• Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Activity, Change, Progress

  • HOME
  • How to
    • Preschool
    • Kindergarten
    • Middle School
    • High School
  • Planner
  • Lapbooks
    • Trioramas
    • History Games
  • Shop
  • GET STARTED NOW!
    • Learning Styles
  • 7 Step Planner
    • DIY Best Student Planner
    • Free & Easy DIY Home Management Binder
  • Unit Studies
    • Creation to Ancients
    • Middle Ages to Reform
    • Exploring to Revolution
    • World Wars to Today
    • Science
    • Free Art Curriculum Grades 1 – 8
  • Curriculum
    • More Unit Studies
    • Geography
    • Writing PreK to 12th
    • Geronimo Stilton
  • BootCamp
    • Resources
      • Dynamic Subscriber Freebies
      • Exclusive Subscribers Library
      • Ultimate Unit Study Planner

Teach Homeschool History

10 Ways to Hook Homeschooled Kids On History

August 13, 2015 |
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have 10 ways to hook homeschooled kids on history.

Though I don’t consider myself a classical homeschooler now, the lure for me to the homeschool classical approach was my never ending thirst for learning history.

Knowing not everybody feels the same way and because I wanted my sons infected with the same passion, I am sharing 10 ways to hook homeschooled kids on history.

Maybe one of these “secrets” will work for you.

10 Ways to Hook Homeschooled Kids on History (Easy. I Promise) @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Besides you can never have enough ideas of out of the box ideas for kids who want to learn out of the box.

10 Ways to Hook Homeschooled Kids On History

1. Hone In on the Conflict

Having boys, I know that it’s important to not just teach about moments but boys want to know about conflicts.

Embrace the Imperfect in History

Conflicts lead to war.

Boys and most kids are interested in war, but this doesn’t mean your focus is about teaching violence or war.

It is about seizing teachable moments to instill essential moral values.

Use events that stir the sense of right and wrong in your child’s heart to develop their love for history.

Check out my World War II Free Resources for a Middle School Unit Study and free lapbooks on the American Civil War.

You can’t find anymore injustices than these two hotly debated topics.

2. Make Art, Drawing and Coloring THE Lesson.
(the activities are not just for little kids.)

Avoid moans and groans that can accompany writing and instead have your child draw or color what he knows about history.

Especially if you have a creative child who may loathe history, having an outlet to showcase their natural talent will help them to give history at least a glance.

And no, drawing is not just for young children.

I am eager for Tiny to try Drawing on History , Pre Civil War- Vietnam 1830s-1970s when he hits the high school years.

This is a high school level art appreciation course with short lessons and another outlet for creativity.

If you do have younger kids, look at Draw and Write Through History. It is a whole series with different periods.

My boys liked this series and opening the history day with a drawing always won them over.

Check out Dover History Coloring Book and Coloring the Story of the World: 60 Coloring Pages inspired by Susan Wise Bauer’s The Story of the World.

And I have 20 Ancient Civilization Coloring Pages to add to your mix.

  • 00. Ancient Civilization History 20 Coloring Pages

    00. Ancient Civilization History 20 Coloring Pages

    $3.50
    Add to cart

Then never underestimate the power of childhood games like Gold Fish.

3. Play Board Games for History.

Whether you create them yourself, check out my post 13 Free Printable History Board Games.

Also, look at my page Kids History Games Boosts Learning & Promotes Critical Thinking for more game ideas and free games.

Games are one of the best ways to bring history to life.

We loved the fun and easy distraction to learn history by Go Fish Cards and Book Ancient Egypt by Bird Cage press

Birdcage Press History Game @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

. Look at some of Bird Cage press games. Some are available at different times.

Birdcage Press History Game 2 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Though I don’t have any kids as dramatic as myself (okay, okay) drama and dressing up are equally fun ways to stroke a budding history buff.

4. Mix Drama with History.

Besides, the perfect mix is drama and history.

Learning about Shakespeare was so much more engaging when the kids could do a short drama in a co-op setting.

That is the kind of history that is worth taking time to do because it’s memorable.

Learning history through Drama @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Too, when I first mentioned the idea of learning about period dress or dressing up, my boys were not so interested.

You know, I got the I-really-want-to-roll-my-eyes-but-know-I-better-not look.

By not letting my boys always have the final say on things we did to learn history, dressing up and even drama became some of our fondest memories about learning history.

