Tips and Tricks for Core Materials

Tips and Tricks for
BP Core Materials

Choose a product below to see tips and tricks for adapting BP’s core materials to different learning styles. These are all our parent/teacher materials: Family Guides, Remember the Days, Companions, Discussion Guides and Craft Books. There are also ideas for building writing into your BP history lessons.

Tips and Tricks Code Key:

SL – Tips for Struggling, Sensory and Special Learners

G/AL – Tips for Gifted and Advanced Learners

E – Tips for Everyone

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Family Guide


General Instructions
E	Step One: Read the Introduction to acquaint yourself with the curriculum. Start thinking about which BP products you want to use. Step Two: Read “Getting Started with BiblioPlan.” Step Three: Choose your Primary Resources for the year (see below). Step Four: Choose your literature for the first unit of study, or as many units as you like. Step Five: Decide what memory work to assign for the first unit, or as many units as you like. Step Six: Choose your optional resources for the first unit, or as many units as you like. Step Seven: Choose your crafts and activities for the first unit, or as many units as you like. Step Eight: Set your schedule for the year, noting test days, holidays, field trips and so on. Note: All books, videos, audios and other resources are described in the Annotated Book List sections of the Family Guide.

Choosing Your Primary Resources
E	Step One: Choose your BP textbook, either Remember the Days (K-7) or the Companion (6-12), based on age, grade and ability. Step Two: Choose the supplements to go with your spine: Cool History, Hands-On Maps, Discussion Guide, Timeline, Craft Book, Coloring Book, BP Notebooking. Step Three: Decide if you want to read other textbooks alongside BP’s, like The Story of the World or A History of U.S.. Choose zero, one or two at most, as more would probably be too much reading.

SL	SL Adaptation: The easiest spines to add are the Usborne Encyclopedia or the Kingfisher Encyclopedia. They are picture-rich, filled with facts and do a nice job of reinforcing the history.

SL	SL Adaptation: The Story of the World is a great option for the youngest students (except Year 4) and for SL students. It is also available on audio.

G/AL	G/AL Adaptation: Avid readers may add as many extra history texts as they like, although their time might be better spent with extra literature.

	Step Five: With that, you’re just about done. Once you’ve chosen your spines and supplements, the rest of the year is easy! All our supplements are open-and-go except the Craft Book, for which you may need to gather supplies.

ADDING YOUR LITERATURE
E	BP book lists come in four levels: Grades K – 2, Lower Elementary: Easy readers, picture books, high interest books Grades 3 – 5, Upper Elementary: Simple chapter books, more advanced picture books Grades 5 – 8, Middle School: Chapter books, some primary source material Grades 8 – 12, High School: Primary source material, classics, novels, devotionals

Choosing your levels
E	Choose books from your student’s grade level or below. Families with more than one student should start with their oldest child first, building their library from the top down. Many options overlap grade levels. Families with multiple ages and grades can take advantage of this overlap by choosing the same book for more than one child.

SL	SL Adaptation: Feel free to choose books on lower levels. The idea is to saturate them with history-related books, not to overwhelm them with reading that’s beyond their level.

G/AL	G/AL Adaptation: Feel free to choose books above grade level, but not so many that you burn them out. Remember that your gifted or advanced learner may be no more emotionally mature than anyone else of his or her age. Instead of pushing too far ahead, try pushing them out to a wider range of reading—including lower-level reading.

Using the Book Lists
E	Peruse the annotated book list for unit one, keeping your students’ needs in mind. Some books appeal more to boys than to girls, while others do the reverse. Start slow, aiming for two books per unit per child. If you find you need more, then you can easily add them later. Note: If you have trouble choosing, then you can just use BP Quick Picks (marked with a thumbs-up sign). These tried-and-true favorites make choosing easier, but don’t assume the other choices aren’t as good!

SL	SL Adaptation: Start with one book per unit or a few easy picture books.

G/AL	GL/A Adaption: Start with three, four or more books per unit to satisfy avid readers.

G/AL/E	Surprise them: For typical and gifted learners, choose books from different reading levels—including lower levels. Giving them a wide variety to savor will ignite their interest and often spark bursts of creativity. Lower-level books can offer good content while removing the pressure to perform.

