When my daughter started third grade, I looked over the A Beka textbooks. Once again, I wasn’t inspired by the history textbook that was too pithy.
Inspired during Student Teaching
As I perused the history textbook, I thought back to my student teaching in New Braunfels.
The flow of history in elementary school went somewhat like this pattern, which I sort of liked:
third grade – city history
fourth grade – state history
fifth grade – country history
While I was observing the third grade class, I was in a few weeks to instruct under the teacher’s guidance, I was quite impressed.
The class was learning their town’s history in a similar way that my first grade teacher taught us science.
Each day there was a new paragraph on the board about a segment of New Braunfels’ history for the class to copy neatly in their best handwriting.
In the autumn they had studied history. Now it was the end of winter, and they were studying their local government.
Teaching third grader’s local government? They seemed alert, interested, and learning.
But are they really absorbing all that boring information about their town council?
A few weeks later we had a field trip to the city government center. That didn’t sound like much fun, but I didn’t say anything. Instead I quietly observed.
We got onto the bus, drove past Landa Park (across the street), over the Comal River, and there was the government center. (Shortest bus ride ever to a field trip!)
After we were seated in one of the rooms where town laws were debated either to defeat or action, someone came in to talk to the students about the procedures of town government.
Amazingly, the third graders all seemed to completely understand and asked intelligent questions.
After we were done there, we got back onto the bus to ride back across the Comal River, then dropped off at Landa Park to play at the equipment for a while.
Developing my own history curriculum for public school
Fast forward to my being a public school teacher in San Antonio. When I was assigned to the third grade classroom, I wanted to duplicate what I saw in New Braunfels.
The summer before classes started, I began a deep dive into the history of San Antonio and visited every location I possibly could.
I learned about lots of places, people, and events I had never heard of before, despite having grown up in San Antonio.
My students enjoyed their lessons, and we did as many art projects and activities as I could think of inside the classroom.
As I put the A Beka history textbook back onto the table, I decided to pull out my old notes, and do more research to update my San Antonio history unit for both of my kids.
Homeschool History Curriculum: Patriots, Self-governance, Bible
Especially important to me was instilling the values of Patriots from our local history, driven by self-governance and sharing the good news of the gospel.
We took multiple field trips throughout that year and ensuing years to learn our city’s history.
Whereas trips to historical places when they were younger focused on activity, now the kids were old enough to start thinking about the details of history.
Even though activities were often at the museum, I reminded the kids that they weren’t to do the activity mindlessly. They needed to understand the point of the activity. They took that to heart and had more fun because of it.
Some of the places we visited:
- 18th century Missions
- 1836 Alamo
- 1880s Guenther House and Pioneer Flour Mill
- San Antonio-19th century German history at Menger Hotel, King William District,
- Jose Antonio Navarro House
- Ursuline Convent
- La Villita, Casa Rio, and San Antonio River Walk
Then the following year we repeated the same concept with Texas history.
Some of the places we visited outside our hometown of San Antonio:
- Fredericksburg-19th century German settlement, Cross Mountain history and geology
- Gruene-19th century German settlement
- New Braunfels-19th century German settlement, first school
- Castroville-Little Town of Alsace, 19th century settlement
- Austin-capitol, LBJ Museum, Land Office Museum
- LBJ Ranch, birthplace, schoolhouse, townhouse
- Aquarena Springs-geology, mission
- Houston-NASA, Battle San Jacinto Monument, Battleship Texas
- Galveston-Tall Ship Elyssa, pirate history, hurricane history, beach
- Landa Park-geology
- Enchanted Rock-geology
- Fredericksburg-Nimitz WWII museum
- Palo Duro Canyon-geology and history
When I found books on these topics at a good price, I bought them for us to read and further explore with activities.
Each of the places had such amazing stories, I could write a book.
To see more pictures of our field trips, click the photo which will take you to my Flickr set.
Epilogue 2024
It was amazing to me how much the kids absorbed. Years later we met a historical interpreter for the Alamo, a regular Davy Crocket. After chatting with my kids and I he invited us to become interpreters for the Alamo, that we knew more than the other interpreters.
But the next year we moved to Virginia, where an entirely new story began. Historical interpreters in Virginia always wanted my kids to join them (but never me-boo hoo!). At least Davy Crockett wanted me! =)
And then my kids graduated homeschool. At our last Becoming History presentation we all shed tears. My kids commissioned me to write down everything we did so they could repeat our homeschool experience for their own children.
And that is why I’m updating this blog, putting it on a more permament platform (at least I hope this one doesn’t get pulled out from under me like the other ones did.)
After I update this blog I think I’ll write a book, especially bound in a most 18th century way, to gift my kids.
Then we’ll see what’s next.
