Charlotte Mason taught about a student’s own country until fourth grade.  World History is more abstract where as the history of their own country is more concrete.  Younger students need to learn about what they can see and what is more concrete before moving onto other nations. Here is an excellent article from Beautiful Feet Books on why you should teach American History first.

Even though we did not start World History until fourth grade, we read James Baldwin’s Fifty Famous Stories and People books.  We learned World History by learning about people.

Alternate World History and U.S. History. Find a schedule that works for your family. Depending on the year we have read:

• World History two days a week and U.S. History two days a week with a day scheduled for a biography reading.
• Alternate World History and U.S. History—This works out to reading World History 2 days and U.S. History 3 days the first week and World History 3 days and U.S. History 2 days the second week.

The following resources for U.S. History follow my 12-year history sequence and will be continually updated as we study a new time period and at a new age level.

Book Series for learning history

Click on each series to see a chronological listing of the books so you can add them to the time you are studying.

• American Girl
• Childhood of Famous Americans / World Figures
• Dear America
• Getting to Know the U.S. Presidents by Mike Venezia
• Once Upon America

U.S. History Book Suggestions by Time Period

Native Americans

Exploration (15th & 16th Cent)

New World Colonization (16th & 17th Cent)

Colonial Era (1690-1765)

Westward Expansion (1801-1860)

Civil War (1861-1865)

Reconstruction (1866-1900)

Industrialization, Immigration, Discoveries of the 1900’s

 Hands-on Study of U.S. Elections

See the World History book suggestions for covering U.S. history from WWI through the present