Hi there, I'm just an undergraduate so I don't have a lot of expertise on teaching (mods please remove this if this post isn't up to standards). But I am taking a course about Public History and as a result have spoken to numerous professionals, including historians, musuem curators, and National and State Park interpreters about how they engage with people about history.

Historians (at least those who work with the public like museum directors) do what is called interpretation of history. This is going beyond just learning about what happened when and where. Interpretation is about engaging the person and making them want to learn about it on their own, fostering an appreciation for the significance of what you're talking about.

In the case of your mother, I would recommend seeing what sorts of things she's interested in specifically. If its local history, see about taking her to a museum or finding pictures of the people and places in your area. If its something a little broader or farther away, perhaps see if you can find a book or a documentary that covers what she's interested in. Just make sure you're pointing her to stuff that she's interested in. Just "history" is too broad to explain, try to come up with specific questions about what she wants to learn about.

You could also try connecting it to things she's already interested in. If your mother likes to knit and sew like my mother does for example, you might try showing her demonstrations of historical spinning equipment or finding her a book about textile production in Europe or North America. If she likes to cook, see if you can find track down historical recipes in old cookbooks. Just make sure what you're showing her is relevant to her or she might find that she doesn't really care about what you're talking about.

In any case, I suppose what I'm saying is that you should work with her to find out what kinds of stories resonate with her and start there, and then use that as a starting point to get her exploring on her own. For example, someone who's interested in human stories about families separated in WWII might not be particularly interested in the planning of the Normandy landings. Both are part of the History of WWII, but are pretty different stories, and one might resonate more with someone. Find out what that is, and go from there.

So to summarize, find out what exactly she's looking to find out about, then try to point her towards things that can help her answer those questions. Try to explain things or find material that is relevant to her. This will help keep her interested and engaged with the history she's learning. Hopefully that helps at least a little, until someone a bit more qualified than me can chime in.