G/AL/E	Let them choose: Show your students the book lists and let them take part in the selection process. Although you have the final say, they may know best what interests them. If you don’t like their selections, then consider a compromise.

SL/E	Picture book feasts: Picture books about history are some of the best books out there. It is a rare child who doesn’t enjoy them. Even if your students are older, consider choosing some K-2 picture books for them to devour.

SL/E	Audios galore: The Family Guide now marks all options that are available on audio with a headphone icon. Many are available on Amazon Audible.

Memory Work
E	Memorize, memorize: Each unit of the Family Guide starts with a list of memory work options. Encourage your student to memorize a famous poem or speech, some Bible verses, or perhaps some geography facts.

SL	SL Adaptation: Go simple. Assign only a portion of the poem, a verse or two out of a longer Bible passage. Allow extra time to complete memory work.

E	Grades K-5, Grammar Stage: Kids this age are often pros at memorizing. Focus on Scripture memory, lists, geography facts and simple poems. Grades 6-8, Logic Stage: Despite popular opinion to the contrary, kids this age can also be memorization whizzes. Focus on Scripture memory, lists, geography facts, poems and quotes. Grades 8-12, Rhetoric Stage: Even though memory work is harder at this stage, it is still a great tool. Focus on Scripture memory, quotes and primary source material.

E	Illustrate: Have your student write out their memory work on plain paper, then illustrate it with symbols or pictures that highlight its significance.

E	Perform: Once the memorization’s done, have students recite it in period clothes. Use proper accents and draw on their best acting skills.

G/AL/E	Writing/Testing: Instead of reciting, have student write out their memory work and use it to assign grades.

Optional Resources
E	Each unit has numerous optional resources to help bring history to life. We list movies, audios, free stuff, hands-on learning and even more book options. We also schedule in Classical Conversations and Veritas Cards for those who use them. Every item on the Optional Resources lists is described in the Annotated Book Lists.

Crafts and Activities
E	The Family Guide lists the activities from the BP Craft Book for each week. Consider adding a fun activity to keep your students engaged.

Establish a History-focused Schedule
E	Three days per week: The Family Guide is set up for three days per week, but you can easily switch to two, four or five days. We don’t recommend cramming all your reading into one day per week, but if all else fails…

E	Time Factor: Expect to spend 20-60 minutes on history three times per week, not counting crafts and other activities. • Reading Remember the Days should take about 20 minutes per day, three days per week. Adding extra spines (history texts) will of course add extra reading time. • Reading the Companion takes about 40-60 minutes per day, three days per week. Adding extra spines will add extra reading time. • The time it takes to do supplements like Cool Histories, Hands-On Maps, Timelines, Notebooking and Coloring Books will vary widely by student.

E	Example of a simple schedule: • Read aloud from Remember the Days or the Companion on M, W, and Thu or Fri. • Let younger students color while they listen. • Have older students answer their Cool History questions while they listen. • Notebooking on Monday • Timeline on Wednesday • Hands-On Maps on Thursday • Crafts on Friday SL Adaptation: Keep things moving by changing up the days of the week (as per Charlotte Mason); sometimes it helps to simply change locations.

E	Scheduling Tip: On reading schedule pages of the Family Guide, use a different color highlighter for each student so you know who is reading what.

G/AL	G/AL Adaptation: Let your students read through the material as fast as they like.

E	Drown them: Drown your students in history-related books. Let them LIVE the history by reading books that bring it to life.

Establishing a Reading Schedule
E	General tip: The books in the Family Guide are scheduled for one, two, three or more weeks depending on length. SL Adaptation: Forget the schedule in the guide and read at the best pace for your students. G/AL Adaptation: Forget the schedule in the guide and read at the best pace for your students.

G/AL	Stray from the schedule: If your students are drawn to certain books or units, build in extra time to follow their interests.

G/AL	Open schedule: If your students are the kind who conceive single-minded passions, then build in extra time to pursue those passions. Give them breaks from their scheduled readings so they can head in another direction for a time.

E	Set aside reading time: One of the best gifts you can give your students is to set aside time each day for literature reading. Quiet, consistent, guarded reading time allows them to relax and enjoy their books without fear of interruptions. Ideas for set reading times: • Midmorning • After lunch, during younger children’s nap time • Before supper • Before bedtime • During weekly appointments

Other Reading Tips
E	Make reading a habit: Make it a habit to take books with you wherever you go. Leave the electronics behind!

