How can I teach my kids history without confusing them?

Question

I want to teach it to them in order, with historical fiction books and movies as supplements to the cold, hard textbook. We will also be touring historical sites. But I had an education like this, and now I have my history timeline all mixed up. How can I be sure to avoid this mistake with my kids?

Answer 1

Wow that is awesome!  I would say break it down into little pieces and unfortunately unless you want to overwhelm them the time line may get a little confused because as you are talking about American history things are happening in Europe, South America, etc.  I would say the most valuable thing you could do for them would be teach them history from different perspectives.  The time line will sort itself out with age, but if you only learn about say the Civil Rights movement from a white, northern perspective you miss a lot of the story; or if you only learn about Ellis Island and immigration from the English perspective you miss what happened to the Italians, Jews, Germans, etc.  

Worry less about time line and more about how the people in history were affected and how it affects us today.  But whatever you do, what a cool idea!  Good luck!

Answer 2

I started learning history as why did things happen and what did they cause. the dates I learned later in school. By learning causes and motivations I learned the reason behind history and it became more interesting. Rather than a set of books, you might try watching the History channel and then talking about the show with them. teaching guides are avail. from History Channel if you contact them, PBS has the same arrangement for educational history programs and guides.  these days kids would prefer to watch not read their subjects, and they seem to learn more than we did 30 years ago.

Answer 3

http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/Hi...

World History Timeline

Answer 4

give them a timeline - a physical one.

maybe even one they help build.

so they can see on the physical timeline when things happened in relationship to each other.

Answer 5

The key to teaching History is remembering that it is a collection of really good STORIES.

Someone here said that the kids need a timeline...I agree with that 100%.  Either purchase, or create, a big timeline poster for the kids.  Put a few historical events on it to start with, then as you study more events, add them in on the timeline so the kids can see how they fit.

You don't have to teach go in historical order (though that can help) if you make an effort to help the kids "hang" the events on the timeline. (For example if the only day you can visit an American Revolutionary War battlefield is after the only day you can visit an American Civil War battlefield you should still visit them, just make sure the kids know what is up.)

Make sure they memorize a few key dates, so they will be able to locate things in history.  For example if they know that Rome Fell in A.D. 410, and Constantinople Fell in A.D. 1453 (those two dates being the more or less accepted dates for the start and end of the Middle Ages) when you talk to them about the Black Death and say it was in 1350 they will know that it was in the Middle Ages...and that World War II (1939-1945) was after the Middle Ages.

One big thing that causes mixed up timelines, and that  is sorely neglected by most teachers, is showing how one event in History leads to another.   None the less it is how life and history, works.  You can do this through a review of what you have already learned.

For example, lets say you are going to talk about the Cold War and the building of the Berlin Wall.  You would give the lesson, then ask the kids "Why were the Russians building a wall down the middle of Germany? Can anyone tell me WHY the Russian Army would be in East Germany?"  Well the answer is "Because the Russians conquered that part of Germany at the end of WW2, that's why the Russians were there."  See? there is the link to the prior lesson.

History is all built on what happened before. The Russians were in East Germany because of WW2.  WW2 started, in large part, because of the treaty that ended WW 1, and the military weakness of Britian and France.  The Versilles (sp?) Treaty was so harsh, and Britian and France were so weak,  because of how bloody WW1 was and the massive cost of the war, both in terms of men and money. (The UK had a weak military because they couldn't afford a big one after WW1...a HUGE chunk of their budget was going to pay off WW1 bonds.  This in turn lead to Chamberlain's policy of appeasement...at the time of Munich he couldn't stand up to Hitler, Hitler was to strong...and besides appeasement was politically popular...because so many people had lost relatives in WW1 they were willing to do almost anything to avoid another war.)  

So...WW2 set the stage for the Cold War, WW1 set the stage for WW2.  The Franco-Prussian War set the stage for WW 1..etc.

Another example, the Spanish Armada of 1588. The Spanish built this huge fleet to go after the English, in addition to having a huge army in the Netherlands to fight the Protestants, in addtion to having troops in Austria to keep the Turks at bay, and having a large fleet of War Galleys that was fighting the Turks, (and had won the Battle of Lepanto in 1571).  How did the Spanish pay for all this???  Well, with the gold they were getting from the New World.  Cortez's conquest of Mexico (1519) and Pizarro's conquest of Peru (1533) helped pay for the fleet that lost in 1588, and the one that won in 1571.  Again, it all ties together

Just tie it all together.

Incidentally a good kids book on Lepanto (though it is out of print you can find the odd copy in an online used bookstore) is THE BLOOD RED CRESCENT  http://www.amazon.com/The-Blood-Red-Cres...   for the Crusades use THE BLUE GONFALON. http://www.amazon.com/The-Blue-Gonfalon/...  I read these as a kid and still remember them today.

You don't have to go into that much depth every time, obviously...but if you can link each new lession with the lesson before...show how the last lesson laid the groundwork for the new one, that would be a big help in tying things together.

