History & Geography

About this course

First grade widens the circle from the family out to the world, and it does it in eight short strands rather than one long timeline. The year opens with community and citizenship, covering neighborhoods, why rules exist, and the difference between a right and a responsibility. American history comes next: the Pilgrims and their reasons for leaving, the 66-day Mayflower crossing, Squanto and the Native Americans who helped them, the first Thanksgiving, colonial life, the founding of the nation, George Washington, and the national symbols. A world civilizations unit gives a first, gentle look at Egypt, Israel, Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the missionary movement. Geography teaches home address, maps and globes, the seven continents and the oceans, north, south, east, and west, landforms, the Nile, Jordan, and Euphrates, and where Jesus lived. The civics unit works from parents and pastors outward to mayors, governors, and the three branches of the federal government, including what the Senate, the House, and the Supreme Court actually do. Economics covers needs against wants, work, earning, saving, spending, giving, bartering, and stewardship. The last two units cover culture, food, music, languages, and art around the world, then what news is and how to follow it thoughtfully.

There are 72 lessons, arranged as eight units of nine, each running about 25 minutes. Everything is written as a script for you. The text gives you sentences to say out loud, two or three questions to ask, a King James verse to read together, a few paragraphs of plain facts with real numbers in them, a hands-on activity using paper and crayons or something already in the house, and a wrap-up question. Each lesson ends with a ten-question multiple-choice quiz that grades itself.

No prior history is assumed and the Kindergarten course is not a prerequisite. Your student is not expected to read the lesson independently at this level, and since several quiz questions ask a student to finish a King James verse, plan on reading the quiz aloud as well. The framing throughout is that God governs history and that authority begins in the home and the church before it reaches the state, so the government and economics units carry as much Scripture as the Bible-history ones do.

What the course covers

• Community, rules, and the duties of a citizen
• The Pilgrims, Plymouth, and the first Thanksgiving
• Colonial life, the founding, and George Washington
• Ancient Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome
• The Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation, and missionaries
• Maps, globes, continents, oceans, and landforms
• Bible lands: the Nile, the Jordan, and the Holy Land
• Family, church, local, state, and national government
• Needs and wants, earning, saving, giving, and stewardship
• World cultures, languages, and following the news

What your student will be able to do

• Tell the story of the Pilgrims and explain why they sailed
• Name the seven continents and four oceans and use a globe
• State a home address, city, state, and country and find them on a map
• Name the three branches of the federal government and what each does
• Explain the difference between a need and a want and why saving matters
• Describe how one ancient civilization lived and what it left behind

Scope and sequence

All 8 units of History & Geography for Grade 1, in the order they are taught.

Every lesson, by title

All 72 lesson titles are listed here — nothing is withheld until you download. Open a unit to read its contents.

One whole lesson, exactly as it comes

This is a real lesson taken from the middle of the course — the teaching text, the practice, the homework, and the first three quiz questions with their answers. It is not a marketing excerpt.

What you will need

Drawn from the materials named across all 72 lessons of this course. Most families already own most of it.