Fantastic High School World History Resources
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World history is one of the courses in a typical high school history sequence. While this specific course wasn’t required by North Carolina colleges, many college admission departments do require high school students to have a world history course on their transcript. There are many ways to teach this subject. My daughter preferred to use a textbook, and my son preferred to use a mix of world history resources, although they were primarily video-based.
Typical world history topics include ancient civilizations and medieval kingdoms to world wars and modern global events. One of the hardest parts of creating a world history plan for my son was deciding what to teach, knowing that I couldn’t teach all of world history in just one year.
In this guide, I’ve rounded up some of the best high school world history resources for homeschool families. Whether you’re looking for a complete curriculum, supplemental books, educational videos, or interactive websites, you’ll find plenty of options to help your student explore world history with confidence.
Fantastic High School World History Resources
OpenStax.com
OpenStax.com offers free digital textbooks for high school and college courses. The World History editions are college-level, but can be used by high school homeschool students. There are two volumes available:
- World History 1: to 1500
- World History 2: from 1400
I really liked using OpenStax when my kids were in high school because it gave them experience using a digital textbook. Many of their college textbooks are online, so knowing how to read, reference, and take notes from a digital textbook was an important skill to learn. There is even an audio version of volume 1 if your high schooler prefers to listen to books or spends long periods of time in the car.
Homeschool teachers can access the instructor resources and answer keys by submitting proof of homeschooling. My husband submitted our North Carolina homeschool registration and was granted access pretty quickly.
OERProject.com
OERProject offers free high school world history resources through an online platform. You can utilize lesson plans on individual topics to supplement other curricula or use one of the OERProject curriculum options.
There are a few high school world history curriculum options:
- World History AP
- World History Origins
- World History 1200
- World History 1750
The teaching guides provide suggested pacing, maps, writing activities that correlate to the world history lessons, a collection of primary sources, general history teaching strategies, and teaching strategies for fostering historical thinking skills.
Nomadic Professor
Nomadic Professor offers a paid world history course sequence. There are two courses, one online course for each semester of a school year. Together they create a full world history curriculum.
- World History 1: The Thousand Names of God
- World History 2: From a Far Country
The lessons are presented in audio format, so learning the material feels like listening to a podcast. There are also videos to accompany some of the lessons. Other included world history resources include guided notes, assessments, CLEP test prep, and primary and secondary sources.
The Nomadic Professor seems to be a great option if you are interested in a secular, rigorous high school world history curriculum. I think it would be especially beneficial if you want your high schooler to CLEP out of a college-level world history course.
Crash Course
Crash Course offers free videos on a variety of high school-level topics. There are two for world history:
- World History 1
- World History 2
World History 1 contains 42 videos and World History 2 contains 30 videos on a variety of historical events and time periods. There is a teacher guide to go along with World History 1. I love that this is available now! The teacher’s guide contains learning goals, vocabulary terms, review questions, and additional reading. Those are fabulous resources that take Crash Course from being a collection of videos to functioning as a curriculum.
PBS Learning Media
PBS Learning Media has a variety of resources for all topics and grade levels. They make it easy to filter resources by grade level, topic, and even the type of resource. Some of their high school world history resources include:
- Crash Course videos
- Life During World War II: Using Artifacts to Understand History
- World War II: Oral History (These are interviews with military veterans who served in WW2.)
- World History Inquiry Kits
I like the video interviews with military veterans because it is difficult, if not nearly impossible, to talk with anyone who fought in the last official world war. I think listening to a few of the interviews might shed a bit of humanity on the topic. While I generally trust PBS to produce high-quality programming, I do recommend that a parent preview the interview before assigning it to your teen.
The Inquiry Kits group time period resources with a central theme. For example, in the Growth of Civilizations section, students are expected to read and view the resources and then answer the question, What elements of culture were the same or different in early civilizations?. Each topic also includes teacher resources such as an activity and discussion questions.
Digital Inquiry Group
Digital Inquiry Group, formerly the Stanford History Education Group, offers a plethora of fabulous free high school history resources. Its goal is to teach students to think critically about the past and use evidence to build arguments. I am definitely in favor of teaching critical thinking and logical arguments!
Some of the DIG world history resources include:
- Lessons on a wide variety of world history topics that contain:
- Teacher materials, student materials, PowerPoint presentations, and primary source documents
- Printable classroom posters
- Assessments – The assessments are not just a series of content questions to answer. The assessments also determine whether students can evaluate sources.
