I have a confession to make. I have been so focused on math and reading in my homeschool, that I’ve kind of left out social studies. I mean, we’ve done some unit studies, we’ve looked at atlases, we’ve read books from the library. But we haven’t ever really done a curriculum for geography and history. So this year I really think it’s time I get my oldest daughter started on a more complete homeschool social studies curriculum. I’ve been doing a lot of research to find the best curriculum out there, so I wanted to share what I found with you, and let you know what we’ve decided to go with.
My oldest daughter is 10, so I was looking mostly at elementary and middle school curriculum options, but many of these can also be used for high school. I’m a busy homeschool mom, so I’m hoping to find something open and go, maybe even something that can be done online, at least partially. And I’m leaning toward something secular, although I’m not opposed to a religious curriculum, so we’ll take a look at some different options. So let’s get started and see what I’ve found.
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myWorld Interactive Online Homeschool Social Studies Curriculum
If you watch my YouTube channel, you know I review a lot of online programs. So I wanted to start with a social studies program that is done online called myWorld. This is a program that is used in schools but it can also be used by parents at home. They offer social studies courses for grades K through 5, middle and high school in an interactive learning program that includes online and offline activities. In addition to teaching about geography and history, this program is also supposed to help build important literacy skills like writing and vocabulary. And it also encourages critical thinking which I think is super important.
The myWorld interactive social studies program for homeschool is a secular program. You’ll get a physical workbook for students to use, and access to additional online resources. I really like the way the workbooks are laid out, they look really interesting and colorful and I definitely think my daughter would like them. There is a lot of open ended writing though which she doesn’t like as much.
If you go to the actual Savvas website to shop for these it can be a little confusing because they also sell to schools, so I was having trouble finding where to buy the homeschool edition. I just went to ChristianBook.com, and it’s actually cheaper there anyway. The elementary school bundles are $65.85 and include one year digital access. The prices for middle and high school are a little higher, but you’ll still save by going to this website. You can also find these at a discount on the Rainbow Resource website.
I think this looks like a good option for us to consider, but let’s check out some of the other homeschool social studies curriculum choices before we decide.
Moving Beyond the Page
Next is a full-year social studies package that you can get for kids ages 7 to 14 from Moving Beyond the Page. This is a literature based curriculum, so you’ll get some textbooks but you’ll also get a bunch of other books that teach history in story form. What makes this curriculum stand out is the way they integrate social studies with language arts, so if that’s something that interests you, this might be a great choice.
This is a secular, standards based curriculum, although it definitely goes above and beyond the basics that would be taught in public schools. If your kids really enjoy learning from reading and hearing stories, this might be a great choice. You also get 18 months online access although I’m not really sure what that includes.
The prices for this social studies curriculum vary by grade level. For instance, the full year package for kids ages 8 to 10 is $171.46. That’s a little on the expensive side, but you do get a lot of books. Of course you can purchase the books individually if you don’t want this whole package.
They have a great video on their website that really explains their approach to teaching social studies and history that you should definitely watch if you’re considering this homeschool curriculum. You can also view sample lessons to get an idea of what this curriculum is like.
The lessons are not in color which I don’t like so much. There also seems to be a lot of prep work and activities for kids to do, which may be an issue for some families who are short on time. So you can take a look at a bunch of these lesson samples to help you decide if this might be a good choice for you.
Notgrass History Homeschool Social Studies Curriculum
Next on our list is a social studies curriculum with a Christian worldview from Notgrass History. Their curriculum packages cover more than one grade level, so this is also a good choice if you have kids of different ages and want them to learn together.
They have 3 packages for elementary school, a world geography course, a course on the 50 US states, and an American history course, and prices for these courses range from $75 to $95. You can also opt to include literature with these bundles for an additional fee.
For middle school there are 3 courses ranging from $110 to $125 each, and for high school there are 5 courses to choose from including economics and government priced between $70 and $125.
If you like unit studies more than textbooks, this might be a good choice for you because it’s supposed to sort of combine the two. The lessons are colorful and I like that you can just sit down and read through the lessons together and then have your child do the activities. It’s definitely great for multiple kids to learn together. And I like that they include lesson review books so you can make sure your kids are understanding what they read.
This curriculum might be a bit time consuming, so that’s something to consider. Between reading the text, having your child do their workbook activities, reading the literature and doing the family activities, this might take some time out of your week. So if you’re already crunched for time, this might be too much.
