History at primary level
The National Curriculum requirements for schools in teaching history are very sparse for this age group. If you are interested, you can view them here.
From about 7-11, many home-educators focus on simply reading the relevant section from a good narrative history book, having the child narrate (orally or in written form) what has been read and copy/draw illustrations to accompany his text (see below for suggested texts). If you supplement a narrative approach with 'facts' style books such as those from Dorling Kindersely (which feature impressive colour photos and illustrations of historical artefacts), you can produce an effective combination of broad narrative context supplemented with illustrative detail which brings the narrative to life.
It's a good idea to always have maps handy too. Rand McNally's Historical Atlas of the World is by far the most affordable book of this kind but is packed with information and will prove useful all the way through Secondary Level.
Timelines are also very useful at this stage for giving a general overview of how the various eras fit together and follow on. If you can make a permanent timeline wall display you can add to it as the projects progress. It can be very simple but if you have key visual images (prominent people and artefacts) on display this can really help children become familiar with the way history progresses.
We have found that creating lap-books fits in nicely with studying history in this way, and there are plenty of free resources online which can help with this. However you choose to present the study (through narration, lapbooks, a combination of both or another way entirely), reading in story form about the relevant era and events seems much more effective than simply treating history as yet another subject to be dealt with in question and answer or comprehension form. The focus is always on getting across the big picture, and encountering plenty of memorable people and events along the way, rather than on isolated facts which need to remembered for a test.
Obviously, the study would become more detailed and complex as the child grew older, but this basic framework could remain the same throughout the primary years.
One more point: our family tends to tend to focus on the historical events and chronology, but you could of course include lots more material on, say, social history (clothes, food, buildings and culture generally) if you preferred. All the standard books for this age will include plenty of material on these subjects. It can seem easier to learn about how the Greeks dressed than to try to place Ancient Greece in some kind of historical context, but it's more useful if you can do both! I've geared the suggested project outlines (main history page, by age) towards events and chronology because I think these are more difficult to get to grips with. Once you have a broad chronology you can fill in with as much (or as little) detail as you like.
Recommended texts
For British History, the text usually recommended is 'Our Island Story' by HE Marshall. This book is well written but does present some difficulties for the Catholic parent as it is written very much from the perspective of the great British (protestant) Empire. There is a very good analysis of the book over at Mater Amabilis, here. If you read this, and are aware of the dangers and ready to correct the perspective, this could still be a good text to use. The Mater Amabilis History schedule for this age group covers British History from the Roman Conquest to the end of the 19th century, and there are further recommendations for history books within the Mater Amabilis schedule.
The Story of Britain by R.J Unstead is also a very readable story book suitable for this age group, with the usual caveats (plenty about Mary burning heretics but not a word about Elizabeth hanging Catholics..). It is available in one volume or in separate volumes.
Alternatively, you could use the Usborne History of Britain series, all available second hand for a few pounds. This is what we've tended to use, as it covers Roman Britain, Anglo Saxons and Vikings, The Middle Ages, Tudors and Stuarts, The Victorians, The First World War and the Second World War. These books are also available in one volume, The Usborne History of Britain, though I find it easier to have the separate books as I might have children working on a different era at the same time.
The Kingfisher British History series is very nice too: here's an example 'The Georgians'. One oddity with this series is that the volume 'Early Britain' covers a very long period: 500,000 BC to 1154 AD! It is nice to have a bit more than usual on Celtic Britain, which is often rather skimmed over in books which start at the Roman invasion.
A similar series is the Young Oxford History of Britain and Ireland series. Again, this is available in one volume or in separate volumes. I would say it has a bit more detail than the Usborne books so might be useful for 9+ if you want more information (be warned: the first book in the series covers pre-history and features pictures of 'ape-men' etc. but it's worth getting over this for the sake of the rest of the series!).
If you could find them, there are some lovely sets of books aimed at this age range which cover famous people in history. One such series is the Ladybird Adventures from History 561. You often find these very cheaply online. For a more narrative approach (i.e. with imagined conversations), and one which emphasises the Christian figures of the past, you might like R.J.Unstead's 'People in History' series (available as one volume or four separate books). I think most children would be happy to just sit and read these in a quite corner!
For visually attractive books you can't really beat the Dorling Kindersely Eyewitness range: here's an example you can look inside, 'Viking'. We use these for tracing pictures and generally getting a feel for what the people and artefacts of the era looked like.
For Ancient Greece and Rome there is sadly something of a gap in the Usborne provision. They offer a very simplistic series, Usborne Beginners' (e.g. Romans) which are OK for prep level but really don't provide enough information for a 7-8 year old. On the other hand, they produce the 'Illustrated World History 'series ( 'Greeks' and 'Romans'). These are very good books, packing in a lot of information but are really too detailed for this age group. So, I am looking for an alternative: I haven't used these yet, but this new series from Ladybird is aimed at the 7-9 age group and looks promising: Ancient Greeks and Romans. In fact, this Ladybird series covers the whole of British history which might be useful if you prefer it to the Usborne approach.
On the main history page you will find a link to suggested ideas/schedules for each era.
