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History is such a fascinating subject, especially when you approach it with the Charlotte Mason method, those wonderful living books that just make that time period come alive.
In fact, learning history with my children, using Charlotte’s methods, turned history from my least favorite subject into my most favorite subject.
We want to talk today about the benefits that can come from doing your history studies, and especially why would you ever want to repeat a certain history time period? Joining me today is my friend, Amber O’Neal Johnston.
Sonya: Amber, thanks for joining us again. We want to talk about history. And we know it’s such a great study, especially approached in a Charlotte Mason way. Why on earth would you ever repeat a certain history time period? What are the benefits to that?
Amber: That’s such a good question, and I think one that a lot of people have, especially when they first come to Charlotte Mason. I know for me, there have been myriad benefits that I did not recognize or expect beforehand. One of the easiest ones for me to discuss is the idea of decreasing my anxiety about my kids needing to learn it all this time around. I can always rest assured that we are going to revisit this time period at some point down the road, and I will have another opportunity to introduce my children to new things, or they’ll have an opportunity to hear other ideas about people and places and things. And so we can enjoy this at a more leisurely pace. It also makes the short lessons feel like they’re something I can actually do.
Sonya: That’s a good point. It’s much easier than trying to force everything in. I think history seems to be one of those subjects that it is very easy for us to fall back on the way we were taught.
Amber: Yes. And I do not want to do that with my children, because as you mentioned, I hated history.
Sonya: Oh, it was just lists of facts and dates, names and dates, memorize it.
Amber: And battles, and generals.
Sonya: Yeah, and how do you remember this battle differently from that battle? And, who cares about what caused the battle and what the ramifications were from it, just learn about the date and the names involved.
Amber: Exactly. Even my own mom, she’s flabbergasted at how much history has become important in my home and with me personally. And she’s like, “Whoa, who is this woman?” But there is something to be said about the way that we study history and the types of books that we’re reading, and that it truly is fascinating. My children have no concept of history being a hated subject. And I think I owe that to Charlotte Mason.
Sonya: And as you said, taking that pressure off, I think it was the pressure. You’ve got to know these dates for the test because this is your only shot at it.
Amber: Memorizing factoids. And that was what history was. And the better you were at rote memorization and regurgitation, then the higher grade you would get, and that’s a lot of pressure. But now our children are looking at the story of mankind. And they see that you have your timeline, your Book of Centuries. They see where they fall into that. And everything that they’re learning about, they can really see even right on paper where that is in the story of people.
Sonya: And they can take a leisurely stroll through it, if you will. Forming those relations, and I think that’s a huge part of this. It’s not easy to form a relation with somebody if you’re under stress. It’s like speed dating—you’ve got five minutes to get to know this person. Then we’re moving on, rather than, on the flip side, the Charlotte Mason approach is we’re going to spend some time together, and we’re going to enjoy this time together. And then we’re going to go do some other things, and later on, we’ll come back and spend some more time together.
Amber: That’s it. There’s not a goal of knowing everything there is to know. There are a lot of things we can say in this history period that we’re studying. And we’re not trying to force it—all the things at one time. But you’re able to say, this time around, these are the things that I think this particular child sitting before me can connect with, is ready for, is maybe even hungry for. And the next time we’re here, that child’s not going to be the same child anymore; I’m not going to be the same person. We’re going to notice different things, we’re going to be attracted toward different directions.
Other things will happen in the world, in the present day, that will help us see the past differently in some ways, and we’ll have a new experience the next time. It also allows, at least I’ve seen, where the first time around, especially with difficult historical things, like for my family, let’s take the slavery as an example. The first time around with my young ones, they’re just getting the idea of this, and it’s one idea set among many, and I don’t want them to be terrorized by it. So there are some parts that I don’t introduce them to at that time. The next time around, though, wow, look at how much more they know, and they have many more puzzle pieces to fit together into this story. I’m able to share with more depth and more clarity about how this has impacted us as a family or our country and things like that. It makes difficult things enjoyable. That’s a hard concept, because how can that be enjoyable? It’s not that it was a happy thing, but learning about it is an enjoyable journey.
