“Once students become immersed in the novel’s setting, character, plot and theme, they become interested and stimulated by the novel’s story. They begin to draw inferences while reading the novel, about geography, governmental organization, religious beliefs, social attitudes manner of dress, types of food, size of towns or cities, modes of transportation, distribution of wealth, social classes, and laws.”

- Sarah K. Herz, Yale New Have Teacher’s Institute

Let's face it, history is an under-served area in homeschool curriculums. It’s not entirely hard to find, but resources are limited compared with other subjects. Then again... you don’t need a full-scale history curriculum to teach the subject in homeschool as Sarah K. Herz explained in her unit guide on Using Historical Fiction in the History Classroom at the Yale New Have Teacher’s Institute.

As anyone who’s ever read a historic novel knows, students can “experience” the time period so much better through a novel than from a textbook. And most of us remember experiences better than being told facts.

Readers need to understand what’s going on around the character in order to follow the conflicts and passions of the novel. This deeper level of understanding can remain with the student far longer than studying facts for a quiz – because the facts have been made relevant. Think back to your own history education. How much did you retain five minutes after a quiz was over?

Some educators recommend supplementing textbook learning with well-researched historical fiction. Herz offers additional guidelines, but note it’s intended for classroom (perhaps co-ops) as opposed to individual students. Still, you can always glean ideas for modification.

Here is our own list of ways to teach textbook-free history lessons using historical fiction:

Allow students to choose and read at least one historical novel that relates to the intended homeschool history lesson

The novel should fit the specific time period to be studied, such as ancient history, Middle Ages, French Revolution or World War II. Allowing them to choose the novel will help ensure they'll enjoy the story as they learn from it. There are so many stories available for each time period that it shouldn’t matter if you child is a boy or girl or prefers war stories, adventures, mysteries, or family sagas.

Read stories from multiple sides of a war or conflict

History is usually recorded by the victors. That means they may have built themselves up as heroes while bad-mouthing the other guys. After all, they were at war for a reason. You can expect to find built in prejudices from any single source.

Try to get multiple perspectives to truly understand the event. For example, if studying the French Revolution, read one story from the peasants’ point of view and one from the aristocrats’. For the American Civil War, read one from the Union perspective and one from the Confederacy.

You might also choose a single book that includes multiple perspectives, such as My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier, which portrays three different perspectives of the American Revolution.

After "experiencing' multiple view points, have students compare and contrast in an essay. Or if multiple students, let them choose sides in a formal debate. Learn how to debate here.

Use classics to serve as both a literature lesson and a history lesson

Cover two subjects with one book! Your student might read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and discuss, for example, the symbolism of the rose bush outside the prison for your literature class, as well as the historical culture and laws of Puritan America.

Consider also new classics, such as Crispin by Avi for Medieval studies or Number the Stars by Lois Lowry when studying World War II. [Tip: our bookshop makes it easy to find books by time period.]

Have students research to determine the historic accuracy of the story

Research skills are a great asset for anyone to have and researching history is a great way to practice. It will also help the student separate fact from fiction in the story and reinforce the history lesson to be gained from the book.

Some authors (and screenwriters) may fit a fictional story around known historic events. Others may distort known history in order to make a story arc fit. For example, the author may blend character roles, show a potential heroic side of a villain (or vice versa) or outright change who says or does what. This especially happens when page count or production costs create limitations. Some authors prefer to stay true to actual history while others take greater creative license.

This makes for the perfect history assignment. Have students research the known history to determine how true the story was to the historic period and events. Keep in mind, we may never know “real” history, but at least aim for the best known history. Challenge students to point out as many inaccuracies (or implausibilities) as possible. Or they can give the book two thumbs up for accuracy.

Provide a book review

When you love a story or a particular author, the best compliment you can pay them is to leave a book review. Reviews help other readers to decide if the book is worth buying. In turn, it helps the author to sell more books. You can learn how to develop and post a book review here.

In the review, students will describe their favorite elements and characters as well as what they learned. It’s a good way to summarize and give an opinion of the book. You can also print and save our review development form as a homeschool record.

Choose one book a month and hold weekly book-club-type sessions with the student(s) as they work through each book.

Be sure to include historical aspects in the discussions, such as

• Review the setting: time period, geographic location

• Discuss general life during the time/place

• Population of a typical village or city?

• How did people dress?

• What did they eat?

• What kinds of jobs or occupations might the average person have? How did they earn their living?

• What laws and/or religious customs ruled the land?

• What kind of social hierarchy was there and where did most people fit?

• Were there any real historical people in the novel? Identify and discuss them?

• Were there any real historical events in the story? Identify and discuss. How important were they to the plot of the story?

• Did the main conflict of the story actually happen or is it part of the fiction?

• Explain anything new that you learned about history from the novel.

• Based on your own research, did the author accurately portray history?

• Describe what your life might be like if you lived during this time. Where would you live? What class would you fit into? Would your life be easy or difficult? With which character in the story do you best identify?

Have a time travel day

Play the role of your favorite character. The whole family can dress, eat and do what the characters may have done. Find or make clothing for the era. Look up recipes and eat only period foods for the day. Choose age-appropriate activities or crafts. Most importantly, have fun with it. [Tip: My book Peasant Foods Kids Can Make at Home can help you plan a Medieval time travel day.]

Create your own unit study and include historical fiction to help experience the time

If you don’t mind doing a bit of planning, you can create your own unit study for the time period you plan to study.

A homeschool unit study is intended for broad topics like Middle Ages, Renaissance or The American Civil War. It’s a great way to include all your students into the study regardless of age or grade level. Everyone can learn together.

A good unit study can also lend itself well to other subjects. My book Inventions of the Stone Age is a good example of a unit study because it is for all ages, includes a big list of books, movies, virtual tours and other related resources, offers thought-provoking questions for younger students while encouraging older students to engage in research and debate, has some awesome crafts, activities and backyard experiments for the whole family, and incorporates science, math, art, geography, and more — all to help teach kids about the historic culture based on things the Stone Age people invented.

I know that sounds like a sales pitch, but the point is, you can make a unit study do more than simply teach history.

Just do a quick Google search on “create a homeschool unit study” for great ideas from seasoned homeschoolers. And if you don’t want to create a unit study yourself, you may find some already created by experts in the field.

Learn how to use I Survived books in your history lessons for younger students

Read Scholastic’s article about how you might use the I Survived book series to teach history to upper elementary and middle schoolers. Reading age is 8 – 11 (grades 3 – 6). Remember, you can find many of them in our bookshop here.

 Tips to get historic novels cheap and free

• Look for historic novels at your local library. If not available, your librarian may be able to request a title from a sister library.

•  If your child has an eReader (or eReader app), consider a membership with Libby, which works through the library system to lend eBooks for free.

• Check out local used book stores and thrift shops.

• Borrow from others or have a book swap in your co-op.

Support your local bookshop

If used or FREE isn’t available, consider buying new. You can buy online AND support local (instead of mega online retailers) at the same time.

Historic Books for Kids bookshop uses Bookshop.org – a nonprofit organization. We earn only a small affiliate-based profit from your purchases, which we use to continue providing you with free articles and printables. The rest of the typical bookstore profit goes to your choice of local brick and mortar store.

Plus, with Historic Books for Kids, there’s no more hunting and pecking through stacks and stacks of fantasy novels that are arranged by author name to find the occasional historic fiction. We ONLY sell historic books and we arrange them by time period. Need a novel set during World War I? Go straight to the 19th century shelf! It’s that easy.

Tell your friends, too! We sincerely thank you for your support.