History: Not what I thought…

I thought History was boring!  When I went to public school, the coach read from the textbook, gave us the answers to the quiz on Thursday, and then we all passed the quiz on Friday –week after week.  I will admit that I dreaded teaching history to my children.  To prepare myself, I bought all four volumes of Story of the World (SOTW) along with the activity guides.  I thought a decent spine and plenty of go-along living books will be an interesting way to study world history. Living history books are interesting!  However, a chronological view of history is not flexible.  When Hunter is excited about American pilgrims and pioneers, I want to read to read all about them too.  We have not made it past the first chapter in SOTW, so far.

Charlotte Mason said, “The fatal mistake is in the notion that he must learn ‘outlines,’ of the whole history…of the world. Let him, on the contrary, linger pleasantly over the history of a single man, a short period, until he thinks the thoughts of that man, is at home in the ways of that period. Though he is reading and thinking of the life time of a single man, he is really getting intimately acquainted with the history of a whole nation for a whole age.”  

I can see her point after reading “Buffalo Bill” by Ingri and Edgar D’Aulaire.  This book sparked a new passion.  Since then we have read many other books and stories about the American Wild West.

We studied the prairie in Oklahoma and visited the wildlife refuge in the Wichita mountains during our visit to see family in September 2009.

We toured the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. 

We enjoyed a day at Philip Foster Farm which is wonderful for living history.

Lately, Hunter wants to dress like Buffalo Bill and he builds log cabins and other frontier scenes with Lincoln Logs. He loves the movie “The Indian in the Cupboard.” We also read native American selections like Buffalo Jump by Peter Roop. For geography, we are reading “Tree in the Trail” by Holling C. Holling.   I found an old book called The Pioneers by Marie and Douglas Gorsline that we both like.  Many older books like this are easily found at Friends of the Library sales, Goodwill and used book stores.

In the last six months, we read several smaller books about pilgrims and recently started ”Stories of the Pilgrims” by Margaret B. Pumphrey.  We enjoyed “The Matchlock Gun” by Walter D. Edmonds so much that we read it twice. I also like Brown Paper School USKids American History (5 titles available).   We also love “The Children’s Book of America” by William Bennett which is a nice mix of history, legends, and tall tales. 

Tall tales are a lot of fun.  Hunter really enjoyed Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed from the Bennett book.  Another favorite tall tale is “Apples to Oregon” by Deborah Hopkinson.  Folk tales and folk songs are also part of our collective history, so we are listening to folk songs from “I hear America Singing!” which includes a C.D.  We also like “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie and the beautiful paintings for the book by Kathy Jakobsen.  The D’Aulaires have a cute book for the Star Spangled Banner.  I hope to round out our patriotic selections very soon, perhaps to help us celebrate the Fourth of July.

I read somewhere that it is a good idea to study the child’s homeland first and then study world history.  This is what we are doing without thinking about it.  We followed some rabbit trails, took field trips, and did some fun activities simply because we wanted to.   I’m a little surprised now to realize that I did not plan it like this.  Hmmm.

Eventually, we will use SOTW to spark our interest in other cultures, time periods, and historical people.  I could have waited on this purchase but I am glad to have it.  While I am not overly worried about the “dreaded gaps,” it is nice to have an overview of world history sitting on the shelf.  We also have the “Usborne Internet-linked Encyclopedia of World History.”

If we are going to skip around in history, I know that we will need to keep a timeline or Book of Centuries. For young children, I like this idea. When Hunter is older, he can start a true Book of Centuries which is explained here.  

I will also need to consider this post: “History and story: When “folklore and fact collide”. I can see where relying on a textbook would eliminate the need to vet my sources, but I will gladly put in the extra research after seeing the level of interest generated by living books.

Living History Book Lists:
Penny Gardener’s A Charlotte Mason Approach to History
A nifty Book Finder at Simply Charlotte Mason 
Red Shift History Book List
And last but not least, check this out:
Heritage History “Putting the Story back into History, with traditional tales from long-ago.”  

Additional Fun with History:
WatchKnow Videos (free on-line)
Historical Costumes or Paper Dolls and Paper Houses 
Toobs or Schleich for Dioramas