Making History Come Alive

History should not be boring.  It should be filled with stories of people.  History is not about facts and dates and names of people and countries.  It should be filled with the heroes that inspire, and the ordinary people that make up history.

I picked up a couple books today at a local resale shop. These books, published by Reminisce Books, are full of personal stories of a past period of history.  A couple years ago one of my daughters wrote a paper based off of one of these books titled We Had Everything But Money, set in the Great Depression. 

These two books are beautiful, hard-back books published in the early 1990s, filled with pictures and stories about the time periods.  The first one, When Families Made Memories Together, has stories about families from the early 1900s.  The second book, We Pulled Together... and Won, has heartwarming stories of World War II.  

I look forward to using both of these books in our studies.  While they may not be a traditional text, they bring such a personal touch to history.  As we look at the pictures and read the stories, history suddenly doesn't feel like "a bunch of dead people."  It feels like sitting down with Grandma and Grandpa, listening to them talk about days gone by. 

I hope that homeschooling, learning, is an adventure for my children.  I realize that not every subject and every lesson will be awe-inspiring.  However, if I can fill the lives of my children with God, family, books, music, movies, and travels (when possible), then I will have educated them well.