For my youngest, her interests center around the arts, so we do readers' theater, visit art museums (online and in-person), and incorporate historical fiction into our studies. We also read a lot and watch old movies for fun. He and his sister create Jeopardy! games or flash-card quizzes to remember important facts, and design presentations for their cooperative class, blending their interests in current technology with the assigned project. We ask each other probing questions - the other night we listened to an NPR report on the history of civil rights in Mississippi and he asked me how I thought I might react if I were one of the white students enrolled at a college when a first black man was attempting to enroll.
We watch or listen to news commentary and historical documentaries from a variety of worldviews. We have lively discussions about how historic ethnic divisions in Iraq impact that country now, or how politicians quote (or misquote) the Constitution to suit their agendas. My oldest is very interested in political science and current events, so for him, history becomes exciting when he sees the context behind the headlines. What brings history alive for my children is simply connecting it to their own interests. We made other comparisons to our current life in a bigger city. We discussed the differences in farming and daily life from then to now. In the spring, we will plant a vegetable garden and visit the Wilder home. This week, the girls and I are sewing aprons. At home, we cooked and served a meal appropriate for the period. We went to a farm where we could participate in reenactments of the time period, including churning butter, making candles, and pumping water. As we read, we compared her experience to when we lived on a farm last year. This has helped our girls make connections in our lessons across subjects and locations of events.įor example, we recently read one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books. We also have a timeline posted so that whenever we learn about something that can be pinpointed to a date, we write it on our timeline. We always try to connect our family's life to the lesson we are learning so that our children feel the impact from something that may otherwise seem distant. We often incorporate books, internet-based activities and movies into our lessons as appropriate. We may visit historical places, speak with people who have a connection to a time or place, eat foods from the time and location, or recreate an event.
Our family likes to "live out" our lessons. We've been able to visit forts and historical sites all across the Northeast & go inside in the evenings when they are closed to visitors to participate in English country dances or listen to bagpipers as the sun goes down over the fort walls is just like stepping back in time. Experiencing what is what really like in Colonial days, including sleeping in canvas tents, cooking over a fire, carrying water for the troops, wearing wool dresses in the hot sun, & watching my husband and son out on the battlefield has been incredible for our entire family. Being re enactors has brought history to life for us, & for the many visitors we get to talk with at each event. We now also are members of a French & Indian War re enactment group as well. When the kids were 6 and 4 we signed up with a local group that commemorates the local battles from the War of 1812. Our oldest son really wanted to participate in the events too. We started with visiting historical sites, forts, & events. Our family participates in historical re enactments.
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