The National Curriculum requirements for schools in teaching history are very sparse for this age group. If you are interested, you can view them here.
From about 7-11, many home-educators focus on simply reading the relevant section from a good narrative history book, having the child narrate (orally or in written form) what has been read and copy/draw illustrations to accompany his text (see below for suggested texts). If you supplement a narrative approach with 'facts' style books such as those from Dorling Kindersely (which feature impressive colour photos and illustrations of historical artefacts), you can produce an effective combination of broad narrative context supplemented with illustrative detail which brings the narrative to life.
It's a good idea to always have maps handy too. Rand McNally's Historical Atlas of the World is by far the most affordable book of this kind but is packed with information and will prove useful all the way through Secondary Level.
Timelines are also very useful at this stage for giving a general overview of how the various eras fit together and follow on. If you can make a permanent timeline wall display you can add to it as the projects progress. It can be very simple but if you have key visual images (prominent people and artefacts) on display this can really help children become familiar with the way history progresses.
We have found that creating lap-books fits in nicely with studying history in this way, and there are plenty of free resources online which can help with this. However you choose to present the study (through narration, lapbooks, a combination of both or another way entirely), reading in story form about the relevant era and events seems much more effective than simply treating history as yet another subject to be dealt with in question and answer or comprehension form. The focus is always on getting across the big picture, and encountering plenty of memorable people and events along the way, rather than on isolated facts which need to remembered for a test.
Obviously, the study would become more detailed and complex as the child grew older, but this basic framework could remain the same throughout the primary years.
One more point: our family tends to tend to focus on the historical events and chronology, but you could of course include lots more material on, say, social history (clothes, food, buildings and culture generally) if you preferred. All the standard books for this age will include plenty of material on these subjects. It can seem easier to learn about how the Greeks dressed than to try to place Ancient Greece in some kind of historical context, but it's more useful if you can do both! I've geared the suggested project outlines (main history page, by age) towards events and chronology because I think these are more difficult to get to grips with. Once you have a broad chronology you can fill in with as much (or as little) detail as you like.
Recommended texts
For British History, the text usually recommended is 'Our Island Story' by HE Marshall. This book is well written but does present some difficulties for the Catholic parent as it is written very much from the perspective of the great British (protestant) Empire. There is a very good analysis of the book over at Mater Amabilis, here. If you read this, and are aware of the dangers and ready to correct the perspective, this could still be a good text to use. The Mater Amabilis History schedule for this age group covers British History from the Roman Conquest to the end of the 19th century, and there are further recommendations for history books within the Mater Amabilis schedule.
The Story of Britain by R.J Unstead is also a very readable story book suitable for this age group, with the usual caveats (plenty about Mary burning heretics but not a word about Elizabeth hanging Catholics..). It is available in one volume or in separate volumes.
Alternatively, you could use the Usborne History of Britain series, all available second hand for a few pounds. This is what we've tended to use, as it covers Roman Britain, Anglo Saxons and Vikings, The Middle Ages, Tudors and Stuarts, The Victorians, The First World War and the Second World War. These books are also available in one volume, The Usborne History of Britain, though I find it easier to have the separate books as I might have children working on a different era at the same time.
The Kingfisher British History series is very nice too: here's an example 'The Georgians'. One oddity with this series is that the volume 'Early Britain' covers a very long period: 500,000 BC to 1154 AD! It is nice to have a bit more than usual on Celtic Britain, which is often rather skimmed over in books which start at the Roman invasion.
A similar series is the Young Oxford History of Britain and Ireland series. Again, this is available in one volume or in separate volumes. I would say it has a bit more detail than the Usborne books so might be useful for 9+ if you want more information (be warned: the first book in the series covers pre-history and features pictures of 'ape-men' etc. but it's worth getting over this for the sake of the rest of the series!).
If you could find them, there are some lovely sets of books aimed at this age range which cover famous people in history. One such series is the Ladybird Adventures from History 561. You often find these very cheaply online. For a more narrative approach (i.e. with imagined conversations), and one which emphasises the Christian figures of the past, you might like R.J.Unstead's 'People in History' series (available as one volume or four separate books). I think most children would be happy to just sit and read these in a quite corner!
For visually attractive books you can't really beat the Dorling Kindersely Eyewitness range: here's an example you can look inside, 'Viking'. We use these for tracing pictures and generally getting a feel for what the people and artefacts of the era looked like.
For Ancient Greece and Rome there is sadly something of a gap in the Usborne provision. They offer a very simplistic series, Usborne Beginners' (e.g. Romans) which are OK for prep level but really don't provide enough information for a 7-8 year old. On the other hand, they produce the 'Illustrated World History 'series ( 'Greeks' and 'Romans'). These are very good books, packing in a lot of information but are really too detailed for this age group. So, I am looking for an alternative: I haven't used these yet, but this new series from Ladybird is aimed at the 7-9 age group and looks promising: Ancient Greeks and Romans. In fact, this Ladybird series covers the whole of British history which might be useful if you prefer it to the Usborne approach.
On the main history page you will find a link to suggested ideas/schedules for each era.