Over the past few years—especially during COVID—many parents forced by lockdowns to keep their kids at home were shocked at some of the content being pushed in online classes. This was especially evident in subjects like history, and resulted in quite a bit of push back at school board meetings, some families even leaving schools over the issue. But at the same time, there has been increasing negativity regarding using Christian history curriculum, even from folks we generally consider like-minded. And, quite often, these folks have a point!
Why is this? Well, while historical facts are true, there are many facts to know and understand, and interpreting them is very prone to bias. Textbooks cannot cover everything, and publishers, including well-meaning ones, have to choose which facts to include—and exclude. If intent on spreading a particular viewpoint, bias will often (usually?) lead to some level of falsehood. As with anything in education, care has to be taken. While we want our kids to understand and believe the truth, we don't want to raise kids who have only one perspective and who are not willing to question things—hopefully, that sometimes even includes our own beliefs!
Keep in mind that good history is question-driven, not philosophy-driven. It's honest about the past, and doesn't whitewash horrible events. It doesn't impose biases onto primary sources or promote a certain perspective by manipulating data; good history lets the historical facts speak for themselves. That's what this series is about.
Intended to be a 4-year curriculum, covering from ancient to modern history, The Curious Historian (TCH) is meant to help teach elementary to middle school kids how to think, not what to think, about history. Designed as a series of one-semester courses that present world history in chronological order, it isn't finished yet—the first two years are available, and year 3 is expected in 2024, but year 4 does not have an expected publishing date. Once the series is complete, itt would set you up nicely for the publisher's high school history course called Humanitas, also in development.
How Do These Work?
Every year comes in four books, a student book and teacher book for each semester. The publisher also has additional resources: a free level called "Go Deeper" and an optional level called The TCH Archive: Extra Reources (this is an additional product to buy). More information on these below.
The courses are:
- 1A: The Early & Middle Bronze Ages
- 1B: The Late Bronze & Iron Ages
- 2A: Greece and the Classical World
- 2B: Rome and the Classical World
- 3A: The Early Middle Ages
- 3B: The Late Middle Ages
- 4A: The Early Modern Era (subject to change)
- 4B: The Modern Era (subject to change)
While the publishers suggest starting the series at third grade, it's a pretty intense course for that age, and we think it would be better to start around 5th instead. But if you need to complete a US or state history course at some point during these years, it may make more sense to keep with their recommendation. You definitely would not be able to simply hand these to a 3rd grader and let him read the text on his own, but that's not how the course is meant to be used anyway.
The book
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