Teaching History Chronologically

Story.


It's one of the most powerful things in this life.


It was Jesus' preferred method of teaching crucial truths to His followers.


Over the years in our homeschool there have been many ideas that have been attempted and then pitched because they just didn't work for us, but one thing that has withstood the test of time and change is teaching the kids history (His-story) in the order that it all unfolded.


I will share with you what we do and my absolute favorite tool for doing it.  Here's the cool thing...my favorite tool is so simple that it can be used even if you don't homeschool your children.  I'll warn you that it does take some time and effort to set it up, but once that is completed it is smooth sailing from there.

I was previously introduced to this resource when we lived in Charlotte, NC at a weekly co-op called Classical Conversations.  Since we've moved to Missouri I've decided not to go to the actual classes any longer due to the expense.  We have continued some of the daily memory practice regimens by using our Veritas Press Timeline Cards.

The cards are sold individually and separated into 5 different groups (disclaimer: I am not being compensated in any way for my support of this resource).  Each card contains a picture (usually a famous painting, bust, or other form of art) representing the historic event on the front side while the back of the card has an explanation of the event and a list of resources to use for further study.  The individual titles of each pack of cards are as follows:

1.  Old Testament and Ancient Egypt (blue stripe)
2.  New Testament, Greece, and Rome (green stripe)
3.  Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation (orange stripe)
4.  Explorers to 1815 (red stripe)
5.  1815-Present (yellow stripe)

The really cool thing is that if you click here, you can see the correct way to intersperse key Biblical events as they fall into Ancient History.  Once I had all my cards shuffled into the correct order, I laminated them and put them into two stacks with two large notebook rings at the bottom for easy flipping.

We use these cards as a daily drill with the goal of helping the kids to see the big picture and flow of world history.  In depth study of the events is done in a 4 year chronological cycle that repeats itself.  The second time through our study of the Ancients, for example, will lend itself to more critical thinking because the kiddos will be older and more capable of asking an evaluating the whys of certain key events.

So how are these cards used on a daily basis?  We start out with the first week of school (but you can start anytime) with the goal of memorizing only the first 8 card titles, and each week we add 8 more titles to the list.  This exercise does not require a lot of time and can be used in conjunction with any program you are currently using (I currently use The Story of the World series for my main history curriculum, but am seriously considering Tapestry of Grace for next year), and can also be a nice supplement to whatever your children are studying in "traditional" school if you do not happen to be a homeschooler.

Please click here for a video clip example of our daily drill yesterday.  Sorry for the poor quality, but I did it from my phone.