Homeschool History Recommendation for All Ages

Homeschool history class offers an opportunity to teach all ages at once! There are countless excellent curriculum choices out there. This history suggestion was a tried and true favorite in our homeschool.

When I began using it, my oldest child was middle-school aged and my other two were elementary-aged. (After you’ve been homeschooling for a while, you will see less significance with identifying your child at one particular grade. This is done in a formal school setting for ease of evaluation, but in fact, students are not that simple. It may be that you have a student that reads above their ‘grade level’ but struggles with math at their ‘grade level,’ for example. Homeschool allows you to work with each individual child’s strengths and weaknesses.)

Enjoy History Together

My first suggestion for history at home is almost always: enjoy history together – teach all of your students at once.

We only have so many hours in the day, and a long list of things we hope to accomplish. History is a great subject to do together, saving time but also making memories and bonding as a family.

History (from any curriculum you choose) is easily read to all of your students, then various assignments may be given that reflect the ages and abilities of each of your children. Timelines and many projects may be done together.

History Should Be Fun

History should not be a dull, dry subject – a textbook full of dates and names that must be memorized. Too many students have written history off as a boring, lifeless subject, but history is full of fascinating people and events that should spark young imaginations and offer countless fun projects and assignment opportunities across the curriculum.

As a matter of fact, if you or your young students dread history, you may want to reevaluate your history curriculum. Take a step back and look for a more engaging text, or even take a break from texts and just read books from a particular era.

Maybe your text is interesting, but there are too many ‘drill and kill’ assignments attached. In that case, read, narrate, enjoy the time together, and look for fun projects – build a pyramid from sugar cubes while reading about ancient Egypt, use coloring pages related to the time of history you’re studying, or put a timeline in their room to which they can add events and names (including their own birth!).

Use your imagination and the interests of your child to come up with history-related assignments. History doesn’t have to (and shouldn’t) be boring!

My Favorite History Suggestion

My favorite history suggestion for your students is Mystery of History by Linda Lacour Hobar, published by Bright Ideas Press. You can find it at Rainbow Resource and Christian Book Distributors. To read more about it on the Publisher’s site, here’s the link to Bright Ideas Press.

There are 4 volumes in this series:

Volume 1 covers Creation to Resurrection. Biblical history is seamlessly integrated, as this curriculum is written from a Christian worldview.

When I first started using this, I was looking to break away from textbooks. It was a leap of faith for me at the time, and I was not disappointed with this choice. Volume 1 has the shortest lessons of all the volumes. This is a very painless and easy text to start with if you are in search of a more interesting history curriculum but want a text that holds to a time line and seamlessly takes your students through all of the major events of history. If you want to break away from dry texts, but also really want a text to keep you on track, this is a great choice.

The only purchase required for Volume 1 is the textbook itself. A companion guide and supplemental book is available for purchase but you only need the text. All the information in the companion guide is available as a digital download with the purchase of the textbook.

So for around $50, you will have a text from which you can teach history to all of your students. Assignments, activities, tests, and timeline instructions are included. You may choose to use as many (or as few) of these supplemental activities as you want.

The text lasts for a whole year, with 3 lessons to read per week. How much time you spend on additional activities or creating a timeline is up to you.

The first volume has been updated since I used it and is now a hardcover text.

Volume 2 covers the early church and Middle Ages. Again, all you really need is the textbook, which costs approximately $37 at both Rainbow Resource and Christian Book. (The links are above.)

Volumes 1 and 2 are a bit friendlier for younger students – the lessons to read are not as long. These volumes are listed in various places for grades 3-8 or 4-8, but don’t let that discourage you. Younger students can easily join in for the history reading. As a matter of fact, our youngest daughter developed a life-long love of history and she credits Mystery of History as the history curriculum that first captivated her interests. She was a very young elementary student (1^st grade) when I began this curriculum.

Likewise, activity suggestions are given for older students, so if you need or want to include your high schoolers, you should be able to easily adjust their assignments (and add additional reading if you choose) to reflect their age and ability.

Volume 3 covers 1455-1707. Again, only the textbook is required for purchase unless you want a printed copy of the companion guide. Otherwise, a download code for those pages are included in the textbook.

