History for Little Pilgrims (Part 1): Our Journey so Far

For history this year I decided on a little text called History of Little Pilgrims put out by Christian Liberty Press.  It is a nice introduction to the concept of history and makes it very clear that history is all a part of God's great plan.  We are starting out very slowly with this book, reading a section or two twice a week and adding in extra reading and projects as we meander along.


We have yet to leave the Old Testament portion of the book, but are getting a solid introduction to where history all began.

So far, we have:

1. Taken an in-depth look at the definition of history.  The text does a nice job of introducing the concept of history by bringing it right down to the child's level.  We made a little scrapbook of important events so far in our lives.  The children drew pictures of things like their birth, asking Jesus into their hearts, learning to ride a bike, etc.  We then put them in chronological order as well as we could.  We also took a look at old picture albums and discussed them as "history books".
2. Made a basic family tree.
3. Used flannel figures and a fleece blanket to tell and re-tell the story of creation, the fall, and Adam and Eve's banishment from the garden.  At this point, we also discussed God's plan of redemption and made necklaces along the lines of a "wordless book".  (Black bead = my heart was black with sin; Red bead = The blood of Jesus has washed me....; White bead = white as snow; Yellow bead = someday I'll walk the streets of gold; Green Bead=I will read my Bible and prayer in order to continue growing in Christ.)

4.  Built a ziggurat.  This really drove home the point that Abraham was leaving a
     civilized city to go wander in the dessert.  Ur was well-developed and had
     a thriving economy.  Large brick buildings were evidence of the stability
     Abraham and his family were leaving behind.  We created our ziggurat by
     stacking and gluing together boxes wrapped in brown paper.  We then painted
     the boxes with a combination of brown paint and cornmeal.  This gave it a
     rough, homemade-brick look we hoped was authentic.  Ladders, etc. were
     created with Popsicle sticks, twigs, and hot glue.  I wish I had been creative
     enough to make a playhouse-sized building out of refrigerator and stove boxes
     but, with a new baby in tow, I've had to scale back my ambitions a bit this
     year.

5.  Made clay tablets to remind us of the ten
     commandments.  A simple salt, flour, and water
    dough allowed us to create "tablets" in which we
    attempted to carve the numbers 1-10 in Hebrew.
   

I am so glad to have this opportunity to present Old Testament stories as not just stories but as fact and as important parts of history.  It is my hope that these little projects and discussion opportunities create an impression on my children that will solidify in their minds the truth that all history is based on the Bible.