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Living books bring depth and richness to your history studies. If you own a history textbook that you like, continue
using it. But instead of the questions at the end of each chapter, ask your child to narrate. Supplement the textbook, which by its very nature summarizes history, with living books. It may take a couple extra years to
get through the textbook but your children will acquire true learning and perhaps a passion for history. If you don’t own a history textbook, don’t bother investing in one. Rely on living books that were written by
people passionate about history. Plan to cycle through history. Record people and events you read about into a timeline. A timeline may be across a wall, or the pages in a notebook, or even in a file box with an index
card for each entry. Include family history and current events. You may
paste in book covers from catalogs of the books you read from that era. Another resource to make your timeline more visual is clip art of historic people from www.homeschoolinthewoods.com.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.” History Book List:
(If you have a recommendation, please let me know. Disclaimer: I have not personally read every book on this list and do not guarantee these recommendations. New additions are in color.) |
