Christy Whiteman’s five-year-old daughter absolutely loves history. But as a homeschool mom, Christy was at a loss when it came to finding great resources for teaching American history. It just took the right curriculum for her daughter to not only learn history but engage with it too. In fact, Christy’s young daughter now knows more about the early days of the U.S. than most American adults do — thanks to the Tuttle Twins history books!
PHOTO: Tuttle Twins
Picking the Best Homeschool Curriculum
The Tuttle Twins history books are unique in a few different ways. Christy and her daughter especially like the story format of the books, which makes history come alive and leap off the pages!
Additionally, the Tuttle Twins history books don’t just teach what happened alongside rote memorization of dates and events. They also teach why things happened the way they did, teaching kids to think critically about the past and apply what they learn to today’s world. The Tuttle Twins history books are also a liberty-based homeschool curriculum for kids between the ages of five and 12.
With the right history books, you can join the growing number of parents who are taking their kids’ history education into their own hands. The right history books will teach patriotism and be kids’ books about freedom that tell the past like a story, which is much more memorable than simple memorization of dates and facts.
PHOTO: Tuttle Twins
Studying History to Look Beyond It
Once you have the right history curriculum, you’ll quickly be able to see what else can be taught through those books. History is an excellent lens for teaching critical thinking, and it can help your kids understand current events as well. Kids will also learn empathy and become able to analyze complex systems.
History is essentially a laboratory for analysis of human behavior that fosters humility and connects today to the past. Learning history the right way also helps kids learn to evaluate the evidence they’ve been given and understand multiple perspectives for every argument. Here are some tips to help your kids learn more than just history while they’re studying the past.
· Have your kids read diaries and letters and teach them how to understand various perspectives on past events.
· Encourage your children to ask why a particular source was created and to search fir biases within the text.
· Look at how multiple countries describe the same event.
· Teach about historical figures’ childhoods, challenges and motivations rather than just their achievements.
· Have your kids ask their grandparents or other older relatives about the past to create personal connections.
· Don some costumes and do some role-playing to help your kids step into the shoes of historical figures and try to understand how they felt.
The Tuttle Twins history books and other liberty-based curricula will help establish a firm foundation upon which you can build by using the above activities. Today’s parents can’t afford not to know where their kids are getting their history lessons from. That’s why so many are taking their kids’ history lessons into their own hands!
