Study the Bible, geography, and history together as a family!
The fifth in the popular six-book history series, this study walks your family through the exciting Early Modern times (about 1550–1850) of American History and World History. The geography of North America is incorporated, and Family Bible lessons continue to share timeless principles from the New Testament epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, Hebrews, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus). Additional assignments are provided for older students to dig deeper into those same Bible passages.
The Charlotte Mason-style lesson plans
- Engage your students’ hearts and minds through wonderful living books.
- Help your students listen attentively and recall what was read by narrating.
- Let you teach the whole family together by sharing some books as family read-alouds, then challenging older students with additional reading and writing assignments from other books on the same topic.
- Connect geography to the people who lived there—both past and present.
- Help all your students, grades 1–12, feel at home in Scripture and challenged to keep growing spiritually through short, practical Bible lessons for the whole family and additional corresponding Bible studies for the older students.
- Keep things simple by providing helpful reminders of upcoming resources, teaching tips, and Book of Centuries entries.
Book List
Scroll to the bottom to see the full list of the resources needed for these lesson plans.
High School Credit
For the completion of grades 7–9 or 10–12 assignments in this Early Modern & Epistles study, they suggest that students should be awarded 1/2 credit for World History/Geography, 1/2 credit for American History/Geography, and 1⁄3 credit for Bible. (The other half of the American History credit can be found in the Modern Times study.)
Sample Schedule
The lesson plans in Early Modern & Epistles are very doable. Your weekly schedule would look something like this, with older students also spending time on additional assignments:
| Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
American History
(20–30 min.) |
American History
(20–30 min.) |
Geography
(10–15 min.)
Bible
(15–20 min.) |
World History
(20–30 min.) |
World History
(20–30 min.) |
2nd Edition
This 2nd edition of Early Modern & Epistles, published in 2017, schedules The Stuff They Left Behind: From the Days of Early Modern portfolio and Visits to North America geography notebook. America: The Last Best Hope, Volume 1, is assigned to high school students to round out that series, and suggestions toward high school credits have been added. Also, any hard-to-find or out-of-print books have been replaced. Bible lessons for the entire family are now included in the guide itself, and assignments are scheduled for older students to dig deeper into the same Bible passages with the Growth in the Word Bible study book.
Book List for History, Geography, Bible
Read the books listed under Family to all the students together. Add the grade-level books as individual reads for any children you have in those grades. For example, if you have students in grades 6 and 10, you will want to get the books under Family, Grades 4–6, and Grades 10–12.
[SCM]: Available from SCM
[Book Store]: Purchase from another book store
[Exodus]: Books available from us
[Library]: Check your library
[Public Domain]: Available free in the public domain
(AH) = American History book, so if you are in a different country you can easily identify and substitute books as desired.
Family (all students)
Plus . . .
Grades 1–3
Grades 4–6
Grades 7–9
Grades 10–12
Note: We recommend that grades 10–12 students add an American Government course either during the Modern Times study next year or complete part of it this year and part of it next year. One possibility might be Exploring Government from Notgrass Publishing, taken at a slower pace.
We also recommend that grades 9–12 students read about and discuss current events. Selected articles from World magazine or website work well.
Bonus Titles
Here are more great titles that you can use for substitutions or leisure reading or to create your own heritage history stream as desired. We will add to this list as we discover and review more new-to-us books. Sign up to be notified when we add new bonus titles to our history book lists!
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