Are you looking for ways to make history come alive for your children?  Here are some easy ways to turn history lessons from dull to dynamic

1. Make Costumes – Invite your children to choose characters or occupations from the historic time you are studying.  Ask them to make costumes representing the style of clothing the people wore.  Suggest resources they can explore to help them learn more about what people wore. Why do they think their character dressed a certain way?  How is it different from the way people dress today?  Discuss options for making the costumes, encouraging students to use things they can find at home or make easily.  Choose a dress-up day to present their characters and answer questions about the costumes. If you are unable to make a costume, look at pictures or books to describe the period dress.
2. Have a Puppet Show – Make puppets of historic figures from time period you are studying. Children can act out key events in the lives of the characters they create. They can also make up their own stories about the time period, thinking about how the character may have responded to a situation that occurred during the time they lived.  Or they can bring the person to life in today’s world and have them interact with modern society.  What would surprise the historical person if they spent a day in today’s world?
3. Interview Historic People - Ask children to choose their favorite historical person to represent and guide them as they research the person’s life. Like a news reporter, conduct “interviews” with each historic figure, asking details about their life, the time in which they lived, the problems they faced, etc.  To help the children be prepared to answer questions from the perspective of their favorite historical person, the children can either make up a list of questions that they would like to be asked, or you can provide them with an outline of questions you will ask.
4. Act out Historical Events – Children love drama and acting out events, and this is a great way to immerse them in history. They can act out real events from history, or they can make up their own play by imagining imagine how people from history may have interacted with each other. What was a typical day like for them?  What was different about their lives as compared to the way we live today?  While costumes and props will make the plays more interesting, children can present the plays without costumes.  If you don’t use costumes, have each child wear a name tag that clearly identifies them so the audience can understand who the child is representing.
5. Bring out the Maps - Locate countries, regions, cities, or villages that are related to the person you are studying (birth city, where they lived throughout their life, location of death, etc.).  Using a reproducible map, trace the movement of individuals who traveled widely and locate their travel paths. Discuss how they traveled (on foot, by horse, on a ship, etc.), and talk about how long it took them to get from place to place.  Show how country borders may have changed during the person’s life and discuss how those changes may have had an impact on them.
6. Make a Game of Dates - When children study events and connect them with specific dates in history, it may be helpful to examine the different calendars used throughout the ages and those that are still in use today, including the Chinese, Christian, Indian, Islamic, Jewish, and Persian calendars. By looking at calendars that are no longer in use, such as the ancient Egyptian and Babylonian, Mayan, Roman, and French Revolutionary calendars, students can explore different worlds and relate them to what they are studying. This approach adds a different dimension to straight date memorization.
7. Read, Read, Read! - Bring history to life by reading stories, fairy tales, poems, novels, and classic literature of the time period you are studying.  Read biographies of famous people. This can be done with a read-aloud time (with you or the children taking turns reading aloud), or by making daily reading assignments and discussing them as a group.  You can also provide a book list (including historical fiction and graphic novels) so children can choose books that interest them.
8. Combine Art with History – Add a creative dimension to your study of history by using art to make history lessons memorable.  Children can color or paint portraits of famous people and the places they lived, or they can create paper dolls, clay sculptures, etc. These creations may be displayed or collected and used in a timeline as your study progresses. In addition to creating your own art, look at the relevant art history from the time period you are studying to help children understand the skills and values of the people who lived during that time.

Originally posted 2010-02-17 09:46:23.

If you’re like me, you hated history when you were young, but as an adult you’ve come to appreciate that there’s a lot more to history than there seemed to be based on the way we were taught. Sadly, however, because we weren’t properly taught history as children, putting together a good history program for our kids can be tortuously difficult. We have to struggle just to understand history ourselves, let alone teach it. If only our own teachers had given us the gift of the “history habit” when we were younger.

Imagine how much further along we would be if we’d acquired that basic knowledge we are struggling to build now back when we were seven years old. Imagine being fascinated by history’s true stories then, instead of twenty or thirty years later. Imagine being fueled by lasting impressions of the past, armed with a foundation of historical knowledge, and buoyed by a desire to learn as you make your way through life. That’s the history habit, and it’s a gift every person should receive as a child, instead of having to fight to develop it as an adult.

Sadly, even fewer people develop the history habit than its more famous sibling, the “reading habit.” The simple reason that most adults don’t develop the history habit is that they don’t learn to love history when they are still young, and then they learn to hate it when they are in high school.

