Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns says studying history doesn’t have to be “a dose of castor oil.” Yet this is what history studies felt like when I was in school in the 1970s. It was one of my least favorite subjects. The teacher would sit at a desk at the front of the room as members of the class would take turns reading aloud from the textbook. We might have a discussion and, occasionally, a creaky filmstrip. The class clock’s second hand seemed to sweep in slow motion. For homework, the teacher would assign the questions at the end of the chapter, which we would review during the next class. Would you believe, with all of the resources available today, that little in the pedagogy had changed when my daughter began studying history as a separate subject in sixth grade in the year 2008?
History is emerging as one of our favorite homeschool subjects. The textbooks serve merely as a launching point to other media and fun activities. The Internet provides access to museum websites, which often offer a host of free engaging activities for students. Artfully produced DVDs have replaced the temperamental and pedantic filmstrips. For example, the PBS “Liberty” series on the American Revolution is an insightful teaching tool for middle and high schoolers. Aside from expert commentary, all material is drawn from actual historical accounts. The website, www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty, provides interactive features, including a Road to Revolution game. Even if you can’t afford to purchase the DVD set, you can avail yourself of the free information on the website. Likewise, the Colonial Williamsburg website, http://www.history.org/, offers myriad educational materials, including interactives for students.
Our textbook, U.S. History: People and Events 1607-1865 by George Lee, summarizes important events in a bare-bones way; alone, it cannot do an adequate job of teaching history. To its credit, it supports national standards and poses some interesting questions for discussion. The teacher resource book, Highlights in American History: From Its Beginnings to 1850 by Grace Kachaturoff, provides suggestions for activities geared to different types of learners: draw a political cartoon, role-play a resident of one of the colonies, keep a journal of your life as a colonist, make a chart comparing and contrasting life in the North and South. These can make history more meaningful for the student. The book also suggests supplementary reading and topics for further study.
Take advantage of all you can to make history come alive in your homeschool classroom. And don’t pass up visits to nearby historical sites and museums. These field trips provide an opportunity for enrichment, as well as a break from the classroom. With all the resources available to history teachers, the subject shouldn’t be boring.
Allegra's take: The best way to keep students engaged in history lessons is to take the multi-media approach. Reading from a textbook alone can be dull indeed. The “Liberty” series from PBS is chock-full of great historical accounts and factoids, and the narrative is so engaging that at times I thought I was watching an adventure film. The series, which is divided up into manageable one-hour episodes, can be watched part by part without the story being interrupted.
As far as textbooks go, U.S. History: People and Events 1607-1865 and Highlights in American History: From Its Beginnings to 1850 are fine. The interesting, hands-on activities provided by the latter are good for those who need more than just reading to absorb material. I especially enjoyed the creative writing activities, such as writing letters and journal entries from the perspective of early Americans. U.S. History: People and Events 1607-1865 provides great discussion-starting opinion questions after each entry, and, in contrast to the sweeping overviews of Highlights in American History, presents its information in smaller, focused articles. The discussion questions are sometimes difficult, but in an enjoyable way; they really make you think about and react to history rather than simply memorize it.
When learning about any period of history, American or otherwise, take some time to immerse your history classes in the era. If your student plays an instrument, find some sheet music from the time and give a “concert.” I’ve used Colonial Keyboard Tunes by J.S. Darling (available from Colonial Williamsburg) to play such songs on my piano. Try some crafts, recipes or other activities appropriate to the time being studied. Plimoth Plantation’s web site (http://www.plimoth.org/) provides authentic 17th-century American recipes. Students can apply their own interests or hobbies in the classroom, most likely, and make the lessons more meaningful.
