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History CurriculumHistory Resources

As with most things, C.S. Lewis had a unique view of history. For him, the really important bits were the stories—he makes a distinction between actual historical realities and the idealized versions of them handed down which make heroes and villains of mere men and women. It's not that the stories are completely false, but their value is for character-building, not as factual data.

The tales of George Washington's bravery in battle, coolness under pressure, rigorous truthfulness, and unflagging piety may accurately preserve the essence of his temperament and nobility, but not all of them are strictly historical. The point of these stories isn't to impart facts, however, it's to offer an example of goodness for the rest of us to emulate.

Getting the facts right is still important, though. As Christians, we can't afford to have a false understanding of "the old days." Mankind is fallen, and the story of his sojourn on Earth is filled with war, suffering, disease, unfaithfulness, pride and envy; a study of history that omits those elements is both false and useless. False, because it is incomplete, and useless, because it tells us nothing of the human condition or our current situation.

It's a bit of a mystery to us why non-Christians are motivated to study the past. For believers, the end goal isn't just acquisition of facts about events and cultures, it's the instillation of a thoroughly Christian worldview, an understanding of the course of the human endeavour as decreed and guided by God Himself.

The story of Jesus Christ is central. It is the only history story that fulfills the character-building element Lewis looked for, while remaining absolutely true in every detail. Man is fallen and he does struggle against God, but through Christ there is hope of redemption, a chance to connect heaven and earth through the Atonement. Christ is the ultimate example of God's providence.

In the Reformed tradition, God's sovereignty is a very big deal. According to the doctrine of divine decree, God has ordered all things that were, are and will come to be for His own good pleasure and glory. His hand is thus present everywhere, in the privatest private life and the most public and widespread crisis. God is in control, providentially guiding nations, men, and the entire cosmos.

This very doctrine is perhaps what best explains the humanist's interest in history (whether he be atheist, agnostic, pagan). Man's natural bent is to make himself the hero of the story, to show how people can sway the trajectory of all things. God's version is quite different, and the two are naturally in conflict. Resolution may only be found in Christ.

For, while God decrees and guides all things, He has also (paradoxically) decreed man's free will and personal responsibility. Men do change the course of kingdoms, but it is only through God's agency. A proper Christian study of history takes both truths into account, and tells the stories of good guys and bad guys through the light of everything God's Word says about human nature and divine control.

We encourage you to take great comfort and joy in your study of history. Read books, watch movies (carefully noting that a lot of the story is likely to be inaccurate in detail), go on fieldtrips to forts and battlefields and birthplaces. Most of all, talk about these things. The end goal, after all, isn't to know a bunch of trivia, but to understand what God has done and continues to do.

No one knows for sure what the end of history will look like, except that every knee in heaven and on earth will bow to the returned glorious Christ, who comes to judge the living and the dead. What we believe about Him will determine whether that culmination will be filled with joy or loathing (everyone will be terrified). He is the author of history, and its centerpiece; honor Him in your study of it.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur.Read more of his reviews here.

 

