There are quite a few books out there that expound classical home education. When my oldest was 3.5, I read most of them, and together my husband and I decided to embark on the adventure of homeschooling. It hasn’t always been easy…in fact, I can’t think of any school day when I’ve settled down in bed at night and related to my husband how easy things went…but I digress.
We have continued on this journey, and with only a few stumbles, namely that one month I wanted to embrace unschooling, have stuck with methods most closely aligned to classical thinking.
Much of the writing, copywork, dictation, reading, art and geography, is tied into history (or Latin.) I have based our history program loosely on The Well Trained Mind model and “Story of the World” series. Namely we follow a 4 year, consecutive history cycle beginning with Creation and ending at around 1989.
I’m boring you with all the details because over the years, I hear a lot from Mom’s who don’t do history because they hate history or who don’t won’t to bore their kids with typical textbook history. The second reason for this blog is to have a place where families can access my history materials to use.
Now don’t be thinking this is some grandiose lesson plan laden with internet linked activities, colorful printables and suggestions for field trips.(See the title of my blog). It’s a bare bones timeline and list of reading suggestions that can hopefully make history a, dare I suggest, FUN part of schooling, even if you hated history growing up. Or maybe just less of a chore?
My husband and I love history, and so far our kid’s seem to be picking up on the enthusiasm. I can’t always get a daily shower, but with a little effort and planning my kids can do something related to history at least 4 days a week.
I should mention we all enjoy reading history and visiting historic sites; we’re not historic reenactors or volunteer museum tour guides. It’s a healthy love, not an all encompassing passion. You won’t catch me sewing up authentic pantaloons for our trip to Gettysburg anytime soon.
So keep your eyes on the downloads page for links to my timelines and book lists. I’m hoping to get some sort of store display up too. (Yeah, I’m looking to monetize.I have five hungry kids you know.) Shoot me an email if you have any questions or suggestions. Want to argue over a date? Bring it! And just one note; my family is Catholic, so we’ve included many saints and Catholic sources. Please don’t let that deter you. The history of the Church is the history of Western Civilization.