It’s a valid question. And where did this emphasis come from? Let’s start at the beginning.

Several years back, one of homeschooling’s earliest pioneers published a book about classical education. Susan Wise Bauer was one of the first graduates of the first generation of the homeschool movement. And she was someone we could be proud of in many ways.

So when she partnered with her mother/teacher to describe their journey in The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, the rest of us devoured the book as soon as it hit the shelves. For many of us it was a whole new world—a whole new way to look at the process of educating our children.

And what a solid resource it was. Amidst all of it’s good advice, it was one of the first times many of us heard the idea of teaching chronological history.

What is Chronological History?

Instead, chronological history was a whole new method. We were to start with the beginning of time and read and learn about how our world developed from then until today, weaving US History into this picture along the way. And when we were done, we were to repeat the process.

Furthermore, we were told not to zero in on US History, and only US History, for years and years in elementary school.

As a result of this new idea for teaching history, Susan then authored the Story of the World series to meet the demand that followed.

After reading her first book, homeschooling parents wanted a resource to teach chronological history from beginning to end. And since that time, there are now several other good series on the market that meet the need as well.

Most of these, like Susan’s series, are built around a 4-year world history study. And most encourage the homeschooling parent to teach history chronologically to all their children, no matter what age.

Is it the Best Way to Teach History?

But have you ever stepped back to think about this for a few minutes? At what point is your early learner ready to learn chronological world history? You would readily agree that at some point, early is too early. You wouldn’t start this at age 2 or 3. So when?

While teaching history in a large homeschool co-op, I soon began to be uncomfortable about teaching chronological history to my younger classes. I sensed that a lot of this seemed to be going over the heads of the kids in the early grades.

And then I ran across several articles along this line by Cheryl Lowe of Memoria Press. Finally, someone was validating what I was feeling. Cheryl is a classical educator with credentials that far exceed my own. And she, also, is not a fan of a chronological approach to history in the early grades.

I love her statement, “We must fit history to the child, not fit the child to history.” Is that not powerful?

Let’s not let our methods distract us! Cheryl’s view is that a K-2 child is not developmentally ready to master the concepts of chronological progression. So instead of trying to swim upstream, why not enjoy your moment in the sun?

History for the Younger Child

If your child is not ready for a chronological curriculum, what should you teach for history in the early years?

My gut reaction is to say, “whatever you want”! Isn’t that freeing!

But, of course, a little planning will make the world of difference. In your search for K-2 topics, here are some ideas for early history at home. And in no particular order.

American History

Personally, I enjoy highlighting the major people and events in American history for at least one of those years, if not more. Nothing intense. And no chronology required. But introduce George Washington. Abraham Lincoln. Our flag. A general view of the Revolutionary War. The Liberty Bell. You get the idea!

I used the book The Complete Book of United States History* as a guide. I did not read every chapter. At the beginning of the year, I charted out a once-a-week lesson, picking and choosing my topics with the help of its Table of Contents. Then I made sure to have picture books from the library on hand for every topic when that week came, finding those with the help of A Book In Time.

World History

For another year, you could try doing the same with World History. Let your kids know that kings and queens and castles were a real thing. Build a pyramid together just for fun. Read about Vikings, the Great Wall of China, or the Eiffel Tower.

For this, I used The Complete Book of World History as my guide. We did not read the entire book. But the Table of Contents helped me pick out the topics for the year. Sometimes we read their chapter, sometimes we read only our library books, which we picked out from the recommendations at A Book In Time.

History and Faith

A third idea is for a family of faith. You could use a year to learn the history found in Bible stories. Read lots of them and incorporate pictures of what the world was probably like at the time. For instance, when you read about Moses, look at pictures of what Egypt might have looked like when he lived there. See pictures of the Roman soldiers that occupied Jerusalem during Jesus’ lifetime. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, and the Bible and history are intertwined.

Planning is Key

For any of these ideas, chart out your year before it starts. Jot down your topics for each of the weeks of your school year. Assign one topic per week. It’s easy when you use your book’s Table of Contents as a guide!

Write in the page numbers you will read from the book(s) you will be using. Add the names of picture books or other library books that relate. Pencil in field trip ideas. You get the picture. Your planning is minimal, but necessary. Don’t skip it!

In all of this, keep your learning enjoyable. Print coloring pages from the internet (or other resources). Go on field trips. Read as many picture books as you can. As you go through each year, chances are you will find that you are learning a lot of new things yourself along the way. Enjoy the journey!

And when we learn about great methods or ideas in any subject, let’s be ready to adjust and adapt them to the ages of our children. Yes, teaching chronological history is a great idea. But give your child some space before you go hard core! Maybe teaching the big ideas of American history (or your own country, if not the US) in the younger grades isn’t such a bad idea after all.