Check out my article Bring History to Life With Historical Costumes: Fun, Fashion and Unforgettable.

5. Use Living Books.

Living books can seem to make dead people live.

Okay, maybe not so dramatic that living books bring dead people back to life, but they sure make you feel like you have stepped back in time to see events unfold through their eyes.

Living books are one of the best ways to revive a spark for history and the ones I love using are inspired by Beautiful Feet.

We love the series by Genevieve Foster as we learned about George Washington’s World or The World of Columbus and Sons.

Check out my article, When We Used Beautiful Feet as Our History Spine as I share about the value of history living books.

6. Watch a Movie for History.

Pop the popcorn, butter please.

Living in a digital age has advantages and that means movie watching can be instant and it can be cheap.

When I start our unit studies on history, I do look for ways to kick it off by watching an epic movie.

I have a great list if you are studying the ancients. Check out my article Homeschool History – Teaching Ancient History Using Netflix.

Try coaxing your little and maybe not so little homeschooler with a few of these unconventional ideas.

7. Cover History in 14 Lessons.

Next, turning history into an overflowing amount of minute details can turn off even the most intriguing.

So, cover history in broad strokes and be done.

How? Look at my post How to Teach History in 14 Lessons (From Daunting to Doable).

8. Choose a Character to Study History Through.

Also, learning history through the eyes of a famous character brings history to life.

Study the events in the character’s life and things he or she liked or didn’t like.

What food they ate, the homes they made and their surroundings makes for a fascinating study.

For example, look at my study of history through Free American History Lapbook The Old West Through the Life of Wyatt Earp.

9. Study Music for the Music Lover

Additionally, another out of the box way to draw in a child is to study what they love.

I love Music in Our Homeschool to add different periods of music to history periods.

Finally, look at this last way which is lapbooks.

10. History Lapbooks

Lapbooks are products of a child’s work. However, do not make it busy work.

Lapbooks can be as complicated or as easy as your child wants it.

For instance, look at my page Homeschool Lapbooks – Powerful Tools For Mastery Learning.

Who knows maybe you have a hidden history buff in bloom?

Have you been able to hook your homeschooled kids on history?

What other ways do you teach history that are sure to bait a history hater?

Filed Under: History Resources, Teach Homeschool History Tagged With: hands on history, hands-on, hands-on activities, handson, handsonhomeschooling

When We Used Beautiful Feet Books as our History Spine

July 7, 2014 | 13 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When we used Beautiful Feet Books as our history spine, it came closest to what I feel teaching history should embrace.

Learning about history is not about dead people, but about bringing the past to life through events and the lives of people.  Beautiful Feet Books uses that method and more particularly through their choice of living books.

Today, if I had to choose just one program, Beautiful Feet Books would be my top choice at any grade level.  I used Beautiful Feet Books for a few years of high school with Mr. Senior 2013 and it refueled our love for history after having chosen a not so good program the prior year.

Mr. Awesome still uses their books for his required high school reading.  We have used the Early American and World History and the Medieval History Sr. High levels.

The things I am fond about the most about Beautiful Feet Books are that:

  • Living Books are used.

The series of books that made us lap up our history time I have mentioned before are by Genevieve Foster.

Focusing on a famous character of the time period, in each of her books she weaves other events going on and other important characters living at the same same time of the famous character.  One of the most beautiful features of the books is that line drawings of characters and events are in each section.  Mr. Senior 2013 was so inspired by them that he started keeping a notebook and drew some of his events from history.

History Guides As Springboards

Events are folded in naturally and told like a story. No one at any age ever tires of an action packed story.  Too, Genevieve Foster wrote the books in the forties and fifties, pre-politically correct times.  Those kinds of books I hunt high and low to stock in our home.

  • Their philosophy in teaching history, which is that you don’t have to use a chronological method for kids to make important connections was another draw for me.  I was able to relax and realize that though the chronological method to teaching history benefited me at times, it was not the only way to teach history.
  • Their no fluff style of their manuals I also enjoy at this season of homeschooling.  A few ideas on how to engage your child through notebooking, extra reading or a few extra assignments are assigned in the guide and that’s it.
  • I like the fact they help you with planning middle school and high school by assigning credits. This was much help when planning high school credits.
  • I also liked seeing the overview of all the programs or scope and sequence.

However, some of the same things I am fond about the most may be the very things that might not work for you depending on what you are wanting to achieve this year.

