History Scribe

The History Scribe Collection

This collection is perfect for unit studies about different states and countries of the world… or to suppliment what you are doing with your social studies programs. Each state and county has a two page spread to add information as well as draw the flag, birds and much more!

The History-Scribe is all you need for
all your history support needs! !

Over 27 books covering history from Ancient Egypt to Modern American History as well as all our Biography Products! Including all our High School History Books!

• ANCIENT EGYPT • ANCIENT GREECE & ROME •
• MEDIEVAL TIMES • AGE OF DISCOVERY •
• ANCIENT CHINA • ROMANTIC ERA •
• COLONIAL TIMES • WESTWARD HO •
• THE CIVIL WAR TIMES • PROGRESSIVE YEARS •
• WORLD WAR I & 20′S• WORLD WAR II & 30′S •
• MODERN TIMES • THE PIONEERS •
• NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS •
• WILD WILD WEST • AMERICAN HOLIDAYS •

• 9 DIFFERENT BIOGRAPHY BOOKS •
SCIENTISTS - AUTHORS - ARTISTS - WORLD LEADERS
MYTHOLOGY FIGURES - FAMOUS AMERICANS
PRESIDENTS & FIRST LADIES - WESTERN FIGURES
MUSICIANS

• 12 HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY SCHOLAR BOOKS •

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Study Starters: Unit Studies Made Easy

Study Starters - Unit Studies Made Easy! Do your kids want unit studies? Are you tired of all the prep work to try and give them unit studies? Not sure what to look for when you DO work on a unit study? Study Starters are quick and easy to use and are adaptable to ANY type of advanced study you’d like your children to do. They provide the framework for your study, making it easy to create fast and consistent unit studies in the nick of time. They provide ‘coaching’ to help you stay on track and document your family’s studies for portfolio or teacher review time at the end of the school year. What exactly the Study Starters study system does is offer a series of easy to use, fill in the blank forms and planners for any subject. Arts, Books, Trains, Baseball, Rocks, Science, Famous People, Performances, Movies, Musicians, Animals, Fish, Religion, Sports, Vehicles, Birds, Dinosaurs, Cities, States, Countries, Holidays, Insects, Inventions, Poetry, Scripture, Crafts, Elements, Machines, Scientists… the list is endless! By using the Study Starter forms, you have a framework to follow for any study your children wish to follow. And it will be consistent and easy to track and evaluate for it’s effectiveness. You couldn’t ask for a simpler system to aid you in creating your own custom unit studies. For the price of ONE commercial unit study book, you can create hundreds of unit studies for your children. If you simply want to study a subject for a day or two, or a week or two, even for months on end, Study Starters will provide the foundation to keep you on track and progressing through your goals. The sheets will be familiar to your children and can be used over and over to create study notebooks. You can even use Study Starters in conjunction with all types of curriculum, to help create useful narrative reports with a consistent look and feel. • Available on CD, as a Book or as an automatic download! • Study Starters helps you organize ANY Unit Study… or make your own! • Great Price for a Help with Unit Studies! Study Starters on CD - Price: $7.00…… Study Starters - Automatic Download - Price: $5.00…… Study Starters As a Book - Price: $20.00…… Easy to Use Fun & Challenging Economical Use Over and Over for ANY Subject Your dream unit study helper is here…NOW!

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Teaching Kids the Importance of History

I come from a long line of history conscious Russells and I have to say that growing up in Ken Russell’s house was a daily journey down our family’s memory lane as well as journeys into historical facts. My father remembers more historical facts than most people have forgotten. He can tell you the exact number of years from the death of, let’s say, Abraham Lincoln to the birth of Richard Nixon. He knows facts, dates, and names that will boggle your mind. I credit him to a large degree for my own love of history, and also to my pursuit of graduate level studies in history.

