Homeschool - How to teach History

Homeschool – History

I absolutely love history! Unfortunately, this subject is often (read: almost always) bogged down with anti-Catholic bias. Thankfully, starting in 2016, a new History series appeared on the market, published by Tan Books! The Story of Civilization (Volumes I, II, III, and IV), by Phillip Campbell. Thankfully, I discovered this series, which has become the spine text for how I am teaching history to my children.

I have already read the first book aloud to the girls during our lunch hour reading time. It’s delightful!

You may be wondering why I am calling it history, and not social studies. The difference is that history is focused on the story of humanity, while social studies begins with the study of oneself. We don’t want to take a self-centered approach to studies, where all cultures and events are judged by our own experiences. Instead, history shows the working of God throughout the ages, culminating in the Incarnation. And continuing through His church today.

This way, our own desires and achievements are not the centre of our understanding. Christ is.

By the way, this is not a sponsored article. I am not getting any money for recommending this series to you. I just want to share the great news that there is an alternative to the Protestant leaning Story of the World series (which I have also purchased for comparison, and also because I couldn’t find a Catholic one at the time). Also this article isn’t really about The Story of Civilization series. It is about how to teach homeschool history! But in case you were worried, I am only recommending this series because I think it is super important to share history with our kids in a way that promotes a Catholic understanding of the world.

Preschool History

In the preschool years, a formal teaching of history is unnecessary. However, if you love history, like I do, there is no reason to avoid the subject.

The first step to teaching a child about history is giving them a concept of time. Teaching the child how to read a clock might be a difficult start, depending on age. However, you can sit with your child and watch a minute go by. Then you can talk about how that minute is in the past, and how a new minute has started now. In this way you can introduce the concepts of past, present, and future.

Once an idea of “the past” has been established, you can start by teaching the history of the creation of the universe. Check out our printable “7 Days of Creation” pack for materials to teach this to your children. Have your child make a picture for each of the 7 days of creation, and start a timeline in your home with these pictures.

After your child is familiar with the creation of the universe, you can start introducing any big historical event. Your child can do another picture for any event you share with them, and then you can add it to your timeline. For small children, it is especially important that you introduce these historical events in the order they happened. We don’t want to confuse our children into thinking the pyramids of Egypt were built after Medieval castles.

Don’t feel bad if they do get confused though. There is plenty of time for them to figure it out when they go through history again in the elementary and middle school years.

Getting Started – A History Spine + Other Materials

One of the nice things about history, is you can teach it to multiple ages at the same time. This is accomplished through your history spine. That is, your choice of history text to read aloud, to take your family through history. Younger children will require you to do all the reading aloud. Older children can help out with this! Then, all children are studying the same historical events together, and only differ in the level of work they do after the reading.

I really like the idea of having one book on hand for each year, and not having to manage library holds in order to have something to do for history every week. But it is possible to get by without a history textbook. If this is what you are going to do, make a list of all the historical events and periods you want to study throughout the year. Then go to a library and take out books about the first topic you plan on studying, and take your kids through those books. When that is complete, you can go back to the library and exchange them for books on the next topic from your list.

We are using Philip Campbell’s Story of Civilization series as our history spine.

After you have a spine text (or list of topics you plan to cover), you will also want a globe and a historical atlas. It is also a good idea to have a history encyclopedia on hand. I recommend getting one aimed towards grades 5-7, as you can still use that for the younger grades, but with your help. Then it will also be helpful for older students to use on their own.

A Four Year History Cycle

The next step in studying history, is to break it up into sections. The sections we recommend fit nicely with both the Story of the World, and Story of Civilization history spines. However, Story of Civilization splits the last two periods of history into European verses American history. If you are required by your state to do a year of just American history, this is helpful. And if that is not helpful, you can just get both books at the same time and study them alongside each other to see the varying perspectives.

I haven’t gotten the American history one yet, though I probably will at some point. However, as a Canadian, I am still looking for a good Canadian History text to use to fill in our country’s place in the world.

4 Year Cycle:

Year 1, 5, and 9 – Ancient Times – 5000 B.C. to 300 A.D.
Grade 2, 6, and 10 – Medieval World – 300 A.D. to 1500 A.D.
Year 3, 7, and 11 – Renaissance and Early Modern 1500 A.D to 1850 A.D. (Or, American History this year if required by State).
Grade 4, 8, and 12 – Modern History – 1850 A.D. – present day (Or, Renaissance to Modern if you did American History last year).

Of course, with multiple ages of children, they aren’t all going to be able to start Ancient history in grade one. But that is fine. If you keep the preschoolers in the room while you homeschool, they may pick up some of what the school age kids are getting. The main thing is that all kids will have the opportunity to cycle back through the same periods of history multiple times. So they will have a chance to pick up what they missed in earlier years.

Also, if you are starting to homeschool with older children, try to start with the ancient times. You can always go through the cycle faster to catch up with where you want to be.

