Disclosure: This is a sponsored guest post.

As a homeschool parent, you may be constantly looking for fresh, new approaches to teaching material in ways your kids connect with. Having celebrated America 250 this year, it’s a great time to look at history through a freedom lens! The Tuttle Twins history books are a great jumping-off point. Here are some tips and tricks to get you going.

PHOTO: Tuttle Twins

Selecting the Right Textbooks and Curriculum

The Tuttle Twins history books are an excellent curriculum that tells the story of history through a narrative format. Kids are instantly hooked on the Tuttle Twins history books because they more easily connect with stories than with a list of dates and events they have to memorize.

The Tuttle Twins curriculum goes beyond ordinary textbooks by not only teaching what happened but also why it happened, enabling kids to think critically about past events and relate them to the present. There’s even a new entrant in the Tuttle Twins history books that was just released in time for America 250, so the series now goes through the year 1849!

Supplement with Kids’ Books About Freedom

But homeschool is about much more than just having the right textbooks. It’s always a good idea to supplement curriculum with fiction books that teach as well as tell a story. The Tuttle Twins series contains several kids’ books about freedom that will help you on your quest to learn how to teach kids about liberty.

For example, The Tuttle Twins Learn About the Law has Ethan and Emily discovering individual freedoms and where they come from. When you start with the right history books that teach topics through a narrative format and then follow up with kids’ books about freedom, you quickly learn how to teach kids about liberty!

PHOTO: Tuttle Twins

Relating the Past to the Present

One of the greatest benefits of teaching American history through a freedom lens is that it gives your kids a truckload of opportunities to relate the past to the present. When they learn why things happened the way they did, they can trace the effects of those past events through the years and decades to see how they have affected today’s world.

Ryan D.’s kids have learned how to relate today’s world to what they read in the Tuttle Twins series. These kids’ books about freedom, capitalism, and history have also created opportunities for special moments with his kids.

The dinner table is an excellent place to continue homeschool lessons — in stealth mode! Talk about what’s happening in the news today and ask your kids what events they’ve been learning about in history have had an impact on today’s developments. Alternatively, bring up a historical event you’re teaching about during homeschool and ask your kids to think about how it has affected today’s world.

Kids may not always remember every single lesson you teach in homeschool, but they will remember the conversations you have around the dinner table! Memories about how mom or dad took time out of their day to talk about current events and teach how to think critically about the world will stick with them forever!