History

You may have grown up thinking that history is dry and boring, but the Charlotte Mason approach brings history to life! On this page, you will find tips for teaching history, plus links to book lists and lesson plans for enjoying a fascinating study of history in your home school.

How to Teach History

With the Charlotte Mason Method, history is taught with living books, narration, and a Book of Centuries.

Living Books

A living book is a book that makes the subject come alive. This kind of book touches the emotions and fires the imagination, making it easy to see in your mind’s eye the historical events that are being described. The facts are there, but they are clothed in those living ideas that make the events stand out in your mind.

For history, it works well to start with a “spine” book—a living book that provides a broad-strokes overview of the time period, showing how one event led to another. After you’ve read about a certain person or event in the spine book, set it aside and spend some time with other living books that provide more details on key people and events.

Narration

Narration is the act of telling back what has been heard or read, making it your own. It can be as simple as retelling the story for younger students, or as advanced as in-depth compare and contrast essays for older students.

After each reading, ask an open-ended question that invites your child to share what he heard. We have a list of sample narration questions, as well as tips for making narration work with multiple children. Older students should write some of their narrations.

Book of Centuries

A Book of Centuries is a timeline in a book. Every two-page spread represents one century. It’s very simple to put one together: Just grab this free printable Book of Centuries template and put it in a three-ring binder.

As you encounter events and people in history and other studies, record them in your Book of Centuries. Over time, you will make fascinating connections as you notice what was occurring during the same time period: “Oh! I didn’t realize that Abraham Lincoln lived at the same time as Tchaikovsky.”

With these methods, you can approach history in a way that makes it come to life, as you and your children form personal relations with people and events.

History Time Periods

We like to approach history with a unique six-year cycle that brings in Bible history where it fits into the world history narrative. This helps your children gain an understanding of how Bible events occurred alongside what else was happening in the world.

We also like to include geography lessons with history, since it works well to study the regions of the world as you learn about the historical events that happened there.

Here is how we break down history time periods into a six-year cycle. We include Bible study and geography lessons along with history as well. Check the book lists to see our recommended, carefully curated living books for every grade.