Sonya: I like how you said each child will be a different person, not in the sense that he or she has switched personalities, but has grown. So not just even from other studies, the child has grown as a person in many different ways. And it’s not just mental either, it is emotional growth. Each child will have gone through some hard things since you last studied this time period. He has been able to learn resilience in his own way and in his own experiences, and all of that has bolstered who he is becoming and how he can now process some more difficult things when he comes across them in the history time period. Does that make sense?
Amber: Oh, yeah, definitely. I can’t agree with you more. And I think alongside the history studies, children are also further along in their Bible studies as they’re studying the nature of man. I noticed that as a benefit to repeating the history cycle. When children are young, at least my children, many times they see everything as black and white. This person was a good guy. This person was a bad guy. And it’s very difficult for them to see anything beyond that. He did bad things, he’s bad. He did good things, he’s good. I noticed that the next time we go through that history cycle, some of those things that that same child had said, now it’s, well, he’s both. He did some great things, and I feel kind of proud actually to be a beneficiary of some of these things. And at the same time, he made some really huge mistakes and did some things wrong. And you’ll hear the kids say things like, oh, like me, like people. That’s growth. Right there is another reason to allow them an opportunity to revisit this material more than once, so they can see growth within themselves.
When children are young, many times they see everything as black and white. This person was a good guy. This person was a bad guy. I noticed that the next time we go through that history cycle, some of those things that that same child had said, now it’s, well, he’s both.
Sonya: Yes. It’s so much about relationship; it just comes back to that. Charlotte said, “education is the science of relations,” you are forming a relation with the people in that time period. And the relationships are with people. Our relationship, Amber, yours and mine, our relationship has grown over the years as we spend time together. And we’re not spending time constantly together, we don’t talk to each other every day. But when we do have time together, we bring to the table the ways that God has shaped us in the meantime. And that makes that connection even richer, and it just builds and builds and builds each time we come back. And it should be the same for our kids, and their relation with people in history.
Amber: That’s a really good point. It also prepares them for adulthood and being lifelong learners. When I’m interested in something, I revisit it. That doesn’t mean that I’m constantly learning about that one thing. I read other things, I see other movies, I go other places and filter many ideas. But I come back to some of the things that I love or sometimes things I just don’t understand. I’ll dig deeper the next time. Sometimes opportunity drives when I’m able to study something or when I get a chance to revisit it. This style of education prepares children for the way that we learn as adults.
Sonya: Let me ask a very practical question then. How do you demonstrate, or allow space, for this growing, deepening relationship to be demonstrated and recorded in the Book of Centuries? Because when you first go through, it’s easy to just make the book names and dates. So how can we make that more relationally based as they go through?
Amber: Part of it is the discussion. We talk about our Book of Centuries. It’s a big deal in my house when you receive your own. We do a family one, and you have your own. But a child can go back through and say, the first time around, these are the things that stood out to me, and now I’m back here in this time period and this other thing stands out to me even more. Sometimes my kids will draw pictures or print things to put in there, and they’re much more expanded when they think about what’s the most important thing that I’m taking from this. It’s completely different the next time around, and it’s different for me too. And I think it’s very nice for them to have a record where they can see their learning and growth and the ideas that stuck out to them with repeated revisits to this time and this place, these people.
It’s a big deal in my house when you receive your own Book of Centuries. We do a family one, and you have your own. But a child can go back through and say, the first time around, these are the things that stood out to me, and now I’m back here in this time period and this other thing stands out to me even more.
Sonya: Another thing that fuels that growth is that we have a large number of great living books on different reading levels for most of these time periods, if not all of them. So when you come back around, you can dive deeper with a different book, which is going to be written with a different perspective, a different author’s viewpoint, and that’s going to add to it as well.