Look at some of these things to consider.

  • The manuals are nothing more than a question/answer format.  I prefer this style now in my homeschooling because I prefer always to add in my own content and to use the guide just as a guide.  If you are looking for extensive help on fleshing out background information or hand holding, it is not found here.  For us that year, it served us well because I expected Mr. Senior 2013 to do his own research if he didn’t understand some background information.  Too, Mr. Senior 2013 or Mr. Awesome really didn’t follow the guide for reading assignments. They just read each day within out time schedule and at their pace and use the guide as self-checking.
  • It uses a more Charlotte Mason approach which is a more gentle approach to high school.  At the high school level, some parents want more reading assignments.  This gentle approach suited us because I wanted my sons to have reading assignments in our Bible material and language arts.
  • Some of the books that are used move fast and events change quickly.  I feel a good reader would be able to keep up with the quick stepping pace of the books.  However, a slower reader may get lost in how fast the books can change topics.  It may require some research for background events.  However, if your child keeps on reading past parts that don’t make a complete picture at the moment, all of the main points soon are tied together.  My sons used the guide to help them see the main points or events from the reading.

Middle school and high school though wasn’t my first introduction to Beautiful Feet Books.

When I first started homeschooling, I did one elementary level, the Early American History, with Mr. Senior 2013 when he was in Kindergarten. Or I should say, I used the D’Aulaire books for our read aloud time.  I absolutely savored our time together reading those books, but soon left Beautiful Feet Books because I was afraid of repeating a mistake.

At that time, I was attempting to move away from boxed curriculum after having failed miserably the first time in putting my curriculum together.  So I was real cautious about laid out curriculum and didn’t have enough experience to know that it had the gentle nature that I was fond of.

Little did I know then that I would be returning to Beautiful Feet years later, seasoned and with a lot more clarity about the way I wanted my sons to learn history.  Too, I realized that Beautiful Feet Books had just the right amount of guidance that we wanted.

BFB Notebooking 1BFB Notebooking 2

Fast forward to the high school years, Mr. Senior 2013 soaked up his high school years because he went down trails of history that he blazed as I once again used Beautiful Feet Books. One day he would focus on art and another day he wrote about mythical gods.  None of this was assigned in Beautiful Feet Books, but it just served as a springboard to studying what he was interested in at the time.

I think your reader of history would love the books even if you didn’t follow the guide and reading assignments like we did.   Making it our course, we thoroughly enjoy this style of learning history and using Beautiful Feet Books as guides when we need them.

Hugs and love ya,

Want to read more?

Review of What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization by BrimWood Press.

How to Use a History Spine to Build Your Study of History

When we used Notgrass World History as our History Spine

8 Ways to Teach Homeschool History Other Than Chronologically

Should Homeschool History Be Covered in Chronological Order?

When We Used Story of the World as our History Spine

13 CommentsFiled Under: Teach Homeschool History Tagged With: homeschoolhistory, livingbooks

When We Used Story of the World as our History Spine

June 23, 2014 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When we used The Story of the World as our history spine in the younger years, it was one right choice I made for us.

Although loving history, my knowledge included only the history of the United States and it was pretty lame at that.

Because the The Story of the World came out around the time my oldest son was in the early grades and because I had read numerous good reviews, I used it. 

It ended up being a perfect fit for all of my sons.  We did begin with Volume 1 and worked our way through Volume 4, which is the whole series.

When we used The Story of the World as our History Spine

It is hard to find history programs for very young children that are presented in a story format and that make teaching history to young children easy. That is one thing I appreciated about the format.

I think it’s a must to have not only the story book, but the Teacher’s Manual which has the activity pages in them or purchase the activity pages separately for each kid.

STORY OF THE WORLD AS A HISTORY SPINE

The teacher’s manual not only has questions that help you to review the story but it has the answers right there too.  No flipping to another section to find the answers  That is a huge tiny pet peeve of mine about teacher’s manual.

Also, there are plenty of resources listed and choices for extra reading for a variety of ages.

It is a multi-age resource, which is a great find too if you are teaching more than one child.

If you are new to homeschooling or if you don’t have a huge background in history, The Story of the World  makes teaching history painless. It would make a great addition to your curriculum too even if your kids are a bit older. 

If your oldest kid is beginning middle school, I think this curriculum is still doable to teach all your kids if you have that circumstance.

