Friday, August 17, 2012

How Do You Cover History?

Me and my family have just spent the last 6 months travelling around the country in a motorhome. I can't tell you what an incredible experience this has been for us all. If you have the chance to do it, I would absolutely say go for it. It's probably been the best learning experience we've had in all our years home educating.

The thing that shone through most of all has been history. We've visited all manner of places covering pretty much every time period in this country's history. We've seen so many different ways of telling the stories of this land, from dry information boards to organised reenactments to enthusiastic local history buffs happy to spend an evening sharing their knowledge.  Some ways of knowledge sharing have been more easily absorbed and more enjoyable than others, and this leads me to the questions I want to ask of anyone out there that still reads this blog!

What does history mean to you? Is it just an interesting way to pass a rainy afternoon, or does it serve a deeper purpose? How do you bring history into your lives? Do you use textbooks; living memory stories; DVDs, museums [insert any other ways I've momentarily forgotten]? What, if anything, would you like your children to learn from history?

I'm really looking forward to reading what you all have to say, as once we move back into a house we won't have such easy access to the wide variety of experiences we've had recently, so I'm interested to know what you all do and why.