Are you looking for a way to get your kids excited about history or want a cool homeschooling resource? Honest History is an awesome history magazine for kids ages 6-12 and your whole family will learn something.
This post about Honest History Magazine was written by family travel expert Marcie Cheung and contains affiliate links which means if you purchase something from one of my affiliate links, I may earn a small commission that goes back into maintaining this blog.
Why I Think History Magazines for Kids are so Important
A few weeks ago, my husband and I were watching Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and they did a really good segment about school textbooks in regards to slavery and the Civil Rights Movement.
While I knew our history textbooks were a bit outdated when I was in school, I didn’t realize how many really important events were just kind of glossed over until much later.
I didn’t even learn about some really significant events until college.
And I didn’t fully grasp the tone of our history books and how information was presented it a way to affect my opinion about world history and U.S. history.
Education has always been pretty important to me. I started buying children’s books as soon as I found out I was pregnant with my oldest and we now have a fairly decent selection of travel books for kids.
However, I only have a few that really talk about history or take place during a historic time. And the ones I have aren’t very engaging for my kids.
Now that my oldest is 6 years old and can read on his own, I’m looking for ways he can start to inform himself and develop a love of learning (without pushing it on him.)
So, I did some digging and discovered Honest History magazine, which seemed like a great place to start!
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Honest History Magazine for Kids
Kids absorb a lot of information every day.
Whether it’s coming from school, TV shows, movies, books, video games, etc., it can be really hard to figure out what’s actually true.
This quarterly kids magazine geared for kids ages 6-12 years old has a simple goal: to inspire children to do their own research about history and figure out how to separate fact from fiction.
Each issue focuses on one topic and they are able to deep-dive into the subject matter. Plus, there are fun kids activities throughout each magazine.
The creators work with talented illustrators to come up with some simply stunning designs. (Yes, I’ve already contacted them about buying a few prints from the Into the Deep issue!)
They are also pretty passionate about partnering with schools and educational institutions to help reach as many kids as possible.
Honest History sent us 3 magazines to check out and I figured it would be most helpful if we reviewed each one separately since families can purchase individual magazine issues.
Honest History Magazine Review
Our family has the most recent issues of Honest History magazine with the following themes: A Secret Mission, Into the Deep, and The Spirit of the Games.
HONEST HISTORY ISSUE SIX: A Secret Mission
I let my 6 year old decide which one we’d look at first and as soon as I explained that espionage means “spy stuff,” he said it was a no-brainer and immediately picked it up.
Since the magazine is geared for kids ages 6-12, I figured we should probably look at it together. Plus, I’m fascinated by the world of espionage, too!
We looked at it during my son’s reading time for school, so I decided to pick and choose what we read for the first flip through the magazine.
Of course, as soon as we saw the section about spy facts that featured animals, we knew we had to read that part. Tons of obscure spy facts that are awesome nuggets of info to sprinkle into future conversations!
Near the end of the magazine, there are more printed activities like a maze and word search that go along with the spy theme.
But, what’s really awesome is that this magazine led to about 15 minutes where my son and I recreated spy situations. I’d write secret messages on paper, slip it into the magazine, and show him how to do a spy “drop” on our bench.
I love books and magazines that spark imagination and create hands-on learning experiences.
HONEST HISTORY ISSUE SEVEN: Into the Deep
This was the issue I was most excited to look at because I’m obsessed with the drawing of Jacques Cousteau on the cover!
My son and I read the letter from the editor and that’s when he started getting interested about learning what’s under the sea.
There’s a whole biography area all about Jacques Cousteau, who I admit, I didn’t really know much about. They did a great job of making his life story sound interesting and inspiring for young kids.
And after learning about some of the sea creatures, we got to the spot where he could design his own ocean scene with stickers.
But, it’s no surprise that after flipping through the whole magazine, his main takeaway is that there are 20 million tons of gold at the bottom of the ocean just waiting for him to find!
My son has never been that interested in animals, but he definitely found a new appreciation for what goes on in the ocean thanks to this issue.
HONEST HISTORY ISSUE EIGHT: The Spirit of the Games
So, this issue was supposed to coincide with the Summer Olympics in Tokyo this year.
However, the Summer Olympics have been postponed and my son truly had no clue what the Olympics are or that they are a world-wide event.
We spent a lot of time reading the “did you know” section because he really didn’t know anything. He was mostly curious about the Olympic rings and what they mean.
There was also a checklist of all the Summer Olympic events and we went back and forth answering whether or not we’d be interested in watching them. I was surprised that my son is mostly excited for fencing, canoe sprint, and archery.
There were also some cool activities like making your own Olympic medal and designing an Olympic mascot.
My husband and I were fortunate to have attended the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and so it was really fun to get to share our own experiences as we flipped through the magazine!
We’ll definitely be taking another look at this magazine closer to the next Olympics to refresh his memory!
How to Order Honest History Magazine
You can get an Honest History magazine subscription here for $69.99/year with free shipping. Each year has 4 issues, so that’s about $17.50 per issue.
You can also order individual kids history magazines of past issues for $17.95 each, but I have a 15% off discount code MOMMYLAND.
- Order ISSUE TEN: A Portrait of India
- Order ISSUE NINE: An Era of Exploration
- Order ISSUE EIGHT: The Spirit of the Games
- Order ISSUE SEVEN: Into the Deep
- Order ISSUE SIX: A Secret Mission
- Order ISSUE FIVE: The Race to Space
- Order ISSUE FOUR: Story of an Empire
- Order ISSUE THREE: War of the Currents
- Order ISSUE TWO: A Pirate’s Tale
- Order THE PREMIERE ISSUE: The Swan King
Use code MOMMYLAND to get 15% off individual Honest History magazines
I was seriously impressed with the quality of these magazines. I think of them kind of like the “nice” magazines you keep on your coffee table because they look pretty and you feel good thumbing through them from time to time.
It’s like that, but kid-friendly!
These are magazines we’ll be putting on our bookshelf to use as resources for the next few years as my kids get interested in various topics or they start learning about this stuff at school.
Not only are they beautiful to look at, but they are packed with information that will intrigue both kids and their grown-ups!
Honest History Magazine sent me 3 magazines in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. We’re seriously geeking out over them!