Teaching Australian History.
We have four reources that will help you teach history in the homeschool.
1. NEW Australian Book Traveller
5.History and Geography book list
Choose Living Books
One of the most enjoyable ways to learn history is through living books. Living books have something special about them. They flow, they capture the imagination, they tell us the facts while they give us the story. A living book is written by a passionate author (not a committee) who communicates this passion to the reader in a literary language.
Living books bring a depth and richness into history studies. True learning will happen when a child gets enthusiastic for that part of history and maybe the person you are reading about.
Here is a chronological book list from Charlotte Mason & Friends
Do I need a textbook?
As I am sure you can remember, textbooks can be dull and boring, but choosing one main book is a good idea if you want a reference point, but there is an even better option.
Choose an Australian spine?
A spine weaves stories into a rich tapestry. It is a good book that gives an overview of the topic you are studying. It covers the core of your curriculum and gives you a place from which to build other subjects into your study.
Three Australian history books that are good spines are:
The Australia Book by Eve Pownell © 1956. Republished 2008. This book tells the story of Australia. This 32 page quarto size book has excellent illustrations and would be perfect for young students.
Age range 4-7years old.
Our Sunburnt Country by Arthur Baillie ©2008 is an updated version of his popular 1964 work. This 140 page books spans history from Aboriginal settlement to the present. It has wonderful illustrations and a literary style.
Age range 7-Adult.
A Short History of Australia by Manning Clark © 2008 (updated).
This book is at a high school and university level.
What history resources could I use?
A library card is one of the most practical resources that you can have. There are many books that discuss Australian history in a literary style. I have a few suggestions in my picture book list.
I highly recommend Papunya School Book of Country History by Nadia Wheatley
© 2001 ISBN 186508526
Written for the Papunya school as a record of history when white settlers came into central Australia and how this affected the Aboriginal people that lived around the region.
Read Aloud
Once you have a good Australian history book the best place to start is to read aloud from it. Read through the chapters and linger if you want to. Engage the children with the narratives and don’t read too much in one sitting. Have them begging for more. In the primary years it is not necessary to delve too deeply into topics but rather give a good overview. This will help the student make the connections necessary for later in-depth study.Historical Narrations
Have your children narrate what they read. That is, tell back in their own words, what they have heard you read. Narrations help the child and parent understand what is being comprehended. With the younger children this may be orally or with older children it can be written. This is an acquired art. One I have not perfected, but I’m working on.A Family History is also an excellent tool and perfect for the homeschool. Trace back your ancestors and see where they fit in history. If you don’t have an Australian history tree this might not work so well for this topic but it is a worthwhile lasting memento that will span the generations. Our own family tree traced us back to the convicts.
An Australian Timeline is an excellent tool to help your students see the chronological order of events. It is best that they make it for themselves. Here is a general one.
Make your own or use our resources; An Australian History Notebook and Lapbooks.
Using this will help your child make their very own history book.
Notebooking is an excellent way to record your history.
A Book of Centuries is a notebook to record the whole of history. In this a student records brief facts, narrations, maps and sketches about the events of history as they occurred. For this reason it is best done using a loose leaf folder that you can shuffle about and add extra pages as needed. You can use this in conjunction with an Australian History notebook just recording major events. This method is also very helpful for the student to see where Australia fits in with world history.