Study the Bible, geography, and history together as a family!
The sixth in their popular six-book history series, this study walks your family through people and events from Modern Times (about 1850–2012), covering both American History and World History. The geography of Asia is incorporated, and Family Bible lessons focus on truths from New Testament epistles (1 & 2 Peter; 1, 2, & 3 John; Jude) as well as the book of Revelation. 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
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 9 and 11, you will want to get the books under Family, Grades 7–9, and Grades 10–12.
[SCM]: Available from SCM
[Exodus]: Purchase here
[Book Store] Check another store
[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
Plus . . .
Grades 1–3
- (AH) [Library]A Boy Named FDR by Kathleen Krull
- (AH) [Exodus]I Have a Dream: The Story of Martin Luther King by Margaret Davidson
- [Exodus]The Journey That Saved Curious George by Louise Borden
- (AH) [Exodus]Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca
- [Exodus, SCM]Only a Dog: A Story of the Great War by Bertha Whitridge Smith
- (AH) [Library]The Unbreakable Code by Sara Hoagland Hunter
- [Exodus]The Children of China: An Artist’s Journey by Song Nan Zhang (optional, used with Visits to Asia)
- [Exodus]A Grain of Rice by Helena Clare Pittman OR [Exodus]Grandfather Tang’s Story: A Tale Told with Tangrams by Ann Tompert (optional, used with Visits to Asia)
- [Exodus]Horse Song: The Naadam of Mongolia by Ted and Betsy Lewin (optional, used with Visits to Asia)
- [Book Store]Kami and the Yaks by Andrea Stenn Stryer (optional, used with Visits to Asia)
- [Book Store]Kampung Boy by Lat (optional, used with Visits to Asia)
- [Library]The Life of Rice: From Seedling to Supper by Richard Sobol (optional, used with Visits to Asia. This book is out of print, but a library near you may have a copy.)
- [Exodus]The Way We Do It in Japan by Geneva Cobb Iijima (optional, used with Visits to Asia)
- [Exodus]Yasmin’s Hammer by Ann Malaspina (optional, used with Visits to Asia)
Grades 4–6
Grades 7–9
- [Exodus]Across America on an Emigrant Train by Jim Murphy
- (AH) [Exodus]Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
- [Exodus, Library]Animal Farm by George Orwell
- [SCM]Book of Centuries (one for each student)
- (AH) [Exodus, Library]Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt! by Jean Fritz
- [SCM]Discovering Doctrine by Sonya Shafer (one for each student)
- [Library, Exodus]The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig
- (AH) [Exodus, Library]Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
- [Exodus, Library]A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
- [Exodus]Louis Pasteur: Founder of Modern Medicine by John Hudson Tiner
- [Exodus]Rescue and Redeem: Volume 5, Chronicles of the Modern Church by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
- (AH) [Exodus, Library]Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
- [SCM]Strong in the Word by Sonya Shafer
- (AH) [Exodus]Victory in the Pacific by Albert Marrin
- (AH) [Exodus]The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman
- (AH) [Exodus]The Yanks Are Coming by Albert Marrin
- [Exodus]The Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in Vietnam by Quang Nhuong Huynh (optional, used with Visits to Asia)
Grades 10–12
- (AH) [Book Store]America: The Last Best Hope, Volume 1: From the Age of Discovery to a World at War by William Bennett
- (AH) [Book Store]America: The Last Best Hope, Volume 2: From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom by William Bennett
- (AH; optional) [Book Store]America: The Last Best Hope, Volume 3: From the Collapse of Communism to the Rise of Radical Islam by William Bennett
- (AH) [Exodus]American Voices: A Collection of Documents, Speeches, Essays, Hymns, Poems, and Short Stories from American History edited by Ray Notgrass
- [SCM]Book of Centuries (one for each student)
- [SCM]Discovering Doctrine by Sonya Shafer (one for each student)
- [Exodus]Hitler by Albert Marrin
- [Exodus]How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer OR [Exodus]7 Men Who Rule the World from the Grave by Dave Breese
- [Exodus]Rescue and Redeem: Volume 5, Chronicles of the Modern Church by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
- [Exodus]Stalin by Albert Marrin
- [SCM]Strong in the Word by Sonya Shafer
- [Exodus]The War to End All Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman
- (AH) [Exodus]The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman
- [Exodus]The Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in Vietnam by Quang Nhuong Huynh (optional, used with Visits to Asia)
Note: We recommend that grades 10–12 students add an American Government course either during this Modern Times study or spread over two years, during Early Modern and Modern Times studies. 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!
High School Credit
For the completion of grades 7–9 or 10–12 assignments in this Modern Times & Epistles, Revelation 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 Early Modern study.)
Sample Schedule
The lesson plans in Modern Times & Epistles, Revelation 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 Modern Times & Epistles, Revelation, published in 2017, has been updated to schedule The Stuff They Left Behind: From the Days of Modern Times portfolio and the Visits to Asia geography notebook. Out-of-print or hard-to-find books have been replaced, and high school credit suggestions have been added. Bible lessons for the whole family are now included in the guide itself, with additional assignments scheduled for older students to dig deeper into the same Bible passages with the Bible study book, Strong in the Word.
Did you find this review helpful?