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A is for Africa
by Ifeoma Onyefulu
Reprint from Puffin Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Alphabet & Counting Books (Location: PIC-ALPH)
Abe Lincoln Goes to Washington
by Cheryl Harness
from National Geographic
Picture Book Biography for 2nd-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Abuela's Weave
by Omar S. Castaneda
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for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Adelita
by Tomie DePaola
Reprint from Puffin Books
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Lewis & Clark
by Jamie Aramini
from Geography Matters
for 2nd-4th grade
in Lewis & Clark (Location: HISA-19L&C)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Robert Fulton
by Jamie Aramini
Fir from Geography Matters
for 2nd-4th grade
in Geography Matters products (Location: GEO-GEOM)
Adventures of Munford: The American Revolution
by Jamie Aramini
1st edition from Geography Matters
for 2nd-4th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
Adventures of Munford: The Klondike Gold Rush
by Jamie Aramini
1st edition from Geography Matters
for 2nd-4th grade
in Gilded Age (1865-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
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Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #19
by Thornton W. Burgess
Unabridged from Dover Publications
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$4.00
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unknown from Millbrook Press
for 1st-3rd grade
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Fir from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
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from Focus on the Family
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in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #02
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from Focus on the Family
for 1st-3rd grade
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$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #03
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from Focus on the Family
for 1st-3rd grade
in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
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from Focus on the Family
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$5.99
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$5.99
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by Marianne Hering & Marshal Younger
from Focus on the Family
for 1st-3rd grade
in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #07
by Marianne Hering & Marshal Younger
from Focus on the Family
for 1st-3rd grade
in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
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by Marianne Hering, Marshal Younger
from Focus on the Family
for 1st-3rd grade
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$5.99
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by Marianne Hering, Wayne Thomas Batson
from Focus on the Family
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$5.99
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by Marianne Hering, Wayne Thomas Batson
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$5.99
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in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
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by Marianne Hering, Nancy I. Sanders
from Focus on the Family
for 1st-3rd grade
in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #14
by Marianne Hering, Nancy I. Sanders
from Focus on the Family
for 1st-3rd grade
in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
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by Marianne Hering, Nancy I. Sanders
from Focus on the Family
for 1st-3rd grade
in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #16
by Marianne Hering, Paul McCusker
from Focus on the Family
for 1st-3rd grade
in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #17
by Marianne Hering
from Focus on the Family
for 1st-3rd grade
in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
AIO Imagination Station Book #19
by Marianne Hering
from Focus on the Family
for 1st-3rd grade
in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
AIO Imagination Station Book #20
by Marianne Hering
from Focus on the Family
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in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
AIO Imagination Station Book #21
by Marianne Hering
from Focus on the Family
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in Imagination Station (Location: SER-AIO)
$5.99
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by Marianne Hering & Sheila Seifert
from Focus on the Family
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Reprint from Puffin Books
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by Mike Venezia
from Children's Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
Alexander Hamilton - Coloring Book
by Steven James Petruccio
Clr Csm from Dover Publications
for 2nd-Adult
in History of America Coloring Books (Location: COL-HISA)
$5.99
Alexander the Great
by Andrew Langley
Reissue from Oxford University
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.99
Alexander the Great Coloring Book
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from Bellerophon Books
for 1st-4th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #2
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Beth & Joe Krush
from Lizzie Skurnick Books
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$12.95
All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown
All-of-a-Kind Family Series #4
by Sydney Taylor, illustrated by Mary Stevens
from Lizzie Skurnick Books
Family Stories for 2nd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$12.95
Always Room for One More
by Sorche Nic Leodhas
from Henry Holt and Company
for Preschool-3rd grade
1966 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$10.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin
by James Cross Giblin
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
2001 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.99
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by Sally Senzell Isaacs
from Heinemann Library
for 1st-4th grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
America's Paul Revere
by Esther Forbes
from Sandpiper Books
Biography for 2nd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.99
American Army of Two
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Reprint from First Avenue Editions
for 1st-3rd grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
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by Philip M. Sherlock, illustrated by Marcia Brown
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Anatole
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Reprint from Dragonfly Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1957 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
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by Lorene Lambert
from Simply Charlotte Mason
for 1st-12th grade
in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
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from Wycliffe Bible Translators