SL	Slow down: Allow your struggling learner to savor the material over a longer period of time. Don’t be upset if it takes a year and a half or two years to finish a time period.

E	Family Read-alouds: Don’t forget the read-alouds, as they are some of the best books on our lists! Reading aloud to your children and enjoying the stories together is a great way to breathe life into history. If you can’t have a family read-aloud time, then consider then having your students read these selections independently.

SL	Read to them. Take the time to read to or beside your struggling reader until he or she improves. Never give up hope!

E	Great book, hated the movie: Choose a history-related movie that’s based on book. Then do one of two things: Either watch the movie first, then compare it to the book as you read; or read the book first, then compare it to the movie as you watch.

Remember the Days
and Companion

Discussion Guide

Why Discussion Guides?

Because they help you dig deeper. Workbooks tend to focus on the Five Ws: who, what, where, when and why. Discussion Guides broaden your focus by asking deeper questions—the kind that start with “In your opinion…” or “Imagine that…”
Because they help you add Christian Worldview to your history lessons. Our Discussion Guides are full of hypothetical questions that have no place in a textbook, but have every place in a discussion. They range from simple logic to complex Socratic questions. Asking questions like these forces students to grapple with what they believe.
Because they make great props for parents and teachers. Discussion Guides help you remember what’s in the text without having to re-read it all.

Click the button to see how leading discussions can be the best part of teaching history!


General Tips
E	Dig out your highlighter: Unless your students are unusually silent, you probably won’t have time to discuss everything in the Discussion Guide every week. Instead of trying to do it all, prepare yourself by highlighting the questions you want to discuss most.

SL/E	Use your judgment: Consider age range and ability levels as you read through the Discussion Guide. Try to choose the questions that best fit your particular students.

SL	SL Adaptation: Simplify the questions in the Discussion Guide or reword them as needed.

E	Leave it open-ended: Instead of sticking to hard facts, choose some opened-ended questions with no right or wrong answers. Encourage your students to take positions and share their opinions.

SL/E	Give them time: Instead of rushing to supply the answers you expect, give students time to formulate their own answers. Ask further questions that encourage further thought and discussion.

Tips by Stage of Learning
E	Young Learner/Grammar Stage: Review the highlights of the chapter and explain simple concepts. Ask questions that prompt students to re-tell what they remember.

E	Logic Stage: Review each section of the chapter, hitting the highlights. Provide opportunities for students to share what they’ve learned. Ask open-ended questions, giving them opportunity to discuss and argue.

E	Rhetoric Stage: Review the whole chapter, making sure students understand key concepts. Give students opportunity to think, analyze and articulate their opinions about what they’ve read.

Making it Fun
E	Dinnertime discussion: Use questions from the Discussion Guide to start conversations at the evening meal. Have students explain what they’ve read to a family member who hasn’t read it.

E	Geography review: The Discussion Guide can review geography too, not just history. As you’re reviewing the history, challenge students to point out where it happened on a globe or map. Now zoom out a bit, asking how geography affected the history. Did any nearby bodies of water, mountains, deserts or countries change what happened?

SL/E	What would you do? Let students engage with history. When they encounter a figure who made questionable decisions, ask what they’d have done in that figure’s place.

G/AL/E	“Why” = “Y”: Notice that the letter Y is shaped like a fork in the road. The Discussion Guide identifies historical figures who stood at forks in the road, making choices that affected which way the world would go. Since students love to ask “why,” take advantage of their curiosity. Make a big, colorful letter Y and keep it in your Discussion Guide as a bookmark. When a “why” question comes up, use your big Y as a visual prompt to remind your students that decisions have consequences. How did the figure’s choice affect what happened next? What would have happened if the figure had chosen the other fork? Would things have turned out better or worse? Remind your students that they, too, will face choices from which there is no turning back.

G/AL/E	Older to younger: Consider allowing older students to lead discussions, letting them help younger students process the reading.

G/AL/E	Hold a debate: Either formally or informally, have students choose sides and hash out the hard questions in a respectful, civil discussion.