Kids Discover Online
Next up is an online resource that I just learned about called Kids Discover Online. You can get a 30-day, free trial of this secular, standards-aligned program that covers geography, American and world history and more. And if you want to keep it after that, it’s only $48 for the year for one student, so that’s really affordable compared to some of the other curriculum choices on our list.
You can browse by topic and take a look at their different units, such as kindergarten and first-grade social studies units. You can also use the discover map to find a specific topic. There are a lot of topics covered here, so it’s actually a really great deal. They also list the reading level for each lesson, and they have a read-aloud option which I know a lot of my viewers ask about.
This would be really great for unit studies because you can explore one topic at a time, such as ancient Egypt. And if you like to let your child take the lead and explore what interests them, there is a lot of content on here to keep them busy. It’s definitely worth signing up for the free trial and exploring some of the lessons to see if this would be a good fit for your homeschooler.
Evan Moor Homeschool Social Studies Curriculum
If you’re looking for a secular social studies curriculum for younger kids, Evan Moor is a popular choice. We actually did use their Beginning Geography curriculum book when my daughter was younger and I remember she did enjoy it, especially when she got to do some cutting and pasting and coloring.
The Evan Moor curriculum books are pretty affordable, and you can get most of them as an eBook which is great if you have a good printer and don’t want to wait for the book to arrive. Most of the books are also reproducible so you can use them for more than one child.
If you’re not sure which books to get, you can shop for their bundles by grade level. These are really affordable and include both history and geography lessons. For instance, for grade 4, you get their daily geography practice teacher and student books, plus two history books, for only $56.22. So that’s a great deal.
My only concern about using this curriculum again is that it is not as open and go as some of the others, and includes some craft projects which I don’t really like having to set up. But for kids that like that sort of thing, this is a great choice. I also wish they were in color.
Schoolhouseteachers
If you’re looking for a Christian resource for social studies curriculum that can be done entirely online, you might want to check out Schoolhouseteachers.com. You can get a membership for your entire family for less than $15 a month, and they include a lot of good social studies curriculum options, including unit studies. We have done some of these unit studies over the last couple of years and we definitely had fun with them. I’ll never forget building a river model with my kids when we were studying the famous rivers of the world.
Your membership to Schoolhouseteachers.com covers all subjects and grade levels, but if you just want to use it for social studies, you can browse by course. So you just find a course that you want to do and download the lessons. Then you can print it out or just read it online, and follow the links that are included which might link to a video or map that goes along with the lesson. So it’s really simple to use, and there will be additional activities to do to go along with the reading.
This is definitely a good choice if you want something affordable, since you can use any of the lessons and materials that you want. But if you’re looking for something more visually appealing, this might not be a great choice.
Study.com Homeschool Social Studies Curriculum
If you’re looking for a video-based social studies curriculum that your kids can do entirely on their own, you might want to try Study.com. Similar to Schoolhouseteachers.com, you can get one membership and use that for as many of the subjects as you want.
They have complete homeschool social studies courses for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, plus middle and high school courses in US and world history, geography, and US government. In addition to all this, they also have AP history courses and even courses to earn transferable college credits in things like History 101.
This is a secular program, and all of the lessons follow the same format of a video followed by questions to check for understanding. You can also print off a text version of the lesson and take practice tests and end of chapter exams.
You can get a basic membership to Study.com for only $29.99 a month, which is a great value when you consider all that it has to offer. You can use this for a complete homeschool curriculum for 3rd through 12th grade, and your membership will include all the subjects and study tools. So you may find it useful to teach a lot more subjects than just social studies.
And if you use my affiliate link you can save 25% off your first month.
Discover Blended Online
If you’re like me and you enjoy a mix of online activities and physical workbooks in your homeschool, another social studies curriculum you might like is Discover Blended Online. They offer a complete social studies curriculum for 1st through 6th grade, and you get to choose whether or not to incorporate faith-based content.
For each grade level, you’ll get an instructors guide, 2 student workbooks, and an assessment booklet. You’ll also get 18 months digital access to the online program through Bridgeway Academy. But this program is definitely more on the pricey side at $374.95 per course, so that’s something to consider when deciding if this is the right curriculum for your family.
For me, cost is definitely a factor. So this is kind of expensive to me. But I do like the look of these textbooks. They’re colorful and they incorporate critical thinking, writing, and other activities to really give your kids a well-rounded social studies curriculum.