Most schools don’t teach history to young children. Elementary grade children are taught “social studies” instead. But social studies present the range of human experiences in a disconnected fashion, typically jumping from journalistic topic to journalistic topic, culture to culture, and continent to continent in a seemingly random manner. When asked what they are studying, students in social studies classes answer, “I don’t know.”

Social studies do not help kids develop an interest in history, and they don’t prepare students with the basic knowledge they need to learn more history when they are older. Consequently, when students get to high school, and they are bombarded with the material from 1000-page textbooks, they are forced to cram it into their heads without ever having developed an appreciation for it, and they almost universally come to see history as a perverse kind of torture inflicted on them by uncaring adults! Hardly anyone actually learns history this way. Certainly, nobody learns to love it by this approach. At best, students learn to master the art of rote memorization, so that they can pass the test.

To be properly prepared to weather a typical high school history class, let alone to emerge into the world as historically-minded adults, students need years of prior history instruction in the same material at increasing levels of abstraction. In other words, students already need to have acquired the history habit, and to have taken advantage of it to see history as a relevant and exciting subject.

Of course, if you’re able to homeschool your child through high school, you can help him or her avoid what passes for history in high schools these days, but the real point of teaching your children history at a young age isn’t so that they will be ready to endure bad textbooks and curricula. It’s about giving them knowledge and the sustainable motivation to make history a part of their intellectual life as an educated adult. Here’s how you can put your child in this advantageous position:

1. START HISTORY EARLY - The most important way to give a child the history habit is to start history instruction early. The earlier kids start learning history the more natural it is for them to do so, the easier it is for them to become habituated to it, and the better prepared they are to learn the more complicated material they will have to tackle when they’re older. The most important thing at this early stage, however, is to get them hooked.
2. KEEP IT UP – In addition to starting to learn history when they are young, students needs to learn it repeatedly over the course of their education. Repetition is not only key to memorization, it helps understanding. Going back over the same material they learned a few years ago helps students reinforce the “history habit,” because they experience the satisfaction of recalling historical facts, and they begin to make connections that they could not have made the first time around. (Fortunately, most homeschooling curricula are designed to allow you to cycle through the same material at different stages of learning.)
3. THROW IN SOME FUN - Two words: Toga Party! I just went to one to honor a young man’s fight against cancer, but do you really need a reason to have a toga party? There are so many simple and fun ways like this to reinforce the history habit as children are growing up. Toys, puzzles, and games (including video games) that have a history component are plentiful. Of course, the easiest thing to do is to turn on the TV! You’d be surprised how many channels beyond the obvious ones incorporate history into their programming. Spike, a “man’s channel,” is running a series about great warriors through history that a lot of older students would love. Whenever the Travel Channel goes abroad, or even when it stays in the US, there’s plenty of history to be found there too. (To leverage this resource most effectively for learning try to match up your programming choices with what your child is studying.)
4. TRAVEL THROUGH TIME - Find local attractions that are of historical significance, and if you can afford it, get out of the US! I recently traveled to see an operating hundred year old Cotton Gin in Burton, TX—only an hour from Houston, where I live. There are attractions of this sort throughout the country. Certainly, Civil War re-enactments abound. But beyond that, do whatever you can to jump overseas. Plan a trip to Rome, Athens, or Paris at least once in your kids’ education. And get them involved in the planning. Putting together a family vacation to see famous historical places is a great homeschooling project!
5. LITERATURE - Everyone knows this one, but I’ll stick it in here anyways. Match up your literature with your history. Studying Rome? A Triumph for Flavius is great for younger kids. American history for junior high? Carry On Mr. Bowditch is terrific. Studying Revolutionary France in high school? You can’t do better than Victor Hugo’s Ninety-Three for students that age. There are a thousand options, from D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths to Asterix, from Cyrano de Bergerac to Inherit the Wind. Great historical fictions helps develop the reading habit and the history habit at the same time!
6. WHAT NOT TO DO - Rote memorization is the surest way to kill a burgeoning history habit, so ignore what the Well Trained Mind says on this one, at least for elementary grade children. There is plenty of time for students to memorize key individuals, events and dates once they understand why history matters and they enjoy learning it. Memorization should not be a priority for students of history until they are older, once it can be a proper complement to what they already understand. (The one exception to this rule is geography. The memorization of geographical place names, which is highly relevant to understanding history, is inherently a rote activity. It should be started as early as possible.)
7. IT’S NEVER TOO LATE – It’s possible to develop the history habit at any age. I’m proof of that! Which doesn’t mean it doesn’t get more difficult as students get older. I’ve had to fight for over fifteen years to get where I am. If you have an older student, and you’re having trouble with history, here’s a few tips that might help. First, try to find some way to tap into your kid’s values. Show a sports fan how a favorite team’s record is a kind of history. Show a music lover their favorite’s artist’s influences. Second, talk about the value of history abstractly. Discuss the instruction, insights, and inspiration that you have gained from history and work on finding more together. Third, don’t worry about covering it all. It’s better to do only American or Ancient history well than to do a lot poorly.

