Listen Your Way Through History (Podcasts for Middle & High School)

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Looking for history podcasts for teens? Look no further than this list of 10+ podcasts that are perfect for teens (& their parents!).

Podcasts have been in my ears for more than 15 years. But it’s only been in the last five years that they’ve become a regular part of our time in the car & our homeschool. (They’ve quickly overtaken audiobooks as the #1 thing we listen to on our way to appointments, sports & other kid activities!)

Why did I wait so long??

The short length makes podcasts ideal for the time between activities. The passion for a topic you hear in the pocaster leaves me more engaged. And the shear variety of topics — from those that line right up to your studies to topics that are a definite rabbit trail — means there are always more to choose from.

There are certainly more history podcasts out there than this list. But these are all chosen with teens & tweens in mind — engaging presentations, rabbit trails, oddities, etc.

How do you use podcasts?

If only I had a single answer to this question!

For astronomy this year, I created a playlist on Spotify with assorted episodes. I used Spotify’s share playlist link to send it to my son (via email) & he saved it to his own Spotify account. Once or twice weekly, he chose an episode. Sometimes he’d share something with me from it; other times, he didn’t. And that’s it. No written summary, no quiz, no project. It was as simple as that.

It’s a similar setup in the car. We don’t listen every time we’re in the car & we skip around between podcasts. It’s rare that we don’t end up in a discussion about some aspect…or a long rabbit trail!

Assessment isn’t my goal. When I focus on “testing” what they learned, I suck the joy right out of learning. For them & for me.

But the knowledge comes. It comes from exposure & discussion. It comes from building upon ideas & examination. Trust the process.

• The Bomb by BBC (stories related to the atomic bomb & WW2)
• 13 Minutes to the Moon by BBC (the story behind Apollo 11)
• White Lies (the story of a murder days before the famous Selma march)
• Blindspot: The Road to 9-11
• One Year (a look into major & minor stories from1942, 1977, 1986, 1995)
• Nazis: The Road to Power (a dramatic podcast)

Podcasts that are Distinctly American

From Food to Hope

• American Storytellers (deep-dives into various events)
• BackStory (no longer in production; the story behind the stories of America, some lesson plans available)
• The Food That Built America (builds on the TV series)
• The History of Americans
• Hope Through History (the stories of coming through major events)
• Infamous Americans
• Legends of the Old West
• The History of American Food
• Thomas Jefferson Hour
• This American President
• The People vs. J. Edgar Hoover

• Evil Genius (examining historical & pop-culture heroes & villains)
• Gone Medieval
• History of the World Wars
• Killing Victoria (the attempted killings of Queen Victoria)
• History’s Greatest Cities
• It Was Said (examining history’s famous speeches)
• Real Dictators
• Revolutions (deep dives into political revolutions)
• The Rest is History
• You’re Dead to Me (from the team behind Horrible Histories)

A Mish-Mash of History

A Little bit of everything

• Stuff You Missed in History Class (easy-to-search website)
• Throughline (how we got to now, the history behind the headlines)
• Footnoting History (“because the best stories are in the footnotes”)
• The Fantastic History of Food
• The Explorers Podcast (for those who love explorers & in-depth biographies)
• My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
• Patented (history of inventions)
• Today in History (a story from history in just 10 minutes a day)
• Everything Everywhere Daily (another short, daily podcast on all sorts of historical & geographical topics)

And a few bonus ideas

For littles, Families, & adults

• Forever Ago, by the creators of Brains On, is designed for the entire family.

Is there a history podcast I missed? Leave it in the comments!

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