Happy As Kings: Don't know much about history

At Boston.com, Jeff Jacoby writes about the National Assessment of Educational Progress's (NAEP) report that states, Less than one-quarter of students perform at or above the Proficient level [in history] in 2010. Some people may yawn at the idea of history, but without knowing where we've come from, we can't easily map a plan for where we're going, or know how to choose among the plans made for us by our elected officials. I think it's cultural and educational neglect to ignore the wonderful stories, tales, reports and adventures of our forbears, ancestors and great-ancestors.

At the risk of being insensitive, and at the risk of leaving more children with poor instruction on the story of how we all got to where we are, we don't have to rely on schools. Families: parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents, can do it themselves, even without homeschooling. I'm not talking about drilling kids after school and killing even more initiative, just about spending our dollars where they'll do more good. Historical fiction isn't "history," but it can encourage a love of where 'we' came from, and inspire our kids to know more.

Instead of one Wii game, buy a biography: for youger kids, one such as Abraham Lincoln by the d'Aulaires will do. If you can afford an Xbox game, you can afford The Story of Mankind, the first Newbery Award winner.
If straight-up history isn't your thing (at the moment), try fiction. Rosemary Sutcliff's Dragon Slayer, among many others, is a retelling of the epic poem, Beowulf. The imagination's dressing up of Grendel's attacks on the halls of Hroðgar, Grendel's mother's revenge for the death of her son, and Beowulf's final act as dragonslayer have as much adventure as repetitive video games. Ask the librarian for other good historical novels.
If reading isn't your thing, try movies: The Clan of the Cave Bear, Spartacus, Cleopatra, I Claudius, King Arthur, The Mists of Avalon, El Cid, Becket, Ivanhoe, Robin Hood (whether in tights or not), John Wycliffe, Joan of Arc, Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula, The Agony and the Ecstacy, A Man for all Seasons, La Reine Margot, The Three Musketeers, The Crucible, Rob Roy, Treasure Island, A Tale of Two Cities, Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Captain Horatio Hornblower, Shaka Zulu, The Alamo, Gone With the Wind, Young Winston, Wild Bill, The Last Samurai, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, The Battleship Potemkin, All Quiet on the Western Front, Schindler's List, Tora! Tora! Tora!, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Patton, Exodus, The Right Stuff, Che, Full Metal Jacket, Taxi Driver, Milk, All the President's Men, Frost/Nixon, Munich, Charlie Wilson's War, Black Hawk Down, The Queen, Flight 93, The Social Network.
If being a sofa spud isn't your thing, try joining a Civil War reenactment group.
If staying in one place isn't your thing, try audio books while driving in the car.
Visit museums.
Research your family's genealogy.

History is all around us. Don't shortchange your kids/grandkids/neices/nephews by staying in the thin edge of today. We're more than the surface.

Quick list of resources from top search results from Google:

Authors

Outlets

Overviews and lists

About.com: Children's Books -- Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction Network: Favorite Historical Novels for Children
Library Booklists: Historical Fiction for Children
Scholastic: Why & How I Teach with Historical Fiction

Feel free to add your own titles, authors, outlets and links in the comments section since this entry is only the work of a few hours and I know I've missed much.