Attention History and Geography Buffs!

No wonder you hated both if you're memorizing and flashcarding :) You're a lawyer, right? Get caught up in stories? Then reading may make it more interesting with the right authors.

I find a genuine curiosity about locations helps to learn about them, then reading authors who write incredible stories about the locations gives me a chance to really learn about a place.

Timothy Egan has written some fascinating books on the American West: The Good Rain, The Worst Hard Time, The Big Burn, Lasso The Wind (loved, it, loved it!). Now I have some good grounding on how/where some of the policies created in the '20s has shaped where we are today as a nation.

Of course James Michener will take you cradle to grave on the areas he chose to study and record: Centennial about Colorado, Covenant about S Africa (a really fascinating read)

Lonely Planet publishes a travel book called the Blue List that discusses what's new with travel locations....giving you insight into places and events you wouldn't hear of otherwise. Things you can then explore further...Angkor Watt is my new passion after reading about it in....

And get a subscription to National Geographic. Every month the kids and I fight over who gets to read it first. The issue on Cambodia was like handing me a candy dish filled with truffles.

I personally like books about specific times/people. I've recently read biographies of Marie Antoinette, Elizabeth I, and Catherine the Great. I majored in history in college and I can tell you, if you dont find it interesting, it's going to be torture. I hated American History, but when I was student teaching I bought Dont know much about history Everything you need to know about American History. books like this give you interesting tidbits you never would have learned in class. And biographies give you an interesting glimpse at what their time was like.

We watched the John Adams miniseries on HBO, and it brought me to tears when they read the Declaration of Independence. It was very well done.

Antonia Fraser was the author of the Marie Antionette Biography I read, it was really well written.

This may sound silly but what if you surf around and see if you can find some old history textbooks? Our county school district has a textbook repository where homeschoolers can get books that aren't used anymore in public school (for various reasons - sometimes just because a new edition of the text came out).

Also, inquire at your local libary. Many times the children's librarians will know where to find these items. Perhaps you tell them it is for your child (wink) - i.e., you just want them to have a general overview of American (or World) History and what do they suggest?

Great for you! That is a wonderful idea. I am terrible with geography myself (don't remember this being emphasized when I was a kid in the 70's-80's) but have learned alot through my homeschoolers.

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My daughter and I really enjoyed playing "Where in the USA in Carmen Sandiago". It's sold on a cd you install on your computer. You have to find the villian using clues like "I saw him canoeing at the mouth of the snake river" so you would travel to Washington for your next clue. You could also travel to the states and a guide would give you lots of interesting facts and history about each state. There's also a "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiago" cd/game.

We also used to play a card game where you had to collect cards for states that bordered each other. The cards were sold with the flash cards (could be used as flash cards or a game) and each card had facts about the state, capitol, state flower, slogan etc. Sorry, but I can't remember the name.

MORE INFO: I read some of the replies and I realized I should have mentioned National Geographic Kids magazine. We (my daughter and I love it). Also, check out the website, http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Places/

You say soon to be gradeshcool, first grade? Read "The Magic Tree House " series with him. It's fiction, but contains lots of great facts about history and geography.

Have fun learning!

Hi- Great question, my daughter is in 6th grade and I too have been brushing up on some subjects just through helping her with schoolwork. I am actually reading her social studies book the same time she is. It's been pretty fun and while it is at a 6th grade level I'd say it's more like Freshman High school from when I was in school. Things are pretty accelerated these days and what I remember doing in 6th grade she was doing in 3rd or 4th! Having just read the material myself I can quiz her before tests and more importantly we discuss what she's learning. I also read some of the novels she reads for pleasure and assigned reading to get a feel for what's she's doing educationally. We then discuss the books (she loves this) and I have real insightful suggestions when it's time to write a paper on one. I also read historical novels for fun on occasion. They are fiction of course but good ones take you to that place in history as well as use historical facts to tell a great story. The Last Queen, CW Gortner, about Queen Isabel of Spain in 1500s is excellent, Red Water, Judith Freeman, about early Mormans in US, Daughter of Fortune, don't remember author but it's based in Chile and San Francisco right before the gold rush and is an excellent book. I could go on forever, there are a lot of non-fiction biographies and books that tell history in a more personal way that are really good too. We also love the history channel and we go to museums on almost every vacation. Just think , maybe the reason you never liked those subjects was the way they were being taught, now you get to learn the material anyway you want. Have Fun!

You HAVE to check out America the Story Of Us currently running on the History channel. It is a complete American history and is amazing. Once it is done airing the History Channel is going to give copies to every school around the country that requests one.