Like I said though, History is a series of great stories...and if you skip over the story it gets really dull.

Have you seen the movie GETTYSBURG?  If not rent it. It is an excellent example of showing history as a story.  It is based on a book KILLER ANGLES.  That's not a kid book, but it is a good example of what you are looking for.

My kids saw Gettysburg, so when we actually went to Gettysburg they understood it .  My son walked Picket's Charge, and he thought a lot about it when he did it...because he understood how Picket's men walked that same route, but under fire the whole way.  

When he got to the markers at the Union Lines he understood the effort and sacrifice represented by the little marker that says "This is the point reached by the Mississippi Brigade"...and he also understood how if those Mississippi troops had just been able to go just a little bit further, and hadn't been stopped where they were, their next stop would (literally) have been the Oval office.

One of the things that stayed with my son from that  was the story about how, when the southerners retreated some of them walked backwards so they wouldn't be found shot in the back. (They didn't want people at home to think they had been running away when the got shot.) That bit of drama brought home to him a lot, about the battle and the men who fought in it.

So use the drama to interest the kids. Use the timeline poster to physically show them how it all links together, and use frequent review questions to show how each lesson builds upon the prior one, and make sure that at least a few key dates are memorized.  If all you learn is dates History is terribly dull...if you don't learn ANY dates then you don't understand how it all links together.

Answer 6

When I was a kid, I had, (and still have), a children's general world history book which had a timeline in the inside of the covers. There may be still something like that to give you a guide to create one with the children on which they record the periods which they study and where they sit.

Sounds great. Good luck

Answer 7

History can be an alienating subject to a kid because it's abstract.  

Perhaps a good approach to the subject is starting to things and places and people that your children are already familiar.    Starting with your town is a great way to get into history, because then it's a trip somewhere.  

Books are good, and popular subjects like Egypt are wonderful starting points too.  Egypt is a great way to start because that's in Africa and it's the march of the beginning of western civilization.    

I wouldn't worry about doing everything in order.  You'll kill yourself trying to keep it all straight.

The world's history is a massive subject.  Start where it's fun, and have conversations, challenges and even art projects.

Great idea to engage your kids in history!

Answer 8

Well, you shouldn't have your history timeline mixed up. If you start from the beggining (as it should be) I just can't figure out why you got it mixed up. What you can do, is explaining the links that lead from one era to another, instead of bothering about useless amount of specific data, just point out the outstanding, remarkable facts an events of every time and civilization. No one needs to know about Mr.Sila and the equites to understand Rome. Focus on Why one thing leads to another. After all, history is about causes and consequences, up to today. Although you will always have to keep going back in time, cos there's always a reason why that's lying somewhere in the past. But that's normal. Everybody keeps going and coming back!!!. Just try to stick to the outstanding and focus on the big picture. That's why some say - and I agree - that history is not about the past, but about the present.

If you're looking into the middle ages, for instance, instead of concentrating on how many kings of France there were, or who won this battle or that battle, or which lads went to  crusades and so on...which is pretty irrelevant in most cases.  Try to explain causes and consequences, long term trends, and factors that contributed to a specific state of mind, political, economical, social, technological, or spiritual stand. So, focus on why a battle was fought and what were the consequences, why a king was important, or why did all those lads went to the crusades and what were the consequences. History is like a spiral, and if you concentrate on the whole picture, you won't get lost. And if you teach History with a map at hand, much better. Geography helps a lot!!!.

Answer 9

Well if it is world history start with Mesopotamia, then work to Egypt and add the Hebrews. Then the Greeks, and Romans. This will get you till the middle ages then after the Renaissance teach by country. Heres what happened in France, Prussia, Russia, Britain that way their is a theme to what you are teaching. I can email you me teaching outlines if you would like and see how I did it. If you care about the subject and apply it to their lives then the kids will buy in.

Answer 10

I like your idea of historical sites and such. There are so many great historical sites and museams to go to. each one focuses on a different time in history. why dont u teach the rest on order, and with each time, take them to a different museum. as for the book idea, scholastic has these books titled "you wouldn't want to be" search for them on amazon and a lot will come up.

Answer 11

For your book question:  check out the Dear America series from Scholastic.  They have books aimed at young boys as well, not just girls.  Maaanny of my favorite books come from this series.  They are aimed at younger children to teens.

http://www.scholastic.com/dearamerica/

Answer 12

You are the teacher and you have your time line confused? My suggestion is that you study through as you teach. Keep an ongoing timeline of major events. You cannot dwell on all dates or the students will shutdown. One thing you need to do is to integrate interesting stories to get them interested. Get a copy of the THE PESSIMIST'S GUIDE TO HISTORY -- students love it.

Answer 13

I agree with putting timelines.

I'm going to put a little suggestion: Make history like a fairytale bedtime story thing by putting (historic) characters and the plot of the story. Kids will not listen to boring lectures.