Do you NEED a Homeschool History curriculum? No!

Many people think they NEED to have a set homeschool history curriculum for their kids in order to teach history! That’s just not true. Matter of fact, I found that history is much more fun and engaging when you ditch the text book or workbook and learn from real books. Here’s how:

Instead of getting a homeschool history curriculum textbook/workbook that gives you a chapter and then review questions, simply read from great books and discuss them.  This is where you as a parent are also able to learn more than you ever have as well!

How does this work for younger kids?

Younger ages are the best! There is so much freedom and flexibility to homeschool your history within this age group.  First decide what history you want to learn.  This could be just a time period, a country or region’s history.  Another way is to find a great history book and use that. In my video I show you an Ancient History book I found at the Dollar Tree and it could become the outline of history for a semester or a year!

Once you have some books or topics, then just read from great sources.  Pull from a children’s encyclopedia and some “living books” that really interest you and your child.  Break up the reading into short sections each day (or maybe just a few days a week). After reading, DISCUSS what you learned.  Let the child talk and think about things. Ask questions as a way of creating discussion.  Lastly, write down something. It can be what was interesting, noteworthy, something you didn’t know before, etc.   Then illustrate or find a picture to put with your writing.  Younger kids can copy something you write, or just tell you and have you write it down!

What about older kids?

The SAME PROCESS applies! The only difference is that the reading material gets more complex and maybe they are doing more research from multiple sources as they gather information about their topic. Their notebooking (writing) about the topic will become longer and more complex…to the point that they can write a short essay about the topic.  Illustrations, drawings, or other artwork is still a great idea even for high schoolers.

What if I’m using Classical Conversations?

If you are part of Classical Conversations, then your topics are already ready to go! Simply find and research those topics each week.

 

What if I still feel like I need guidance?

That’s okay! Sometimes we just need a guide or something to follow, especially at first.  If that’s the case, I do have Lesson Guides in both History and Science that you can follow.  It’s still very simple and uses great books to read from. It gives you the resources to use, the page numbers to read and the ideas for notebooking.

Click here to see our History & Science Guides

 

Also check out my post and video about Why you DON’T need Science Curriculum! 

 

I have some free notebooking pages (click below), however you can use ANY paper or notebook!

FREE NOTEBOOKING PAGES

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