Some students love history and others are less excited by the past. Names, dates, wars and politics are intriguing to some but boring for others, perhaps because they don’t see the relevance of learning about the past.
That’s a common attitude among students, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are 10 tips from the experts to help make history more exciting. Parents beware: you might find yourself learning as much as your kids and having fun while you do it!
1. Explore the history of your own family.
Organize family pictures and letters from earlier times into a scrapbook to find out who you are related to. Students can interview older relatives about what their life was like when they were young, and about their memories of their parents and grandparents. Were they born in Canada, or did they immigrate here? What rules did their parents set for them? What was their favourite pastime? What was their favourite book, toy, or clothing? As teenagers, what were the rules for dating? Did they have a part time job? How much were they paid? It’s always exciting to find out that a relative remembers an event you are studying in class!
2. Read historical stories together.
Ask a librarian for book suggestions, or go with tried and true classics. By choosing books that were written in the times they portray, you can be sure your child is getting an authentic picture. Even historical fiction can help grab the interest of a student. Biographies and journals can also be a great way of exploring history. Lucy Maud Montgomery’s published journals, beginning when she was only 14 years old, provide a wonderful glimpse of the everyday life of a young girl in rural Canada. The Diary of Anne Frank is often on school reading lists because it helps students relate to a real person.
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