Touching History

Some of the most entertaining things we do during "history class" are the hands-on experiences.  These are the things that kids remember, and that makes school fun.  Here are just a few of the projects we've found that helped us "touch history" in some way:

We modeled Greek columns using Model Magic.

We built and played with miniature catapults and trebuchets, learned how to use hand slings and staff slings, and built a Viking catapult.  (Granted, we actually started these projects for our physics class in co-op, but at home when testing them, we did learn about ancient siege warfare!)

We made miniature paper models of Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower.

(templates of these and many other projects can be found at: PaperToys and they are free!)

We designed our own medieval-style coats of arms.

We played Chinese checkers (even though it's not really Chinese in origin!),

and tried our hands at Chinese calligraphy.

This was in an Art co-op class - painting like Michelangelo!

We made "vermillion" face paint while studying the Lewis & Clark expedition.

Many of the social studies and history curricula for homeschoolers include suggestions for projects and artwork like these, and a search of homeschool websites and blogs (and Pinterest) will turn up plenty more.  If you're not sure about gathering supplies and making messes, start out with some of the multitude of activities that can be done with stuff you probably already have in the house.  A basic stockpile of markers, watercolor pencils, modelling clay (Model Magic is nice because it can be reused many times or allowed to air-dry, depending on how attached you are to your project!), paint and paper will take you a long way, even if you're not artistic.  If your kids have a decent collection of Legos, let them build whatever you're talking about - medieval castles, Mayan pyramids, Old West forts, etc.  (That's how Shatterpoint Entertainment got started!)  Don't forget the hands-on aspect of preparing and eating foods inspired by your studies (see my entry Tasting History from earlier in this series).

Suggested resources (many of which can be found at a local library):

• Ancient Egyptians and their Neighbors, Projects about Colonial Life by Marian Broida
• The American Revolution for Kids , The Civil War for Kids, and Lewis and Clark for Kids , all by Janis Herbert.  Other titles in this series include:  Frank Lloyd Wright for Kids, Leonardo da Vinci for Kids, Abraham Lincoln for Kids, Marco Polo for Kids
• Medieval Times Activity Book and other similar titles
• Geography Through Art and Teaching History Through Art

I hope you've enjoyed this series and maybe got some new ideas or encouragement from it.  I've certainly enjoyed writing it!  Please share your ideas for hands-on history studies in the comment section (and I would be honored if you decide to follow my blog using one of the options in the sidebar).  Then join me back at the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to get ideas and inspiration from the other 65+ bloggers who are participating in the 5 Days of... Blog Hop!

Seeing History

It's one thing to read about an historical event in a book, and quite another to see the place where it happened, or view a re-enactment.  You can see the words on the page, but when you see the place, the photographs, the artwork, or the artifacts... it's a different perspective.  Visual aids like maps and timelines can also be extremely helpful in understanding the events of history.

Make use of the museums and historical sites you have close by, and consider including a couple of these kinds of stops when you're on vacation as well.  Even if it's not something that ties into your current history study, it's fun to be able to say, "Remember when we were on vacation and we stopped at ------? That's where this event happened!"  Pull up the pictures on your computer (or out of your scrapbook, if you're a more faithful scrapbooker than I am!) for the reminder.

We happen to live within reasonable driving distance of Gettysburg and several other Civil War Battlefields; Fort McHenry; Washington DC; Harpers Ferry; and Historic St Mary's City.  Visiting the places mentioned in the history books is powerful and meaningful.

         

On vacations, we have been able to visit St Augustine, FL; Genesee County Farm museum in New York;  and the Mennonite Village Farm Museum in Manitoba.

  

But you don't need to leave home to go on 'field trips' - check your local library, or Netflix for DVDs.  The popular NEST Entertainment and Schlessinger Media educational films, and other similar titles, are usually easy to find at the library.  Often the TV shows from The History Channel or National Geographic channel and the like are available on DVD as well.  Our family has thoroughly enjoyed the series Cities of the Underground, for example.  (You may want to preview these, especially before viewing with young students.  Any time they are in caves below the cities, they throw in "millions of years" references.  More disturbing might be the commentary on events of war or pagan rituals and that sort of thing.)  We also enjoy an HBO series of shows called The Inventors' Specials that portray children interacting with characters like Da Vinci or Marie Curie in the historic setting.  Movies, even fictional stories, that faithfully portray a time period can be a great insight into daily life of the time.

Look for artwork that portrays the events or daily life of the artist's time.  Again, the library and the internet will be great resources. Thanks to the invention of the camera, we can actually see people and places and events from the 1800s and on.