G/AL	Compare and contrast: History class is the perfect place to compare and contrast your students’ world views with other world views. Take every opportunity to compare their views with those of other religions, cultures and countries. For example, you might: • Use the current events of a country you’re studying to look back on that country’s past. What would China be like today if Mao had lost the Chinese Civil War? • Compare and contrast architecture, laws, cultural rules, food, clothing, housing, family relations, women’s roles, slavery, or mythology. • Choose a culture and research its style of worship. Compare a Babylonian ziggurat to a Greek temple, a French cathedral, an Israeli synagogue, a Turkish mosque, or a revival tent from early 1900s America. What are worshipers hearing, singing and doing? What do they believe and how do they show it?

G/AL/E	Christian world view: Choose a Christian world view question from the Discussion Guide to use for family devotions or dinnertime discussions.

SL/E	Make it a game: Use questions from the Discussion Guide to play a Jeopardy!-style game show. Give prizes for correct answers.

G/AL	Essay time: Instead of answering the Discussion Guide questions orally, answer them in written essays.

G/AL	Research paper time: Adapt a question from the Discussion Guide as a thesis for a research paper.

G/AL/E	Back it up with scripture: Ask your students for scripture references to back up their opinions. If they think a historical figure was right or wrong, then have them cite chapter and verse to explain why.

E	Hold a mock trial: Choose a figure from the Discussion Guide to put on trial. Choose family members or classmates to play the accused, prosecutor, defense attorney, judge and members of the jury. Ladies and gentlemen, what is your verdict?

E	Let them ask the questions: Before working through the Discussion Guide, ask your students to write some thought-provoking questions based on what they’ve read. Are any of their questions like ours?

SL/E	Would you rather…? Choose two related figures from the Discussion Guide, then ask your students which they would rather be. For example, you might ask: • Would you rather be King Edward I or William Wallace? Why? • Imagine you’re an orphan child in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Would you rather be a newsboy selling papers through a New York City winter, or ride an orphan train to a farm out west? Why? • Would you rather fight as a gladiator in the Roman Colosseum, or pull oars on a Roman warship? Why?

E	Take a field trip: Go on field trips to museums, battlefields and historical sights. Field trips can be the best way to bring what you’re learning at home or in school to life!

G/AL/E	Interview to learn: • Choose a question from the Discussion Guide to ask an expert on the subject. You might ask a museum curator, a Civil War re-enactor, an author or an archaeologist. E-mail your expert to take advantage of his special knowledge and insight. • Choose a question from the Discussion Guide to ask someone from your extended family or community. You might choose a missionary or former missionary, a soldier or veteran, or an immigrant or child of immigrants. See what their experiences have taught them about the topic you’re studying.

Craft Book

Why Craft Books?

Because children are programmed with a deep desire to do. They love to create, experiment and get their hands dirty. It is a rare child who would choose a workbook over a hands-on activity.
Because a hands-on approach gives sensory or struggling learners another way to learn. Crafts and games both keep students engaged and help reinforce their lessons.
Because a hands-on approach gives gifted and advanced learners a chance to break out of the academic box.
Because hands-on activities are just plain fun for everyone.
Because hands-on activities help students stand in the shoes of people from the past. They can taste their food, play with their toys and fiddle with their gadgets. Crafts and games help students grasp the worlds of the past and compare them to their own.
Because whether they’re in Kindergarten or 10th grade, students need history-related activities to help history come alive. Crafts and games can be just as educational as answering questions and labeling maps.

Click the button for tips on how to add hands-on learning to your home or classroom!


	General Tips
E	Start slow. If the idea of hands-on activities overwhelms you, then plan on doing just one per month. Start your year by perusing the Craft Book and choosing nine activities you think you can manage. You may add more later once you realize how easy they can be, and how much your students appreciate them.

E	Let your students choose—or don’t! • You might find it fun to let your students choose which hands-on activities to do throughout the year. • You might also find it fun to keep your planned activities for the year secret! Print each one on a card, then store the cards in a special place that’s in plain sight, but forbidden to touch. Let the suspense build as the time approaches to open the box and see what’s next. Mystery engages students of all ages.

E	Stock up on supplies: Gather what you need for all nine activities well in advance, instead of gathering them one-at-a-time at the last minute.

