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My son has a true love of science. He will read ahead on his science lessons and really enjoys all our science experiments we do. I think a huge part of the love of science is from the hands-on learning that takes place. Not just reading about electricity in a book, but actually putting batteries together and making circuits to turn on a tiny light bulb.
Finding the same level of interest in history has been a little harder as we can’t just go and shake hands with a dinosaur, and going to visit the Great Wall of China that we learned about in World History would be fairly difficult. So I have had to find other ways to try and capture his interest in our history lessons. We have gone in search of bringing history to life!
If history is a bit boring for your kids and you want to add a little more pizazz try these three tricks for getting more out of history.
Museums
Maybe we can’t shake hands with a dinosaur, but we have visited a natural history museum and saw dinosaur models and fossils. History museums are wonderful places to really see history and to maybe even get our hands on it in some way. We can’t really go back into time to Early America when Indians were plentiful, but on occasion we can go inside a teepee and put on a pair of moccasins.
We recently visited an aviation museum and we uncovered a bit of history. Sometimes it feels as though history is all around us when we are looking for it. We have been studying WWI and WWII, so upon finding a display for Rosie the Riveter we discussed how women went to work building airplanes and working in factories. We found displays for the Tuskegee Airmen and had the opportunity to discuss what an important role they played in the war. There was even a section of the Berlin Wall. All this in a museum we thought would only be about airplanes.
We can find lots of history in museums or all types, we just need to look.
Historical Locations
We have been to Civil War Battlefields and saw where important battles took place. We have seen cannons and muskets that were a major part of the Battle Of Chickamauga. We watched videos about the battle and saw maps of how the battles actually took place. We can’t visit all the battlefields, but visiting one and really digging into the history of one battle really gave us a better perspective of the entire war.
Pioneer homes, or “old timey cabins” as my kids referred to them are a great way to see how people lived back in Early America. We can read books and look at photos all day about how life was in the earlier days, but actually walking inside one of the homes was very eye-opening. The kids saw the lack of carpet, the gaps in the wood that made holes in the wall. We could see the lack of a recliner and TV, that the “kitchen” was nothing more than a fireplace where the food was cooked and the lack of a refrigerator can’t be overlooked.
We have recently learned about the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) that was started by President Roosevelt as a part of The New Deal. We frequently visit state parks in Alabama and have seen so many buildings (and even a waterfall) that were built by the CCC, so it’s always fun to point those out and to feel like we are a part of something by being able to enjoy this piece of history in front of us. Where others may see “just a waterfall” we are able to see a part of history.
Check out my post on BookShark’s blog on how I feel travel and homeschooling go hand in hand.
Videos
We have a few history videos that we have enjoyed watching and we have also found some videos on Youtube very helpful. While visiting the Great Wall of China isn’t happening for us anytime soon, we can watch Youtube videos from people that have gone and get a better take on how enormous it really is. I kind of feel like we can find a video about anything on Youtube.
There are so many ways to learn about history, we even had the opportunity a few years ago to visit a touring Lego display called Lego Americana which was historically important American landmarks built from Lego bricks. History seems to be all around us when we are looking for it.
If you have more suggestions on bringing history to life I would love to hear what works for your family.
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