Taking the Mystery Out of Teaching History in Your Homeschool

How can you move beyond dry dates and dull textbooks and make history a favorite subject in your homeschool? In this episode of Vintage Homeschool Moms, Felice Gerwitz is joined by longtime friend and fellow homeschool mom Meredith Curtis to talk about teaching history in a way that sparks excitement and long-term retention—from the early years all the way through high school.

You’ll hear practical ideas for using biographies, co-ops, timelines, cooking, music, art, original documents, and a Christian worldview to bring both American and world history to life.

In This Episode, You’ll Hear About: History as “His Story”

• Why Felice sees history as God’s story unfolding through time

• The importance of teaching historic facts without revisionist or secular spin

• How a biblical, creationist worldview changes the way you approach history resources

Why Just Reading the Textbook Isn’t Enough

• Why most students won’t remember much from simply reading and answering end-of-chapter questions

• How Felice and Meredith both started with textbooks but quickly realized they needed more

• How to use a solid textbook as a jumping-off point for unit studies, hands-on work, and deeper discussion

Hands-On History in the Early Years

• Using biographies and picture books (even with teens!) to make historical figures feel real

• Simple ways to add fun:

  • Coloring pages or doodling during read-alouds for kids who focus better while their hands are busy

  • Simple crafts, skits, and pretend diaries written in the voice of a historical character

  • Themed days such as “Pioneer Day” or “Christmas in Colonial America”

• How Meredith’s family used cooking as history in their co-op:

  • Geography year: authentic foods from each country

  • American history: recipes from different eras (including an authentic turtle soup recipe!)

  • Ancient history: foods that would have been eaten in the ancient world

• Using Christmas unit studies tied to specific time periods and having your kids:

  • Make historically themed wrapping paper

  • Plan menus based on the era you’re studying

  • Bake cookies and foods that match the culture and time

What Is a Homeschool Co-op (and Do You Need One)?

• A clear, simple definition of a homeschool co-op:

  A group of three or more families learning together, with parents sharing teaching responsibilities.

• How Felice and Meredith have homeschooled:

  • Just their own family

  • With one other family over many years (which eventually grew into a church co-op)

  • With larger, more structured co-ops

• Examples of memorable co-op activities:

  • A medieval or colonial feast with costumes, bread-as-plates, eating with fingers, and “bones on the floor” to mimic the era

  • Weather stations and student “broadcasts”

  • Outdoor activities like jousting and historical games

Planning Your Week for History Success

• How Felice structured her week in the early years:

  • Half-year focus: American history first half, science second half—then later alternating by days instead

  • Monday & Wednesday – History

  • Tuesday & Thursday – Science

  • Friday – Catch-up and field trip day

• Why it’s okay to skip a day and then catch up with a synopsis instead of feeling “behind”

• How field trips bless both kids and moms with community and shared experiences

Timelines, Dates, and Maps: Pegs for Memory

• Using timelines in notebooks or all around the room so kids can “see” history across the ages

• Doing a giant floor-length timeline and assigning each child a century to fill with key events

• Marking history with Christ as the focal point:

  • Creation

  • Major biblical events (Noah, Abraham, David, Jesus)

  • Key turning points like the fall of Rome, the Battle of Hastings, Magna Carta, the Reformation, exploration, and more

  • Ending the timeline with “Jesus returns” to remind students that history has a beginning and an end

• Why Meredith has her students memorize a small set of crucial dates as “pegs” for everything else

• Using maps to:

  • Track explorers (Columbus, Balboa, Cabot, etc.) in different colors

  • Notice that cities and civilizations grow around water and fertile land

  • Connect geography to culture, trade, and war

Moving into Middle & High School: Going Deeper

• Keeping everyone in the same time period while assigning more advanced work (projects, papers, and readings) to older students

• Beginning to emphasize the “why” behind events:

  • Laws and changes in light of the U.S. Constitution

  • How different cultures’ worldviews shape their decisions, art, laws, and daily life

• Using original documents and primary sources:

  • Reading real accounts of events like the Salem witch trials instead of relying on modern commentary

  • Looking at historic speeches, letters, and newspaper articles

• Encouraging teens to evaluate current events through the lens of the Constitution and Scripture

Music, Art, Architecture, and Fashion in World History

• Exploring how philosophy, literature, and worldview show up in:

  • Architecture

  • Paintings and sculpture

  • Music styles (Gregorian chant, Renaissance, Romantic, etc.)

