Top History and Geography Lesson Plans For Your Homeschool

This complete guide to history and geography lesson plans for you homeschool offers lists of available lesson plans as well as tips for choosing the right ones for your family.

I remember a few years ago, a repair man came over to fix our washing machine. “You must homeschool,” he said, looking at the history timeline wrapping around the ceiling of our dining room, and the world map on the wall.

As he headed to the washer, he noticed the poster of presidents and smiled:

“Yup. Definitely homeschoolers.”

It’s true. We were definitely homeschoolers, and history and geography were always two of my favorite subjects to study with my kids.

When they were younger, we took what is sometimes termed a “Social Studies” approach, learning about cultures, holidays and traditions too. We found lots of helpful curriculum options, but we also really loved reading books set in the past, or in far away locales.

With so many great resources available for learning about geography and history, it was important to have a plan to keep us on track.

Choosing Homeschool History and Geography Curriculum

It’s valuable to note that, especially for younger students, many curriculum companies combine history and geography. Some even group them together with culture, language, politics and more under the heading of Social Studies. There are also plenty of curriculum companies that separate history and geography into two subjects, and companies that only specialize in one or the other.

Grouping the two or using separate resources are both options that can work well, and just like with other homeschool subjects – you want to look for a curriculum that grabs your kids’ interest, and your interest too.

It’s also important to consider that some families enjoy a literature-based approach to history, drawing mainly from books set in historic time periods. Kids can learn a lot by “walking” in a character’s shoes.

It’s absolutely possible to combine language arts and history, and give your children a well-rounded look at the past.

One more option when it comes to history and geography is to take a unit study approach. It can be so much fun to make recipes from generations ago, create costumes and work on hands-on projects together.

Questions to consider when choosing a social studies curriculum

No matter what approach you take, when looking at history and geography curriculum it can help to consider things like:

Is it important to me to teach history in a particular order? (Such as ancient history before Medieval history)
Am I up for setting up hands-on projects?
If we take a literature-based approach, do I want to choose books, or would it be helpful to have a list to follow or even be able to purchase a curated set of books?
Would it be helpful to use a program with video or online interactive resources?
Do I want to make use of workbooks?
Do I want to teach my kids history together, or at least try to coordinate what time period they are studying?
Do any of my children need visual resources like maps or timelines to help them solidify learning?
Would it be helpful to use a packaged program that includes art activities or other hands-on resources?
Do you have kids who enjoy memorization, or is it important to you to incorporate classical learning methods?
Are you in a busy season when it would help to have access to resources like audiobooks or online programs?
Are any of your children particularly interested in history? What modes of learning are they drawn to naturally? (Encyclopedias have come a long way!)
For older students, are any of them considering careers that would require advanced history or geography?

Finally, remember that you don’t have to choose one curriculum. Many families use a variety of resources to study history and geography, because there are just so many good options.

With a bit of organization and planning, this can absolutely be an effective approach.

Lesson Planning Options for History and Geography

There are so many ways to plan in your homeschool. And when it comes to history and geography, there’s a lot to think about.

First, history is a topic that many families like to do all together. You don’t have to take that approach, but if you do, you may find it helpful to plan other subjects like math around history.

Especially if you are using unit studies or taking an integrated homeschooling approach, you may find you need to prioritize time in everyone’s schedules.

Luckily, Homeschool Planet’s online homeschool planner makes that easy.

Their unique all-in-one planner allows parents to schedule lessons in individual profiles for each of their children.

From there, you can add other lessons, online classes and more.

Through Homeschool Planet’s Lesson Plan and Curriculum Marketplace you can even automatically integrate history and geography lesson plans from many popular curriculum options right into each child’s schedule.

It can be fun to take history and geography deep-dives sometimes, but many families also benefit from a-bit-each-day, Charlotte Mason-type approach to history and geography.

However you decide to study geography and history in your homeschool, know that it just takes a few clicks to set up lesson plans through Homeschool Planet.

History and Geography Lesson Plans For Your Homeschool Planet Planner

Take a look at all the lesson plans we have available for your online planner:

There is something for all ages and all learning styles!

Lesson Planning With Homeschool Planet

Homeschooling gives families a really unique opportunity to have FUN with history and geography.

Whether you choose to read great books together, get creative with maps and timelines or dive into art projects, cooking and costumes, homeschooling history and geography really can take us back in time, and to far away places.

And planning history and geography is easy with Homeschool Planet’s online homeschool planning system.

Plus, you can try it for free for 30 days!

Through your free trial, you’ll also be able to choose one free lesson plan from Homeschool Planet’s Lesson Plan and Curriculum Marketplace, (including plenty of geography and history curricula.)

Just head here to try Homeschool Planet’s online homeschool planner for free and get ready to create some warm homeschool memories around history and geography, and all they have to offer.