Developing the “history habit” is a journey you can take together with your homeschooling students. If you can transmit lasting knowledge of history to them as you grow yourself, then you’ll be giving yourself a gift at the same time as you’ll be passing it on to them.

Originally posted 2010-04-19 08:18:12.

It was the Great Depression in rural Minnesota. From her small cabin with no utilities, Martha Linsley, a certified teacher, fought school district administrators for the right to home-school her two children. Defending her gifted son, who would eventually be nominated for a Nobel Physics Prize, she was threatened with fines – and even jail time.

When Martha Linsley brought her two children, Ruth and John, to the tiny one-room Vokes School house in District 13, near Park Rapids, Minnesota on September 6, 1932, she was concerned about their young, newly hired teacher. Barely nineteen herself, Miss Edum was not prepared to teach the kindergarten through 12th grade class of 13 children. Anarchy ruled the classroom from the first day – spitballs flew and chalkboard erasers landed in clouds of white dust.  Miss Edum was hopelessly out-maneuvered.

Nine-year-old Ruth and seven-year-old John Linsley were the meek newcomers – city kids in nice outfits, wearing shoes. John was a gifted student who had skipped first grade.  He was an independent voracious reader who devoured adult level books, and just wanted to be left alone. As the school year progressed, John and Miss Edum sparred over the mindless cut-and-paste worksheets she assigned whenever he completed his work early.

At forty years, Martha had been a high school math and physics teacher, with graduate level education in Greek and Latin from the University of Minnesota. The family was beginning a new adventure, living in a tiny cabin without running water or electricity. Her husband, James, drove a streetcar in Minneapolis, mailing letters, cash, groceries, and books, while she and the kids tried to establish their dream of a working family farm.

Martha straddled the rural school system for two years; teaching the kids at home whenever possible, while fighting compulsory attendance laws, along with threats of fines or jail time. Life became simpler once John was kicked out of school. But the events which followed could not have been predicted by anyone…

Miss Edum worked as a sales clerk at the JC Penney’s store in Park Rapids, and never taught school again after that first class in 1932.

Ruth Linsley Forman taught First Grade at Cherry School in Toledo, Ohio, and Washington School in Minneapolis. She changed the young lives of many students, by working with some of the most severe behavior problems, and those with difficulty learning to read.

John D. Linsley became an internationally recognized Astrophysicist, who was nominated for the Nobel Physics Prize in 1981. Besides his teaching and research positions, he worked with an international consortium of more than 50 institutions based out of Palermo, Italy.

Despite – and maybe even because of – the economic turbulence of the era, 1932 was the beginning of a saga which would change the entire family, and many who met those two city kids along the way.

Originally posted 2009-04-03 13:13:53.

Art appreciation (or the study of art history) need not be difficult.  You don’t need a fancy curriculum or a complicated plan.  You simply need the desire to enjoy, along with your children, the beauty of God’s creation as depicted over the centuries by outstanding artists.

So, where do you start?  I like to accomplish several goals at one time (the proverbial “killing two or three birds with one stone”) so I tie in art appreciation, art history and hands-on art projects with the historical period we are currently studying.  An excellent resource for helping you do this is the book Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn F. Kohl & Kim Solga. (ISBN 0935607099)  This book features over 90 different artists in chronological order from the early 1300′s to the present. (If you’re studying history before the 1300′s…see the tips section below) What I love about this book is that, for each artist, there is a brief biography, an explanation of the artist’s style and a nice little hands-on art project that typifies that artist’s style or technique.  These projects are especially suitable for children ages 4 – 12, but I’ve found that teens can also enjoy many of them.

