History has always been one of my passions, and apparently I have passed that legacy on to my children. While we were studying American History last school year, I came across a set of incredibly helpful books on Amazon for my Kindle. Even though they were not expensive, I only purchased one to 'try it out' before handing it over to the girls. I quickly learned that purchasing more was a wise investment!
When I was young, I had quite the affinity for "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. I used to read through books too quickly, then had to suffer through the boring wait until I could get to the library again. With "Choose Your Own Adventure" books though, I could keep reading the same book repeatedly, choosing different outcomes, to make the story last longer.
My attempt to find interesting books for our literature-rich American History studies ended when I found the "You Choose: History" books for the Kindle. This was my first real venture into incorporating tablet technology into our studies, and it was wildly successful!
A quick Amazon search for interactive history studies
leaves you with an overwhelming 431 options! I would like to discuss a few of our favorites. Once I purchased and downloaded these, the whole family was reading, choosing, and discussing their varied adventures. What an inspiration to have so many fascinating conversations revolving around our current historical topic of study!Some of our favorite "You Choose: History" books include:
Once downloaded and opened, in the first chapter the reader will learn their own personal story and background. They take on the character and personality of the protagonist of the book, and each time an important decision is to be made, the reader must make what they feel is the best choice with the information they have learned up to that point in the story. Reading these books on the Kindle makes interacting with the story incredibly easy, as the reader just touches the screen to indicate their choice, and the e-book automatically delivers them to that continuation of the story.
Once they reach a 'dead end' they are automatically given an option to start over or return to a previous spot in their life's story.
My children read these until they exhausted every possible option to each story. Because they actually became a part of the story itself, they learned so many fine details about each historical era that they might not have otherwise considered.
I really believe that these interactive historical books are an extremely effective way to learn history by completely immersing the student into the lives of those who lived it. Needing to make decisions causes their brain to actively engage in the process, weighing the options, almost as if they were experiencing these activities in real life.
The 'You Choose: History' books are not just for American History though. There are a number of current and ancient history matters that are dealt with in many fine books, such as:
The bottom line is that I highly recommend this as a fun and interesting way to learn history! (I must confess....these books are not just for kids - even I enjoyed reading these e-books, although I typically had to wait until the kiddos were in bed to have my turn on the Kindle)
With Christmas coming, a Kindle would make an excellent choice for a fun gift that sneaks in some education to unsuspecting students.
To help some wonderful, hard-working family further their children's education, I am participating in a large giveaway of 3 brand new Kindles! Perhaps the winner will want to pre-load it with some interesting interactive history adventures before wrapping it as a gift.
To enter the giveaway for your chance at a Kindle, see details below.
{This post does contain Amazon affiliate links - purchasing through my links pays me a small commission to help fund our home schooling efforts - thank you!}
The Crew is on hiatus from writing reviews until January. So while we have a little time on our hands, we thought we'd bless our awesome readers with a super cool Christmas Fire Giveaway! Twenty of our team members and The Old Schoolhouse have joined together to sponsor this incredible giveaway with 3 winners! We are excited to be giving away not one, not two, but THREE Fire HD Tablets! One person will win a Fire HD 7 Tablet, and TWO people will win a Fire HD 6 Kid's Edition (in your choice of lime green, blue or pink).
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