Volume 4 covers 1708-2014. It is also adequate for all ages, but is suggested as better suited for older students. While modern history is included, there is not enough United States history for this course to count as an American History credit for high school.

Both Volumes 3 and 4 include the content of the lessons only – they are ‘readers,’ to be read by the teacher or read independently by your students. Activity suggestions, quizzes, mapping exercises, timeline instruction, and other supplemental assignments are available in a digital download (included when you purchase the text) or you may purchase the printed companion guide (but you don’t have to).

I personally liked the additional information printed in the book (volumes 1 and 2) but other parents have expressed their love of the look of volumes 3 and 4 as colorful books for reading only.

Either way, these books are affordable solutions for a family looking to integrate all their students under one history text. As a bonus, they are engaging, interesting texts with lots of activity suggestions including mapping and timelines.

Likewise, even if you only have one or two students, these offer a lot of memory-making history time, sitting on your couch, reading about the people and events that make up the history of the world. It feels less like ‘school’ and ‘work’ and more like a fun story time!

Each volume is intended for an entire school year of history.

So This History is Best for What Age/Grade?

I used the first 3 volumes of this curriculum when my children were younger, and used other options for their high school years. However, there are suggested assignments for students of all ages, so if you’re looking for a history curriculum that can accommodate a family with a wide age range of students, this is a very easy to use option.

Also, no matter what age your children are when you start homeschooling, this is a great curriculum for ‘jumping in.’ In only four years, you can cover creation to modern history, accommodating all ages and abilities of your students.

How Do I Make this History Curriculum Work for My Family?

One of the great things about this curriculum is its flexibility.

If you have a large family, you may even choose to cycle through this series more than once, so your youngest students would go through the lessons again, but with different assignments according to their age and ability.

There are 108 lessons in volume 1, and only 84 lessons in volumes 2-4. Three lessons per week are recommended. In a 36 week school year, that leaves plenty of room for adjusting the schedule or unexpected days off. Volume 1 has more lessons, but they are so short they are easy to double up if needed. Volumes 2-4 have longer lessons, but less of them, leaving plenty of options for flexible scheduling.

You may cover 3 of the readings per week any way you choose. It is suggested to read a lesson per day on three days of your choice each week. Accompanying assignments may be done on these 3 ‘history’ days or you may use 3 days for reading and 1 or 2 of the other school days of the week for related activities.

You decide if you want to keep a timeline (we did and really enjoyed it) and how much of the mapping or other suggested activities you want to do. We didn’t do every suggested activity so don’t feel like you have to or even should! This curriculum is easy to adjust to the needs and schedule of your family.

You may supplement with the suggestions included, or add your own assignments or supplemental reading.

Or you could just read the text, and choose one weekly activity: the timeline or the maps or cards…, forgoing all other suggestions.

The text could be used as a history read-aloud and your students could keep a notebook of their history narrations, opting to not use any of her suggestions.

This curriculum really is as flexible as you need it to be, and offers multiple ideas for supplemental assignments, but you can opt not to use her suggestions at all if you so choose and still have a great history text.  

Homeschool History Suggestion for All Ages

There are several great curriculum options out there for history.

For ease of use, affordability, flexibility to use with all ages, variety of supplemental suggestions, and friendliness of format for new homeschoolers, I recommend Mystery of History as my first choice for a history curriculum because it is also interesting, fun, and painless for your students as well.

It has the potential to ignite a lifelong love of history in your young learners.

A Final Thought

Acquisition of a subject is certainly a goal in the education of our children. However, a goal that always superseded that for me was to engage my students in such a way that they enjoy learning as much as possible. Retention of a subject is much more likely if the student enjoys the subject.

Also, if you can inspire your students to love learning and seek knowledge, there will be no gaps in their education (one of those pesky, false, nagging fears for beginning homeschoolers) because you set them on a path to ultimately educate themselves!

Mystery of History was a text that accommodated my short-term goal of teaching history in a way that encouraged retention and my long-term goal of engaging my students in a way that reinforced a love of learning, as well as sparked their curiosity to learn more.

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