for 2nd-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.50 (2 in stock)
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by Mike Venezia
from Children's Press
for 1st-5th grade
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Angel Child, Dragon Child
by Michele Maria Surat
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
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by Douglas Kaine McKelvey
from Rabbit Room Press
for 2nd-4th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$12.99
Anna Hibiscus
by Atinuke
Reprint from Candlewick Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99
Anne Frank's Story
by Carol Ann Lee
from Puffin Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Anno's Italy PB
by Mitsumasa Anno
from Beautiful Feet Books
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$14.95
Anno's Journey
by Mitsumasa Anno
from Puffin Books
for 2nd-Adult
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Anno's Journey
by Mitsumasa Anno
from Beautiful Feet Books
for 2nd-Adult
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$14.95
Anno's Spain
by Mitsumasa Anno
from Beautiful Feet Books
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$14.95
Apples to Oregon
by Deborah Hopkinson
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Apprentice
by Pilar Molina Llorente
Reprint from Sunburst Book
for 2nd-4th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99 $5.00 (3 in stock)
Archaeologists Dig For Clues
Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Stage 2
by Kate Duke
from HarperCollins
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Archaeology (Location: HISRF-ARCH)
$5.99 $4.00 (2 in stock)
Arctic Son
by Jean Craighead George, illustrated by Wendell Minor
from Disney-Hyperion
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Around the World in a Hundred Years
by Jean Fritz
from Penguin Putnam
Biography for 2nd-5th grade
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$6.00 (2 in stock)
Arroz Con Leche
by Lulu Delacre
Bilingual from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Art Coloring Book
by Sarah Courtauld
from Usborne
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Usborne Activities (Location: ACT-USB)
$5.40 (1 in stock)
Art Smart: Spot the Details and Find Out the Facts
Act from Dover Publications
for 1st-7th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Ashanti to Zulu
by Margaret Musgrove, Leo & Diane Dillon
from Puffin Books
Word Books for 2nd-5th grade
1977 Caldecott Medal winner
in Alphabet & Counting Books (Location: PIC-ALPH)
$8.99
Astrid the Unstoppable
by Maria Parr, translated from the Norwegian by Guy Puzey
from Candlewick Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99
At the Crossroads
by Rachel Isadora
1st Mulberry ed from Greenwillow Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Audrey of the Outback
by Christine Harris
for 1st-3rd grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Aurora Means Dawn
by Scott Russell Sanders
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Australia ABCs
Country ABCs
by Sarah Heiman
from Picture Window Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Alphabet & Counting Books (Location: PIC-ALPH)
Babu's Song
by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen
from Lee & Low Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Babushka
by Charles Mikolaycak
1st edition from Holiday House
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Balto and the Great Race
Totally True Adventures
by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
1st Printing from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 1st-3rd grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.99
Baseball Saved Us
by Ken Mochizuki
from Lee & Low Books
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.95
Battle of Gettysburg
Stories From History
by Colin Hynson
from ticktock Media Ltd
for 2nd-6th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
Beatrice's Goat
by Page McBrier
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Before Columbus
by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
from Random House
for 2nd-5th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
Before There Was Mozart
by Lesa Cline-Ransome and James Ransome
2nd ed. from Beautiful Feet Books
for 1st-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.95
BFB Early American History - K-3 Pack
from Beautiful Feet Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
$260.93
Bicycle Man
by Allen Say
from Sandpiper Books
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Big-Enough Anna
by Pam Flowers
No Edition Stated from Alaska Northwest Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Billy the Union Soldier with 24 Stickers - Activity Book
by A. G. Smith
from Dover Publications
for 1st-3rd grade
in American Civil War (1860-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
Black Island
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$14.99
Blue Feather's Vision
Adventures in Colonial America
by James Knight
from Troll Publishing
Non-fiction for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
Blue Feather's Vision
Adventures in Colonial America
by James Knight
from Troll Publishing
Non-fiction for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
Blue Lotus
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$13.99 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Book About Christopher Columbus
by Ruth Belov Gross, Illustrated by Syd Hoff
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Borreguita and the Coyote
by Verna Aardema
Reprint from Dragonfly Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Bossy Gallito / El gallo de bodas: (Bilingual) (Spanish Edition)
by Lucia M. Gonzalez
Blg Rep from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-2nd grade
in Spanish Curriculum (Location: FL-SPACU)
Boston Tea Party
from Troll Communications
for 2nd-5th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
Boy of Old Prague
by S. Ish-Kishor
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-5th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$3.99
Boy Who Held Back the Sea
by Thomas Locker
from Puffin Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Bracelet, The
by Yoshika Uchida
from PaperStar Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Brave Emily
American Girls Molly companion book
by Valerie Tripp, Illustrated by Nick Backes
from American Girl
for 2nd-5th grade
in American Girl (Location: SER-AMGIRL)
Brides from Around the World - Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-5th grade
in Dover Paper Dolls (Location: COL-DOLL)
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain
by Verna Aardema & Beatriz Vidal
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Broken Ear
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$13.99
Building an Igloo
by Ulli Steltzer
from Square Fish Publishing
for 1st-3rd grade
in Arctic & Tundra (Location: SCI-ECO)
Captive Treasure
by Milly Howard
from Bob Jones University Press
Realistic Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.99
Cassio's Day
A Child's Day
by Maria de Fatima Campos
Reprint from Frances Lincoln
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
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