Homeschool Blessings Part II: History

~ posted by Rubia

A couple of months ago, I decided it would be fun to share some of my favorite studies and courses within each subject of school. I had also previously shared about my gratitude for my parents’ decision to homeschool, and how I believe that in many ways it is a better alternative to public schooling.

In some ways, sometimes it is hard to pick up on school again after the holidays. But so far for me, it has felt good to get a fresh start! And of course here at home, we do have breaks sometimes, but your teacher and your resources are always there, so there’s not often much of an excuse to take a day off! J Maybe for those of us trying to keep up well though (like myself) this is a good thing.

Last time, I shared about many of the things I’m doing in the “Bible” category. Now I’d like to talk about history!

History was never my favorite subject growing up. I was never sure why. I feel now that it was just because I had a hard time remembering all the information and the dates. Neither did I really understand why studying the past was important. There were other subjects that I enjoyed more and was good at.

But this year History has turned into a subject I enjoy much more. I believe that it’s not about just learning from a certain time period and comparing it to how things look different today. Rather, by studying the lives of specific people, we can learn how to look at our own lives today, and hopefully even be prepared for the future. It’s a lot like the “glasses” we look through when reading the history in the Bible. We learn of, and from, people written in that time, based on situations they’d been through, sins they’d committed, and what they learned and wrote about to teach future generations about holy living. Sometimes there are even “bad” people we learn about, and we can learn the consequences of poor choices they made in their lives. At the same time, we can learn from the wisest people who ever lived, based on observations they made. I think that such history is used by God to teach us.

This year, I get a lot of history credit from different things, but my 2 main history subjects are: a book I’m going through with some of my siblings called “For You they Signed” by Marilyn Boyer, and a course from Milliken about American History. I’ve chosen to share some of my thoughts about the former.

In “For You they Signed” Boyer gives the spiritual heritage of each and every one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence! Not all of them were equally written of, as there were some I had never even heard of, along with those I knew quite a lot about. But what was amazing was that a spiritual heritage is written of each one of them.

Each chapter starts with an introduction about the signer’s name, where he was born and where he grew up, who his spouse and children were, how old he was when he signed and when he died, and so on. But along with that, there is a written character trait that best described them, along with a Bible verse which purposes to remind you of that person and his lifestyle. (An example below.)

I have learned that each signer was at great risk simply by putting his name down on that paper. Signing for the independence of their country was like signing their death sentence. But they were all willing, and boldly signed. Reading about them week after week has made me realize exactly the sacrifice that they gave for people in future generations like me. Many of their specific sacrifices are described in the book. I remember one which, for one of the men meant allowing his son to remain imprisoned and ultimately be killed by the British. Surely he wanted to save his son, and never even dreamed of allowing his decision to be what it was. However, his son was a bargaining chip for the British, and for the freedom of his country, he had to say what he did at the time.

According to what was written of these brave signers, they each possessed several godly character traits. And of many of them, it is said and gathered from information about their lives (or life-styles) that they were good fathers and husbands, godly examples, obviously courageous, loving and sensitive toward others, and many other things. And of course they all had weaknesses as well, but for many of them, it is taught that they learned good from their tough situations, and that they were turned around and used for good. (Or their weaknesses were even turned into their greatest strength.)

There is a lot to learn from these men of the past. “For You they Signed” is definitely a book I would recommend! I am going through it with Ben and Roma, and it includes questions to discuss that we use. It has been a very educational read for all of us!