I have found teaching history does better with older students. Both Princess and Mayflower went through the Kingfisher History Book and make a history timeline in a binder. Princess finished hers and it is amazing.
We used the Ultimate Geography and Timeline book for the timeline pictures – photocopy pages on different colors of paper. Each color represents a different continent, so you can tell what is happening where, when you look at a finished page.
Princess wrote a paragraph on each picture and did page reports on what she wanted to (or what I said – smile). Silk, calligraphy, Stonehenge, Troy and more turned into page reports – she read 3+ books usually, to write the reports.
This project took her two years to do. She wasn’t that thrilled when I suggested it, but it didn’t take long for her to get excited about it. She really enjoyed it and the finished product is wonderful. I think she did it in grades 9 and 10.
Mayflower started hers too late – grade 11 and 12 and just ran out of time. Sigh
The above being said, I am just in the process of putting up a timeline in my hall – using the KONOS figures I cut out years ago (finally) for Mystery of History 1, which covers Creation to Jesus.
I also am putting up figures that the girls (Redhead and Jewel) and I have read or talked about – I think that will make more sense to them and it will start coming together more for them.
It certainly isn’t a one time effort or event. This will be ongoing for the next 4 to 5 years and then they will start a timeline binder like Princess did.
I actually believe knowing history to be so important – what we don’t remember, we get to repeat. I think that is one reason I loved _Freedom Writers_.
There is one place where a student is driving a *nasty* cartoon of another student. Everyone is laughing at that student – he is handed the picture and is just crushed by the laughter. The teacher finds the picture and they start communicating as a class and teacher (1st time). She brings up the meanest gang in the world and how they took over countries – not just neighborhoods and how it started with *nasty* pictures of the Jews that people laughed at….
They have quite a heated discussion about respect and death, and then the last part of the scene is when the *artist* of the picture raises his hand and said “You mentioned the Holocaust – what was that?”
The teacher stands silent and then asks “Who knows what the Holocaust was?”. The only white boy in class raises his hand. No one else knew. She couldn’t believe it. And the story (true story) goes on from there. And yes, they learn about the Holocaust – in an amazing way that still makes me cry when I think of it.
Home Sweet Homeschooler