History Through Living Books

5 Days of Homeschooling with Living Books 

A great way to learn history through living books is by reading biographies.  

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  Biographies are boring.  They’re dry.  You can’t get interested in them.  Well we’ve got a fun new way of reading biographies for you then.  Try YWAM books.  

The series we use is Christian Heroes Then and Now.  These books focus on missionaries.  They’re a fun biography book that actually keeps you engaged and learning at the same time.  Also YWAM offers study guides to go with the books so that you can use them for a small unit study as well.  I love that my kids want to read these books and they love the books so it’s a win win.

And yes, my kids do love these books.  I recently attended a homeschool conference local to me and bought the WHOLE SET of YWAM Christian Heroes then and now.  All of them.  Every last one they have in print currently is now in our library.  I came home with these books.  Immediately my kids were unwrapping them and finding their favorite reading nooks to dig in.  History through living books.  We love it.  

Other great ways to use living books for your history is to find a book based history curriculum.  We enjoy using The Story of the World as a read aloud.  It’s a great history book that reads like a story and won’t bore your children.  They currently have four in the series.  

Another idea would be to find a curriculum that is book based that includes history.  Our favorite one to recommend would be My Father’s World.  We’re currently using this curriculum though we’re using Exploring Countries and Cultures so we’re adding in some extra history of our own.  I like that they use a book basket.  However, I do not approve or allow all of their book basket books into my home so it’s definitely something individual.  Make sure to go through and only get the ones you’re comfortable with.

Some other books we’ve enjoyed for not only learning about history but also about virtues and character traits are Profiles of Valor and Portraits of Integrity.  They’re great books that give verses to support character traits as well as a historical figure who exemplifies those traits.  I’ll do reviews on those books later on so look for those.

Other books we love to include for history and character training as well are those from Lamplighter Publishing.  Not all of their books are going to qualify as history but they do have some good ones.  Make sure and screen them to see what you think.

What do you use for history?  What do you love?  My kids are excited to start studying American History this year so I’m stockpiling books about the American Revolution for our first big read.  All the Pilgrims and Puritans as well.  Oh and got to get those Native American ones too.  My list keeps getting bigger!  Make sure to comment your suggestions for me!