living book and then narrate it back to the teacher or parent. They then record what they have narrated in their Book of Centuries. This is a key notebook kept by students who use the Charlotte Mason method of teaching.
Parents also have the choice of choosing a curriculum that is taught chronologically or thematically. Chronological history often feels more academic and can get bogged down in focusing on just one topic. This can make it hard for kids to see how things have been interconnected in history. Thematic history however is often easier to tie together and can be more engaging for students.
How to Start a History Homeschool Lesson
Another option for studying history is to have students research their family’s history. This can be a very interesting and informative lesson for kids and allows them to really connect the dots between modern day events and the people who came before them. Taking this approach also allows them to dig into the reasons behind family traditions, such as why grandma’s sugar cookie recipe is so delicious or where the origin of the family name came from.
Finally, many children are more interested in studying history homeschool when it is told through the lens of their own lives and interests. For this reason, it is often helpful to choose a homeschool history curriculum that has the student researching and focusing on things that interest them. This can be as simple as a video game that was developed in the past or as complex as a study of Ancient Egypt. This approach can be very fun for kids and may help them to retain the information more effectively.
When learning about a certain time period, a fun field trip will help bring the lesson to life. Taking your kids to visit an old pioneer home or one-room schoolhouse gives them the feeling of what it was like to be living during that time. They can get a sense of what it was like to cook and wash by hand, or attend a community fair from that time. This is a great way to ignite your children’s love of history!