Reasons Why It is Important for Kids to Learn History

The study of history is one of the most important learning adventures to embark on with your kids. And because it’s essential to know the past to build a better future, there’s no reason why learning history in your homeschool has to be boring! It’s one of the most interesting subjects of them all, because learning about people is intriguing. And history is the story of God working in the world since the beginning.

Why It Is Important to Learn History

You don’t need a history degree to know the value of history. As adults, we know that the study of the past gives us a better understanding of the world around us today. The discipline of history doesn’t have to be filled with pointless names and dates. Rather, it can be an engaging study of the various people who lived before us. 

Reasons to Teach Kids History

There are so many good reasons to teach kids history. Here they are, in no particular order.

Understanding the Past

Sometimes we can be caught up with our personal history and only care about the years that surround our existence. Of course, kids are naturally going to have that type of myopic view of history. But when you start pulling in the past historical events that their ancestors lived through, history all of the sudden becomes more real. Talk about distant relatives who lived in different eras and what their lives may have been like. Has war, immigration, or disease caused a big change in your family tree? Connect the dots for your kids personally before jumping in to unknown people’s stories.

​Learning From History

The world today only makes sense if you know ancient history and what past events have shaped the world. You can’t expect to understand modern history without at least some knowledge of other eras. George Santayana famously said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” There are many important lessons to be learned from history.

Understanding Identity and Culture

Learning history helps us to be able to better understand our identity and culture. Dive into your family tree with your kids and let them explore the roots of your ancestors. If you currently live in the United States, there’s a good chance that within the last few hundred years, your ancestors were living somewhere else in the world. Do you still practice some traditions from your family’s culture of origin? 

Building Empathy

A knowledge of history helps students understand different cultures and build empathy. There is a beauty to the differences in food, clothing, language, music, housing, and people that you find throughout the world and at different points in history.

Cultivating a Global Perspective

While your own family’s history is an important part of your personal story, we all need to glean valuable insights from a global perspective. Student who are consumed with their own lives will benefit from studying history. When kids learn about different societies and how people faced challenges at other points in the past, it helps to cultivate a global perspective.

Recognizing Patterns and Cycles

There are so many valuable lessons gained with historical knowledge. Because we learn that our present-day issues are not so new. History gives us a birds-eye view of how patterns and cycles repeat throughout time. Hopefully a student of history will be able to make better decisions because of this knowledge.

Understanding Cause and Effect

History is a valuable tool for teaching cause and effect. Whether we study whole civilizations and the effects of their choices or we study an individual person and how their decisions played out in their personal lives, it’s important to study history to gain this perspective.

Instilling Resilience and Perseverance

Students of history learn about people who were resilient and persevered through some of the hardest times imaginable. We don’t have to look very far into the past to study key figures who stood up to great evil in the last century. These heroes will inspire our kids to do the same.

Nurturing Citizenship

It’s important to study history to help produce better-informed citizens. Many of the issues in contemporary politics could be answered and resolved if we studied and applied lessons from history.

Reflection on Human Achievements and Mistakes

Historical study allows students to reflect on the vast human achievements and mistakes of the past. They’ll gain a greater appreciation for heroic men and women, and they’ll learn about the significant impact that mistakes and evil can make on a culture.

Fostering Appreciation of Progress

It’s important to study history to gain an appreciation of progress. From inventions to philosophical thought, impressive buildings to innovations, there is so much progress to see in history. Even in modern times, you can study the progress of women and African American history. 

Inspiring Future Leaders

One of the most important reasons to study history is to be inspired. When your kids can learn about the different experience had by historical figures, the challenges they faced, and the perseverance they had to overcome these issues, they’re inspired too! History is full of heroes. These heroes were mostly ordinary people who did extraordinary things. Those are the types of stories your kids need to learn through history to inspire them to be future leaders.

Developing Long-term Memory

Students who study history develop long-term memory. You can help kids remember history by using a timeline to hook major events and people to as you come across them in your history, literature, science, music, and Bible lessons. All of the sudden, the world and the past looks a whole lot more connected!

Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Students of history soon learn the warning signs that come before major change in societies and can see the larger historical change over time. This knowledge of the past helps students develop critical thinking skills as they grapple with cause and effect, decision-making, and cultural differences.

Enhancing Writing and Communication Skills

It’s important for kids to study history and engage in historical research to help them with their writing and communication skills. The study of history gives so many interesting people to discover, nuances to debate, and stories to tell.

Teaching History Through Literature

Teaching history through literature is one of the best ways to include history education in your homeschool. Instead of using a dry, boring textbook filled with faceless dates and events, let your kids immerse themselves into the intriguing stories of real and fictional characters who live in different places or times. Your kids will enjoy it so much more, plus they’ll remember what they learn!

How Can I Teach History Using Literature?

You can find a curriculum that teaches history through literature like Sonlight to help lay out the sequential and age-appropriate literature choices for your kids. Once you have your chosen literature, figure out which hands-on history projects will engage your kids. Find ways to take a closer look at the time period and culture from your literature selection.

What is Historical Fiction?

Historical fiction features a fictional plot set in a real historical time and place. So, while learning about the Civil War, your children may read about a little girl growing up in a home in Gettysburg, PA. While the girl and her family and the plot line may be fictional, she may recount the Battle of Gettysburg, giving your children a personal peek into a real event in history.

Why Reading Historical Fiction is Important for Children

Reading historical fiction is important for children because it helps them understand the way people lived in different places and time periods. If you need more historical fiction titles, check out this list of books for kids who love history.

Teaching History Through Movies

Yes, you can even teach history through movies! While the book is always better, you can still learn so much through movies set in historical time periods. Here’s a great list of movies for kids based on history.

How Sonlight Can Help Teach History

Sonlight’s approach to history is engaging and immersive, as students dive into great literature selections that help them appreciate the past through studying history. Sonlight uses a narrative history spine as the backbone and foundation of all the other studies. Historical fiction and biographies are added in for additional understanding and appreciation. Your kids can study the same history lesson together, making it much simpler for a large family. 

Final Summary

There are many reasons history is an important subject! When our kids understand history, they can more easily grasp their place in the world and their path for the future. We can see God’s hand in the whole story and rejoice.