People respond to history better when immersed in it, seeing it from the inside instead of standing decades or centu-ries off and viewing it through eyes clouded by contemporary mindsets. Homeschoolers are becoming more and more inclined to seek out unique tools to assist them in their efforts to tap into the past. They want to make history real, fascinating, and immediate, in order to help the student feel a part of the time. Letters are one such tool.

Pick a time and learn enough about it so that you and your children can each choose a type of person to become (a character to create), then take that character and run. Consider, for instance, the Civil War. This can be a most dif-ficult period to explore, being fraught with conflicting per-ceptions and emotions. Modern Americans are all too likely to go into their studies with preconceived ideas that hinder their ability to see the past clearly.

Consider studying the war as a family. Take a variety of characters from both North and South, create relationships that would bring them to write one another, and then write letters to each other in character. If you do so, your eyes are likely to be opened to a whole new realm of understanding.

What if you, as a northern army doctor, correspond with your southern cousin, a cousin who was vehemently in favor of secession? Both the letters you write and those you receive will be dictated by the life you are living - things that happen around you, the social beliefs you were taught as a child, your religious convictions, etc. The student is put into the position of having to learn how his character would have felt, believed and behaved. For the letters to have an authentic flavor, each student must learn his character. In learning the character, he learns history.

Having learned the character and his history, a student can now share him with others in his family and they, in turn, can share their own characters’ unique views of the times they live in. You suddenly find yourselves able to discuss past events from a historical perspective and you may see certain preconceived ideas fly out that newly opened window called context.

Another twist to this idea would be to use letters to con-trast different periods of history. The American Girls series of books are an excellent historical resource and would be especially helpful in this type of study. What if members of the family were to read different sets of books and then write each other as children of the times each of the sets covered? Imagine a Victorian girl explaining what her life is like while at the same time trying to comprehend the lifestyle of a pioneer child. In writing the letters, and answering those written to them, children will likely find themselves explor-ing areas they never would have considered.

Fiction is a fabulous place to start historical research. Non-fiction can also be fascinating, however, and should not be ignored. Among the many offerings are the aforementioned American Girls Series, Scholastic's If You... series, Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House Books and the Childhood of Famous Americans series.

This activity should be fun; it is, actually, little more than taking dress-up a few steps further. Depending on the period being studied, you may wish to add extra elements such as writing in a style that is true to the time period, choosing charac-teristic phrasing, word usage, spelling, and even handwriting.

So, in these days when letter writing is considered a lost art itself, try something new. Pull out paper and pen and start writing those letters.

Resources:

While the older student has an array of historical resources available, parents of the younger student may find themselves wondering where to turn. There are, in fact, many history-oriented children's books available both in fiction and non-fiction. The following list of books is by no means complete, but offers suggestions to get you started.

Series

• Treasure Chest....
  Running Press’ treasure chests are available for a variety of time periods. A chest-shaped (locking) box comes filled with information and activities that help make you feel a part of history.
• Childhood of Famous Americans
  These books focus on the childhoods of key figures from America's history. There are fictional conversations and descriptions, but the portrayal of the time periods is accurate. Intended for middle elementary.
• American Girls Series
• Scholastic's If You... series
• Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House Books
• Liberty Letters
  "The Liberty Letters™ series explores the lives of teens who courageously lived out their faith and commitment to God in challenging times. Using letters between good friends to tell the story, the series reveals the power of friendship, courage, ingenuity, and faith to make a difference in the key events of U.S. history."

© Copyright 1996. Originally Published in Heart of Homeschooling. Reprinted by permission of the author.