How we do it: History

History

We have 2 history days each week. On the first day, we watch an episode or two from the Liberty Kids series through Netflix Instant Watch. While my kids are watching an episode I check out the episode information on the website. Here is a link to the first episode: The Boston Tea Party. Each page for the episodes tells the real historical events and people, what will happen to the fictional characters, and what lessons can be learned. From this, as well as listening to the episodes, I can get dates and names to add to our timeline: To make our timeline I used a poster with lines faintly printed on it and a permanent marker, and put it on a door in our main rooms. Through the episodes we have also learned about the events leading up to the Boston Tea Party and beginning of the war so I made sure we had room at the beginning to put those in as well.

A couple years ago I invested in History Through the Ages Timline Figures complete collection on CD. It is definitely the investment - I can print new figures any time I need them for any projects that we are doing - timelines, notebook pages, etc., so I feel it is worth it.

Following an episode I have my kids tell me what happened (Charlotte Mason - Narration), we discuss what events and people are real, which are fictional but true to the time period, and what probably wouldn't have happened. Then they draw a picture of their favorite part in their History Journals - sometimes its about real events and sometimes its about the fictional characters. I purchased hardback, spiral bound sketch books from a local art supply store for $10-$15. We have been using these journals for a couple years, and there is still room for more journaling, so we don't need to purchase a new journal every year.

Here is an example of a picture from A's journal - nothing fancy.

Depending on what happens in the Liberty Kids episodes we will also do other activities. For example, after the episode about Paul Revere's ride we read the Longfellow poem. We have read Patrick Henry's speech and the poem for The Shot Heard Round the World - Concord Hymn by Emerson, and other things like these that relate to the episodes.

On our 2nd history day of the week, I read from a biography from the time period we are studying. We are currently reading George Washington by the D'Aulaires.

While I read my kids can color a picture, which I made from our timeline collection or they can do another picture in their History Journals about what I am reading.

History - Fall 2009

We are at the start of a new school year, so I thought I would share some of the resources we plan on using, starting with History.

We do history 2 days a week (Mon & Wed), for about 15-30 minutes at a time. After I read from the book the kids illustrate the story in their history journals and I will write or help them write anything they want to say about it. We also place a picture with a little bit of information in our timeline notebook, and find the places discussed on our maps.

For World History we are studying the Renaissance & Reformation era. The books we will be using are:

Famous Men of the Renaissance & Reformation will be our main spine. This just barely shipped from amazon today, so we will be about a month late getting started. Last year we used HA Guerber's The Story of the Middle Ages, which told history in a story format (the link has sample chapters), and my kids had a hard time listening and following along. Too many extra details I think. I'm hoping with Famous Men we can focus on the stories of the important people of the era and fill in details (dates, places, politics, etc.) with later school years.

For history biographies we are going to read Bard of Avon, Leonardo da Vinci, and Good Queen Bess by Diane Stanley. We might also read her Michelangelo book if we have time.

We will also check out library books, such as those recommended by Simply Charlotte Mason, to give the kids an idea of how people lived, what the houses and buildings looked like,

For American History we are mainly reading biographies (some fiction), and aren't really focusing on a specific time period. Some of these books I specifically want to read with them, and some I just already have and may include.

Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims
Path to the Pacific: The Story of Sacagawea
A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple (Mayflower, 1620)
A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32

We will read also read The American Revolution

Nyah's Liberty Girls club is reading the Kaya books, which is the Native American - American Girl.

Austin's Knights of Freedom club is doing the American frontier era through the Childhood of Famous Americans series and will be reading Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Buffalo Bill, and Crazy Horse.

I also have the I Love America teacher resource kit which highlights an american history story each month September through May, which I sometimes remember to use.

There are also other subjects where we touch on history information, such as our Foreign Country Study, Composer Study, Artist Study, and Poetry, but history isn't the focus of these subjects so they aren't included in the history journals, but we do add important people and events to our timeline.

Hutchings Museum's Round Up Visit

It's Lehi's Round Up Week, and the Hutchings Museum has had some fun activities going on. we went especially for the Bird Show, but the kids weren't as interested in it as they were in some of the other activities. By far, the museum's regular displays, especially interactive ones, were what they wanted to do, which was okay with me- I didn't want to stand in the hot sun for a bird show no one was going to watch.

Trying on period hats/wigs-

Going to Jail
Having to stay in the stroller and not touch anything is like being in jail.
The bird show crowd- Austin and Nyah sat for a little while, but the teepee's drew them away.

Playing in the teepees

Banging the drum in the Native American room.

The museum has a new Ice Age display, with a full skeleton model of a Smilodon, or Saber-toothed cat.

We also went to the Sacajawea storytelling show. Austin and Nyah have had an interest in her since the first Night of the Museum movie came out, so they sat enthralled for the whole 30 minutes. Of course, they got to be "helpers" and wear costumes of an indian and a member of the Lewis & Clark expedition.