  • Clothing and everyday objects

• Comparing different periods:

  • Why Renaissance art is breathtaking but some students find Renaissance music hard to enjoy

  • How Romantic art, literature, music, and architecture all share a recognizable “feel”

• Introducing teens to Francis Schaeffer’s classic series on culture, art, and philosophy to see how ideas shape civilizations

Literature + History + Writing

• Pairing your history spine with:

  • American literature for U.S. history

  • British and world literature for world history

• Using classics like Anne of Green Gables and C.S. Lewis to:

  • Stretch vocabulary and appreciation for language

  • Practice worldview evaluation and discussion

• How Felice uses writing curriculums like WriteShop to strengthen high school writing in the context of history and literature studies

Creation vs. Evolution and Choosing Resources Wisely

• Why Felice had to set aside a secular world history textbook that started with “ancient man” and evolutionary assumptions

• Using creation science resources to compare claims and expose fallacies in evolutionary timelines

• Encouraging teens to think critically about:

  • Fossil evidence

  • Assumptions in secular history texts

  • How worldview drives the story we tell about the past

American History & Government Courses for Homeschoolers
Use code: VHM50 to save $50 off of the American History video class.

• Felice shares about the Media Angels American History and Government video classes:

  • Taught by AP-level instructor and award-winning professor Robert Woodrow Wilson

  • Recorded with a live audience

  • Heavy use of visuals, timelines, and “fabulous facts”

  • Students match key inventions, events, and people to the correct presidents and eras

• How these classes help:

  • Build a solid chronological framework

  • Encourage parent-led worldview discussion

  • Train students to evaluate political candidates and current issues using the Constitution

Field Trips, Local Museums, and Everyday Opportunities

• Using local history (like Edison’s museum in Fort Myers, FL, or Victorian homes and pioneer villages) to make the past feel close and real

• Finding “day trip” guidebooks for your state and exploring:

  • Hands-on museums

  • Historical homes

  • Small but meaningful local sites

• Why field trips are worth the effort—even if some destinations turn out a little “lame”—because your kids remember the experiences forever.

Resources Mentioned

(Always check the sites for current specials and updated offers.)

• Media Angels – Homeschool science, history, American history & government video classes

  • Website: MediaAngels.com

• Vintage Homeschool Moms podcast archive & show notes

  • Website: VintageHomeschoolMoms.com

• Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network – Home of Vintage Homeschool Moms and many more homeschool podcasts

  • Look for the Vintage Homeschool Moms and Finish Well shows

• Powerline Productions (Meredith Curtis) – History cookbooks and Christian history resources

  • American history and ancient history cookbooks with recipes, activities, and study guides

• Finish Well Podcast with Meredith Curtis – Encouraging teens and parents to live for Jesus and think biblically about life and culture

Stay Connected

• Host: Felice Gerwitz – author, publisher, and homeschool mom

  • Website: MediaAngels.com

• Guest: Meredith Curtis – pastor’s wife, worship leader, homeschool mom, and owner of Powerline Productions; host of the Finish Well podcast

Have a question about teaching history in your homeschool or ideas for future episodes? You can usually reply directly to Felice’s email newsletter or contact her through MediaAngels.com or the Vintage Homeschool Moms page on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network.

Happy history teaching!

RECOMMENDED BOOK LIST for Teaching History in Your Homeschool TeachingHistory-VintageHomeschoolMoms Let’s Talk About Teaching History

with your co-hosts, Felice Gerwitz & Meredith Curtis

History is about a bunch of dead people and stuff that happened long ago or so I thought when I was a kid. As a homeschool parent I found that history is actually “HIS” story and when it is revealed we find so many wonderful lessons to learn. In this session you’ll hear some of the ways that both Meredith & Felice have taught history to their children from the zany to the classes Felice asked her brother-in-law to teach to homeschool kids!