*Note: Sorry, but Amazon wouldn’t let me link to this book for some reason. If you want to find it easily, click on the link for the World History book in the next paragraph, then scroll down to see related products. It’s put out by the same publisher.

Article originally published March 31, 2016

Choosing the best history curriculum for homeschool can be confusing and overwhelming. How do you get through all the noise and find what will work for you and your students?

For starters, you need to find that one key book that will keep you energized all year long Whether you call them spines, sourcebooks, core books, or textbooks, you can’t ignore the need to have one all-encompassing history guide to keep you grounded and make sure you leave no obvious gaps.

History is the one subject where having lots of outside reading and supplemental books is a great idea. It’s fun for both the teacher mom and the kids.

But using a lot of outside reading books can get confusing. You may read about the 1800’s one day and then are back in the 1700’s the next.

That’s why your core book, your textbook, is so important. This book will reinforce the flow of events, even if your outside reading is chronologically a little before or behind it.

All that to say…when you look for the best history curriculum for homeschool, your primary objective is to get the best core book, or textbook!

With a good core book, everything will work out just fine. Because you have that good core book, your outside reading doesn’t have to be EXACTLY in order. And you can relax knowing you aren’t leaving any major gaps behind.

All the other supplemental history activities and history reading lists can be provided by the curriculum, OR you can DIY them with the help of A Book In Time! We have plenty of ideas on this website for the timelines and crafts and outside reading so you can do this on your own.

Best History Textbook for Homeschool

So back to the best history curriculum for homeschool. What’s more important is getting the best history curriculum for YOUR homeschool!

And that starts with your core book.

Now that we know how important your core history book really is, which one do you choose?  The decision becomes even more confusing if you’d like to venture outside the box of traditional textbooks. 

One place to start is to browse the list of textbook suggestions at www.abookintime.com, and here are some things to keep in mind along the way.

History Curriculum for the Younger Child

For the early grades, standard curriculum texts can be rather dry and boring.  Or they may not be appropriate when you are teaching more than one child and grade level at the same time.  

Some alternatives for American History are books such as McGraw-Hill’s The Complete Book of US History or the more advanced Dorling Kindersley’s Children’s Encyclopedia of American History. 

For the K-2 grades, you may want to skim over the Table of Contents before your year starts and pick out one big topic for each week instead of trying to read it all.  Then supplement with picture books from the library along the way.

My personal favorites for early elementary world history are published by Usborne books. Their simplest version is called First Encyclopedia of History. They also offer the all-encompassing Book of World History, or its revised (not necessarily better, just different) edition, Encyclopedia of World History. Again, for the youngest students, you don’t have to read the entire thing this time.  You want to engage, but not overwhelm.

And some of the curriculum suggestions for upper elementary below also have books for the younger ages. So keep reading…

History Curriculum for Upper Elementary & Junior High

I still tend to avoid traditional textbooks for the middle grades simply because of other available options with a lot more appeal.

If we’re talking favorites, my American history choice is a no-brainer! I have loved Joy Hakim’s series The Story of US since I first opened the cover. These books are thorough AND engaging, and kids really do like to read them. Since it is so thorough, you may want to spread this series out over several years.

Of course, there are some other good American history options, including the Dorling Kindersley book mentioned above.

For world history, Usborne Publishing is once again at the top of my list, with the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia following close behind. All of these books are concise, yet complete, and the color illustrations that pack each page keep the reader’s attention. If you are combining age groups, the illustrations make it much easier to include younger children.

Susan Wise Bauer’s Story of the World series is a 4-book set with an enchanting, storytelling style, although it doesn’t include many illustrations.  You would need to allow 4 years to complete all 4 books.  American history is said to be intermingled with everything else, but I am not convinced your child would have a solid American history foundation with it alone.  I would recommend following up the series with a year (or 2) of American history emphasis.

There are several other series that are worth noting. Tapestry of Grace gets rave reviews from it’s fans, as does the Mystery of History series.

The Biblioplan series is very well done and another of my personal favorites.

Remember, curriculum publishers tend to encourage lots of bells & whistles, which can get pricey. If your budget is strained, just get the primary textbook and supplement the timelines and crafts and outside reading on your own…with the help of A Book In Time, of course!

History Curriculum for High School

Since high school needs to prepare a student for the structure of college academics, textbooks become a much more viable option. With a solid background in history from the earlier grades, a student is less likely to zone out with all the detail, instead absorbing and understanding new concepts. Extracurricular reading becomes even more important at this age to keep interest level high.

History Curriculum for You

Although this is not an extensive list, it is a good place to start as you figure out what the best history curriculum for homeschool is best for YOU.

Keep your long-range plan in focus when you shop around, choosing a book for this year with next year’s selection in mind.

And always plan to reinforce your learning with lots of extracurricular books and activities. Your child(ren) should come away from each history year with a better understanding of who & what shaped the world around them because they know the important people and events that came before them.

Article originally published April 5, 2016