Exploring America Curriculum

Typically counted as 2 credits (1 American history, 1 Bible) for high school students.

Exploring America

Exploring America is an American history high-school curriculum that combines history, literature, and the Bible in an enjoyable, easy-to-implement format. The 150 daily lessons include the history text and the reading assignments for that day.

Completing the entire course provides your child with a year’s high school credit in American History, English (literature and composition), and Bible. If that proves to be too heavy of a course load for your child, we suggest he ignore the literature portion. Instead, focus his energies on understanding the history section, which involves reading the teen-friendly Exploring America lessons, and the original source documents and speeches.

If you choose to utilize the literature portion, the required titles are books you may already have or can easily obtain from your local library. However, they are also conveniently available for purchase on the website of the publisher, the Notgrass Company. You can see the complete list of titles below in the publisher’s information.

Publisher’s Information:
Designed to be easy to use for parent and student, each of the 30 weekly units in Exploring America has an introduction that features a summary of the material covered, a list of lessons, books required for that unit, and suggested writing assignments. Each of the 150 daily lessons (five lessons per week) includes the history text and the reading assignments for that day (and those in progress). A focused student can direct his own study, and the parent can offer as much interaction as needed. Depending on how fast your child reads and how much time he spends on the weekly project, he may need an average of 2-3 hours for each daily lesson.

Exploring America presents history from the perspective of faith in God and respect for His Word. Each unit includes a Bible study highlighting spiritual issues related to history. It is comprehensive, giving students a survey of events and issues from European exploration to the war on terror, with extensive coverage of the twentieth century.

The Exploring America Curriculum Package includes three books:
Part 1: Columbus through Reconstruction (first semester)
Part 2: Late 1800s through the Present (second semester)
American Voices: Original Documents, Speeches, Poems, Stories, and Hymns from American History (assigned readings)

Completing the full course provides your child with a year's high school credit in American History, English (literature and composition), and Bible. The History credit involves reading the lessons, the original documents, and speeches (and answering the questions in the optional Quiz & Exam Pack, if desired). The English credit involves completing the weekly writing assignments and one research paper; and reading the assigned literature, poems, and short stories in American Voices. The Bible credit involves reading the Bible lessons, completing the Bible assignments at the end of many lessons, and reading the hymns and other religious literature assigned. A weekly assignment checklist and a grading chart are available for you to print out.

The Literature
In addition to the assigned readings from American Voices, the curriculum also assigns the following twelve works of literature. Specific page numbers are not assigned, so you do not have to use a particular edition.

Units 2-3: The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Units 6-7: Narrative of the Life of David Crockett (David Crockett)
Unit 8: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Frederick Douglass)
Units 9-11: Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)
Units 12-13: Co. Aytch (Sam Watkins)
Unit 15: Humorous Stories and Sketches (Mark Twain)
Units 16-17: In His Steps (Charles Sheldon)
Unit 18: Up From Slavery (Booker T. Washington)
Unit 19: Mama's Bank Account (Kathryn Forbes)
Units 20-21: Miracle in the Hills (Mary T. Martin Sloop and LeGette Blythe)
Units 22-23: To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
Unit 27: The Giver (Lois Lowry)


Exploring America Part 1
Contains 75 lessons.
Hardcover.
Color illustrations.
422 pages.
Copyright: 2019
Printed In: USA
ISBN: 9781609999988

Exploring America Part 2
Contains 75 lessons.
Copyright: 2019
Printed In: USA
Hardcover.
Color illustrations.
486 pages.
ISBN: 9781609999995

American Voices
A collection of original documents, poems, stories, speeches, and hymns from American history.
Hardcover.
Color illustrations.
420 pages.
Copyright: 2014
Printed In: USA
ISBN: 9781609990688

Download PDF Sample Pages:
Exploring America Part 1
Exploring Student Review Pack Sample
Guide for Parents
Comparison of Exploring America and America the Beautiful

Author: Notgrass
Media: Hardcover Book
ISBN: 9781609990664, 9781609990688, & 9781609990671
Publisher: Notgrass
Typical High School Credits Earned: 1 credit American history, 1 credit Bible
Faith-Based: Yes