Although there may be excellent textbooks out there for teaching history, I prefer using literature whenever possible. The reasons I prefer literature are first of all, interest: children are more interested and fascinated with what they are learning when learning it out of real, "living" books rather than textbooks. Textbooks by their nature are stripped down to the bare bones facts, devoid of life or color, which, let's face it, are boring, boring, boring. "Living books", literature, makes historical figures come alive, giving them depth and character and thoughts and feelings and struggles and joys in ways that textbooks cannot possibly do. We see historical figures as real people we can relate to, facing many of the same kinds of life situations we have to face. Literature paints us a picture of a time and place, of customs and society and manners. With literature we get local color and the big picture. All of this translates into greater interest for our children in what they are learning.
Interest is important because it leads to the next advantage of using literature to teach history: retention. Many of us can recall our own history lessons in school and remember struggling over history texts and tests, but what actual facts do we remember from all the hours spent with texts and classroom lectures? I would bet not a high percentage for the time involved. And yet we recall with fondness a treasured book such as Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and ingrained in our memories are tidbits of American history and a mental picture of vast prairies, along with familiarity of a way of life since gone by. While reading Little House on the Prairie, we learned naturally and effortlessly with interest and pleasure many of the same facts that we struggled to learn from the texts, and with a much higher percentage of retention of those facts.
A third advantage to using literature to teach history that is often difficult if not impossible for textbooks to emulate, is understanding. An understanding is planted which begins to grow over time of the cause and effect nature of history, how an event can snowball and lead to other events, how choices an individual makes for good or ill can set mankind on a path from which there is no turning back. Literature by its very nature asks questions of us that keep us reading to find the answers. Very often we ask why someone chose this path or that one, and we strive to understand the choice. We begin to see not only the events themselves, but the why underneath the events. We begin to see that history is not just a separate subject in its separate compartment, but that history has had an effect on science, and math, and politics, and economics, and geography, and grammar (my children always loved the explanation of the soft c's and g's we have in English - it led to the story of the Norman Invasion of England in 1066, and the gradual picking up of French pronunciations in English.) And we also begin to see that politics and economics and science and math and geography and grammar have had their effect on history as well.
There are many ways to integrate literature in the study of history. Use a story book as a basis, such as Greenleaf Press' Famous Men series, or H. A. Guerber's Story of series. This method accomodates itself well to the problem of teaching multiple grades and varying reading abilites. Begin by reading a few pages outloud to all the children of all the grades together. Then after a bit of discussion, let the children settle down to read their own literature books silently. For example, in studying the French and Indian War, use Struggle for a Continent by Albert Marrin as a storybook basis. Then upper elementary students can enjoy Kateri Tekakwitha: Mohawk Maid by Evelyn Brown, or Roger's Rangers and the French and Indian War by Bradford Smith, and junior high students can relish Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare or The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. When the children finish a book, they can do some writing on what they have read, or a project inspired by the book. When that is completed, they eagerly go on to a new book; all the while the daily outloud readings continue until that point of history is finished.
Literature could be used to supplement a textbook in the same way. Supplement a unit study with literature. Read outloud to your children every night before bed, covering history chronologically over the years. Or just let them read historical fiction and wonderful biographies for fun. There are a myriad number of ways to incorporate great literature into history lessons, only a few of which have been mentioned here. Experiment, discover, and most of all enjoy "living" books and great literature with your children, and watch history come alive!
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Christine is the author of 'History All Through the Ages'! An excellent History curriculum for homeschoolers in all grade levels from 1-12.
Visit her site at:
http://www.allthroughtheages.com
Or, you may write me and ask for a sample listing for a particular age/grade level with a time period you are interested in. It is its organization that makes All Through the Ages truly invaluable. Every division throughout the book, whether by time period such as Ancient Greece, or a World Events subsection, or a Geographical region such as Africa, is further subdivided into 4 reading levels.
These reading levels are:
1-3 for beginning readers in 1st through 3rd grades;
4-6 for fluent readers in 4th through 6th grades;
7-9 for maturing readers in 7th through 9th grades;
and 10-12 for college-bound readers in 10th through 12th grades.
It is a compilation of listings of good books and great literature, briefly annotated, from these well-known and respected sources:
1. Books Children Love by Elizabeth Wilson
2. Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt
3. The Elijah Company Catalog
4. Great Books of the Christian Tradition by Terry Glaspey
5. Greenleaf Press Catalog
6. Landmark Books series published by Random House
7. Let the Authors Speak by Carolyn Hatcher
8. Newbery & Newbery Honor Award Books
9. Nobel Laureates in Literature
10. Pulitzer Prize Award Books
11. Robinson Self-Teaching Curriculum
12. Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd. Catalog
13. The Great Books of Western Civilization
No matter where a family is in their World and American History studies, no matter what varying grade levels are represented in that family, All Through the Ages lists the really good, "living" books to choose from. All the way from picture books and beginning readers through Pulitzer Prize winners and the Great Books of Western Civilization.