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Are you looking for a homeschool history curriculum to use for your family?
History has to be one of my favorite subjects and I’ve tried so many curriculums, I can’t wait to share with you the ones we love.
Homeschool history is normally broken down into 4 cycles Ancient, Middle Ages, Early American, and Modern American History. It could also be called world history, geography, and American History. However it’s labeled, your children will cycle through these topics at younger elementary ages and again as they work through middle school and high school ages.
When looking for a history curriculum, there are a couple of learning styles to consider. A workbook textbook format is normally graded or created for each grade level. While a literature-based or more Charlotte Mason-type curriculum is geared toward Unit Studies or family-style learning.
We prefer learning family style, meaning all ages and grades learn together at once but at their own skill levels.
An elementary-aged child might copy a sentence about George Washington while an upper-middle school-aged child will write a paragraph, but we are all learning about the same topic together.
Family-style learning, in my opinion, is easier to keep organized and keeps us learning together for field trips, documentaries, and projects.
Let’s take a look at the history curriculums that our family has used and loved over the years.
Best Homeschool History Curriculum Guide
When learning about history, I prefer a literature-based curriculum, meaning we don’t just learn out of a textbook but use a variety of “living books”. This keeps us from memorizing just one person’s opinion and exposes us to beautiful literature as we learn.
Literature-based curriculums can cost a bit more if you buy the literature books but you could easily grab some from the library to cut your cost.
I also like how literature-based includes more “language arts” than traditional textbook learning.
Literature-Based History Curriculums
Sonlight Curriculum
A literature-based and family-style learning curriculum, Sonlight has amazing book packages and an organized lesson plan for any age.
I’m constantly using Sonlight for book recommendations as well because their book recommendations are just the best of the best.
It’s easy to combine grades with Sonlight and they keep history fun and engaging with timelines, historical fiction, fun family projects, and videos.
You can use Sonlight’s History/Literature/Bible guides and add in your own language arts and science which is what I recommend.
The packages are a bit pricy but you could easily find most of the books used to reduce the cost. Overall, Sonlight is a top pick for homeschool history.
Sonlight is a Christian curriculum but their cousin, Book Shark is a secular version.
My Father’s World Curriculum
I have written extensively on My Father’s World Curriculum and will continue to do so. They are by far one of my favorite homeschool history curriculums available. A literature-based learning style that is a bit lighter on the reading than Sonlight, and open-and-go lesson plans for parents.
They use a 4-year cycle of history so your kids will come back to each time period and learn deeper than they did before.
My Father’s World combines history, Bible, and literature into a beautiful learning experience your kids WILL remember. We’ve created so many memories with projects, read-alouds, and stories.
You can teach multiple ages at once with My Father’s World cutting down on lesson plans. Pick and choose from fun projects using household items and watch history come alive for your kids.
My Father’s World is the reason I fell in love with homeschooling and I can’t recommend it enough. It is a Christian-based curriculum.
Related: My Father’s World Review
Beautiful Feet History
The Beautiful Feet History packages have a similar feel to Sonlight or My Father’s World but just incorporate history.
With an instructor’s guide, a set of literature books will walk your kids through learning history in an engaging way. Kids will create a beautiful timeline and notebook as they work through the lessons.
Beautiful Feet will give you a discount if you already own some of the literature books and if you use the library, it becomes even cheaper to use.
Overall, I love this curriculum because it’s simple to run and full of great books.
Heart of Dakota Curriculum
Heart of Dakota is a unit study-based curriculum that focuses heavily on history using literature books.
The package levels are easy to combine grades and there is a lot of language arts built into the lessons.
The instructor’s guide is a blocked schedule with literal squares of lessons for each day. Once you have done all of the blocks, your day is complete.
Heart of Dakota has a simple format that’s open and go, and full of beautiful books.
Biblioplan History
Biblioplan has created an amazing history program that is very customizable to your exact needs and kids’ ages.
You pick a time period of history and choose to add things like worksheets, projects, literature books, and timelines. You can even pick the “spine” or main history book you want to use.
They have extensive samples and videos explaining how the program runs and what items you might want to add.
Honestly, the choices can be a bit overwhelming but if you are picky and want to create a history curriculum a la carte, this one is for you. there are endless literature choices and activities for every grade level and the instructor manual is laid out in a grid style which is so easy to use.
Biblioplan can be customized to fit any family’s grades and learning style, and if you already have a large pile of history books I would check it out.
Textbook-Based History Curriculums
The following homeschool history curriculums are based on a textbook but most have optional literature packages or at least recommendations to help fill out the year.
