Curricula and Learning Links - History
History Ideas
Looking for inspiration with your history studies? Here are some ideas about notebooking, timelines, how to study history, and more.
What all do you include in history notebooks? How do you go about organizing the notebooks?
Cindy: Our history notebook for the Middle Ages includes:
- Vocabulary- I designed a sheet on which the student writes the word, a synonym, and a sentence using the word. I bought A-Z tabbed dividers and put put one vocabulary sheet behind each tab, so the kids make their own "dictionary" as they go. Every now and then I have them review the A- G words, for example and quiz each other on them.
- Timeline- I have several pages of card stock, each covering about 50 year, 100 years each 2-page spread. As we read through Greenleaf' Famous Men, the kids write a one-paragraph summary on a 3x5 card for each person and glue it on their timeline.
- Literature- This is handled on the timeline by folding a 3x5 card in half to represent a book. The kids design a cover or copy the one from the real book they've read about the time period (Vikings, Joan of Arc, The Door in the Wall, etc.) They must have the title and Author on the front. Inside they write a brief review of the book. They glue this on the timeline on the the appropriate century's page.
- Writing- I use Middle Ages Story Starters and Imitations in Writing's Medieval Legends to integrate writing. Writing is kept in this section.
- Art- I buy middle ages coloring books by Dover and the kids color these as I read aloud about and hour a day. Other art goes here as well.
- Worksheets and Maps- This is where I put outline maps I print from the Internet, interesting tidbits I come across, and generally anything that doesn't go anywhere else. This is a great category for those of us who find all sorts of stuff on the Web and don't know what to do with it!
- Lists and Logs- I create blank lists with the following. Kids keep these updated weekly:
Books I have Read
Projects and Videos
Field Trip Log
This has been by far the most straightforward, non-gimmicky, and effective school year we have ever had. The kids take pride in showing their work and updating their notebooks.
Consuelo: Is Ancient Times something that my daughter is going to like and understand? Should I start from another point in history?
Martha R.: Laura Berquist in DYOCC. She suggests the study of heroes first using the "Childhood of Famous Americans" series and then American history. It is SO important to expose young children to values and high lofty goals that heroes represent, and despite the current politically correct talk about our Founding Fathers being terrible guys, study of their sacrifices, bravery, faith, and heroism gives a child an idea of how high he/she can reach. It also gives the child a great sense of patriotism.
Mary H.: My children are already grown, but I asked them once what they thought about our homeschooling experience. One son, who is a Naval officer now, told me that he felt one of the most important topics we covered (and we didn't do enough of it) was the study of heroes. He said at the Naval Academy they constantly have the students read biographies of heroes. I think they might know something we didn't.
Angela: I started the WTM method of history with my second grader and he loved it. That was three years ago, before Story of the World came out. We used the Usborne book, but it was almost impossible to narrate from, so I got extra library books whenever I could. If you think your daughter will enjoy American history more, there's no reason you can't start with that. Maybe you should ask your daughter what she would like to study. You don't have to start with the ancients just because S.W. Bauer says to start there. Most of us have kids who are not spaced four years apart, and we pull in each child as he reaches school age, not caring if he starts with the Middle ages instead of the ancients. We know he'll cover all of history at least a couple of times before he graduates, so what does it matter where he starts? It's more important that he enjoys it, since that will help him retain and understand more.
How do you make a time line?
NM Stephanie: We used computer banner paper that folds up nicely and can be stored in the box.
Diane Smith: A friend of mine uses a cardboard craft/fabric cutting/layout board - it's large and folds up like an accordion. They add to it, can continue it on the backside or with a second board, and they can fold it up and put it away. I guess you can get these things a fabric/craft stores.
Laura in CT: In the past I had two long timelines on the wall made out of newsprint end roll paper (one timeline for world history, one for American history). But more recently what I've done is scrap the timeline and make little cards with events and people on each card. Periodically I have the kids take the cards and lay them out on the floor in order. They are much more engaged in this than they ever were in the timeline, which they only looked at when we were adding to it. This way I can vary the cards depending on what we're studying, the kids can work on it together, they can race to see how fast they can put it together, etc., and they find it fun.
Susie in MS: We don't have much wall space so we do timeline books. The instructions are on the Donna Young site and she has pics too. I did the spacing a little differently on ours but it is practically the same as the one you can see on the site. After the "Flood" period when you start the "Ancient Civilizations" period. I just allotted a hundred year span on each 2 page spread until we reached 300 a.d.. At that point each 2 page spread represented 50 years. {{ So you would have 200 b.c. - 300 b.c. on one two page spread and then 300 - 350 on the next two page spread. }} By allotting less time on the spreads you have more pages for your pictures. I was able to eliminate the need for the 3/4 pages. I think our books had only 75 sheets, and we had one side of a sheet left over for current events. I believe that I will have them put the twin towers there.
It would look something like this:
- Page 1- Creation
- Page 2 and 3 The Fall/ The Flood
- Page 4 and 5 Flood (on far left corner of left page) - 3500 B.C. (on far right corner of right page)
- Page 6 and 7 3500 b.c - 3400 B.C. and so on.
Rhonda: I used sentence strips, divided the centuries by one foot lines, and added the important facts in that space. We also added up and down in a vertical fashion if there were a lot of events or inventions during a particular portion of that century. My daughter did all the writing, and it was amazing when we looked at world events, that at the time the Jamestown colony was being set up that our Bible was being translated (KJV). It was not so "ancient" when looked at in that light. We also noticed that inventions were "created" across the ocean nearly at the same time, without the use of telephones or e-mail. It was a most exciting time for us, and we still use it today.
Barbara: In the past, I've done the wall thing, but it takes up too much space on the wall, and I found that it got pretty cluttered up and nobody really looked at it much but me! Then, I tried a file box system and we made cards for various people/events. Well, nobody looks in that box! It was probably my fault for not regularly using the cards more often. Currently, I bought a few notebooks at our homeschool fair that are spiral bound composition type notebooks. We use this as our timeline notebook. One page has the top half blank, with the bottom half lined for writing. The back side of this page is totally blank. Next page is the half and half etc. This is much easier to use for my son, and we periodically just add key people, major events, or interesting side notes as we come across them in our studies.
Related Pages on HomeschoolChristian.com
See the history section of HomeschoolChristian.com's Review Page for lots more ideas!
HomeschoolChristian.com's list of "living books" on World History
HomeschoolChristian.com's list of "living books" on World History
Please let us know about new ideas to add, broken links, and inappropriate links by leaving a message on our comment page. Thank you!
