History and Geography Through Literature

By Maggie Hogan

Why?

Relate to time period and social issues. Taste of culture. Teach many different grade levels at the same time. Real feel for what’s going on at that time.


Choose good books

Start with prayer. Ask friends. Collect catalogs:
The Book Peddler - www.bookpeddler.us
Lifetime Books and Gifts - www.lifetimebooksandgifts.com
Sonlight - www.sonlight.com
Elijah Company - www.elijahco.com/help/index2.htm
Queen Homeschool Supply - http://queenhomeschool.com

Don’t use every book available—pick and choose.

Use your library. Be careful about pagan lifestyles.


Fitting them into your day

Read at lunch time. Read at bed time. Books on tape/CD for the car.

Create your own books on tape. Read while dinner’s cooking. Older children read to younger. Read during bath time. Read during potty training. Allow kids to stay up later than bedtime if reading or listening to a book.


Stay on track and keep kids motivated

Dump books if they’re not working for you. Inject theatrics—make it interesting. Keep a chart.


Visual motivation

Symbols on wall—different color or symbol for each person in the family. Links in a chain. Thermometer for books read.


Book clubs

Family night—act out parts of favorite books. Dress in character. Everybody read part of their favorite book. One-person show.

Book exchange with friends.


How to glean as much as possible

What do you hope to learn? Books available with pictures from that place or time. Use highlighters. Map your story. Predictions. Quotable quotes. Create a response journal. Compare where you live with the neighborhood or town in your book.


Projects

· Project folder

· Diary

· Dramatization

· Timeline

· Culture kits

· Diorama

· Venn diagram

· Cause and effect dominoes.


Examples

· A Single Shard

· The Year of Miss Agnes

· Into the Mummy’s Tomb

· Wheel on the School

· Girl of the Limberlost

· The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow

· When I was Young in the Mountains

· Annos USA

· People by Peter Spier

· By the Great Horn Spoon

· Chancy and the Grand Rascal

· The Twenty-One Balloons

· Vendela in Venice

· Linnea in Monet’s Garden

· Sign of the Beaver

· Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie

· A Story Like the Wind (high school)

· A Far Off Place (high school)

· Four Souls (high school)