Putting the Mystery in History

I’m the first to admit history is not really my thing. I’ve always found history pretty boring. I even have a keen dislike for historical fiction. Since we started homeschooling this year I’ve repeatedly looked for ways to add more history into our homeschool. Every time I look, my eyes start to roll into the back of my head, and I start to feel a little light headed. I shut down the 300 history related tabs and we carry on, with science leading our way.

Then, the other day we were doing Mystery Science and I got to thinking, wouldn’t it be cool if there was a mystery history?! So I went looking on Amazon and low and behold… there is. 😀

This book is a really fun starting point. It shares with you a brief description of an historical mystery, then gives you some resources to dig into the mystery. It’s a great way to get started. You can use the resources that suit the way you and your kids learn, and leave the rest. As you start researching the resources provided you end up finding more of your own, and following bunny trails. (My favorite part of homeschool ~ and life lol) It also gives you ideas about the mysteries out there. Like I said… I’m not a history buff, so I hadn’t even heard of most of these. As they say… you don’t know what you don’t know.

We started off with the Mary Celeste mystery this week.

So far it’s going really well. The kiddo is interested, and willing and open to learning about this crazy mystery where a ship is found completely abandoned, yet nothing is disturbed, stolen or broken, there’s just no people left. Then we find out the ship has been cursed since it was built…

We picked up a book for her at the library, and I put in an interlibrary loan for a book for me on the topic. We watched an episode of Sea Hunters where they actually went out and found the remains of the Mary Celeste. It was quite interesting, and a really great way to pique the kiddo’s interest in the topic. There are also a few documentaries about this mystery we’ll probably watch. We’ve already had some great conversations about what happened to the crew and why they left their ship.

A historical mystery gives us a place to start, but we ultimately get more and more curious and venture out into the surrounding time period, what was going on then, and learn a bunch of history. Shh. Who knew?! <3

We’re going to dig around in this mystery until we don’t feel like it anymore… then we’ll find another. 🙂 History Mysteries includes 9 historical mysteries you can dive into… but I’ve found shows like Myth Hunters, Mysteries at the Museum and Expedition Unknown to be a great place to find many many more.

I’ve found myself digging around more in history trying to find more mysteries, and I’m learning more as I do. (ha ha maybe the tricks on me).

If you’re struggling to bring more history into your homeschool, but want to poke your eyes out when you think about doing a straight up history curriculum, history mysteries might be just what you need!

So tell me… what are your favorite history mysteries? Now I’m all excited and want to hear about all the mysteries out there, so share them in the comments. 🙂