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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's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and 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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Stepping Stone: Totally True Adventures!
by Lori Haskins Houran
from Random House
for 2nd-5th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
19th Century Railway Station
by Fiona MacDonald & John James
from Peter Bedrick Books
for 4th-8th grade
in History of Railroads (Location: HISA-19TRR)
Adventures of Robin Hood
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by Roger Green, illustrated by Walter Crane
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 5th-9th grade
$17.00
Akavak
by James Houston
from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
American Revolution
Revolution!
by R. G. Grant
from Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Among the Plains Indians
from Lerner Publishing Group
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Ancient Greeks
by Sophie Descamps-Lequime & Denise Vernerey
from Millbrook Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Ancient Romans
People of the Ancient World
by Allison Lassieur
from Franklin Watts
for 4th-8th grade
in Ancient Rome (Location: HISW-ANRO)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Art of the Spanish in the United States and Puerto Rico
by Shirley Glubok
from Macmillan
for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Art of the Woodland Indians
by Shirley Glubok
from Macmillan
for 4th-6th grade
in Native American History (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Asian Crafts
by Judith Hoffman Corwin
from Franklin Watts
for 4th-6th grade
in Asia (Location: HISMC-ASIA)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Assyrians
by Elaine Landau
from Millbrook Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Ancient Mesopotamia & Persia (Location: HISW-ANME)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Athenians In the Classical Period
Life Long Ago
by Leonard Weisgard (pictures and text)
from Coward McCann
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$48.00 (1 in stock)
Bad News for Outlaws
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 5th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.99
Battle of the Little Bighorn
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 5th-8th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Battle of Valcour Bay
Triangle Histories: The Revolutionary War
by Scott Ingram
from Blackbirch Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Benjamin Bonneville, Soldier-Explorer
from Julian Messner
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Benjamin Franklin: Printer, Scientist, Author, and Diplomat
Spirit of America: Our People
by Ann Heinrichs
from Child's World
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Beorn the Proud
by Madeleine Polland, Illustrated by William Stobbs
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Betsy Ross
Leaders of the American Revolution
by Vicki Cox
from Chelsea House Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Better Mousetraps
by Nathan Aaseng
from Lerner Publishing Group
for 3rd-6th grade
in Inventions & Discoveries (Location: SCI-INV)
Big Wave
by Pearl S. Buck
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Black Courage
by A. E. Schraff
from Macrae-Smith Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Black Hawk, Sac Rebel
from Chelsea House Publishing
for 5th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Black Ships Before Troy
by Rosemary Sutcliff & Alan Lee
from Frances Lincoln
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$21.24
Booker T. Washington
by Shirley Graham
from Julian Messner
for 5th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Bound for America
Great Journeys
by Milton Meltzer
from Benchmark Books
for 5th-8th grade
in Immigration & Emigration (Location: HISA-20IM)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Builders of the Old World
by Gertrude Hartman
Second Edition from D. C. Heath and Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
Cabinetmakers
Colonial American Craftsmen
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-6th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
Caddie Woodlawn
by Carol Ryrie Brink, illustrated by Kate Seredy
1st edition, from Macmillan
Realistic Family Fiction for 3rd-7th grade
1936 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Camels West
by James Ralph Johnson
from David McKay Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Captives of the Senecas
by John Brick
from Hale-Cadmus
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs
by Sandra Markle
from Millbrook Press
for 5th-7th grade
in Ecology (Location: SCI-ECO)
Castles
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-6th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Central Pacific Railroad
Cornerstones of Freedom, Second Series
by Clark J. Evans
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Christmas on the Prairie
by Joan. Anderson
from Clarion Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus and the Discovery of the New World
by Jim Gallagher
from Chelsea House Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
City! San Francisco
by George Ancona, Shirley Climo
from Simon and Schuster
for 4th-8th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War
American War Series
by Zachary Kent
from Enslow
for 4th-8th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Claim to the Wilderness
by Peter John Stephens
First Edition, First Printing from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Clara Barton: Civil War Nurse
Historical American Biographies
by Nancy Whitelaw
from Enslow
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Closer Look at Vikings
from Hamish Hamilton
for 3rd-6th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Colonial People: The Silversmith
by Wil Mara
from Marshall Cavendish Education
for 2nd-5th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Colonial Places
by Sarah Howarth
from Millbrook Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Confederate Girl: The Diary of Carrie Berry, 1864
by Carrie Berry; edited by Christy Steele and Anne Todd
from Capstone Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Constitution
American Symbols and their Meanings
by Hal Marcovitz
from Mason Crest Publishers
for 5th-9th grade
in New Nation (1783-1801) (Location: HISA-18NN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Cook: Captain James Cook Charts the Pacific Ocean
by Jean Kinney Williams
from Compass Point Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Coronado and His Captains
by Camilla Campbell, illustrated by Harve Stein
from Follett Publishing Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Crazy Horse
by John R. Milton
Second Printing 1975 from Dillon Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Creating the Constitution: 1787
Drama of American History
by Christopher Collier & James Lincoln Collier
from Benchmark Books
for 5th-8th grade
in New Nation (1783-1801) (Location: HISA-18NN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Cross and Crescent
by Richard Suskind, illustrated by Victor Lazzaro
1st edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Cultural History of Women in America: Finding an Identity
A Cultural History of Women in America: Volume 1
by Alex Woolf
from Chelsea House Publishing
Women's History for 3rd-8th grade
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Dan Morgan
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Bernice Bryant
from Bobbs-Merril Co
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Day It Rained Forever
Once Upon America
by Virginia T. Gross, illustrated by Ronald Himler
from Viking Press
for 3rd-5th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Dear Levi
by Elvira Woodruff
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Oregon Trail (Location: HISA-19OR)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Destined for Space (Smithsonian)
by Don Nardo
from Capstone Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Space Race & Exploration (Location: HISA-20SPR)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Discoverer: The Story of a Satellite
by Michael Chester and Saunders B. Kramer
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Doctors
Colonial American Craftsmen
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-6th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
Dust Bowl
by Patricia Lauber
Cadmus Edition from E.M. Hale and Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Early American Industrial Revolution
Let Freedom Ring
by Katie Bagley
from Bridgestone Books
for 3rd-5th grade
in Industrialization & Organized Labor (Location: HISA-19IND)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Earthquake!
