History Scope and Sequence.
The following suggested scope and sequence, for first through twelfth grades, can be used in conjunction with All Through the Ages to teach history chronologically:
1st-6th grades:
1: Creation and Early History, Ancient Near East, Ancient Egypt
2: Greece and Rome
3: Dark and Middle Ages
4: Renaissance, Reformation, Exploration, Colonization
5: American History through the Victorian Era
6: 20th Century American history, 17th-20th century World History
7th -12th grades:
7: Creation and Early History, Ancient Near East, Ancient Egypt
8: Greece and Rome
9: Dark and Middle Ages
10: Renaissance, Reformation, Exploration, Colonization
11: American History through the Victorian Era
12: 20th Century American history, 17th-20th century World History
or 7th-12th grades:
7: Creation, Ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome
8: Dark and Middle Ages; Renaissance, Reformation, Exploration, Colonization
9: American History; 17th-20th century World History
10: Creation, Ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome
11: Dark and Middle Ages; Renaissance, Reformation, Exploration, Colonization
12: American History; 17th-20th century World History
Going through history again in the higher grades allows more in-depth treatment of certain pivotal events and persons, and exploration of the social and political issues underlying the events. Another variation on this same theme would be to cover the whole scope of history in the elementary years as outlined above, then once again
in junior high school, and again in high school. Different books, however, would be read in junior and senior
high: the historical classics in junior high, such as The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, Chronicles [of the Crusades] by Froissart, or Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin. In high school the literary or philosophical classics could be studied: Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, or Milton’s Paradise Lost. This variation is popular with those that homeschool using classical education, because it takes advantage of the three stages of learning of the trivium.
If you would rather go through the whole pageant of history in twelve years, this alternate plan could be followed:
1: Creation and Early History, Ancient Near East, Ancient Egypt
2: Ancient Greece
3: Ancient Rome
4: Dark and Middle Ages
5: Renaissance and Reformation
6: Exploration and Colonization
7: American History: French and Indian Wars in the 1st semester
World History: the 18th Century and the Enlightenment in the 2nd semester
8: American History: Revolutionary War in the 1st semester
American History: Framing the New Government and Civics in the 2nd semester
9: American History: Pre-Civil War 1800’s and Westward Expansion in the 1st semester
World History: the 19th Century and Romanticism in the 2nd semester
10: American History: the Civil War, Reconstruction, the West, and the Victorian Era
11: American History: Pre-WWII 1900’s in the 1st semester
World History: World Wars I and II in the 2nd semester
12: the Modern Era
Another schedule would be to cover American history in 1st through 6th grades and World history in 7th through
12th grades. Although this is my personal least favorite option, All Through the Ages can be used to teach history
according to that schedule, or according to any of the above plans, or with any other plan that anyone might care
to come up with, since every reading level is included for every era represented.
What if you want to teach one history class together to all your children, regardless of grade? Use one of the above
plans for your oldest child that you are homeschooling. As your younger children come of school age, they join in
the history study wherever you and your oldest child happen to be. Their first year of history might be the Dark and
Middle Ages. The elementary age children read out of books geared for their individual reading level, and copy
passages and poetry relating to that age of history in writing class, or perhaps write a narration—a retelling—of an
important historical event. The older secondary student reads more advanced books and writes a one-page essay on
the religious, political, and/or social forces that brought that event about, or how key persons influenced events, or
how the behavior and choices of key persons can be evaluated in light of Scriptural admonition. If the child is high
school age, he might write a one-semester research paper on an overarching historical topic for that era, such as an
evaluation of the causes of the fall of Rome and how that those causes could be applied to modern American
culture; or exploring whether the American Revolution was a legal or illegal conflict under British or natural law;
or to what extent the abolitionist movement and Uncle Tom’s Cabin had on precipitating the American Civil War.
In each case, while the era studied is the same for all children of various grade levels, the difficulty of books read
independently varies, as well as the difficulty of writing assignments based on the history study. The younger
children merely demonstrate that they remember what happened, possibly through narration or through oral or
written quizzes; middle school children analyze what happened; while high school children might analyze, compare,
evaluate, theorize, or apply the historical event to current events; i.e., the fall of the totalitarian universal govern-ment
of the Romans led to societal collapse and anarchy. What comparisons can be drawn or lessons can be learned
for the 21st century? In this way a common history study can be made interesting and challenging for all children,
no matter their grade level.
When the oldest child graduates, the younger children will still have one or more years of history study left. Start
over. If the next oldest child entered the history study with the Dark and Middle Ages, and he has two years of
school left, begin again with Creation through Ancient Egypt, and Greece and Rome. If this rotating cycle is
followed, eventually all children will study all historical eras at the levels that are right for them, no matter where
they entered the study when they came of school age.