Amber: That’s such a good point because I can’t tell you how many times I have found a book and been like, “Oh, I can’t wait until the next time we’re in this time period.” And I’m setting it aside on my special shelf. It’s really true. One, I learn about other books in the meantime; other books are constantly being published as well or I’m finding out about them for the first time, but then it goes to that child’s reading level, or his capacity to be ready for the ideas that are in that book. That’s why a lot of times when people are like, “Why would you study the same thing again?” Well, really we aren’t, right? We’re studying different things, but from the same period, the same historical period. It would be like right now when people study our time. I mean, there’s not just one thing to study. There are so many things.
Sonya: What part of our time are you going to study?
Amber: Right. It’s the same thing with our kids. I believe that this is part of why children raised in this way, or educated in this way, do not see history as drudgery. They’re excited about it, and they’re excited when they move on to the next time period, and they’re excited with the familiarity they have when they find that we’re going back to one that they know about.
Sonya: But I want to clarify that they know about it. They don’t just know the names because they memorized the names. They know these as people. They’ve formed relations with these people. Do any of your kids have a favorite time period? And does that change as you cycle back through?
Amber: My second daughter, Sasha, is all about the 1800s. That’s what she chooses to read about, she knows about the food of the time and the dress; she’s so into it. In fact, she’s in the middle of an application to become a junior interpreter at our local history museum, and that is her specialty, it’s the 1800s. Who can plan these things? I didn’t do anything special.
Sonya: You can’t plan them. It’s just like you can’t plan which friends your children are going to resonate with, who they’re going to form deep relationships with. If you’ve got a bunch of kids in your homeschool co-op, you can’t really predict which ones are going to form the deep connections that are going to last the rest of their lives. But that’s the beauty of spreading the feast.
Amber: It really is. My oldest son is all about the Revolutionary War. And I’m like, where did that come from? Why are you doing that? But the same things that… I’m like, oh, another battle. He’s invigorated by that, and he can tell you the ins and outs and the details and the bridges they crossed. I find that fascinating to see them excited about what they’re studying.
Sonya: We need to give them freedom to change that too the next time we go through. My oldest grandchild was really into castles last year. They did the Middle Ages. She just loved that time period. That was a favorite. But I need to make sure I don’t handcuff her with that and expect that that’s going to be her favorite forever, amen. Allow her to change those favorite relations as she goes through.
Amber: Well, it’s kind of like parenting. People ask, what season is your favorite? And I’m like, the one I’m in. The stage that I’m in now is my favorite stage. So things evolve and change. And if they can find things and nuggets to hold onto in different time periods, that’s a gift.
Sonya: That’s what keeps it a living education, isn’t it? Instead of the old, memorize the names and dates. Revisiting friends rather than rehashing the facts.
Amber: I wrote once that I think that my kids, if we saw some of the people we’ve studied out on the street in the middle of the day, that we would recognize them. Just, there she is! Because we’ve gotten to know that person so well that we feel like we could know what they would be wearing and where they would be, and she wouldn’t be talking to her… It really does become someone that you know that you’ve never met, and it’s fascinating. I think it’s easy to describe it, but you have to experience it for yourself to really understand it.
Sonya: Yes, that is so true. Those are all great reasons to go back and revisit some of the same time periods. There’s still a whole lot more to learn, even as adults. We can go back and keep revisiting. I learn something new every time we revisit a new time period.
Amber: Me too, and that’s made history fascinating for me. I never expected that. But I always see connections. My husband listens to NPR all the time and they’ll be talking about something and like, oh, this is connected to the same thing we learned here. And really history is all around us. We study, we talk about it as a subject, but it’s really a story of who we are and where we’ve been, and where we’re going and it connects people all over the world. So when you think of it that way, you are touching history and interacting with it throughout your daily lives, on an ongoing basis.
Sonya: Yesterday was history. What’d you do during history? No, you don’t have to answer that. [laughs] All right, thanks so much.
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