For example, browse through Discovering Great Artists and find one or two artists that lived during the time period of history that the children are studying.  Then head to the library to find a couple of good art books that contain paintings by that artist.  Spend some time with your children looking at the pictures and just enjoying the artist’s work.  Better yet, borrow or purchase a couple of prints to hang on the wall.  This will give the children a chance to become even better acquainted with the artist’s work as they daily see the pictures hanging there. (A good place to purchase inexpensive art prints is AllPosters.com.  Use the advanced search engine to type in the name of the artist or period of art and the price range that you’re interested in).  Once the children have a ‘feel’ for the artist’s work, find a time slot during the week where you can do the art project.  Display their artwork and enjoy the process.

Are you studying a period of history that precedes 1300?  You will not find any artists in Discovering Great Artists prior to 1300.  However, you can still use the same method as described above; the difference will be that you will be studying a period of art rather than a particular artist.   Prior to the 1300′s, artists did not sign their work.  There’s lots of art from ancient Egypt but we have no idea who created it. The same is true for pre-historic art or the art from ancient Greece and Rome.

Here are some ideas for art projects from pre-1300′s:

• Pre-historic art: find some smooth fist -sized rocks and paint on them with earth-tone tempura paints.
• Ancient Egypt: take out a book on hieroglyphics from the library. Create some stationary using hieroglyphic symbols to decorate the boarders of copier paper.  Make copies of the original as needed.
• Ancient Greece: take out a book from the library on the art of ancient Greece.  Find pictures of Greek amphorae (vases).  Draw the shape of one of the vases on a large piece of poster board.  Cut out the shape and have the children decorate it with the type of designs they see on amphorae in the art book.
• Ancient Rome: make a paper mosaic using a simple design from a coloring book.  Cut various colors of construction paper into tiny squares and paste them onto the design in mosaic fashion.
• Middle Ages: find a book on medieval coats of arms and have your student design one for your family.

Charmaine Wistad has successfully homeschooled her own two children from pre-school through high school.  Now she is turning her attention toward helping other homeschool moms. Through personal coaching, Charmaine helps homeschooling moms thrive… not just survive! Visit her website to try a complimentary no-obligation telephone coaching session.

Originally posted 2009-05-21 09:24:09.

In her 80s, Martha Linsley bought a small typewriter from Montgomery Ward, taught herself to type, and transcribed the hundreds of letters she and her husband and their two children wrote to one another. Their correspondence may very well comprise the most extensive written insight into the day-to-day lives of a family dealing with the challenges of the Great Depression.  After decades of a 5-generation family effort, the first phase of the letters, daughter Ruth’s memoire of their adventure, the children’s drawings, photos, the family cookbook, and books they read, are posted on DearDaddy.com.

They were the victims of a mortgage scam and greedy lenders, the nation’s crops were failing in record-setting heat, unemployment was soaring, the economy was in free-fall – the lame duck president was overwhelmed, but a newly-elected president was promising change. It was the early 1930s.

Despite the national crisis, James and Martha Linsley planned their strategy for financial independence and a farm of their own. After “qualifying” for a shady mortgage deal on a 160 acre parcel, they were encouraged to hear about a new government loan program available to assist farmers. They decided that James would stay in Minneapolis and continue working his ten-year job as a streetcar conductor, while Martha and the children,  Ruth (9) and John (7) would move to their “farm” near Park Rapids, Minnesota, about 160 miles north. Martha and the kids could live inexpensively, and they were sure that, with a federal loan to get them started, they would soon be full-time farmers.

The “farmhouse” turned out to be a 15 foot square dilapidated cabin with no running water or electricity. Through two brutal Minnesota winters while temperatures dipped near 40 below zero, they lived this arrangement from the summer of 1932 until the fall of 1934, writing letters to each other almost daily.

Feisty Martha Linsley was a city girl, raised in a Minneapolis orphanage, where talking at the dinner table was prohibited. She was a high school physics and math teacher, a University of Minnesota graduate, with Masters level education in Greek and Latin. James was a country boy who left school after eighth grade. A devoted husband and father, he was a life-long voracious reader, and had a passion for horses, farming, and carpentry. Daughter Ruth had a vivid imagination and gift for expression. Her father was fond of saying “The only time Ruth is quiet is when she’s eating cherry sauce – with pits.” John was a creative gifted student who continually challenged his one-room rural school teachers, was kicked out of school numerous times – and was later nominated for a Nobel Prize in Physics.

Their dream of farming was never realized, but they were all transformed by the experience. And over 75 years later, there is an odd resonance to their struggles and concerns, and possibly a lesson in the way they often found comfort and entertainment in the simplest of things.

Originally posted 2009-03-25 12:55:00.