Volume 4 is targeted for grades 4 to 8.  So if you have children in that age range and want to use this, just remember that Volume 1 was written for 1st to 4th grade.  I don’t see any harm in using it for your kids if they are older and can tolerate a bit of the language written in the earlier volumes for younger children.  It sure helps the teacher mom along.

The Story of the World is just an introduction to history and I think it does a fantastic job of hooking your children on history along with the maps and activities laid out in the program.  It helped us to form in our minds some major pivotal history points that the boys still refer to today.

It has slight Christian content, but we always added more.  I have said before I appreciate that fact about curriculum sometimes because we can cover Bible subjects at our pace.

Overall, The Story of the World is a keeper for us because of the ease of use, story format, use for multiple ages, teacher helps and having everything laid out.

On to more history spines we used through the years in my upcoming posts.

Hugs and love ya,

Want to read more?

Review of What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization by BrimWood Press.

How to Use a History Spine to Build Your Study of History

When we used Notgrass World History as our History Spine

8 Ways to Teach Homeschool History Other Than Chronologically

Should Homeschool History Be Covered in Chronological Order?

Leave a CommentFiled Under: History Resources, Teach Homeschool History Tagged With: hands on history, history, history resources, historyspine

3 Homeschool Co-op History Resources Worth Exploring

June 3, 2014 | 10 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

As the homeschool co-op group leaders, we would go to the park each year to begin planning our co-op for next year.

Sharing 3 homeschool co-op history resources worth exploring, I hope to pass on a few tips to ease planning and to help you think outside of the box.

It is easier in the beginning of your homeschool co-op to have ideas and many hands do make the work light. However, life marches on, kids grow up and seasons of change hit all homeschool families. That normally meant that on more than one occasion, we were caught short-handed if some families had to plan graduations, had illnesses, added another baby to their family and well you get the idea.

3 Homeschool Co-op History Resources

Having a few tricks up your sleeve helps your history co-op through a few rough patches, but it can also add a welcomed change when needed.

History Brought To Your Classroom Co-op

contents of Mountain Men traveling trunk: beaver pelt, trading beads and ribbons, playing cards, tobacco twist, powder horn, moccasins, tin cup, bait bottle, leather flask

{Mountain Men Trunk Pic Attribution: National Park Service}

Traveling Trunks.

Traveling trunks have been a life saver on more than one occasion for us.

They are just what they say they are, which are trunks or mini-museums as I call them that come to your group. Chock-full of fun hands-on things like toys, books and magazines and objects from a time period or topic like beads or household items, our kids flipped over them. One trunk had an apron a pioneer girl would wear, a beaver pelt and things that a mountain man would use every day.

They can be the highlight of your history co-op or you can use them like we did, which was as a table display or station for the kids to visit and learn about.

Too, when you want a fun round up of things from a certain time period and not have to spend tons of money buying each item to only have to get rid of it later, they have been worth the cost.

I got our trunks from the National Park Service. They list what comes in each trunk at that website.  Too, some sites have a free .pdf for you to use to teach and the trunks I got had teaching notes.  Look at some of the choices of traveling trunks:

  • Frontier Classroom
  • Gold Miners
  • Heritage of the Southwest
  • Overlanders
  • Plains Indians
  • Steamboats A’ Comin’

These certainly are not all the topics available. A simple google search will also yield some wonderful results from other places for various themed trunks.

My first tip for arranging for a trunk to come to your home is to call the park or institution.  I know, it sounds like a bit of trouble, but a friendly voice that explains who you are and what you do means more than an email that might otherwise leave out some details.  People like to deal with real people that they can hear and have a friendly conversation with and ask questions to know that you will take care of what they will ship.

The most important tip is to reserve them way ahead.  Public and private school teachers reserve these trunks months ahead of time. So NOW is the time to reserve it for next year.  If your co-op meets during the summer you may not have much competition from public schools.

Traveling Trunk Fun{Our kids playing with the toys that came in our Overlanders (Oregon Trail) Trunk.}

Second, be prepared to use your credit card.  It never bothered me because I knew our group would reimburse me and it was an expense our group paid for.

Third, be sure somebody is in charge of it the whole time at the co-op because if something is broke, per the contract, you will probably have to reimburse them.

Finally,  be sure you have arranged shipment back to them.

Even with all that, I would rent a traveling trunk in a heartbeat anytime for my group. Also, there are some resources that we’ve used through the years that have made teaching history to a group so much fun.

