Mike Smith:
Former homeschooler Marianne Wasson remembers her family vacations as being both educational and fun. One summer, her family traveled to New England, where they traced the beginnings of our nation in Boston and Plymouth. In a series of trips, they visited each one of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s houses, and the Little House on the Prairie series came to life. The Wassons also enjoyed visiting presidential homes.

There is a world of possibilities for parents who want to concentrate on history this summer. Living history museums are a great place to start. Here you can tour historical buildings, touch artifacts, and talk with the interpreters who actually demonstrate how people lived in that time period. Colonial Williamsburg and Plimoth Plantation are the most well-known living history museums, but there are many more—such as the Mission Houses Museum in Hawaii, the Morningside Living History Farm in Florida, and Columbia, a gold-mining town in California.

Explore America’s military history by visiting forts and battlefields. These sites offer something for every age group. At Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key wrote our national anthem, your family can start by watching the historical film. Then walk over to the star-shaped fort, where you can visit the bomb shelters and help raise the flag. Tour some battlefields where history was made, such as Gettysburg and Saratoga. Explore the Intrepid, a World War II aircraft carrier docked in Manhattan.

As they visit these historic places, your children will realize that history is more than what they read about in books—it’s about real people in real places. And I’m Mike Smith.