Maps can be a rather abstract concept for younger children, but being able to compare the size of the Roman Empire over time and how much of Europe the Romans controlled is best grasped by looking at the maps. Knowledge Quest has some of the best historical maps that I'm aware of.

Timelines are another wonderful visual representation of history and are particularly helpful in understanding chronology.  Often the order of events is far more important than the specific dates on which the events took place.  We found it very interesting to make a world history timeline and see what was happening in other parts of the world at about the same time that the Chinese were building the Great Wall or inventing paper.  There are many ways of doing timelines, and you can purchase products that will help you with this.  For a few years, we simply put a long strip of butcher paper on the wall in our stairwell, with a basic timeline in the center.  Then as we studied history, we added significant events and people to our timeline, using a color code system.  Seeing a timeline of events for a specific country or period of history is just as helpful.  For example, I was in high school before I realized that the Old Testament is not organized in chronological order - that the prophets spoke during the times of the kings; that Job happened before Israel was a nation (probably around the same time as Abraham); that Ruth took place during the time of the Judges; and that Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel are not separate events from the Exile. A timeline really helped me - as an adult - put all that together in my mind.

What are your favorite ways to visualize history? I'd love to see your comments (and I would be honored if you'd also follow my blog using one of the options in the sidebar)!  Then make your way to the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to see what the other 65+ bloggers who are participating in the 5 Days of... Blog Hop! are sharing today!

Hearing History

History has a soundtrack, and listening to it can be a great way to make history come alive and enhance appreciation of music and composers as well.  Music history can be a separate subject with tie-ins to your history studies, or you can just include some music along the way as it's appropriate.

Finding the soundtrack for ancient history can be a real challenge, because they didn't have a way to record their music, and music wasn't written down (at least not in a way that we can play or sing it!) until the middle ages.  But we do know that music has been a part of the human experience from the beginning.  The Bible tells us that a man named Jubal (eighth generation after Adam) was "the father of all who play the harp and flute".  Paintings and writings of the ancient Mesopotamians,Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans are clear that music and instruments were important parts of their cultures.  We can learn some of what they thought about music and how they used it, but we don't know much about how it sounded.

Around AD1000, written music began to appear, especially within the Church.  People began writing down some of the folk music as well, music that had been passed down from one musician to another before that time.  Listening to the music of the times you are studying, even in the background, can really add a lot!  Many of the great composers, especially from the Romantic period on, wrote music with specific events and people in mind, so those pieces are especially valuable for making history connections.  Popular music has always been somewhat of a commentary on current events, so consider finding out what the folk music of years gone by had to say about what was going on in the world.

Here's a list of ideas on how to HEAR HISTORY:

• Middle Ages or Church History - Gregorian chant  
• Renaissance -  madrigals
• Shakespearean England - Felix Mendelssohn came along a couple hundred years later, but his overture to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a good accompaniment.
• c.1600-1750, British history, European history - George Frideric Handel wrote a piece called Zadok the Priest for the coronation of the British king that has been used at coronations ever since!  Handel's Water Music was written for King George I's procession up the Thames River, and Music for the Royal Fireworks celebrated the end of the War of the Austrian Succession.  The music of Johann Sebastian Bach gives the listener a feel for what church music of the Baroque period was like. 
• c.1750-1820, European history - you can't go wrong listening to Haydn or Mozart.  Although their music wasn't as obviously specific to events of the day, listening to it as you study the courts of Europe sets the mood.  
• Napoleon and France - You might want to listen to Beethoven's Eroica Symphony when you study Napoleon.  Beethoven originally named it Bonaparte in honor of Napoleon in 1803, but when Napoleon declared himself Emperor, Beethoven was so angry he tore out the title page and renamed it!  Franz Schubert wrote art songs called lieder and some dance music, which give insight into what was popular among upper and middle class people in Europe.
• c.1820-1910, Eastern European history - Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt made extensive use of Polish and Hungarian folk style themes in their compositions.  Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky used Russian folk music themes in his music, and in 1876, Tchaikovsky wrote Marche slave for a benefit concert to aid Serbia after a slaughter of Christian Slavs in the Serbo-Turkish War.  Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture is a popular and familiar piece of music that commemorated Russia's defense of Moscow from Napoleon's army.
• American history - listen to the music of Stephen Foster, especially when studying the Gold Rush (Oh! Susanna!) and the building of the railroads (Camptown Races).  (ETA: Listen to traditional Spirituals and work songs when discussing slavery and the situations that led to the Civil War)  Listen to Scott Joplin's ragtime music and John Philip Sousa's marches when studying the late 1800s up to about 1920.  Listen to George Gershwin's music when studying the Roaring 20s and the Depression.  Listen to Aaron Copland and Irving Berlin when studying the 1930s and 1940s.    

