Homeschool High School World History and Literature Together

Here’s how to make some sparkle for your teens’ education: Homeschool High School World History and Literature Together!

Homeschool High School World History and Literature Together

One of my favorite radio shows for years was Car Talk on NPR, which is pretty amusing since I don’t care too much about cars. However, I enjoy the show so much that I often learn something. (Once I even told my son that unfortunately, his old car had a cracked head gasket based on what I knew from Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers.)

You might wonder where I’m going with this? Two directions at once…

1) One of the fun parts of their website is their Shameless Commerce Division, which segues nicely into the fact that I am shamelessly going to tell you how 7Sisters Literature Guides can help your teen enjoy his/her combined World History and Literature credits.

2) The point here is ENJOY. Why kill great subjects like Literature and History with boring texts when real books can give a much better look at life and culture of an era?

Here is a suggestion for your homeschool high schooler who wants to combine World History and Literature:

First you can use History and Philosophy of the Western World as your anchor. Then level up to a World Honors by reading some classic World Literature books. These books enhance the learnings about the time periods of each book, giving homeschool high schooler a richer understanding of the lives of some of the people of that era.

Choose books that reflect cultural eras that capture your teen’s interest (I am assuming that in elementary and middle school he had a good general foundation in history, so can do some specializing in high school.) Have him read those books and complete the appropriate study guide as he goes along, or write a one-page report summarizing or create a project to show what he learned from the book. The number of books your homeschool high schooler will need to cover will vary according to your goals and any guidelines given you buy your supervising organizations (if you have one, that is). If you need a rule of thumb: think 9 extra books for 9th grade honors-level and 16 extra books for 12th grade honors level.

Now, for Language Arts, count all the books your homeschool high schooler reads towards his/her book list for the year.

So, if your homeschool high schooler reads 16 books for World History, he has also read 16 books towards a World Literature credit. Here’s a post that helps you determine the numbers of books your teen should read, according to their age, goals and interests.

Here is a suggestion list for World History and Literature combined:

Antigone with Study Guide (represents culture of Ancient Greece)
Practice of the Presence of God with Study Guide (represents the monastic life of the late Renaissance era)
A Tale of Two Cities with Study Guide (represents the French Revolution)
Sense and Sensibility with Study Guide (represents the culture of Britain in the early 1800s)
A Christmas Carol with Study Guide (represents the issues of the Victorian era)
The Hiding Place with Study Guide (represents some issues of World War II era)
God’s Smuggler with Study Guide (represents the struggles for Christians in communist lands during the Cold War)
Born Again with Study Guide (represents the American cultural crises of the late 1960s-1970s)
Something Beautiful for God with Study Guide (represents the life of Mother Theresa and sacrifice in the 20th century)

You can actually find most of these guides in our World Literature Literature Study Guide bundle, if you prefer.

The above are books that have study guides to help teens understand them. Belos are some other books that are powerful, educational or heart-warming. There are no study guides, but just good reading:

Adam and His Kin by Ruth Beechik (the story of Adam and his descendants)
Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus by Jodi Magness
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs by John Foxe (represents the early church persecutions)
The Defenders by Ann McGovern (represents the clash of Native American culture with European culture)
Under God by Toby Mac and Michael Tait (represents the story of God working through Americans since the founding fathers)
{Full disclosure: We are Amazon Associates. Purchasing through this link provides a commission to 7Sisters.}
Sgt York and the Great War by Tom Skeyhill (from York’s own diaries, fascinating look at rural American life and WWI)
From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya by Ruth Tucker (represents 2000 years of missionary history)

This basic list may need to be extended according to the requirements of your umbrella school or state regulations. For reference, click here to see our umbrella school’s requirements.

What are some great history real-books your teen has read?

Movies can also enhance your history learning. Click here to see a blog about our favorite history movies.