Notgrass History
For being a textbook-based history, I love Notgrass!
The lessons are engaging with colorful pictures and the workbook is right to the point. I love how organized this curriculum is and it’s truly open and go. You can choose to add in the optional Bible and Literature books which add so much to the curriculum.
There is no confusing instructor manual to dig through or time-consuming crafts, they do add a few “family projects” that are optional.
I feel like Notgrass is a good combination of textbook and literature-based learning if you get the extra book bundle.
Story of the World
Story of the World uses a main spine (textbook) and you can add to it as you see fit.
It comes with downloadable workbook pages, crafts, map work, extra literature recommendations, and coloring pages. You can really pick and choose from all of the options available.
The lessons are written in a story format which makes history easier to understand. Many history curriculums incorporate Story of the World as a main spine including My Father’s World.
By itself, it can be a little dry so I recommend adding in the coloring pages, audio, and extra literature book recommendations. It does cover younger and older students so it can be sued to combine grades easily. You would just add in the printable that was appropriate for your kid’s age like coloring pages, discussion questions, or map work.
Overall, this curriculum is secular and easy on the budget and a solid choice for most homeschool families.
Mystery of History
I love Mystery of History and have used it quite a few times over the years. The textbook is also used as a spine for other programs such as Biblioplan.
The textbook has bright engaging stories of history and can be listened to as audio and they have also developed videos for high school students using the program.
You choose the grade-level projects, timelines, and worksheets from the downloadable companion guide that comes with the textbook.
There are also literature book recommendations, quiz worksheets, crafts, and bible reading recommendations that come in the companion guide. This history homeschool curriculum is very customizable to different grade levels and can be easily combined.
Overall, Mystery of History is a solid world history curriculum that is very flexible for multiple grades and skill levels. It’s also more affordable than the big literature-based curriculums because you can really pick and choose what you want to do.
Masterbooks History Series
Masterbooks has their history broken down into elementary, middle, and high school ages and you can easily combine grades within or around those levels.
Based on a textbook, the instructor’s guide contains all the maps, worksheets, lesson plans, and extras for each lesson.
I believe most of their series have audio that follows along with the book which we love because I have a dyslexic daughter who enjoys listening and following along.
Masterbooks is a Christian curriculum that does include Bible reading along with each lesson. It’s easy on the budget and a good choice for families that want a simple textbook approach and to combine grades as well.
Abeka and BJU Homeschool History
Both Abeka and BJU homeschool history curriculum have very similar formats and are textbook/workbook based with optional video classes. You won’t find extensive literature packages, copywork, and crafts in this curriculum but the material is well done.
This approach is the most like “school at home” and CAN’T be combined to include several grades.
Many Christian schools use these materials and they do well in a classroom setting.
Overall, I find the textbooks to be a bit on the dry side, maybe Abeka more so than BJU but both provide a rigorous homeschool history curriculum.
Study.com History
I’ve used Study.com for multiple subjects including history in the past. It’s a secular approach using short video lessons with animation to teach followed by a short quiz. The videos are engaging but not too young looking if that makes sense.
They have so many classes covering history topics ranging from U.S. history, ancient history, geography, cultures, philosophy, and so many other history-related courses.
There isn’t a lot of review built into the videos but there is a PDF included for each lesson.
Quarterly quizzes are used to help reinforce what has been learned and students need to take notes daily on the video lessons. I wouldn’t recommend Study.com for very young children but it’s a fabulous choice for high school students or to use as a supplement.
Easy Peasy Homeschool History
​Easy Peasy History is a combination of online and print that meets the needs of different learning styles. Interactive videos and games are included in the history as well as a printable timeline.
The history is far from boring and there is something new each day for your child to learn.
The best part about Easy Peasy History is it’s completely FREE for anyone to use. There are also corresponding art and music for each history level making it a well-rounded curriculum.
It’s definitely worth a try considering it’s free and you have nothing to lose.
Choosing the Right History Curriculum
There are many history curriculums to choose from but once you narrow down if you want Christian or Secular, and textbook vs literature based, it will help you make a decision.
In general, literature-based curriculums will cost more but they also cover some aspects of language arts as well. You can cut costs by looking for used books or accessing your local library for some of the materials.
If you have a child with dyslexia or learning disabilities it might be helpful to use a curriculum with an audio companion so they can listen.
You also need to think of how much time you have to spend on history, many of these programs have a lot of activities to choose from and you can’t do them all.
Whatever history curriculum you choose, be sure to look at lots of samples to make sure you understand what you are buying.
Tell us in the comments what is your favorite history curriculum so we can check it out.
