I love homeschooling when we find our groove!
You know ~ when the kids know what to do, happily go about it and write or narrate, and the work is completed without moaning or complaining? (If only every day was like this?)
Our History Notebook pages have become a wonderful method for our daily narrations for our History Core: A Child’s Story of America.
We use basic lined pages with boxes in different layouts. All I do is prepare some pictures or artwork, maps, portraits, or clipart and some headings for each theme and we have the most versatile notebook pages.
While I read, the children cut out the minibooks and paste them on the lined notebook page. This keeps their hands busy while they listen and these visual clues reinforces the topics that I am reading.
I have become strict about not re-reading passages or giving clues and tips. Following Miss Mason’s suggestion, I try not “get in the way” and encourage the children to make their own connections with the book.
I recently chatted to a good homeschooling friend, a veteran homeschool mom of 5, and she and I find this approach very difficult. We both love to explain, find more books and references. We both love to teach. So, to read aloud, then facilitate the narrations without adding our own questions, suggestions and extra info is a real discipline!
How do you approach your History cores?
Anyway, back to today’s post – I have uploaded our latest files for you on my Free History Pages.
Here are the main topics:
- Francis Marion, General Nathanael Greene
- The Grand Republic covering the Constitution, Congress, The Great Seal, and the 3 Branches of Government
- Alexander Hamilton
- The First American – President George Washington
- Thomas Jefferson with a timeline
- The New Spiritual Revival and the Haystack Prayer Meeting
- Inventions covering Fulton’s Folly and The Cotton Gin
- The War of 1812
- The Lone Star Republic
- The Mexican War
You are welcome to pop over and download these for your personal use.