The library and YouTube are great resources for finding music.  I do own a large number of CDs of classical and romantic music that I've collected over the years, but they represent some of my personal favorites rather than an historical cross-section.  The library, however, has an extensive collection! I did have to be careful to check what format the library's recordings were in - our system has a lot of music listed that is on LPs (for you youngsters, those are the big black grooved discs for which you need a record player with a needle!) which are not available for circulation, and wouldn't do me much good anyway.  Searching YouTube by composer or the name of a piece can yield some treasures as well. You can see the musicians performing, or there may be images that help portray the music or the times effectively.  Disney's Fantasia 2000 is a good example of history and music presented with images that enhance the experience.  I especially like the portrayal of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which follows some animated characters through a day in the life of jazz era New York City.

    

Suggested resources:

• A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers from Bright Ideas Press
• This is my YouTube playlist that I used this year: Music for School

Do you have ideas or questions about listening to history? I'd love to hear your comments (and it would put a song in my heart if you'd also follow my blog using one of the options in the sidebar)!  Then head back to the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to check out the other 65+ bloggers who are participating in the 5 Days of... Blog Hop!

This post will also be included in the Artist and Composer Study Round-up at the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog. (this link will be live Wednesday, October 15th).

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Tasting History

I've found that even my picky eaters have been willing to at least try a food if it's something we can relate to history or social studies.  One of the things we try to do when studying history is to get an idea of what life was like for the "everyday" people of that time and place.  When studying another country and its people and culture, we often find out that certain foods and dishes are associated with it, and why.

A side benefit I've found is that this helps me with meal planning! Generally, I don't like cooking that much, and I'm not very good about meal planning.  However, when the kids and I get together and choose recipes inspired by our history studies, it helps me to plan ahead and mix things up a little.  Occasionally we try something that everyone likes well enough that the family requests it be added to the menu plans.  I also get help in the kitchen! Score!!!! ;-)

Many books and resources that tell about daily life in times past include some information about what the staple foods were and what was likely to be eaten most often.  Many of these books that are geared towards children have some simplified recipes or suggestions.

Activity guides such as Ancient Egyptians and their Neighbors are great for finding recipes and many other hands-on ideas.  This one tells how to make Overnight Fig Cakes (ancient Egypt), lentil soup and hummus (ancient Hittites), and suggests a way to enjoy an Assyrian style feast.

Of course you don't always have to go with the "authentic" food experiences either.  Sometimes it's just fun to do something like construct Stonehenge from rice krispie squares!

Another series of activity guides that includes food ideas are the ones from Janis Herbert.

        
These three that focus on American history showed us how to make Liberty Tea Punch to enjoy as we learned about the colonists boycotting their favorite beverage and making tea from herbs and berries instead; how to make hardtack like the soldiers of the Civil War would have enjoyed depended on; and how to make a Great Plains stew such as the one described in the journals of Lewis & Clark.

In studying the history of other countries, it's easy to find information on what foods and dishes are associated with that country, and enjoying a taste of another culture might spark interest.  This past year we studied Europe and the countries of the former USSR, and enjoyed foods like: Chicken Paprika with Dumplings (Hungary); Bavarian Apple Cake; Sicilian Cake; Queso Frito (deep fried cheese sticks - Spain); Khachapuri (cheese bread - Georgia); Armenian Pizza; and Beef Stroganoff (Russia).  Stroganoff is a favorite for my kids already, and now they know how it got its name.  It is named for a Count Stroganov who popularized the dish by serving it frequently at his dinner parties.  Some of the new recipes we try, like this Greek Feta and Chicken Pie, are liked well enough by the family that they become part of our regular meal rotation.

 

Georgian cheese bread

Armenian Pizza

Sicilian Cake

Another interesting idea is to follow a particular food through history, such as bread or fried bread.  Bread has been a staple food since the earliest times, but the way it is prepared and eaten has changed and is different depending on the culture.  My favorite food to follow is chocolate!  Not just its first use by the Aztecs, but its introduction into Europe as a luxury beverage, and how different countries became known for their signature chocolates - eat a Swiss Toblerone bar! Then we learned how Ghirardelli opened a family business during the San Francisco gold rush, and that is why Ghiradelli chocolates are wrapped in gold foil; and because we are relatively near to Hershey PA, we have also learned how Milton Hershey built his business by perfecting a method of making milk chocolate.

