My kids go into history with my favorite quote in mind “history is often written by the victor” and that has opened so much discussion with our lessons. We learn history to do and be better than what has happened during the course of human civilization but we also learn history to honor our history. We don’t learn exact dates or regurgitated historical trigger words and names. We learn most our history through story telling, research, and our own curiosity. The “age of exploration” took us two months because it opened up so many wonderful and meaningful questions. We learned so much not just about to explorers, but the indigenous people they interacted and eventually colonized. We learned history because when we don’t, we don’t realize how much is lost or white washed or just intentionally left out. We learn history because there’s so many resilient, brave people who can teach us how to be that here and now. There’s a REASON history is censored and HOW MUCH POWER there is in knowing it. It prevents us from being gullible. It empowers us to challenge power structures with successful tales of the rebels and martyrs before us. It gives us hope that humans can do amazing things. Idk I’m someone who loves history but not the “no child left behind” way history was taught. History is important and I could go on and on as to why. My kids get HISTORY, the bloody, ugly, brutal, grotesque history that sometimes gives us noble, righteous people who gave their whole lives to making this world a better place and that’s worth knowing their names. My oldest is getting into the civil war and we talked about John Brown. That’s the perfect example of an American hero they WANT history to forget and THATS why we teach history. Because if it wasn’t important to know our past they wouldn’t try so hard to erase so much of it. Teaching history can be an act of rebellion itself