Home-Schooling with Historical Fiction

I’ve learned most of my history through historical fiction. Not all, but most of it. Even back in grade-school days, I read a lot of historical fiction—the Little House series, Caddie Woodlawn, What Katy Did, The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Anne of Green Gables. All evoked by-gone times in which life was simpler and morality clearer. Or so it seemed.

Now, I look back on those books as an adult and see the harsh realities of life in the past. The five little Peppers were quite poor. Beth died in Little Women. Mary Ingalls went blind after a fever. And in this time of pandemic, the past seems closer to the present than I ever thought would be possible.

In our current stay-at-home society of the coronavirus, parents are suddenly thrust into doing it all and doing it alone. Working. Teaching. Providing for their families 24/7 and with little assistance from outsiders. Lesson plans might be available from schools, teachers might provide some oversight online. But for the most part, parents are the ones making education happen. The week’s schoolwork might be completed by Tuesday. Or supplies needed to complete the lessons might be unavailable. We have to get creative in how we teach.

That’s where historical fiction and ebooks can help. With the click of a button, most libraries can send an ebook on any topic to any electronic device. For history lessons, find a good historical novel on the era in question, and let your child escape into the past.

Here are two posts on the merits of historical fiction as a teaching device for homeschooling:

How to Teach History Using Fiction
4 Reasons I Ditched Textbooks for Homeschooling History 

And here’s a novel idea—get your kids to write their own historical fiction. See Write Historical Fiction—A great way to teach history! I’ve certainly learned a lot writing my historical novels!

While I’m writing on this topic, I’ll put in a plug for using my own novels to teach high-school students about the American West. Although I wrote the novels for an adult audience, mature high-schoolers should enjoy them as well. The heat level in the books is no higher than PG-13.

I suggest high-school students start with Forever Mine, which is the story of teenagers Esther and Daniel whose families are traveling the Oregon Trail. Boys might prefer to read Now I’m Found about the California Gold Rush.

All my novels teach lessons in self-reliance, leadership, and coping with adversity, along with a little romance. The characters are true to their times, which permits discussion of issues such as racism and sexism along with history.

And all my novels also contain discussion guides in the back, suitable for using for group discussions, parent/child discussions, or essay topics.

Parents with questions about the suitability of my books for their students can read the first few chapters for free through the Look Inside feature on Amazon. Chapter 2 of Lead Me Home and Chapter 1 of Now I’m Found describe situations that are as “adult” as it gets in my novels. If you think your teens would be comfortable with these, then they will do fine with my books.

As an alternative to reading my historical fiction, check out my blog posts about the Oregon Trail or the California Gold Rush.

What are your favorite historical novels, and what did they teach you? And I’d love to hear from any parents or teachers who do use my novels for homeschooling.