E	General arts and crafts supply List: These supplies can be useful for a multitude of projects: Scissors, scotch tape, masking tape, duct tape, Elmer’s glue, glue sticks, glue gun, cardstock, construction paper, large and small craft sticks, paint (acrylic and tempera) and paint brushes, Play-Doh, air-dry modeling clay (Crayola), buttons, fake jewels, rick-rack, ribbon, yarn, beads, beans, wobbly eyes, pom-poms, string, cardboard, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, scraps of cloth in different colors, felt, tissue paper

E	Be creative: Give guidance on how to do crafts, but also have the patience to let students do their own work. Remove the pressure to come up with perfect-looking creations, and instead focus on creative thinking.

E	All together now: Don’t let your oldest students off the hook. Drag them away from their heavy books and let them enjoy building and creating.

E	Cook, eat, feast. Go beyond the food ideas in the Craft Book. If you’re studying a specific culture or country, then you might go to a restaurant that serves food from that country. You might also find recipes from that country to use for special evening meals or desserts.

E	Build, build, build: Use the ideas in the Craft Book to recreate castles, forts, weapons, spaceships or toys. Use Legos, cardboard, boxes, tubes or other common materials.

E	Game night: Set aside an evening or part of a school day to play some of the games outlined in the Craft Book. Or go beyond the Craft Book to find other history-related games that will engage your family or class.

G/AL	Get in character: Dress in period costumes and speak in foreign accents as you do your crafts. Eat, play and work as if you actually live in the time period you’re studying.

E	Build community: Find other families who are studying the same time period and do hands-on activities together. You might get together weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. Share the responsibility for preparation so that no one carries the entire load.

E	Record, record, record: Since it isn’t realistic to keep every item your students create in the course of twelve years, take pictures of everything you do. Or shoot video as they’re working so that you can look back on it in years to come.

E	Talk, talk, talk: No matter what activity you’re doing, never miss a chance to relate it to the history you’re studying. Craft time can also be great discussion time.

G/AL	Learn and Consider: • Compare and contrast the materials you’re using today with what the people of the past used. What would the people you’re studying have needed, and how would they have gotten their hands on it? • Investigate whether the craft, food or activity you’re working on is still around today. Does anyone still make this stuff? Does anyone still eat this food? Does anyone still play this game; and if so, then have the rules changed?

Writing with BP

BP Writing Basics

Who says BP isn’t a writing curriculum? It’s true that we don’t teach grammar, style and so on; but it’s also true that we offer a multitude of history-related writing ideas. The Family Guide, Cool History for Advanced and BP Notebooking all have writing prompts every week. The Discussion Guide adds thought-provoking questions that can easily become writing prompts.

Click the button for tips that will get your students writing and loving it!

Buy BP Tips and Tricks Ebook

Hundreds of ideas for adapting BP
all in one convenient Ebook

Buy BP Tips and Tricks Ebook

Hundreds of ideas for adapting BP
all in one convenient Ebook

Buy BP Tips and Tricks Ebook

Hundreds of ideas for adapting BP
all in one convenient Ebook

Buy BP Tips and Tricks Ebook

Hundreds of ideas for adapting BP
all in one convenient Ebook

Buy BP Tips and Tricks Ebook

Hundreds of ideas for adapting BP
all in one convenient Ebook

Buy BP Tips and Tricks Ebook

Hundreds of ideas for adapting BP
all in one convenient Ebook

Buy BP Tips and Tricks Ebook

Hundreds of ideas for adapting BP
all in one convenient Ebook


Remember the Days Series
Remember the Days is written for students in grades K-7.

E	For grades K-2, consider these suggestions: • In Ancient Days, focus on either Biblical History or World History. Ignore Geography sections. • In Medieval Days, focus on World History; ignore the Geography and Church History sections. • In Early Modern Days and Modern Days, focus on the U.S. History sections and ignore the World History, World Geography and U.S. Geography sections. For grades 3-7, read the entire chapter.

SL	SL Adaptations: • For grades K-2, read only portions of the chapter that interest your students. • For grades 3-7, use the K-2 schedule above and read only those sections. • For grades 7-12, read Remember the Days instead of the Companion.

