History Curriculums I've Used
When I first started homeschooling, the curriculum I used included History as part of its core. However, over the years and as I have moved into homeschooling high school, I have tried and used a few different homeschool curriculums for the subject of History. In today’s post, I share the curriculums. As with the other curriculum post, I share how long I used it, for what grade levels, what I loved about it, and if we ended up switching from it and why.
Disclaimer: if you know anything about me, I DO NOT BASH other curriculums. However, I will be transparent and let you know what didn't work for MY children. Before we go any further, please remember that this has been our experience with these curriculums. Every child will learn differently and benefit differently from curriculums.
SONLIGHT
What I enjoyed about the curriculum:
Sonlight is a Christian literature-based curriculum with God woven throughout the curriculum. The curriculum has History as just one of its components and it teaches history through the read-alouds.
How long I used it:
2016-2018
What grade levels I used:
1st grade through 5th grade
Why we switched:
It’s expensive, especially for families with multiple students. I love literature based curriculums, but the history courses from the Good and the Beautiful just worked better for my family and my desire to teach one history to all four kids.
Relevant Videos:
SIMPLY GOOD AND BEAUTIFUL
History Course and the Constitution Unit
What I enjoy about the curriculum:
My kids and I absolutely loved The Good and the Beautiful History and Constitution course. I feel that the four year History course and the Constitution Unit Study helped give my children such a deep understanding of History and our Founding Fathers. The curriculum is challenging yet full and rich. The price point is also very reasonable. And not only does this curriculum impact your child’s academic growth, but it has a deep influence on your child with an appreciation for God’s creation and has high moral lessons.
How long I used it:
2018-2022
What grade levels I used:
1st grade through high school
Why we switched:
I didn’t want to repeat the four year cycle and the Good and the Beautiful hadn't released their new History curriculum at the time of this post.
Videos:
BEAUTIFUL FEET BOOKS
Early American History
What I enjoyed about the curriculum:
I really like that this is a literature based program and very easy to implement for my family. I love the philosophy of teaching through living books. You read a chapter book and there are comprehension questions, projects, and more. I loved going back to a literature based curriculum. This curriculum works great if you don’t feel like you need to do everything listed on the page.
How long I used it:
2022-2023 (one year)
What grade levels I used:
5th grade and 7th grade
Why we switched:
This was too surface level for my kids. After using the Good and the Beautiful History, my kids just needed more. However, I love that this is a literature based history curriculum and would recommend it for families with children in their early elementary years. It has a little bit of an undertone that villainized some historical events and people. I didn’t love that because I have a hard time holding people accountable in history to today’s standards. But what I did was take what I valued and taught that and left the rest out of my homeschool.
Videos:
NOTGRASS
Exploring World History, From Adam to Us, Exploring American History
What I enjoyed about the curriculum:
My kids absolutely love this curriculum. It is wonderfully done. I like that I can do as much or as little as you want. You could use it as a High School History, Language Arts, and Bible or you can just use it for History. Every unit includes memory work, books used, and projects, all of which can be skipped if you want. It is a very textbook style of curriculum but it is very manageable. It also includes a student review book that has ten daily questions to go over the information learned during the lesson. I love the quiz book as well for my older children, and all of the color images in the text.
How long I used it:
2022-present
What grade levels I used:
9th grade through 11th grade
Videos:
MASTERBOOKS
For You They Signed
What I enjoyed about the curriculum:
I liked the idea of continuing our study of the Founding Fathers and more people from history who helped to shape this country.
How long I used it:
2022 (one quarter)
What grade levels I used:
9th grade and 10th grade
Why we switched:
My kids and I were not enjoying the course. It was very black and white and much about reading the facts.
Videos:
These are all the curriculums I've used for History up to this point. I hope this post was helpful to you, and be sure to check out the videos included if you want more information about each curriculum.
