Background

For eight years, I homeschooled history on a classical calendar of ancients to modern in four years. After two cycles, I must admit, I was a little bored. I was also concerned that my high schoolers did not have a good grasp of American history since it was taught to them as part of a world history curriculum. Additionally, since my high schoolers are college bound, most colleges like to see a particular set of credits on a transcript such a one year of world history, one year of American history, and a year of civics and economics.

I was looking for an American history curriculum that:

• Taught American history from a neutral tone (no identifiable political leaning, right or left)
• Combined relevant literature to the time period
• Relied heavily on primary sources
• Laid out for me so that I did not have to create lessons plans or add supplementary material

When I mentioned this to another homeschooling mom, she said she knew of a curriculum that sounded like it was exactly what I was looking for, Exploring America by Ray Notgrass.

Exploring America

Website: Exploring America by Ray Notgrass

As as I looked into the curriculum, I knew it was exactly what I had been looking for. Exploring America comes in a three book set. Two of the books are weekly units and a third book is a collection of primary sources. You can also order a test booklet and an answer booklet for the weekly unit questions and tests.

The curriculum is actually a combined history, English and Bible curriculum and provides a year credit for each subject.

Each unit begins with a summary of what the unit will cover. There is a Bible verse to memorize and a list of books that you will for the unit (usually the Bible; the primary source book included with the curriculum, American Voices; and sometimes an outside novel such as The Scarlett Letter). There is also a list of writing assignments that the student can choose from, due at the end of the unit.

The are five lessons in every unit which works perfectly for a five day schedule. Each lesson has a history reading and a list of assignments to complete.  At the end of the unit, you can optionally give your student the unit history quiz. Every five units, there is an optional unit test covering history, English and Bible.

My high school students are thriving in this curriculum. They are learning, reading and writing far more then they ever have before. They do all of the reading and writing on their own. I just grade the writing assignment at the end of the units and hand out and then grade the tests. I also have a discussion time the day before the test and go over all of the unit’s questions to make sure my students completed and understood the questions.

Schedule

This is the schedule that works best for my homeschool with this curriculum:

Monday: 1st lesson of unit
Tuesday: 2nd lesson of unit
Wednesday: 3rd lesson of unit
Thursday: 4th lesson of unit
Friday: 5th lesson of unit, unit writing assignment due
Following Monday: Discuss unit questions
Following Tuesday: Give test

We do one lesson a week so the 1st day of the next unit overlaps with the discussion.

Additional Books by Ray Notgrass

In addition to Exploring America, Notgrass has a complete set of high school history/English/Bible curriculum including world history, economics and government. You can view the complete list on the Notgrass website here: http://www.notgrass.com/homeschool-curriculum-high-school.php