G/AL	Hungry readers may want to read the book from cover to cover the moment they get their hands on it. If that is their inclination, then give them time to do so. Then go back through the book at a scheduled pace to discuss the reading and work on assignments.

Companion Series
The Companion is written for students in grades 6-12.

E	• For grades 6-8, read only the colored sections of the Companion—understanding that you will be cycling back around in four years. Do Cool History for Upper Middles and Hands-On Maps for Middles. Alternatively, consider dropping back to Remember the Days for this age group. • For grades 8-12, read the entire Companion and do Cool History for Advanced and Hands-On Maps for Advanced.

SL	SL Adaptations: • For grades 6-12, read Remember the Days instead of the Companion. • For grades 6-12, read the Companion but listen to Remember the Days on audio. • For grades 8-12, read the Companion but do Cool History for Middles or Cool History for Upper Middles and Hands-On Maps for Middles.

G/AL	Gifted/Advanced Adaptations: • For grades 6-7, read the Companion instead of Remember the Days. Use Cool History for Middles and Hands-On Maps for Middles.

G/AL	Hungry readers may want to read the book from cover to cover the moment they get their hands on it. If that is their inclination, then give them time to do so. Then go back through the book at a scheduled pace to discuss the reading and work on assignments.

Reading and Listening

E	Remember the Days only: • For families: Gather the family and read the text together. This allows for great discussions, and helps ensure that everyone is hearing and understanding. • Listen on audio: Buy the audio version and listen to it at home or on the go! • Independently: 4th grade reading level and above may read the text independently. Use the Discussion Guide to review and examine what they’ve read.

E	Companion only: • For families: Gather the family and read the text together. This allows for great discussions, and helps ensure that everyone is hearing and understanding. • Listen on PDF Reader: Buy the e-book and let Adobe PDF read it aloud to you. • Independently: 8th grade reading level and above may read the text independently. Use the Discussion Guide to review and examine what they’ve read.

E	Multi-age, multi-book: • For families: If you are using both Remember the Days and the Companion, gather the family and read Remember the Days to everyone. Older students can read to younger students or listen along with them. Afterward, older students can read the Companion independently. • Semi-independently: Read Remember the Days to younger students or have them listen to it on audio. Allow older students to read the Companion independently. Use the Discussion Guide to review and examine what they’ve read. • Independently: Have all students read independently from the appropriate text, then use the Discussion Guide to review and examine what they’ve read .

Listening and Learning

E	Learn together: Whether you read as a family or independently, learn together. Enjoy the history. Be amazed and shocked. Retell the stories. Discuss. Debate. Wrestle. Be challenged in your worldview.

E	Read with expression: Bring history to life by reading with life in your voice. Use accents and different voices. Change tone and volume. Read with wonder and mystery.

E	Stop and discuss: Stop often when you read to ask questions. Take time to point out story locations on maps. Repeat what you just read. Look at the pictures and let your students respond to them. Take questions. Ponder. Make connections. Consider what might come next. Enjoy the history!

E	Take turns: Take turns reading the text, doing voices and accents if possible!

G/AL	Recording Studio: Video the student reading the text in different voices. Have them ham it up with fun voices: southern drawl, radio announcer, Eeyore, Minnie/Mickey Mouse, giant, Brooklynite, Down Under, Bugs Bunny, British, Jamaican, etc.

SL/E	Color and learn: Have students color the appropriate page from the Coloring Book as they listen to your read. See the Coloring Book section of Tips and Tricks for more on how to use BP Coloring Books.

SL/E	Draw and learn: Have students work on historical sketches as they listen to you read. Save their illustrations!

SL/E	Play and learn: Have a “reading box” full of quiet activities students can do while they listen to you read. Ideas for the box: Silly putty or play dough, Legos, screwdrivers and wood screws, puzzles, Lite Brite, pattern tiles, knitting, crocheting, rug-braiding, latch-hooking, fidget spinners, Rubix cube.

E	History for breakfast: Breakfast time is a GREAT time to read history together, partly because mouths are full. What a fun and stimulating way to start the day.

G/AL	Note-taking: Have students take notes as you read key parts of the chapter. For older students, note-taking is a great way to learn how to listen and discern what is important.

