Dude, history's bloody awesome.
I was lucky to have good teachers, though, who didn't do either the "and in this year A happened, and then B, then C" litany approach or the "Ummm, there were slaves, that was bad, Lincoln freed them, then MLK Jr., and now there's no racism because America is awesome! Go USA!" propaganda tactic, but who actually engaged the imagination and encouraged independent (yet grounded) analysis.
But, seriously, history is a STORY. Tell it as a story, a true story, with all the gorey bits in it, and kids will be fascinated. I was. Still am.
And, ok, Genesis is a story, but it's of less value (and less interesting, I daresay) than, say, telling the story of how a two-bit prince who wasn't even from Greece proper left cities bearing his name from Egypt to India. Double points if your kid's actually named Alexander, too.
[EDIT: What Tabby says, somewhat more succinctly]
