American History

Uncover the rich treasures of American History

• Live the thrilling story of America, from before Columbus to modern times.
• Guide your children with confidence; this program provides daily plans and complete materials for the entire year.
• Examine events, people and debates that have molded the United States.
• Cheer on patriots who stood for freedom and justice ... and evaluate America's missteps with open eyes.
• Watch your children read, write, discuss and grow as students with this American history curriculum.
• Purchase this US history book package and you'll get free shipping (lower 48), a one-year guarantee and other perks.

Overview of the History

Instructor's Guides

We've formatted History 120 for independent study, if desired. Your History and Bible Parent Guide and separate History and Bible Student Guide weave materials together cohesively to direct your students with confidence each day.

The Parent Guide mirrors the Student Guide, but also includes answers and extra notes. So you can discuss their reading, check their progress, and bolster their academic and spiritual learning.

American History

Sonlight's 120 American History course offers a fascinating look at the ups and downs of the nation's past. As your children transition to independent learning, they will examine the events, people, and debates that molded the United States.

This course builds on the foundation of William J. Bennett's bestselling trilogy our nation's history—condensed into an epic one-volume edition America: The Last Best Hope. In this riveting volume, Bennett covers America’s greatest moments in breath-taking detail.

The spine of the course is stellar. But to expand on Bennett, the Instructor's Guide includes extensive notes and articles. With America: The Last Best Hope (One-Volume Edition) and the IG combined, you have an extraordinary tool to help your children think about, and understand, American History.

And there are 17 more history books to enjoy!

Some expand on a time: Before Columbus explores what America was like before Europeans arrived; The Yanks Are Coming offers wonderful details of WWI; Colonial America offers a closer look at how some of the major British colonies were formed.

Some are about specific people: Traitor: The Case of Benedict Arnold tells the story of the most famous turncoat in American history. The Lions of Little Rock tells the story of two girls willing to take on segregation and the dangers their friendship could bring in order to stay friends. David Wilkerson left a comfortable suburban pastorate to minister to gangs in New York. Cameron Townsend wondered how much more effective he would be as a missionary if the people had the Bible in their heart-language.

And some are about specific events: the story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, life in a Pilgrim settlement at Plymouth; writing the Constitution, fighting the battle of Gettysburg, and building the Panama Canal.

This course offers a wide range of perspectives, nationalities, and locations.

After their children have worked through Sonlight's 120 course, some parents have their children take the CLEP exam (the College Level Examination Program test that counts for college credit at some schools). These students pass.

Even though many of the Sonlight books are not "challenging" in their reading level, the quantity of titles, the memorability of the books, and the incredible range of topics, make the whole a thorough, enjoyable study of American History.

Biblical Studies

Teach your children to live out their faith. The Bible 110 program includes Scripture reading and practical lessons in how to study, interpret and apply the Scriptures in everyday life. Help your students build their theological framework, explore the evidence for our faith and develop discipline in prayer. Help you raise children who love God and know what and why they believe.

Estimated daily time for American History: Student: 45min.

Our high school courses are separated by subject to allow customers maximum flexibility. Feel free to buy either the History or the Literature, or both, or to mix-and-match with the History and Literature of other Sonlight courses.

Overview of the Literature

Instructor's Guides

Your Literature 130 Instructor's Guides (IG) weaves all your materials into one exciting and cohesive program. Starting in this upper-level program, you receive both a Literature and Language Arts Parent Guide and a separate Student Guide.

The Parent Guide mirrors the Student Guide, but also includes answers, provides extra notes and allows you to check their progress and discuss their reading. This format allows you to be as engaged or as hands-off as you and your students like.

American Historical Literature

Sonlight's 130 Literature moves roughly chronologically through American History. The books are in a variety of genres, including lyric poetry, short story, novella, novel, memoir, science fiction, historical fiction, and travelogue. There is a novel told in vignettes, a novel told from multiple points of view, an epistolary novel, and a novel-in-verse.

The setting of the books is also varied across the United States: Alaska, California, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Michigan, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Also a covered wagon trip from Arkansas to Oregon, and a car road trip from Chicago to Texas.

You'll read a book about each of our North American neighbors: Elijah of Buxton takes place in Canada and My Heart Lies South takes place in Mexico.

The male and female authors are Caucasian, African-American, Abenaki, and Korean-American.

The Literature includes several mature works. The poetry book, for example, contains collections by six of America's top poets, including Whitman, Dickinson, Frost, and Sandburg.

You probably know the story of Rip Van Winkle, who went to the mountains and ended up asleep for twenty years. It's a classic American short story. The author has a scintillating vocabulary, which makes the simple story quite a challenging read.

Jack London's Call of the Wild, about a California dog kidnapped to the Yukon during the Gold Rush, explores how deep our "civilization" really runs. What does life look like without external moral boundaries?

And the classic To Kill a Mockingbird, one of my favorites, looks at racial tension in the South, with a bit of courtroom drama (and who doesn't love that?).

Apart from these, most of the books are not challenging reads. Some of the topics are more mature than I'd prefer for elementary school children. For example, Keeping Score includes a character who returned from the Korean War with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after he witnessed war crimes. This is not comfortable history, though told gently. Rules of the Road's main character is a teen who has to figure out what it looks like to have a relationship with a drunk, deadbeat dad. Bonanza Girl, despite the incredible charm of the story, deals with intense racism in an Idaho gold-mining town.

None of these books focus on dark things. But they all include it, making this, I believe, an excellent transitional course, for upper middle school and lower high school.

Overall, this is a charming collection, diverse, interesting, enjoyable, and thought-provoking.

Life Skills

The counter-cultural view presented in Dating With Integrity challenges your children to stop and think about how they view dating. It also provides a great opportunity for you to discuss positive, healthy interaction with members of the opposite sex.

Language Arts

Fully integrated with the Literature, this year's Language Arts builds on past years and continues to develop literary analysis, creative writing, research, and essay skills, with weekly writing assignments in a range of lengths and topics.

Estimated daily time for American Literature: Student: 45min.

Prefer to build your own course of study?

Create a complete course of study by mixing and matching individual high school courses. Visit sonlight.com/high-school to get started.