Let’s chat about homeschool history curriculum. History is one of my favorite subjects. There is something about learning about the past that feels so mysterious and magical. Early American history is my favorite and I think this stems from spending my early school years living right outside of Washington D.C. and experiencing all of the historical field trips that go along with living there.
There are great ways to teach history. I love using literature based history curriculum, or I try to at least enrich history curriculum with good books. I take a Charlotte Mason approach to teaching history and don’t expect memorization of dates and events. I also don’t test on history. We read and discuss and sometimes add some notebooking or hands on projects.
Here are my favorite homeschool history curriculum choices. I am also going to add some historical fiction and non-fiction that I have enjoyed for myself.
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Beautiful Feet Books
This is definitely my favorite history curriculum. We have not used Beautiful Feet every year, but we have used several of their history through literature options. My favorite is the Early American Primary. They have recently updated this one and added some new books that are giving me shiny new book envy. I might have to pick up their Early American Enrichment Pack so I can get my hands on those books. They look Uh-mazing.
Simply Charlotte Mason
I really like the Simply Charlotte Mason history guides. They are family style with appropriate reading assignments for each age group. Their guides are really easy to use and we have discovered some really great books through SCM history. The only thing I don’t like about Simply Charlotte Mason history is that they follow a six year history cycle. Some people really like this, but it’s not my preference. They split ancient history into three years, and then cover middle ages through modern in three years. Their history really is great and I keep coming back to SCM, but I can’t do their ancient history. My attention span is too short.
Sonlight
Sonlight history is excellent and my oldest is really enjoying the richness of a full Sonlight program this year. I actually think that there are too many books which make for some really long read aloud times. I prefer shorter reading with time to really digest what you are reading. The great thing about Sonlight is that they have everything planned out as far as read alouds and readers. This is the best part. I don’t have to go through and find books or decide how I want to divide up the books. Sonlight programs are excellent for kids who really enjoy great books.
Abeka
It is really unusual for me to like such a textbook based curriculum. I used Abeka history when I was homeschooled and I still remember things I learned from it. If I were to use this with my kids, I would skip the written questions and tests and probably add good books to complement it. Overall, I think Abeka provides a great history spine. The fourth grade book (American History) was my favorite.
Pandia Press History
This isn’t one that I have used, but it is worth a mention. There are few secular options in the homeschool marketplace, and Pandia Press offers good quality secular resources. I prefer Christian based history curriculum, but I know that not everybody is like me. I even know Christian homeschoolers that prefer to teach their kids with secular resources. Pandia Press utilizes many different resources including great literature to round out their history programs. If these were Christian resources, they would probably be my perfect history curriculum.
Evan Moor History Pockets
We’ve used some of the history pockets to supplement our studies. History pockets are not as thorough and in depth as a full history curriculum, but if you are looking for a simple way to add a hands-on history component to your homeschool, these fit the bill.
Books for Mom
Here are some of the books that I read for myself to enrich my history experience while teaching my kids.
My 6-year-old oldest is starting 1st grade and I’ve been revaluating my history plan – we are voracious readers and the Beautiful Feet Early American primary pack seems really light. I’m not wanting to overdo it of course, but how would you compare that to Sonlight’s new HBL A Exploring American History – it seems the main difference is Sonlight’s Heroes and Happenings “spine” versus just the Beautiful Feet teacher guide? I’m not sure how clear this is, thinking out loud through my analysis paralysis/overthinking! Thank you for your time if you see this.