Thoughts on History Education in the Home

Throughout the remainder of this year, I will be continuing a series of posts on home education in various subjects required by or related to those required by the state we currently reside in. As I said in an earlier post, this is partly to develop my own homeschooling philosophy and specific ideas via writing, and partly sharing some toddler-appropriate ideas and visions that may be of help to you. This post is on history education, focusing on how to sequence said education in the K-12 age range. Earlier posts in this series are on health education and life sciences. Check out this page also on characteristics of a historical mindset.

Some Historical Vocabulary

Last year, I stumbled across The Homeschool Historian. The objective of this blog/website is to provide good-quality, ideologically neutral (as possible!) historical educational materials and information developed by a Christian with substantial historical training. I am appreciative of her approach because of the tendency in many curricula (religious and otherwise) to de-constrain one's more slanted biases. Everyone has biases; not all biases are bad.

The main contribution I'm drawing from THH in this section is the distinction between "history," "historical fact," and "historiography." "History" refers to one's story about the past. Because each person has his or her own perspective, the history told will also have a specific perspective to be aware of. "Historical fact" typically refers to evidence--such as artifacts--that can be interpreted in various ways depending on the perspective/worldview of the interpreter. Finally, "historiography" refers to either (1) the actual writing of history or (2) the theory/history of writing-of-history.

How is History Usually Taught in Schools?

This section is deceptively unified--as you'll see in the next section, standards (and therefore approaches) for teaching history are variable between any two U.S. states. That said, the sources I found purport themselves to be fairly representative of at least the ideal toward which public schools strive.

Elementary-Age

My sources for this section are TeachingHistory.org, American Historical Association, and Educator's Room. Secondarily, I just finished the book Consider This which looks at Charlotte Mason's inspiration from the classical approach to education. A central message of that book is that, in the early and middle educational years, synthesis of interconnected knowledge should be the focus far more than analysis (breaking things apart).

Specific strategies for younger children tend toward the more concrete, as well as the concept of story. Concrete manipulatives and artifacts are fun for children to handle and ask questions about. One visual that many curricula recommend is a giant timeline with pictures and simple notations added. This timeline can be fleshed out as children re-encounter the same era of history in more detail later on.

Historiography (story) as a concept is also recommend to introduce at this stage, while children are still learning to distinguish between make-believe and reality. If in a school setting, children can learn to analyze textbooks this way. The Educator's Room source particularly recommends that one teach events such as 9/11 to help students "realize that the choices people make - the choices THEY make - can have a lasting impact on not only everyone around them, but can also be far-reaching over the course of time. I also want them to understand that when bad things happen, they don't have to allow the bad things to define them."

The bottom line is to prioritize history education, especially at the elementary level. According to research summarized and reflected on by the American Historical Association (AHA), No Child Left Behind legislation has been a major driver (even in 2012) of de-prioritization of history in favor of STEM subjects. "If it's not tested, it will not be taught." 

Middle-School Age

My sources for this section are TeachingHistory (link above) and We Are Teachers. Besides the continued use of original sources such as photographs and letters, the websites recommend adding in field trips and use of era-specific websites for additional resources. I was disappointed to find a hearty endorsement of the Zinn Education Project (ZEP) in particular. Having recently read Debunking Howard Zinn (admittedly by a non-historian, but with ample basis in analytical thinking and the AHA best-practice standards), this book points out the rather problematic biases and methological issues behind the ZEP. Reviews of the book at Goodreads are, predictably, polar but the grain throughout them does emphasize that his methodology and biases are not as objective as they should have been, compared to other historians.

High-School Age

My source for this section is TeachingHistory (link above)--as you can tell, a rather thorough website! Recommendations include more digital interaction with primary and secondary sources, a greater focus on analysis of previously gained knowledge, and, sadly, the ZEP.

How can Christian Homeschoolers Teach History?

Part of my recommendations here are policy-based, and part are worldview-based. Policy is generally easier to summarize and discuss, so let's do that first. According to the Fordham Institute, standards for history education that apply to public schools are state-specific and generally include civics education. In their 2021 report, 5 states' standards were rated as exemplary, 10 as good, 15 as mediocre, and 20 as inadequate. "Inadequate" state standards were mainly in Western and Midwestern states, unfortunately for our family.

Because so many standards for civics and history education had such a low rating, Fordham recommends that educators given the choice (i.e., homeschoolers) should consider going beyond what their state requires. Also, focus most of the time for history education into the elementary and middle-school years, plus a full year and a half during high-school years. Strategies for learning as the student ages include "writing, argumentation, problem analysis, and the connections between core content and current events."

The worldview piece is far too long to deal with adequately in this post. Readers of this blog will be well aware of bits of my worldview and views on worldviews in general. The single most important piece, for homeschoolers whether Christian or non-Christian, is to encourage questions from their children. If you don't know the answer, don't shy away from looking for the detailed version, especially if it contradicts what you believe about the topic. This will help build a robust yet flexible worldview in your child(ren) so that the values you inculcate will remain resilient when they encounter challenges outside your household.

Second, cultivate historical thinking. It can start in toddlerhood!

One example of a curricular guide that I think fits both of these criteria is Chronos. Child isn't quite at the age for formal curricula, but I am keeping an eye on this curricular option for the future, as it reduces the negative bias brought in by the historians themselves.