Unfortunately there is no free trial or any way that I have found to test out the online program. You can view a course overview and syllabus to get a better idea of what’s going to be covered both in the work text and online, so that may help you decide if this is the right social studies curriculum for your family.
BJU Press Homeschool Social Studies Curriculum
Another good option for a social studies program that includes video lessons and textbooks to go along with the lessons comes from BJU Press. This is a Christian homeschool program, and you can purchase individual courses by subject and grade level. They call their social studies programs Heritage Studies, so if you’re searching on their website, that’s what you’re going to want to look for. They cover elementary grades 1 through 6, plus several middle and high school course options.
The price for the courses on BJU Press include the physical textbook and activity books plus online access to watch the video lessons. You can view samples of the lessons on their website to get an idea of what the videos are like. They are on the longer side at over 20 minutes per lesson, plus additional time for the students to complete their work. So this is definitely something to consider before purchasing this program. The courses cost $349 each, and you will have 16 months from your purchase date to complete the online courses.
Lifepac
Finally, last on our list of homeschool social studies curriculum picks is a curriculum from Alpha Omega Publications called Lifepac. They have complete history and geography box sets for grades 1 through 12, and each set costs $108. It includes a full year of student books and a teachers guide, and you can even download a free placement test if you aren’t quite sure which grade level to start with.
Lifepac is a Christian curriculum, so students will be learning about history with a Christian worldview. The lessons are straightforward and simple to follow and include some color, although there is a lot of text to read, especially in the older grades. You can view samples of the lessons for each grade level on their website which I think is really helpful.
I don’t think you can go wrong with this curriculum if you’re looking for a Christian homeschool curriculum. It’s not as much literature and writing as some of the other choices on this list, which, depending on the kid, may or may not be a good thing.
Narrowing It Down
So that’s our list of 10 homeschool curriculum picks for social studies. Now I have to decide which one to get for my 10 year old. This is tough because I like a lot of these options, both secular and Christian.
I’m looking for something affordable, so anything over $300 unfortunately is out for me right now. So I won’t be going with Discover Blended or BJU Press. And I want something that isn’t fully online, so Kids Discover online and Study.com are out, although they might be great to add in as a supplement if we need to dive deeper into certain topics.
I’m also eliminating Schoolhouseteachers.com because we’ve done a lot of the unit studies already. And Evan Moor because of the lack of color and all the cutting and pasting.
So that leaves myWorld, Moving Beyond the Page, Notgrass and LifePac. I’m having such a hard time choosing! myWorld looks good and it’s affordable, but we already do several curriculums like this with online and offline work, and I don’t know if I want to add another one like this. I also don’t think my daughter will want to answer all those writing prompts.
I really like the look of Notgrass, especially because we can do it all together as a family, but I’m worried about the time commitment. And I know I can omit the literature and family activities, but I’m the kind of person that if I decide to do something, I’m all in. Plus I know my kids would never let me skip over the hands-on stuff. They also don’t have an elementary world history course, so at some point I would have to look elsewhere for that.
Moving Beyond the Page looks really nice, but I’m also a bit worried about the price. And there seems to be a little too much prep work for the lessons. I also don’t like that they aren’t in color. And Lifepac is simple, straightforward and affordable, but I’m just not sure if the lessons will hold my daughter’s attention.
What Did I Choose?
So what did I decide to go with? After careful consideration, I’m going to go with Notgrass History, Our Great Big World. At least for this year. Although some of the lessons are probably below grade level for my 10 year old, she also really doesn’t like geography or history very much. So if it’s something we can all do together, it might spark some interest. And I really have a hard time finding things for the twins to do while I’m doing school work with my older daughter, so I think it will really help me if we can all do it together.
Of course the twins probably won’t remember much, and I’ll probably have to do this again or some other curriculum when they get older, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. As for the literature, I’ll start by getting one book and see how that goes. And I’ll try not to beat myself up if I don’t get to it all. I’m not going to get an extra workbook or lesson review book for the twins because they aren’t writing yet, but I will get 2 extra coloring books. And I’ll start with 1 of the reading books and see how we do with it.
So I’ve got all this in my cart and it comes to $115.99. Not bad for a full year curriculum that my kids can all do together. And if we decide to do it again when the twins are older, I’ll just have to get some additional copies of the workbooks. So that’s not terrible. I’ll let you know what we think of it after we’ve had some time to test it out. Let me know if you want to see a full review video of this world geography curriculum.
Hopefully this helped you learn about some different homeschool social studies curriculum options for your family. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments and I’ll be happy to answer.
