History goes in one ear and out the other...

[acsnmama]

History goes in one ear and out the other, for myself and my 8 year old son. He likes some parts, but much of it is quickly forgotten. He's reading a book on his own, part of the HOD program extensions. He has a high reading level and devours books, however, the most recent, very easy to read book has left his mind. He cannot recall what it's about, other than "Americans and Indians."

 

I guess not every book is going to be engaging to him. He usually comprehends much better when he reads to himself. I read the history spine to him and I have to stop frequently to go over what the page was about. However, this typically only happens with history...

 

I know it's about exposure in the younger years (he's 3rd grade) but is there anything I can do to help him enjoy it? I was never fond of history myself, so I can't think of ways to improve retention, I still have trouble retaining history we read together.

[hjffkj]

My children, that are ypunger , tend to remember history when we talk about it regularly. So, if we're learning about ancient Egypt at dinner I might ask, "what do you think an Egyptian dinner would have been like?" Or if learning about a specific event I'll ask how they'd handle the event and how that would be different from how it was handled. My kids also like to act out parts of history as they learn about them, which helps them remember.

[blondeviolin]

It sticks better here if we sing about it, watch movies about it, talk about, or if there is anything remotely humorous or disgusting about it. For this purpose, we watch a fair amount of Horrible Histories and Animaniacs.

[janainaz]

We use Story of the World, and my younger ds9 always does much better when he reads the story himself (I still make him read aloud and we are on the 4th book).  I used SOTW with my older ds14 as well, and I really loved the story approach to history.    

 

We just discuss everything we're learning about.  I ask tons of questions - (i.e. - Was this guy a good king or a bad king, and why, etc.)  I just try and bring it down to the human level - something that he can relate to.  If there is a war or battle, I always ask who was fighting, what started the fight, how did they fight, where, and what was the outcome..... We talk about the time period, and the geographical location.  We locate the country on the map and globe, and I incorporate geography along with it.  We also sometimes look up current photos of some of the areas, and I always have him show me where these places are in relation to where he is.   

 

 

[Ellie]

It really is all about exposure. Everything you're teaching now you'll teach again two or three or four more times, yes? Well, just enjoy. :-)

[Ausmumof3]

Mine tend to remember the stories or details but don't necessarily attach the right country name to them or the right people. I hope that later in life they will be able to attach the right name to the story. If not, well it's entertaining and fun for now anyway.

[Mike in SA]

Strangely enough, history at this age is more about vocabulary than what you or I would think of lessons about the past.  Young children are understanding how to interact with society, and history is part of our culture.  What they most need is the language required to engage in daily life.  So, the story is what matters - not the details.  If you focus on that, and tell an interesting story, you don't need to apply much effort to the details.  The key stuff will come from context.

 

Who knows?  By taking the "educational" part out of the equation, you might just spark a new love for history within yourself.

[Jayne J]

Mine retain much better when we focus on the "daily life" stuff. They want to know what the people ate, what they wore, and what their houses were like. Hands on and crafty stuff helped. We made a lot of models of log cabins, ate pioneer or Native American foods, and tried to decide what to pack in our theoretical wagon for the trip west. For the Egyptians we decorated our walls with hieroglyphs and made animal head masks so we could be gods at our Egyptian feast. They still remember that, although the names of Pharaohs didn't stick. But that was not my goal at that age. I just wanted them to think history was fun and exciting, like visiting a foreign place.

The History Pockets books are an excellent resource for American history and the crafty stuff is all there for you.

[FriedClams]

At that age the living book method really worked well for us. Great stories led to great discussions and the kids totally connected with the stories. I'm not sure they retained a ton of history, but it was fun, their vocab was boosted, we narrated, etc. I'd drop anything dry and read great stories.

[SkateLeft]

I remember worrying that my kids weren't retaining enough. Then months later, they'd mention something from history that I was sure they hadn't retained.

 

Narration worked wonders for retention in our house. I'd have my kids draw a picture of something, anything, from their reading, then I'd ask them to tell me about the picture. I'd write down what they said and we'd put it in our "history journal." Over time, they started retaining more and more from the reading, and their narrations got better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Plink]

Do you have any historic reenactments or museums near you? My crew always comes back begging to do more research on medieval breastplates, pioneer candle-making, or some other bit that captured their imagination.

[kagmypts]

Are you using HOD Bigger?  I did that last year with my second grader, and he retained absolutely nothing from the history box.  Honestly, I thought that the spines were so incredibly dry and boring.  I think that the language and vocabulary made it hard for him to follow.  I switched to SOTW 1 this year, and he loves it!  He is also retaining much of what we have read together.  If you are using Bigger, I would recommend doing something else for the history box.  I really wish that I had cut our losses at some point during the year.  I like HOD, but Bigger history was certainly not a success here.

[janainaz]

I remember worrying that my kids weren't retaining enough. Then months later, they'd mention something from history that I was sure they hadn't retained.

 

Narration worked wonders for retention in our house. I'd have my kids draw a picture of something, anything, from their reading, then I'd ask them to tell me about the picture. I'd write down what they said and we'd put it in our "history journal." Over time, they started retaining more and more from the reading, and their narrations got better.

This is true.  SOTW has very young kids learning to narrate, and answering questions that pertain to the story - that definitely helps with retention.   

[kolamum]

What does he love? Can you meet him there with it?

 

Now, I have to disclose that I love history, it's always been one of my favourite subjects & my kids have picked some of that up. What tied the knot for them was being fully interactive with history. Not just reading the books, but making the crafts, cooking food from that time, seeing things related to that time, hearing the stories about real people. After that they had no issue wanting to write about it & filling out notebooking pages because they wanted to.

 

We had used, that particular year, some of HSITW Time Traveler Packs, & I think it's just how well it was all drawn together. If I remember correctly it was the Revolutionary War one which we tied in with Liberty kids, virtual field trips {we don't live in the USA}, & then all the games, hands on activities, & cooking that was in the pack. I have one child that, to this day, find it to be one of his favourite times in history. His top notch holiday destination is still Boston so he can go see Bunker Hill. :lol:

[acsnmama]

Are you using HOD Bigger? I did that last year with my second grader, and he retained absolutely nothing from the history box. Honestly, I thought that the spines were so incredibly dry and boring. I think that the language and vocabulary made it hard for him to follow. I switched to SOTW 1 this year, and he loves it! He is also retaining much of what we have read together. If you are using Bigger, I would recommend doing something else for the history box. I really wish that I had cut our losses at some point during the year. I like HOD, but Bigger history was certainly not a success here.

Yes, Bigger. I think some of the history is boring, but not all, and my son feels the same. If i do ditch the history box, I'd probably ditch HOD because my biggest reason for using The curriculum is for the history! I have thought about Beautiful Feet instead, I already have most of those books.