Biographies are a great way to learn about history, music, art, science, and so much more! They are a window into not only a life, but I time period. They offer the chance to see the world through that person’s life, a would be first hand account of what life was like at that time. Reading biographies and learning how to write a biography report can be a fun and gentle approach to learning.

I remember a time with my oldest (who is now graduating from high school) that we used biographies as the core of our history learning. It allowed us to learn about time periods, movements, inventions, social roles, and so much more. Reading biographies and writing reports also worked with English/Language Arts skills such as spelling, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation. Plus, I remembering loving the more gentle, easy way of learning.

For this reason I am giving bibliographies another go around with my soon to be 5th grader. We will be Using the Who Was Biographies for our homeschool history. I created fun notebooking style biography sheets {You can get them for free here.) and plan to use them with a combination of timelines, photos, and free form writing to create a history notebook based on biographies.

How to Write a Biography Report

Since we will be using biographies as our spine, I thought it would be good to compile a list of questions and things to consider when reading and then writing a biography report.

When writing a biography report, no matter who the person and what they have accomplished, there are certain things you want to be sure to touch on. Here is a list of questions and thoughts to get your child going with their report. These details will help them organize their thoughts and ensure they have covered the important topics in their biography report.

• Include a drawing of your character, the title of the biography, and the author of the biography.
• Tell the date and place where your character was born and raised.
• Describe the early life of your character. Things like where their grew up, their education, family, and jobs.
• Tell about what kind of person he or she was. What was it about your character that helped him or her to succeed? Did your character know what he or she wanted to become in the future? How did your character prepare for his or her future?
• Tell about the work your character did. Tell why his or her contribution was important, why the work was important. Did he or she invent something or teach others? How did he or she change the world? What lasting effects did your character have on the lives of others?
• What should we all know about your character? How do we benefit today from him or her? What do you think was the most impressive thing about your character?
• Tell how your character has inspired you. In what ways would you like to be him or her?

For many of these questions and more in worksheet form check out this FREE Biography Worksheet Printable

For a more in-depth look at writing a biography report (more of high school level and beyond) check out this article on How to Write a Biography