Our hands-on history activities all began with a phone call from a local mommy. She was putting together a history co-op and invited us to be part of the group. Since we were all Americans living in Europe, the initial focus would be European History. Despite the fact I had all the books and materials ready to go for a year of American History, I said yes. Our history studies haven't been the same since.
Studying the Celts, Vikings, Scythians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and Mesopotamians while having the opportunity to see many ruins connected with the different cultures has been incredible. Many times we did a hands-on activity such as constructing a Celtic shoulder pin, only to later view similar pins displayed in a museum. Since my son thrives on the documentaries, my oldest likes the books and my youngest prefers the activities I will take the same approach with future history studies.
To see the history activities we have done in the past please visit our history page.
Here are some ways others teach history.
A Barefoot Hippie plan for history 1600-1800 - Barefoot Hippie Girl
Teaching History Revisited - Every Bed of Roses
A Glance at How We Do History - One Magnificent Obsession
Finding Your Way - Hammock Tracks
Unschooling History - Navigating by Joy
This post is linked to:
Virtual Curriculum Fair
I like your flexible approach, Julie. That way we can enjoy opportunties we might miss if we were too attached to our plans.
ReplyDeleteI empathise with what you say about being excited to share what you've learned with your children - that's exactly how I feel!
That celtic pin sounds so cool. Thanks for your concise post...always enjoy them, Julie.
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly how we did it when we lived overseas:) Now that we are back to the states we are going thru US History. My kids can still recall many of the activities we did with our local friends:)
ReplyDeleteThat's what happened to me 2 years ago. I was all set to start studying Rome to Reformation, and my friend called me and said "How do you feel about studying US history?" The rest is history.
ReplyDelete