That being said, however, I began to look at history in a much more scientific and deeper level. It wasn’t until my second year in college that I noticed the importance in studying history was found in looking at the cause and effect process through the walls of time. Names, dates, and place are important to know as the foundation for a deeper study of the events of history. If you’re studying the Civil War, you should know the time frame and context of all the events that took place. The danger in merely memorizing names, dates, and places is that you’ll never understand the hows and whys of those events. Memorization of names, dates, and places is great if you’re planning to be the next Jeopardy champion, but that alone isn’t going to help you understand it.

Now I’m not attempting to pick on public education, but I have to say that in my research and study of public educational institutions, I am dismayed at how ill prepared most children are in the area of history. In all the years that I taught first and second year college history courses, I can count on my right hand the number of students who actually expressed any enthusiasm about history methodology. Most of what I heard was to the effect of, “I find history boring, but it’s a required course”. Or, “Who cares about this stuff? Where does this attitude come from, by the way? It’s not only reinforced in the schools, but in a society that has plunged into an ahistorical mindset with the help of a post-modern spirit of the age. Unfortunately, it’s too often reinforced by parents who fail to possess an historical conscience.

Let me use an example from a conversation I had with my son, Weston. He is an inquisitive boy and not much gets by him when it comes to current events. He was eight years old when the terrorists attacked our country on 9/11/01 and quickly began asking questions about “Why these people would do such a thing?” He began to ask questions about the history of the Islamic religion, and what happened to make some of them terrorists. I took him on a journey back to the Old Testament and the story of Isaac and Ishmael, and the bitterness that resulted from this family squabble. In a simple way, I attempted to explain that the events of history need to be viewed as a series of causes and effects. I told him that history is important not for nostalgia sake, but for understanding the causes behind the events. This is how we learn (hopefully) not to repeat past mistakes, and to get a better picture of what molds and shapes people and societies. Teaching children merely names dates, and places will in no way help them to truly understand history. They need to understand that ideas have consequences and that history is shaped by philosophy whether it’s good or bad. I like to say that studying history is like performing autopsies on culture. As we teach our children about history we need to show them the connective tissue that links events together, how ideas shape history. Discussing historical events, and how they came about, will help our children gain wisdom, and teach how to keep their fingers on the pulse of society.

I love to discuss the importance of history with my children, and one way I have helped them to see its values is through the use of timelines. When they were homeschooled, we used to put timelines on the wall in the basement and then let them put their picture and personal information on the timeline with all the other events in history. It’s amazing to see how a child takes an interest in the subject once they see themselves written into the story. You cannot get too deep with younger children simply because they haven’t lived long enough to have a developed frame of reference, but we can still teach them the importance of “understanding history as opposed to merely knowing facts. An oft quoted line by the Historian Santayana that “Those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it” should be drilled into our children. But more importantly, we need to continue to teach them history from thestandpoint of God’s revelation through His word. The Old Testament is filled with story after story of God’s hand in shaping the history of His people, and the results of wrong headed, sinful decisions. What better examples can you find of historical cause and effect? The New Testament with the revelation of Jesus Christ and the development of His Church serves as an example of God’s continued involement in human history.

I invite your comments and questions if you would like to share them with me. I wish you all continued success in educating your children, and pray that all our children come to understand the value of history.

All rights reserved.
Copyright 2004 - David L. Russell, PhD.

David L. Russell is a multi-talented man with a PhD. in history from Michigan State University as well as under degrees from University of Detroit and William Tyndale College.  He is a professional musician and published songwriter, and plays in the band Hardline Drive, a progressive bluegrass band in the Michigan area. He is the editor of the Bluegrass Journal and several other bluegrass sites, and is the main writer for the Westvon Publishing empire. He is the wonderful father of 4 unique children and is a strong promoter of journaling, writing and redemptive thought.

10 Secrets of a Successful Homeschool

1. Have fun. Attitude is everything with home learning. Enjoy learning and your kids will enjoy it. Make it drudgery and they will respond as well. Try to make even boring tasks, pleasant at least. This is not to say that everything must be a 3-ring circus, but if you have a fresh, upbeat attitude even with times tables and spelling tests, this will reflect well on your children’s enjoyment and learning potential.