E	Get moving: • Head outside or to an indoor space where your student can make a circuit (walk, crawl, crab-step, floor scooter, hop ball, sit-on skateboard). This tactic can be useful for kids who are bursting with energy, provided it does not distract other listeners. It can also be used for review: You call out a question, and the student answers as he or she is moving. • Have students sit or lie on a large exercise ball. • Dress up in period clothes and listen to the chapter in costume. • As you are reading, call on students to act out the events you’re reading about. Make sure they use the proper accents for their speaking parts. Since they don’t know what is coming, they have to listen carefully in order to act it out. • Slow motion: As you are reading, have students act out the events you’re reading about in a slow motion. Prepare to do a lot of laughing with this one!

E	Visual cues: Bring in a mysterious object that relates to something you will read to the students. For example, matches could represent the Great Fire of London. Challenge them to figure out how the mystery object fits into the history story.

SL/E	Review with pictures: The day after reading the chapter or section, choose a picture from the text and have students retell the story that goes with the picture.

SL/E	Reward system: Give rewards for good listening: candy, points that add up to special privileges, movie nights etc.

Go Beyond

E	Vocabulary: • Use the bold-face words in each chapter to work on vocabulary. Grow your vocabulary list each week as you go through the book. • Instead of starting with the proper definitions for the words, have students guess the definitions based on how the words look and sound. Then have them write the correct definitions below their guesses.

G/AL	Word Scavenger: Send students on a scavenger hunt through the chapter, looking for unusual words.

SL/E	ABC History: On poster board or large dry erase board, write the letters of the alphabet leaving space after each letter. As you read through the chapter, have your students write in key words that start with each letter. Some letters will get more than one word, while others may be left out altogether!

G/AL	Expand your learning: Assign side research and writing projects on a points of special interest.

G/AL	Power Point: Have students create a power point presentation on a person or event from the readings.

E	Retell: Have students write about a historical event from two different perspectives. For example, they might write about the destruction of the USS Maine from the perspective of the Americans, and then from the perspective of the Spanish.from

E	Art Study: Many of the pictures in the book are famous works of art. If the title and artist aren’t given, then research to find the title and artist.

SL/E	Picture hunt: Send your students on scavenger hunt through the chapter, looking for a list of pictures you describe. Reward them with points when everything has been found.

E	Re-enactors: • Recreate a battle, scene or event with students playing parts. • Recreate a battle, scene or event using Legos or blocks. • Recreate a battle, scene or even using stick or sock puppets.

G/AL	Familiar Facts Gone Wild: Have students retell a story from history with added details that aren’t known to be true, but could possibly be true.

E	True or False: Call out true or false questions and have your students decide which is which. Grant points for answering correctly. If the answer is false, then grant an extra point for giving the true fact. (Example: “True or False—President Thomas Jefferson’s home is called Mountaincello.” One point for knowing it’s false, a second point for knowing it’s really Monticello.)

E	Go around again: Don’t stop learning history in order when you go through all four years and finish Modern. Instead, go back to Ancients and start over. That second time through is when the lights will come on, and your students will start to understand the flow of history.


Weekly Writing Ideas
The following ideas are found in BP’s weekly assignments.

SL/E	Young Writer: Each week in the Family Guide, the youngest writers or SL writers are encouraged to write a brief summary or do copy work from the readings.
E	Grammar and Logic Stage: Each week in the Family Guide, Grammar (Grades 3-6) and Logic (6-8) students are given a writing idea that is related to their history reading for that week.
G/AL/E	Rhetoric Stage: Each week in Cool History for Advanced, Rhetoric students are given an optional research essay that goes beyond what they read in their texts.

G/AL/E	Notebooking: Each week in Giants of the Faith, Countries of the World, U.S. States and U.S. Presidents, students are encouraged to research and write.

SL/E	Copy work: Each week in Giants of the Faith notebooking, students are encouraged to copy a quote or Bible verse.

Literature-based Writing Ideas
The following ideas are based on BP’s suggested literature readings. We start with the old-fashioned book reports, but then go way beyond!

	Book reports: • Write a book report on one of your readings. • Write and deliver an oral presentation on one of your readings. • Make a clothes hanger book report. Tape the title of your report to the top of the hanger. Then hang notecards from the bottom full of illustrations and short descriptions of the contents.