Please give us a rating on iTunes – go to iTunes, find our show (Vintage Homeschool Moms – or type in Felice Gerwitz) and rate it! AND… use the social media buttons on this page to share the show with your friends.

 

World History Reading List  – All rights reserved Media Angels, Inc. 2014 TeachingHistory-VintageHomeschoolMoms Let’s Talk About Teaching History

with your co-hosts, Felice Gerwitz & Meredith Curtis

History is about a bunch of dead people and stuff that happened long ago or so I thought when I was a kid. As a homeschool parent I found that history is actually “HIS” story and when it is revealed we find so many wonderful lessons to learn. In this session you’ll hear some of the ways that both Meredith & Felice have taught history to their children from the zany to the classes Felice asked her brother-in-law to teach to homeschool kids!

Please give us a rating on iTunes – go to iTunes, find our show (Vintage Homeschool Moms – or type in Felice Gerwitz) and rate it! AND… use the social media buttons on this page to share the show with your friends.

 

World History Reading List  – All rights reserved Media Angels, Inc. 2014

September Reading Books

In the Days of Noah by Gloria Clanin Life in the Great Ice Age by Michael and Beverly Oard The Mystery of the Ark by Paul Thomsen The Lost Kingdom (Reg Danson Adventure #2) by Clint Kelly Adam and His Kin: The Lost History of Their Lives and Times by Ruth Beechick Genesis: Finding Our Roots by Ruth Beechick Dinosaurs in God’s World Long Ago by Henrietta Gambill What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs? (DJ and Tracker John)  Priceless Jewel at the Well: The Diary of Rebekah’s Nursemaid  The Magic School Bus Shows and Tells: A Book About Archaeology Exploring Ancient Cities of the Bible 

October Reading Books

Tutankhamun by Robert Green Tirzah by Lucille Travis Mummies, Tombs, and Treasure: Secrets of Ancient Egypt by Lila Perl Miriam’s Cup, a Passover Story by Fran Manushkin Learning About Passover by Barbara Soloff Levy Shadow Hawk by Andre Norton Adventures in Ancient Egypt by Linda Bailey The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt by Elizabeth Payne The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone : Key to Ancient Egypt by James Giblin Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki Kids Discover: Ancient Egypt The Peaceful Warrior: The Diary of Deborahs Armor Bearer, Israel, 1200 B.C. (Promised Land Diaries) Hittite Warrior by Joanne Williamson Journey for Tobiyah by Barbara Morgan King Solomon’s Navy by Nora Benjamin Kubie The Temple at Jerusalem by Jacqueline Morley

November Reading Books

The Usborne Story of Music by Simon Mundy The Usborne Story of Painting by Anthea Peppin The Usborne Book of Living Long Ago: Everyday life through the Ages, by Felicity Brooks and Helen Edom God King: A Story in the Days of King Hezekiah by Joanne Williamson Aesop’s Fables for Children Hour of the Olympics (Magic Tree House #16) by Mary Pope Osborne The Seven Voyages of Sinbad (and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights) retold by Gladys Davidson King Solomon’s Mines (Puffin Classics) by H Rider Haggard

December Reading Books

The Odyssey for Boys and Girls by AJ Church Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne Famous Men of Greece by John Haaren and AB Poland The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky Usborne: The Greeks by Susan Peach & Anne Millard Adventures in Ancient Greece by Linda Bailey Cyrus the Persian by Sherman A Nagel Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher Within the Palace Gates: The King’s Cupbearer by Anna P. Siviter The Greek and Roman Eras: (Journey Through History) by Carme Peris and Gloria & Oriol Verges Hand Me Another Brick by Charles Swindoll Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights

January Reading Books

Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile, Egypt, 57 B.C. (The Royal Diaries) by Kristiana Gregory About the History of the Calendar by AE Evenson Battle of Actium (Great Battles Through the Ages) by David Califf The Runaway by Patricia St. John Fountain of Life by Rebecca Martin Adventures in Ancient China by Linda Bailey A Grain of Rice by Helena Clare Pittman Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace Titus: A Comrade of the Cross by Florence Morse Kingsley Augustus Caesar’s World by Genevieve Foster Famous Men of Rome by John Haaren & A.B. Poland Rome and Romans (Usborne Time Traveler) by Heather Amery and Patricia Vanags I and II Maccabees from the Apocrypha (available in Bibles that include the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books) Life Stories Of Men Who Shaped History, From Plutarch’s Lives Pompeii…Buried Alive! by Edith Kunhardt The Robe by Lloyd C Douglas Masada by Tim McNeese (Sieges That Changed the World)

February Reading Books

Devil’s Island by John Hagee Outcast by Rosemary Sutcliff[ See You Later, Gladiator (Time Warp Trio) by Jon Scieszka Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld The Eagle (previously published as The Eagle of the Ninth) by Rosemary Sutcliff The Story of Valentine by Wilma Pitchford Hays Augustine, the Farmer’s Boy of Tagaste by P. De Zeeuw The City of God by Augustine Ancient Rome: How It Affects You Today by Richard J. Maybury The Ides of April by Mary Ray Beyond the Desert Gate by Mary Ray Jesus Freaks: Martyrs by dc Talk Foxe’s Book Of Martyrs by John Foxe (many different editions of this work are available) Saint George and the Dragon retold by Margaret Hodges Saint Patrick: Pioneer Missionary to Ireland by Michael McHugh

March Reading Books

Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett Famous Men of the Middle Ages by Haaren and Poland Augustine Came to Kent by Barbara Willard Beowulf The Shining Company by Rosemary Sutcliff Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck Against the World: The Odyssey of Athanasius by Henry W. Coray Saladin: Noble Prince of Islam by Diane Stanley The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow by Allen French Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory The Sword in the Tree by Clyde Robert Bulla The Book of Pastoral Rule (also published as Pastoral Care) by St. Gregory the Great The Song of Roland (an epic poem) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson Camelot by AJ Lerner (script for the Broadway play) Viking Raiders (Usborne Time Traveler) by Civardi, Graham-Campbell, & Wingate

April Reading Books

Famous Men of the Middle Ages by Haaren and Poland Son of Charlemagne by Barbara Willard The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer A Chaucer Reader edited by Charles W. Dunn Leif Eriksson: First Voyager to America by Katherine B. Shippen In His Name by Edward E Hale Paula the Waldensian by Eva Lecomte Lost Baron: A Story of England in the Year 1200 by Allen French Macbeth by Shakespeare Hamlet by Shakespeare El Cid, retold by Geraldine McCaughrean Don Quixote (also published as Don Quijote) by Cervantes A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E. L. Konigsburg The Hidden Treasure of Glaston by Eleanore M. Jewett Castle by David Macaulay Cathedral by David Macaulay The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman Knights and Castles (Usborne Time Traveler) by Judy Hindley The Striped Ships by Eloise McGraw *** The Third Crusade: Richard the Lionhearted vs Saladin (Great Battles Through the Ages) by Samuel Willard Crompton The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle (who also drew original illustrations for this book)[ The King’s Shadow by Elizabeth Alder

May Reading Books

Men of Iron by Howard Pyle If All the Swords in England: A Story of Thomas Becket by Barbara Willard Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott Genghis Khan and the Mongol Horde by Harold Lamb A Morbid Taste for Bones (Brother Cadfael Chronicles–we recommend this series) by Ellis Peters) Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray The Dragon and the Raven (The Days of King Alfred) by G. A. Henty The Magna Charta by James Daugherty The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation by Robert Pinsky The Life and Words of St. Francis of Assisi by Ira Peck In Freedom’s Cause: A Story of Wallace and Bruce by G. A. Henty The Beggars’ Bible by Louise Vernon Ink on His Fingers by Louise A. Vernon Morning Star of the Reformation by Andy Thomson Henry V by Shakespeare Joan of Arc by Mark Twain The Pied Piper of Hamlin by Robert Browning The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric Kelly Constantinople (Sieges That Changed the World) by Tim McNeese

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