We love the products by Home School in the Woods.

Look here at our history co-op where we learned about 14 different empires and where we used the Ancient Empires Study Guide.
Like-Minded Folks From Your local community.

The next resource is pretty nifty and that is local people from your community who are history buffs.  Where do you find them?

I found so many resources through our local chapter of the Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution and here in the south we have Daughters of the Confederacy.

Veterans of war and retired history teachers many times are involved in doing reenactments and spend their spare time doing things they love.

Again, a little time on the phone calling a few people and I had more people calling me interested in what I was doing and wanting to offer their help. Sharing a love of history, some of these people have gone to great lengths to have accurate time period dress and to buff up their knowledge about a time period in history or about a person.

George Washington Mother 2 George Washington Mother

When we had our Early American co-op, I finally connected with this lady above, which was “George Washington’s mother, Mary Ball Washington”. A retired public school history teacher, she had spent many years dedicated to learning about Mary Ball Washington. She brought her fishing pole and even baked the favorite cookies of George Washington to bring and share with our kids. Mary Ball Washington was not a person that we had made time to learn about in our history co-op and it was an unexpected treat. Through her story telling and love of this time period, she had brought this time period to life when she talked about “her son”.

Most folks who are educators are priceless and giving of their time.  They share a common interest, which is the love of teaching children. Most have gone out of their way to help me when I explained what I was doing.

Even though “Mary Ball Washington” did not ask for any compensation, we presented her a thank you bag from our group, which had a gift certificate for gas and some nice smelling perfume and body lotion.

In addition, we also offered to feed her lunch. She was very pleased with how well-behaved our children were and not distracted by the little ones underfoot. But we all know, that is nothing new for our kids.

Take the co-op elsewhere.

Most of us visit museums for field trips and science classes, but sometimes we don’t know about all the educational programs they offer educators for history. Also, don’t assume that you have to be a public school or private school to take advantage of the educational programs they offer.

Educational Program in Museum 2 Educational Program in Museum 3

{Part of our class was inside as our kids learned about the chores of pioneer children.  Then, we had another wonderful instructor outside as our children explored the “comforts” (chamber pot) of pioneer life.}

Some museums are very organized as far as instructions for the group and programs and very aware of homeschoolers in their area.  Others, are still trying to understand how we don’t learn by segregating grade levels.

If you do delve into the programs, again, I encourage you to take time to make a phone call.  There is just no substitute for the amount of information you get because most personnel enjoy talking about the programs offere for educators.

Another insider tip, if you have never been to this museum or do not know other homeschoolers who have listened to the program you are looking into, is to try to mix up the activities.  Part of the time the kids can sit down and listen to the program and part of the time they need to move around or go outside.  This works best for a mixed group.

A long-winded educator that is boring and doesn’t know it can be a huge turn off to co-op classes.  And believe me they exist, and I have done my best to avoid them in our co-op classes.

Whether you are a small group and need help with adding some entertainment to your history co-op or you are a larger group and need a change, I hope your group can benefit from an idea or two here.

Look at these other tips:

  • 5 Days of A Homeschooling Co-op Convert – Day 1:Who needs one anyway? 
  • Homeschool Co-op Tracking Form– 7 Step Homeschool Planner 
  • 10 Homeschool Co-op Subjects That Are Better Learned With a Group
  • Homeschool Co-ops, Support Groups and Regional Groups. How Does It All Fit?

Hugs and love ya,

 

10 CommentsFiled Under: A Homeschooling Co-op Convert, Hands-On Activities, History Resources, How To - - -, Teach Homeschool History Tagged With: hands on history, hands-on activities, history resources, historyspine, homeschoolco-op

How to Use a History Spine to Build Your Study of History

May 22, 2014 | 5 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

If asked about 15 years ago if I would still be using the same history curriculum today that I started off with undoubtedly I would have answered yes.  Laughable uh?  Truth of it is, I had no idea what a history spine was {it sounded kind of painful to be honest} let alone how to use a history spine to build my study of history.

Having a passion for keeping history an action packed story in my home, I have used many history spines and am excited about giving you a comparison between them coming up in some summer posts. 

