History Versus History

I receive email from several homeschool parent groups.  They share information and ideas about curriculum, teaching tools, and basically meeting the needs of their children in the homeschool environment.  Recently one parent asked about teaching History.  Who among us has not sat through a history class where we were forced to memorize the dates of explorations?  Boring!! In my opinion absolutely the worst way to teach history.  Some of us have been fortunate to have some really good history teachers who managed to make it interesting.  How?  The same way mankind did before he started writing.  They told the story.  No we didn't sit around a campfire like they did back then.  We were sitting in desks, but we were listening to a story.

It was suggested that the history channel on television would be a good resource for teaching history.  Then an email warned parents of the inaccuracies of the history channel. The writer suggested that the parents should watch with the students and discuss the accuracies of the report.  I am going to add to that thought.

I would suggest that the student make a chart for the subject being studied.  This could be done on the computer with excel so it can be changed when needed.  The student could watch the history channel and make a column of the information depicted in the show.  Using the computer and reference books, research that subject making a column of the information found.  By the end of the chart the student should be able to see which source was the most reliable.  I am giving an example below.  The chart is 100% fictional and intended to show how to make the chart, not actually information.

	Texas Independence
History Channel	www.website	www.website2
Santa Anna came to negotiate with Texans	Santa Anna came to discipline Texans	Santa Anna came to defeat Texans
The first battle was at Goliad	The first battle was at Anahuac	The first battle was in Galveston
Santa Anna was killed in the war	Santa Anna was taken prisoner	Santa Anna was taken prisoner