The history of the world is the record of a man in quest of his daily bread and butter. ~Hendrik Wilhelm van Loon, The Story of Mankind

History ranks right up there with poetry, nature, and art study. I find so much pleasure in planning our reading each year- biographies, wars, romances, inventions. Understanding history gives perspective and wisdom. I’m encouraged to make mistakes, to not give up, to live with compassion and discernment.
My history timeline never really fell into place until I started homeschooling. I loved putting the puzzle pieces together, who was a contemporary of whom and what was being built during which war.
A few years ago I was visiting a homeschool veteran and I noticed her bookshelf was organized chronologically. GENIUS. I ran home, pulled every book off the shelf, grabbed some labels and my laptop and got started. Surprisingly, it only took a few hours.
Now I can send the kids to the shelf and ask them to choose their next read from the 1940’s or the 1820’s. It’s incredibly rewarding when I see the lightbulbs going off in my children’s heads as they piece our world together.