Classical History for Homeschoolers: History Odyssey

I talk with a lot of homeschooling families – it’s one of my favorite pastimes! A reoccurring concern among many is a shortage of comprehensive history curricula.

More than many other subjects, history typically requires home educators to scramble unaided to scour libraries, bookstores, yard sales, and the internet for engaging works. Piecemeal-ing a course of study only to find selected titles that are cost-prohibitive, out of print, subjective, or, worst of all, boring is a time-consuming disappointment.

If you can relate to the scenario described above, I’ve got some good news for you; it is Pandia Press, a producer of secular history curricula created with home educators in mind. 

The History Odyssey series combines a classical approach to teaching with a thoughtful reading list and hands-on activities for grades 1 through 12. The classical method expects that students will cycle through a study of historical periods three times throughout their education. With this in mind, Pandia’s curriculum provides three levels: Level One, for grades 1-4, Level Two, for grades 5-8, and Level Three, for grades 9-12. Each level provides four programs lasting one year apiece; they are Ancients, Middle Ages, Early Modern, and Modern Times. If a student were to start with this program in grade one, completing the entire twelve-year program employing the classical method, she would revisit each history section three times.

For this review I looked at the ebook version of History Odyssey Ancients, Level One, which is a look at world history from 6000 BCE to 500 CE. A hard copy edition of this work is also available; however it is not a bound book; rather, it’s a set of loose leaf papers, which for some might be disappointing.

History Odyssey is not a textbook but rather a guide. Think of it like this—your closest homeschooler friend, the organized, well-read mother you so admire, mentions what a great year of history studies her family has enjoyed. She tells you this is thanks to all of the great resources she managed to glean from hours of exhaustive research. She happens to have recorded all of the details in a digestible, comprehensive format and over of cup of coffee she offers to share it all with you—this is what it’s like to thumb through the pages of this guide.

Each chapter of this guide is a complete week-long lesson plan organized and presented in a straightforward fashion that harried home educators will appreciate. An instructor’s prep list, a lesson plan chock-full of readings, map work, writing assignments and project ideas, and animpressive reading list are all provided. 

Elementary level guides are for use with children 6 to 10 years old. Understanding that the range of skill sets in this age range varies dramatically, the author provides lesson ideas that can be easily adapted to suit the needs of individual students.

As there may be more suggested readings and project ideas than a family could complete comfortably in a year’s time, there is no need to acquire all of the suggested resources in advance. Take time to gauge your child’s level of interest and select the resources that will be most appealing. The author acknowledges that families will choose to approach these materials in number of different ways; for this reason she has designed flexible lesson plans that can be modified accordingly.

History Odyssey is not a canned curriculum, and parental involvement is required; however, I’m pretty certain you’ll enjoy the process. Along with overseeing lessons, time enough to locate all of the books and project materials referenced is also required. The good news here is that these titles are generally easy to come by at libraries and online. This guide also eliminates countless hours one might spend trying to identify history’s most important themes and organizes them in a linear, practical manner.

Secular and religious homeschoolers are likely to feel equally at home with History Odyssey’s respectful approach to world religions.

Kinesthetic learners who learn best through movement and hands-on activities may not find this curriculum is a fit. Although there are opportunities for projects and map activities, History Odyssey is primarily a book-focused curriculum that entails a great deal of reading and listening.

History Odyssey is bit pricey. At $46 for a loose leaf series of pages and $37.99 for the e-Book, you’ll want to be certain your library can provide the bulk of required reading materials.

A unique program, History Odyssey makes wearisome, lifeless textbooks a thing of the past. Children for whom this program is suited will enjoy tremendously the compelling stories of people, places and customs of the long ago past. Parents who know the labor involved in compiling resource lists such as these, will be deeply appreciative of the time they’ll save using this guide; they’ll be equally impressed with the quality of resources explored.

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