Studying History Using Fiction

I love using historical fiction to make a time period come alive for my students—in this instance I am referring to my own kids. There are some works out there that really pique the interest of my kids and they are drawn into learning about that time period before they even realize it!

Last year, while studying the Roman Empire, we read Twice Freed by Patricia St. John. We absolutely loved it! Hubby really enjoyed it, too. I highly recommend this book for elementary age students. Only Daughter was in seventh grade, and she enjoyed it as well.

Today, I started us out on a book that I thought would work for a read loud this year. We are about to study Charlemagne in world history, so I had found this book called Son of Charlemagne by Barbara Willard. I did something I don't recommend—I didn't read it first. Big mistake.

This story was engaging in the beginning. By the middle of the book, I kept reading to see where it was going. The son was the protagonist in the book but in her attempt to help us understand Charlemagne, it seemed to switch at the very end so that Charlemagne was the protagonist. Awkward.

By the end of the story, I didn't feel like this book really helped me with my understanding of Charlemagne. It was not particularly interesting either. I made the decision that even though we had started on this book today, we will not be using it after all. Making history boring is the last thing I want to do for my kids.

From the Christian point of view, there issues are in Charlemagne's life worth discussing that I'm sure the author was not comfortable putting into a children's book. However, as a homeschool mom, I can cover those topics in an age appropriate way. Here are some questions that come to my mind when studying Charlemagne:

•  How valid is it if you desire to lead people to Christ if you force them to do it?
•  Who does that remind us of that was also a leader of the Franks? 
• What about Charlemagne's mistresses? Is there anyone in the Bible who was known for being a great ruler who struggled with having numerous women in his life? 
• Why do you think he didn't allow his daughters to marry?
• What are the good things Charlemagne accomplished? 
• What were his strengths?

Those are the kinds of questions I like to use in our history discussions. If you are teaching from a Biblical point of view, use history to show where people accomplished great things, but also show where they made mistakes, or had weaknesses. We can learn from those as well, if not more, than the great feats! Always see what the Bible says about those things as well.

For those who are teaching history from a secular view, I still can't really recommend this book. Although it does cover some important details of Charlemagne's life, it just kind of drags. It would be better to find some youtube videos or another book. My daughter read this book last year (and she loves to read!) and she said it was boring. I should have listened to her.