My son used many of the lessons when they were created by the Stanford History Education Group as part of his video-based world history curriculum. The lessons are fantastic – it is hard to believe they are free!
Teach with Movies
Teach with Movies is a great way to include movies in your homeschool high school plans. There are movie guides and discussion questions for a variety of topics. Each title contains snippets of the movie, helpful background information, suggested books to go along with the topic, and concluding assignment suggestions. The video clips are helpful, but if you have time in your homeschool week, students might prefer watching the entire movie.
The authors created a list of the best Teach with Movies world history guides.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy has been a great free educational resource for many years. I first learned about this website when my oldest was in elementary school, and we used the program for math lessons. Now there are a ton of courses available!
The high school world history course combines the rigor of OER with Khan Academy’s videos. There are a total of 9 units. At the end of each unit, there is a unit test, but there is a mastery quiz after every 2-3 lessons. This format prevents students from absent-mindedly watching the video lessons without actually learning the material. There are also writing activities sprinkled throughout the lessons.
The dashboard lets you see a student’s progress. Each lesson will show either:
- Not started
- Attempted
- Familiar
- Proficient
- Mastered
Curiosity Stream
My family purchased a Curiosity Stream membership every year when we were homeschooling high school. My husband and I liked knowing that high-quality documentaries were only a click away.
Some options that look interesting for world history include:
- Pompeii: Disaster Street
- The History of Food
- Eternal Egypt
- History’s Greatest Homes
- Roman Mega Structures
- After Braveheart
Google Arts and Culture
Google Arts and Culture has quite a few world history resources to make your high school history lessons interesting. You can see famous paintings from various time periods, view museum exhibits, or see historical landmarks through Street View.
The History of the World
Last update on 2026-09-16 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
If you loved the Story of the World curriculum, you might really like the History of the World curriculum by Susan Wise Bauer. There are three books in this series:
- The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome
- The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade
- The History of the Renaissance World: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople
The books can act as a spine for a world history curriculum, but each book can be a full year-long curriculum with the addition of the Study and Teaching Guide. The books are quite thorough, so are probably best for someone who loves history or someone who really wants to continue using a classical education resource.
National Geographic Education
The National Geographic Education website offers quite a few resources for educators. Much of the site seems more appropriate for a science lesson, but there are world history resources too.
Some options to explore include:
- Map Maker
- Videos
- Articles
The easiest way to find resources relevant to a topic is to use the search bar. For example, I searched for Greece and found a History 101: Ancient Greece video and an article by an archeologist.
Textbooks
Traditional textbooks are always an option, even for homeschoolers. A few options include:
- World History (Prentice Hall)
- World History and Geography (McGraw Hill)
- World History (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
One of the challenges with using a traditional textbook that wasn’t intended for homeschool families is that it can be challenging to find teaching materials for that specific edition. My daughter used a traditional textbook for her world history curriculum. I didn’t have the teacher manual, so I needed to read the chapter too.
Frequently Asked Questions About High School World History
Is World History required in high school?
The answer to this question depends on whether your state has homeschool graduation requirements and the admission requirements for potential colleges. In North Carolina, where I homeschooled high school, world history is not required for graduation or college admission. However, in other states, colleges do expect students to complete a world history course in high school.
I suggest researching the social studies admission requirements for any colleges your students may attend.
When in doubt, have them take the class.
What is the best high school world history curriculum?
There is no one best high school world history curriculum. The best curriculum for your family fits your budget, works for your teaching preferences, and meets or exceeds what you want your student to learn.
How can I make high school world history interesting?
Adding videos and online resources can be a way to make high school world history a bit more interesting, compared with a textbook plan.
What topics are typically taught in a high school world history course?
It is impossible to teach the entirety of world history in one year, but common topics typically include:
- Early Humans
- Ancient Mesopotamia
- Shang Dynasty China
- Ancient Egypt
- Ancient Americas
- The Rise and Fall of Ancient Empires: Ancient Greece and Rome
- Dark Ages
- Silk Road
- Black Death
- Age of Exploration
- Industrial Revolution
- Enlightenment
- French Revolution
- World War 1
- World War 2
- Cold War
I hope these high school world history resources help you plan a great homeschool year!
Keep reading . . .
- Homeschooling High School Resources, Curriculum, and Tips
- Homeschool Curriculum Reviews
- Current Homeschool Deals and Sales
- Video-Based World History Plans
- How I Handle Homeschool Grading
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