2. Limit interruptions. My biggest interruption is the phone. Get a good answering machine and use it during regularly scheduled learning time. Or use voice mail. Record a message that states from this time to that time we are home educating and will get back to you after we are finished. Tell friends and relatives that this is the case, and eventually they will learn to respect this. This also means well meaning drop in visits and babysitting for friends, etc. Keep your children’s learning time sacred and your family will benefit from this.

3. Dedicate your time to their learning. If you are doing 101 things while your children are trying to do bookwork, how can you expect them to concentrate and finish tasks at hand? Keep your focus on them, it is a priority that rewards!

4. Keep it simple. Be careful not to fall into the “Curriculum of the Month” club. Trying and swapping and changing your education plans with every new program that breezes by will kill your children’s spirit. This is not to say that you should stay with something that is not working, just be careful not to flit about like a butterfly in a field of flowers. Your children will quickly learn that all it takes in a bit of whining and they’ll have a new book, workbook or system in no time. Also, simplify your life. Too many commitments and outside activities and responsibilities can really wreck havoc with your schedule. Try to keep your life simple and you will be rewarded.

5. Have FAITH! In yourself, your kids and in God. If you are doing the best you can, you will be rewarded. How can you do any worse than an overworked, underpaid public school teacher with only 6 hours and 24 - 30 children to teach? Overcome your own shortcomings with help, tutoring assistance and your own re-education. Don’t count yourself short. Children learn in any environment even the slums of Calcutta! Provide them with your time and enthusiasm, good basic materials and faith and you will do as well if not better than that poor teacher can. You have the best interest of your children in your heart. Let it work for them.

6. When in doubt READ! If the washing machine is flooding, the baby is sick, your toddler is fussy and lunch is burning don’t just give up, get reading. Reading is the best way for your kids to learn and retain. Gather up the brood and snuggle on the couch with a good classic. Reading aloud is a wonderful activity for your family. Even experienced readers will love to hear a story aloud, especially when they don’t have to sound out each word and get through those they may not know. There is a rhyme and rhythm to books read aloud that delights even little ones. Make it a drama performance, use voices change the sound levels of your voice, and discuss the plot. You can even tape record your story time so that pre-readers can listen again and again and enjoy the story while you worry about that washing machine!

7. Surround yourself with home school mentors. Whether it’s an online group, or a support group, or just a great mom you met at church or at the library, keep in touch with these people! Ask questions; ask for helpful advice, most likely, they will be happy to help, because someone in their life helped them. Don’t do this alone. Even a good home education magazine will help you in your quest. Read home education books when you are in need of a little boost.

8. Use the Library! What a wonderful resource most public libraries are. Not only books of any and every subject but reference books, video tapes, audio tapes, learning materials, computer accesses, computer software and so much more. With just a notebook and some pencils, I truly believe you could educate your children with just a library at hand! Don’t spend a fortune on all these reference books for home. Use the libraries! And the librarians love homeschoolers.

9. Take frequent break days. If you are sick, or some family obligations make a day difficult, take a day off. Instead of great big weeks off or even the whole summer, take frequent days off through the year to refresh and empower you. The children will be pleased and you will get a chance to regroup. Just make sure they aren’t every other day!

10. Watch for outside time stealers! Field trips and social outings and classes for this and that are important, just make sure you are not overdoing it. Too many errands and outings can kill a day’s learning and overwhelm your schedule. Remember that you are home schooling not car schooling! Try and schedule a day that is busy and three or four days that are not. Your family will appreciate this!

copyright ® 2004 by Sherri L. Chekal

Sherri Chekal is a true renaissance woman who home educated her children, one of which is now successfully in college, and is also a songwriter and musician for the Toledo band,  Deepwater Bluegrass, and the editor of BuckeyeBluegrass.com as well as the main graphic designer of the Westvon Publishing empire. She is a woman of many talents and has two lovely daughters and a rehab mobile home homestead to raise.