by Kate Wilson
from Steck-Vaughn Company
for 3rd-5th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Edgar Degas
Artists Through the Ages
by Alix Wood
from Windmill Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Egyptian Pyramid
Inside Story
by Jacqueline Morley, Mark Bergin, John James
from Peter Bedrick Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Eli Whitney
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Dorothea Snow
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
Eliza Pinckney
Weekly Reader Heroes of the Revolution
by Susan & John Lee
from Children's Press
for 2nd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.80 (1 in stock)
Enchantment of America: New England Country
Enchantment of America: Regional Books of the United States
by Dorothy Wood, illustrated by Tom Dunnington
Second Printing from Children's Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Eskimo
Sonia Bleeker's Tribes of the Americas
by Sonia Bleeker, illustrated by Patricia Boodell
from William Morrow & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys
Landmark #66
by Slater Brown, illustrated by William Moyers
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Explorers of the Arctic and Antarctic
by Edward F. Dolan
from Crowell-Collier
for 4th-8th grade
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Exploring the World of Archaeology
by P.E. Cleator, designed by Mary Gehr
from Children's Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Fairy Tales from the Philippines
by Dorothy Lewis Robertson (reteller), illustrated by Howard M. Burns
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Fall of Constantinople
by Ruth Tenzer Feldman
from Twenty-first Century Books
for 4th-7th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Fast Forward Egyptian Mummies
by Henrietta McCall, illustrated by Dave Antram
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-6th grade
in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Ferdinand Magellan
by Milton Meltzer
from Benchmark Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Ferdinand Magellan and the First Voyage Around the World
by Jim Gallagher
from Chelsea House Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Fire at the Triangle Factory
by Holly Littlefield, illustrated by Mary O'Keefe Young
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
First Book of Ancient Rome
by Charles Alexander Robinson, Jr., Revised by Lorna Greenberg
Revised Edition from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-6th grade
in Ancient Rome (Location: HISW-ANRO)
First Book of France
by Gerald Gottlieb
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-6th grade
in Europe (Location: HISMC-EUR)
First Book of the American Revolution
by Richard B. Morris
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-5th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
First Families: The Jacksons
by Cass R. Sandak
from Crestwood House
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
First Families: The Lincolns
by Cass R. Sandak
from Crestwood House
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
First Families: The Madisons
by Cass R. Sandak
from Crestwood House
for 4th-7th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
First Families: The Washingtons
by Cass R. Sandak
from Crestwood House
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
First Olympic Games
from Silver Burdett Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
First Steamboat on the Mississippi
North Star Books #31
by Sterling North
from Houghton Mifflin
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Flag of the Dreadful Bear
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Forts in America
by Harold L. Peterson
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Forts in the Wilderness
by Edith S. McCall
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Francis Drake
by Ronald Syme
from William Morrow & Company
for 3rd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
Latinos in American History
by Jim Whiting
from Mitchell Lane Publishers
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Frontiersman
by Marian T. Place
First Ediition from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Future in Space
Isaac Asimov's Library of the Universe
by Isaac Asimov
from Gareth Stevens Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Space Race & Exploration (Location: HISA-20SPR)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Gasoline Buggy of the Duryea Brothers
by Robert B. Jackson
from Henry Z. Walck, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Geronimo: Apache Freedom Fighter
Native American Biographies
by Spring Hermann
from Enslow
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Glassmakers
Colonial American Craftsmen
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Franklin Watts
for 4th-8th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
Glorious Days, Dreadful Days
Stories of America
by Philippa Kirby
from Steck-Vaughn Company
for 4th-6th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Going to School During the Civil War: The Confederacy
by Kerry A. Graves, consultant Melodie Andrews
from Blue Earth Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Everyday Life in History (Location: HISV-EVERY)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Going to School During the Civil War: The Union
by Kerry A. Graves, consultant Melodie Andrews
from Blue Earth Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Everyday Life in History (Location: HISV-EVERY)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Going to School in Colonial America
by Shelley Swanson Sateren, consultant Melodie Andrews
from Blue Earth Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Everyday Life in History (Location: HISV-EVERY)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Golden Coyote
by Eileen Thompson, illustrated by Richard Cuffari
from Simon and Schuster
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
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