How do you teach State History so it’s not boring? And do successful homeschoolers ever completely flop teaching something?
Hi Lee, I would like to know if you can give any information on teaching Washington State History without making it boring. I have a book and an old version of switched on school house that isn’t up to date, because it for 2000-01 school year. I want to make the study interesting not boring.
~Homeschool Mom
Hi there,
I completely failed at teaching State History. Really. I never made it into something that wasn’t boring.
Did you know that State history is NOT a requirement for homeschoolers in Washington State? You don’t have to cover that at all…. boy, I wish I would have known that!
If you want to cover Washington State history anyway, you can do as little as just a research report or a mapping project. As far as Switched on Schoolhouse goes, I don’t think it matters what year it was created, because you’re looking more at the history and geography of the state, rather than current events.
But all in all, I’m completely NO HELP here, except to say you don’t have to teach it 
I’m pretty sure my readers will have some ideas though.
EVERYONE: Can you please help us struggling homeschoolers with some interesting ways to teach State History?
Isn’t it wonderful that I’m willing to admit my failures, though? LOL!
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Christianbook.com Curriculum Page
Kristine says:
For me, the topic and method might depend on the age of the student. I’m not big on specific state history, because it’s so limiting. I had four years of state history growing up in California, but I moved away in 1983, and it’s really of no use to me.
I generally teach state history within the context of U.S. history, perhaps expanding a little when possible/if desireable when we get to something pertaining to our state.
Elementary students might enjoy learning about Native Americans that lived in that area. You might expand on WA state history when studying Lewis & Clark.
Consider what interests your children and build on that. My kids heard a funny song about the Pig War. We discovered that it took place on San Juan Island–where my parents live, so my kids were interested in learning more.
It’s not necessary to have a written curriculum, even for high schoolers. What kind of field trips do you have available, and how does that tie into your state’s history? It could be as simple as a trip to the museum, but maybe your children would be interested in learning about the engineering of fish ladders in your area and the role fish have in WA history. Do they like ferries? What opportunities you have to learn about them! Lighthouses? The Navy? The Ballard Locks? When did your family move to WA? Could you tie in past generations with the timing of historical events? The possibilities are endless!
It’s important to have a well-rounded education, but it’s the interesting (and sometimes silly!) things that are often most memorable, that will tie into something your students hear or learn later in life.
February 9th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Pam says:
We live in Vancouver, Washington. We study state history all of the time because we all love it now. When we started, we had no idea of how much facinating and important history there was here! Really!! And I know that a lot of people living here don’t know much beyond that we have Fort Vancouver.
I agree with Kristine. Go places. Visit as many things as you can. It seems to make it so much more interesting than just reading about things. We usually end up finding out about something else we’d never heard about.
February 9th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Leticia Barnes says:
Consider checking out some of the great musems here in WA. Longview has one, so does Stevenson. The history of mount st. helens and a trip to bonniville dam. Make it real and tangible let them see the history of our state. We are a relitivly young state but their is still plenty to learn about it thats not boring. Speaking from experence these are the kinds of things they will remember.
February 9th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Kara Duckworth says:
I grew up and went to college in Virginia and majored in Historic Preservation. When we moved our family to Washington 3 years ago, I had to set about learning (and teaching my daughters) state and local history. I approached it by looking at the built environment and categorizing what I found into broader themes of American History. For instance, we have the dams, the National Parks, etc. that were all part of the New Deal; or the alphabet houses (in Richland) that tied into the Manhattan Project and WW2; parts of old highways (e.g. the “Yellowstone Trail” and the “Park to Park Highway”) and roadside architecture (e.g. my fave, The Teapot Dome) that tie into early automobile travel. I developed a class on this that I taught at my local homeschool co-op. Check out the website for the state historic preservation and archaeology office to find wonderful old structures and buildings in your city. This way, you are tailoring history to your own area, but tying it in to broader themes of world and US history that will be beneficial no matter where you live.
February 10th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Lois says:
My husband and I traveled a lot growing up, and then in the military we saw a lot of places, so we learned state history. When our kids were very young we moved from Illinois to South Dakota. They both claim SD as their home state and we studied Lewis and Clark, saw some landmarks near us, and also visited the Little House on the Prairie homestead in DeSmet. We moved to TX in 2007, and the first “school” we did was to make a TX-shaped booklet with each page containing different information: state flag, population (a big wow, coming from a state of 600,000 to one with 17 million!), native animals, the Alamo, etc. All of that was so new and different, but it gave the kids a great place to start in learning about their new home.
Frankly, studying any kind of history from a text book is B-O-R-I-N-G! But, explore around and see what grabs their attention. Have them write a travel brochure for an out-of-stater, explaining various land marks. Galloping Gertie comes to mind for Washington. We studied bridges with my 6th grader, and saw a video of that. Being told his parents had both driven across it numerous times, just doesn’t have the same effect as seeing it for himself.
February 11th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Barb says:
If you live in Virginia like we do, state history can’t possibly be boring…so much happened here! But if not…check out your state historical society. Ours has a complete, free curriculum to download and use. Then supplement with LOTS OF FIELD TRIPS!!!! That takes up plenty of high school hours. Finally, supplement with a variety of library books or those that you can pick up at the gift stores of the various field trip destinations. If you need to make the work more rigorous for high school credit, assign some book reports, projects, or research papers.
I think even in Virginia it would be a push to stretch out state history over 2 semesters. So we are doing state history first semester, then 2nd semester are switching to another 1/2 credit history class, America’s Founding Fathers by Drive-Thru History.
September 21st, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Ellen says:
Some text books are boring because they give to much boring detail. If so, we skim for the highlights that really matter. I often read the highlights outloud while our 3 kids improvise acting out what I’m reading (some state governors die very dramatically!) They enjoy it more, and because they’re involved, they remember it more, too. Of course, I’m a HUGE believer in field trips – not preachy ones – learn first, then go and ENJOY. Have fun!
September 21st, 2011 at 11:37 pm
Nikki Rossiter says:
I would start with the history of your home town. A friend of mine took my kids and me on a History Tour of our little town of Stanwood, WA. Wow, I had no idea this town had such an interesting history, and I think about it every time I drive through town, and my kids love telling their friends about it. You can expand on it by researching the early pioneers and influential people of your home town. It really starts to get interesting when you can learn some of the personal stories of some of these people. It’s not the whole state of Washington, but we might expand our studies to cover more of the state one city at a time.
September 22nd, 2011 at 6:41 am
Sarah Rachor says:
I recently discovered Studies Weekly. It is a weekly newspaper that makes state history fun. My son loves it. You can go to their website and check it out.
January 23rd, 2012 at 9:08 pm