Video-Based High School Homeschool World History Course

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My son is entering 9th grade this year, so it is time to choose curricula for him. Before I began homeschooling, I assumed that I would only need to plan each grade once because I could reuse everything. I was very wrong.

It turns out my kids are very different people (who knew?!). They have different interests and learn in different ways.

My older daughter’s homeschool world history curriculum was textbook-based. She read the chapters, and we discussed them. That plan made sense for her because she loves reading about history and easily retains information she has read.

That plan won’t work as well with my son. A history textbook would not hold his interest, and I don’t want to fight with him about doing his history lessons all year long. No one wins in that situation.

Thankfully, we can homeschool with our individual students in mind.

My son and I talked about what he wanted and didn’t want from a homeschool history curriculum. There are a lot of ways to present the same information, and it doesn’t make sense to teach it in a way that won’t work for him.

We came up with a few criteria for his high school homeschool world history curriculum:

• Secular (religion presented as a part of history was fine with us, but not teaching from any particular religious worldview)
• Video-based
• No crafts or hands-on activities
• Enough hours to classify as a full social studies high school credit
• High school grade level
• Affordable

I couldn’t find a single world history curriculum that fit these criteria and seemed interesting to my son. Thankfully, we discovered this early in the summer, so I had time to create a homeschool world history curriculum tailored specifically for my son.

Video-Based High School Homeschool World History Curriculum

I’m sharing this plan with you in case you are looking for the same type of world history curriculum.

The hardest part of creating a world history plan was choosing what to include. There is so much to learn! I mean, we are talking about everything that has ever happened anywhere on earth. Essentially, the history of the world. It’s a lot.

I had to get comfortable with the idea that we couldn’t cover everything.

My goal is to introduce some of the major world history events. One of the great things about teaching in a way that works for my son is that he isn’t learning to hate any subjects. If he gets curious about an event that we haven’t covered, he can always research it himself.

Some of the topics covered include:

• Ancient civilizations
• Origins of religions
• Byzantine empire
• Middle ages
• Islamic Empire
• Early Central America
• Medieval Asia
• Renaissance
• World wars
• Modern history

I chose the topics to include by consulting my daughter’s world history textbook as well as a few public school syllabi, but you will absolutely find a time period or two missing.

It is impossible to cover everything.

Notes about using this homeschool world history curriculum:

• Please preview the material selections to make sure they are appropriate for your student. Everyone has a different standard for their family.
• Don’t be afraid to personalize it. It is just a guide. You can add, subtract, or substitute material however you want. You can even add extra writing assignments for a little language arts boost.
• It is intended for high school students.
• I do not have any control over the materials. Everything is currently available as I am writing this post, but that could change at any time. This is why I have chosen not to charge for this curriculum. If something is no longer available, just substitute a different video.
• I provide my son with weekly lesson plans, but you can absolutely break this down into daily lesson plans if that works better for your student.
• I recommend either bookmarking this page and coming back to it each week when you are lesson planning or putting the print version in your lesson plan binder.

Materials:

Curiosity Stream – Curiosity Stream is an educational video streaming service. We have used it for a few years now and appreciate how easy it is to find educational documentaries and shows. There are a few plans, but we have the Standard Plan ($39.99/year), and it has met our needs.

Crash Course – Crash Course videos are short videos that distill a topic down to the main ideas. I add them to our lesson plans all the time. These videos are free.

Amazon Videos – Most of the Amazon videos included in this curriculum are available for free with Prime, but a few do have a small rental fee.

History Extra Podcast – It is tough to find history podcasts that are not hours long! Full disclosure – I haven’t listened to these podcast episodes yet, but they are produced by BBC History Magazine, so I trust them.

Stanford History Education Group – This is the one history resource that isn’t geared for visual or audio learners. However, it is so well done that I had to include it. Each topic has teacher lesson plans, student worksheets, PowerPoint presentations, and primary source documents (when available). Students have to use the documents provided to form opinions and write a bit to support their opinions. My daughter took a college-level history course last year, and the majority of the assignments were very similar in that they required analysis of primary sources, so I wanted to expose my son to this type of history assignment. This resource is run by Stanford University and is completely free.

Related: Amazing Free Homeschool Resources

PBS Learning Media – PBS has curated a collection of educational videos and lessons on a variety of topics for multiple grade levels. Please note that the PBS website can be a little funny sometimes. If you are not able to see the videos, try changing your location on the website to North Carolina. I live in NC and am able to access the videos.

I also linked to one college lecture by a professor at the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology that has been uploaded to YouTube.

Weekly lesson plans:

I am hoping that learning world history in this fun way will help the information ‘stick’. I will definitely share the rest of his 9th grade homeschool curriculum when I finish planning.

Keep reading . . .

• Fantastic High School World History Resources
• 4 Things You Need to Know About High School History Curriculum
• How to Create a High School Plan
• A Guide to High School Electives
• Save Money with these Homeschool Sales
• Homeschool Curriculum Reviews
• Free History Curriculum Resources
• 28 Free Homeschool Resources
• Homeschooling High School Resources, Curriculum, and Tips

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