	Amazon review: Write a book review and post it on Amazon Kids Review.

	Review the movie: After reading a book, watch a movie based on that book and then write a review of the movie. Was it true to the book? Did the script writer’s changes make the movie better or worse than the book?

	Write the author: Write a letter to the author of the book explaining why you liked or disliked it.

	Character contrast: Compare and contrast two characters from your book.

	Change the ending: Write a different ending for your book.

	Change the beginning: Write a different beginning for your book and explain how it will change the story.

	Relate it to history: Write a short paragraph explaining how your book fits into the history you’re studying.

	Diary entry: Write a diary entry as if you were a certain character from your book on a certain day.

	Write a skit: Create and/or present a skit based on the events in your book.

	Illustrate it: Choose a scene from your book to illustrate. Be sure to include an illuminating capion for your drawing.

	Make a diorama: Create a diorama to illustrate one of the main events in your book.

	Make a comic book: Create a comic book that tells the story of your book or one of its chapters.

	Poetry: Write a poem about something from your book.

	Puppetry: Make sock puppets of characters from your book and put on puppet show that tells its story.

	Create, create, create: Use legos, playdough, blocks or any other building material to create a model of something from your book.

	Read in character: Choose a favorite section of the book to act out for an audience. Be sure to use different voices for different characters.

	Timeline it: Create a timeline to illustrate the flow events in your book.

	Map it: Create a map to show where the events in your book took place.

	Quote it: Choose a quote from book to copy multiple times in calligraphy or your best handwriting.

	In their shoes: Choose a character from your book and step into his shoes. Describe yourself: what do you like to wear, eat and do? How do you feel about what happened to you in the book??

	Design the jacket: Create a dust jacket for your book. The front could include the title, author and an illustration. The back could include a synopsis, a review or two, and a list of other books by the same author. The flaps inside could have a short bio of the author.

	Main idea: Decide what’s most important about your book, and then explain why it’s most important.

More Tips and Tricks for Writing with BP

G/AL	• Blog: Create a history-related blog with entries about what you’re learning every week. • Research Paper: Write a research paper on a person or event from the time period you’re studying. Grade the paper if you wish.

G/AL	“Wanted” poster: Create a “WANTED” poster for a good or bad character from history or literature.

G/AL	What was I thinking: Choose a historical figure from your time period, then write what he or she might have been thinking just before major life event.

G/AL	_______________ for a day: What would you like to be: a servant, sailor, soldier, king, queen, knight, factory worker, blacksmith, gladiator, seamstress for the royal court, hat maker, or maybe a wheat farmer? Choose a job, time period and place, then explain what a day in your life is like. What time do you get up? What do you wear and eat? What do you do all day? Where do you go, and how do you get there? Who are your friends?

G/AL	Postcards from around the world: Create a postcard from a place you’ve studied as if you’re a visitor there. The front might have a picture of the place, and the back a short letter to family or friends back home.

G/AL	Vocabulary and spelling: Each chapter of Remember the Days and the Companion has highlighted vocabulary words. You might: • Use them for weekly spelling tests • Use them for weekly vocabulary tests • Use them to make crossword puzzles or word searches • Have students write a paper that incorporates them

G/AL	Get creative: Have students turn a story they’ve read into a cartoon, comic strip or story board.

G/AL	Journaling: Write a journal entry for a day in the life of whatever historical figure you choose.

E	Rewrite it: Have students write their own versions of something from history. You might choose a famous law or legal code, a knights’ oath, the Nicene Creed, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, etc.

E	Collage: Create a collage of events, people and places from history using pictures, letters, words and illustrations.

E	Stump the teacher: Write a quiz full of questions with answers that aren’t found in your textbooks. Don’t forget the answer key! Now see how many your teacher can answer without help.

E	Mystery guest: Have students write 3 – 5 notecards containing clues about a figure from history. Put one of the clues on a table in front of an empty chair, and have everyone take turns guessing who the figure is. If no one gets it right after the first clue, then add a second clue. Keep adding clues and guessing until the mystery guest’s identity is revealed!

Tips and Tricks forBP Core Materials

Family Guide

Remember the Daysand Companion

Discussion Guide

Craft Book

Writing with BP

Tips and Tricks for
BP Core Materials

Remember the Days
and Companion