Exploring World History:
World History, Literature, and Bible

by Ray Notgrass
with Charlene, John, Bethany, and Mary Evelyn Notgrass

About Exploring World History

Exploring World History is a high school world history curriculum combining world history, world literature, and Bible. It helps high school students gain a fuller understanding of the past as they read the history narrative, read classic literature, complete writing assignments, and study what the Bible says about issues and ideas in world history. Exploring World History provides historical overview lessons along with focused lessons on key events, concepts, and people. It also includes surveys of daily life and culture. The Bible study lessons allow students to concentrate one day a week on the spiritual implications of what they have been studying.

Exploring World History is designed to be easy-to-use for parent and student. Each of the 30 weekly units has an introduction that features a summary of the material covered, a list of lessons, books required for that unit, and suggested writing assignments. Each of the 150 daily lessons (five lessons per week) includes the history text and the reading assignments for that day (and those in progress). A focused student can direct his own study, and the parent can offer as much interaction as needed. Depending on how fast your child reads and how much time he spends on the writing assignments, he may need an average of 2-3 hours for each daily lesson. Completing the full course provides your child with a year's high school credit in World History, English (literature and composition), and Bible.

The Exploring World History Curriculum Package includes three books:

• Part 1: Creation through the Middle Ages (first semester)
• Part 2: The Renaissance to the Present (second semester)
• In Their Words: Original Documents, Poetry, Stories, and Hymns from World History (assigned readings)

This curriculum presents history from the perspective of faith in God and respect for His Word. Each unit includes a Bible study highlighting spiritual issues related to history. It is comprehensive, giving students an overview of world history from Creation to the 21st century. It provides a year's credit in three subjects. High school students can earn credits for World History, English (literature and composition), and Bible.

The history credit involves reading the lessons and the original documents (and answering the questions in the optional Quiz and Exam Book if desired). The English credit involves studying the grammar points (four times per week), completing the writing assignments, and reading the assigned books, as well as the poems, hymns, and short stories in In Their Words. The Bible credit involves answering the Bible Study Questions (mentally, verbally, or on paper) and reading the Bible study lesson for each unit. A considerable portion of the first third of the curriculum is Bible history. These lessons are also included in the Bible credit. Since the course involves three credits, students should expect to spend two to three hours per day on it--more or less depending on reading speed.

In addition to the assigned readings from In Their Words, the curriculum also assigns thirteen books (see list below). You may find these books at your local library, you may be able to purchase them new or used somewhere else, or you may purchase new copies from us.

What Parents Are Saying

"I truly feel [Exploring America and Exploring World History] have been the most pain-free homeschool products I've ever purchased!" -- Arizona

"Your history has been such a blessing to our daughter. She loves to curl up on the couch and 'digest' it. She hates to be hurried through it. Thank you for helping her fall in love with history. She also feels empowered to have conversations with people about why things are the way they are and what is behind it. We have your obedience to Gods calling on your life to be thankful for." -- Florida

"My daughter grew spiritually this year. I attribute a lot of her growth to [Exploring World History]. Ray Notgrass taught this history in such a way that she learned to look at history from God's perspective, which helps her to interpret current events in light of God's word. She came to me every day so excited about what she was learning about God and His ways." -- Oklahoma

"I can't say enough good things about the curriculum. There is enough detail in the history reading to be a solid high school program, yet it's written in an interesting manner. The writing assignments have a lot of variety and are thought provoking questions and subjects. We are very pleased with the curriculum!" -- California

"We have been using Exploring World History for the past school year with our [16-year-old] son, and he is truly enjoying it. We have found the writing assignments and Bible questions to be challenging and thought provoking and the literature choices satisfying. Thank you for such a great product." -- Oklahoma

"My 9th grade daughter is taking your World History course and, I have to tell you, this is the most enjoyable school year she has ever had! She thanks me all the time. My daughter was always an excellent student, but never enjoyed reading of any kind. Now, she can't wait to get to her history lesson and read what is in the text for that day. As well, for the first time in her life, she is enjoying reading literature. The key for her was to get her into a curriculum that presented the subject from a wholly Christian perspective." -- Georgia

---

Samples

(Left click on a link to open it in your web browser, or save the file to your computer by right clicking on the link and selecting "Save Target As..." or a similar command.)

• Exploring World History Table of Contents
• Exploring World History Introduction
• Unit 14 - The Early Middle Ages
• Unit 25 - The Making of Modern Asia
• In Their Words Table of Contents
• Review Questions, Quiz, and Exam from the Quiz and Exam Book
• Guide for Parents and Teachers Using Exploring World History

Ordering