{Heads Up: I plan to blog as long as I can before I have to stop to move.  Realizing that moving overseas may interrupt my summer, I will share my posts about comparing history spines at my first opportunity.  I’m giving you the heads up now.}

How to Use History Spine To Build Your Study Of History

What I want to focus on today is to explain what is a history spine and how to use one to create a study for your homeschool

.Too, I want to share a few resources that I use and are timeless spanning any number of years that you homeschool.

What is a history spine? 

A simple definition would be that it would be an outline of a topic. 

The flexible thing about any type of outline is that it can be comprehensive with very specific details and cover a broad scope. 

On the other hand, they also can be very narrow with limited details and more in line like a scope and sequence. 

Beyond being an outline about history, a spine can be about any event in history or even about a person. 

Other than that, you have a whole host of options to choose from.

Look at my list of what a history spine can be:

  • History curriculum {an easy one}
  • Living Book
  • Biography
  • A primary resource
  • Textbook {you know not my favorite, but sometimes you need laid out}
  • Reference book
  • A unit study either providing just information or one laid out day by day
  • A history movie
  • Magazines

Right away you can see that some resources will be easier to use than others.  Something like The Story of the World which has a very helpful question and answer format along with activities makes learning about history fun. 

  Whereas something like a history magazine will only have information presented and then you have to decide how to divide that up into manageable teaching lessons each day.

One of my very favorite resources to use over the years by far other than reference books has been a  Guide to History Plus.

History Spine 1

I put a picture here above so that you can see some of the information it contains.  Though it has not been updated in a while, the references to the topics are timeless. 

For example, under American History: Westward Expansion 1750-1860 it gives ideas for artists, authors, expansion, frontiersmen, immigration, inventors, preachers and unorthodox religious movements. 

Ideas and topics for studying about a time period do not go out of date. You can see that Guides to History Plus is more like an outline than it is laying out each lesson day by day.

Then there is much more to consider too.  Some history curriculum like The Story of the World is light on Bible content. 

Some may see that as a negative because they may want Bible history folded in for them as they go along.  For others, it is a positive because they prefer to tie in their own Bible resources. 

Just me personally, I always preferred to tie in my own Bible studies and pick/choose which activities I wanted to study deeper on too instead of having it done for me.  So, I enjoyed The Story of the World when the boys were little.

Then at the very tip top of the list for history spines when using living books and ones we have read over again and still keep are all the books by Genevieve Foster.



Having history come alive through a story, Genevieve Foster folds in other key events and key characters about a time period. 

Fleshing out your history curriculum to study about those other topics makes history like the story it is and not a dry presentation of events.

History Spine Selections

Some years, I have used only reference books like The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, 3rd edition which was just updated in 2012.  I have the previous version and it is just fine too.

  Below is the picture for the newer version.

Too, when looking for reference books after you have added a general reference book about world history like The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, 3rd edition or even the The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia Of World History, then there are an abundance of other wonderful helps that help you to hone in on certain time periods too.

For Mr. Senior 2013 to feed his love of history and because I needed something about the history of Britain, I found a wonderful help by DK called History of Britain & Ireland that honed in on the different eras.

Some simple tips to building your own study of history is to think about these things,

  • How much hand holding do I want? Do I want my lesson plans laid out daily or do I want more of a scope and sequence?
  • Is it a must to cover Bible history?  If it is then the next question is do I want Bible history laid out in my curriculum or do I want to lay out my own Bible study course?
  • Do I feel comfortable adding in my hands-on activities or do I need some presented? Do my kids even care about hands on activities?
  • Does the history spine cover multiple ages of children?  In choosing a history spine, aim to satisfy the needs of the oldest or more advanced learner because it is easier to simplify information for your youngest child at times than it is to find meatier reference for your middle or high school children.

As I mentioned coming up during the summer, I will be sharing different history spines I have used and comparing them to each other.  Hopefully, they will help to narrow down some of what you want to use for this next year.

Other Resources and Books for History

  • 20 Awesome History Books for Kids
  • 7 Unique Ways to Supplement U.S. History for High School
  • 8 Ways to Teach Homeschool History Other Than Chronologically
  • Should Homeschool History Be Covered in Chronological Order?

Hugs and love ya,

Look at some of these other posts:

5 CommentsFiled Under: Teach Homeschool History Tagged With: history, historyspine

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Page 6
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Footer

Privacy Policy | About Me | Reviews | Contact | Advertise

Categories

Archives

Tina Robertson is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Copyright © 2025 · 5 TNT LLC · Log in · Privacy Policy