History with Grades 1-4 Students

In grades 1-4, the goal is to use the same binder for all four years. So get a large one – perhaps 3 inches. Each year your student will add a new divider and cover page detailing what period they will study that year. By the end of four years they will have a section for each cycle of history (Ancient Times, Medieval World, Renaissance and Early Modern, and Modern History).

Here is the weekly procedure for teaching your student from grades 1 through 4. If you do history multiple days per week, pick up where you left of on this list and continue from there until you reach the end of the list.

Procedure

Read from your history spine or equivalent
Have the child fill out a narration page based on what you read that day.
Find the setting of the history lesson on the globe.
Find the place on a map, or colour a map of the area, or have the child draw a map of the location.
If the topic becomes an area of interest, continue reading in it. Look up the topic in your historical encyclopedia and read what it says there. Also check out library books for further study if you have not already.
1. Then, consider the different deep dive options listed below.
If the topic is not peeking any interest this time, move onto the next chapter of the spine. Or the next topic on your list.
At the end of every month, review the narration pages made thus far.

Narration Page

For children in grades 1 and 2, have them dictate to you a short summary of what you learned. By grade 3 the child will probably be ready to write the narration on their own. However, if they struggle with writing, don’t let that take away from their experience of history. You can continue writing their dictated narration for them, as long as they compose the words. After the narration is done, let the child draw a picture that represents something covered in the history lesson. Check out our History Binder Pages here for a free template.

Deep Dive Options:

If a topic brings delight to your child, spend some time digging in deeper. Here are a few ways to do that.

Check out extra library books on the topic. Or, visit a related museum (perhaps a virtual one).

Do a project based on this time period, like make a model castle as a family. When the project is done, take a picture of it, and add the picture to your child’s binder as a narration page. *Older students could also add a picture of the binder by adding a narration page into their History Snapshots section, or by adding it under an appropriate binder category.

Find something to memorize about this particular area of history. This could be a list of rulers/monarchs, dates of major battles, parts of important speeches or documents, or a list of facts.

In grade one, the child should memorize two lists of about ten facts.
And in second grade, the child can memorize two lists of fifteen to twenty items.
By third grade the child should memorize three lists, which have twelve to twenty items on each.
Finally, in forth grade the child can memorize four lists, with twelve to twenty facts or lines on each.

History with Grades 5-8 Students

In grades 5-8 your student can get a new binder for each year. Each binder will have nine categories in it. These are: Notes/History Snapshots, Notable People, Notable Places, Faith and Daily Life of the People, Wars + Politics and other Conflicts, Scientific Developments, Arts and Literature, Primary Source Pages, and Outlines. One option is to also include a section for projects, if you think you will be doing a lot of them throughout the year.

One thing that is different during these years, is that you want to introduce your child to historical biases. This is a good time to show how bias affects writing, as a ten year old is ready to start using logic where a seven year old couldn’t.

Also, during this season of their history studies, prepare a timeline for them to work on throughout the year. You can buy a blank timeline template or make your own by putting a long sheet of paper out, or taping lots of smaller sheets together. Then, put the timeline on the wall of a hallway in your home.

Here is the weekly procedure for teaching your student from grades 5 through 8. If you do history multiple days per week, pick up where you left of on this list and continue from there until you reach the end of the list.

Procedure:

Read from your history spine or equivalent with the rest of the family. (Possibly have the student read aloud now that they are older).
Have the child make notes on what went on in the reading.
Next, have your child plot important dates or historical events on the timeline wall.
Then, find the relevant locations on a globe, and in your historical atlas.
Make/draw/colour a map.
Do additional reading in this area of history. Find something interesting, and do an outline of the text.
If it is an area of interest, do a deep dive.
1. Do a project based on this time period, like make a model castle as a family. When the project is done, take a picture of it, and add the picture to your child’s binder into their History Snapshots section. Or add it under an appropriate binder category (so under notable places if the project was about Rome, etc).
2. Find something to memorize about this particular area of history. This could be a list of rulers/monarchs, dates of major battles, parts of important speeches or documents, or a list of facts.
Review the historical timeline monthly.

Looking Beyond: High School History

The method (we will use and recommend) for teaching history in high school is very different from earlier years. However, if you have younger kids as well as a high-schooler, you may still want the high-schooler to read aloud the history spine with the rest of the family.

From grades nine to twelve, the study of History and English are combined together into the study of the Great Books. However, to explain how that all works now would double the length of this already long article. So, suffice it to say that High School students go through the same four year cycle as in elementary. But this time by going through great works of literature and important documents written during the time period they are currently studying.

The Byzantine Life

What is your favourite part of history? Let me know in the comments! Get our free History Binder/Notebooking Pages here! Also, if you are interested in combining a study of the saints with your study of history, check out our free PDF of Saints by Historical Period. The saints are listed by order of death date.

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