Suggested resources (all of which I found at my local library):

• Eat Your Way Around the World by Jamie Aramini
• Holidays of the World Cookbook for Students by Lois Sinaiko Webb
• Passport on a Plate: A Round-the World Cookbook for Children by Diane Simone Vezza
• California Gold Rush Cooking by Lisa Golden Schroeder
• Ancient Egyptians and their Neighbors, Projects about Colonial Life by Marian Broida
• The American Revolution for Kids, The Civil War for Kids, Lewis and Clark for Kids, by Janis Herbert

Another TOS blogger is writing "5 Days of... Eating Around the World" for this Blog Hop, so check out her ideas at Our Homeschool Studio.


Please leave a comment (and follow my blog using GFC or Linky Followers), and then head back to the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to check out the other 65+ bloggers who are participating in the 5 Days of... Blog Hop!

Introducing 5 Days of Living History

I've often said that History is my favorite subject, and I do enjoy teaching it. While it may not always be a favorite subject for my kids - it is schoolwork, after all! - my goal is to teach it in such a way that my kids remember the principles and foundations, and so that they can see that it matters.  I believe that experiencing things makes them easier to learn, to understand, and to remember.  So how can we experience events that took place in the past, and in faraway places?  Sometimes it does take a little thinking, but I don't think it's difficult.  It doesn't always need to be messy or expensive either.  The library and the internet, as most homeschoolers know, are invaluable resources for information, instruction, and ideas for these kinds of activities.  This week I'm going to be sharing some of the things we've tried and a few of the resources I'm aware of, and I hope that you'll be encouraged and inspired, and that you'll share your great ideas with me!

We tried to do hands-on things in our homeschool from the start.  When my oldest son was in first (or was it second?) grade and we studied American history, I packed the three boys up and went to Gettysburg right after we learned about the Civil War.  Gettysburg isn't very far from us and we had been there several times since moving to the area, but up until that point we hadn't done much other than drive through the battlefield areas.  I wasn't entirely sure how much my little guys would grasp, so my thinking was that we would do some walking on the trails, look at a few of the historical markers, eat a picnic lunch, and call it a field trip.  When we arrived at Little Round Top, a group of young men in army uniform was there and were hearing a lecture about the strategies employed by both sides in that battle at Gettysburg.  We listened in for a short time before taking the gentle hike up Little Round Top itself.  We read the markers and discussed it and went back down and ate our lunch in our car because it was raining by then.  To my surprise, that evening, my six-year-old explained to his dad the military movements of the Union and Confederate armies and how the Union forces were able to gain the advantage and hold their position at Gettysburg and eventually win the battle.  We were stunned.  I won't pretend that he remembered those details for years afterwards, but he had a better level of understanding of what the War was about, what happened, and how the War was won than a large number of adults I know.  Because he'd been there and the diagrams and maps and words in the books had come to life for a brief but important time.

And that day drove home the idea that living history was more effective than just reading about it.

Then, a number of years ago, our family participated in an encampment near Historic St Mary's City in Maryland.  We spent a weekend living very much like the earliest colonial Americans would have (with some necessary adjustments, of course!).  It was a memorable experience, one of the best opportunities to live history that we've had.  We learned about a historical period using all our senses, and over the next four days, I'll share a little more about living history using the senses.

We cooked over an open fire -

which meant we also had to build and tend the fire without using lighter fluid or modern matches.  We also had to eat the kind of food that would have been available to the colonists.  We tasted history.  And the picky eaters survived too.  Actually, after the hard work, they were hungry.  We smelled history too - the woodfire and the open air cooking.

(My guys liked the blowers so much, we had our neighbor - who happens to be hobby blacksmith -  make us one to use at home!)

We needed to gather kindling and chop firewood every day.  Chopping wood was one of the favorite activities of all the boys there, and the guy running the camp eventually had to tell them to stop chopping wood because we had more than enough! 

Another big highlight was learning how to shoot a flintlock rifle.

We also learned how to throw a tomahawk, and we're pretty good too!  

We slept in tents, and although we brought our modern day sleeping bags, we were supposed to use the straw for bedding underneath that.  I heard later that a couple of the adults brought air mattresses.  City slickers.  8-P 

We touched history by wearing the clothes, sleeping in straw, and doing the work and play.  I don't have a picture, but we heard history - we had a Bible study and devotional time that included singing some colonial era hymns and psalms.  And we were awakened each morning by the bugle and drum.  We looked at history in a different way than just textbooks.

The rest of the week, I'll be sharing some ideas for experiencing history, based on the senses.  Please join me and add to the comments, and if you don't already follow my blog, I would love for you to do that too.  And head back to the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to check out the other 65+ bloggers who are participating in the 5 Days of... Blog Hop!