History Odyssey: Ancients

Fifth through eighth graders learning at home or in co-ops, learning pods, micro-schools, or charter schools can use Ancients as their primary history curriculum. So students can work independently, the study guide is written directly to them in concise, easy to understand language.

Students should be comfortable writing complete sentences and reading for comprehension independently before starting Ancients.

Most of the 72 lessons are organized into bite-sized chunks intended to be completed in one sitting. This helps students manage their time wisely. Students can expect to spend roughly 1-2 hours per lesson several days per week in order to complete the course in one school year. The exact schedule can ebb and flow as needed.

Students will learn about events that occurred from approximately 20,000 BCE to 500 CE. Major areas of study include:

• Significant achievements of the earliest civilizations
• Defining characteristics of ancient societies in Eurasia, the Americas, and Africa
• Ancient Egyptian culture
• Life in Ancient Greece
• The rise and fall of the Roman empire

ritical Thinking/Multiple Resources

The foundation of the History Odyssey methodology is the idea that gathering information from multiple resources is the key to a sophisticated, well-rounded grasp of history. In this course, the seeds are planted for developing critical thinking skills.

Most lessons assign readings from the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia as a way to introduce the material. However, as they work their way through the course, students will become accustomed to using primary sources such as the Code of Hammurabi along with biographies, novels, and myths to round out their investigations.

Reading historically significant literature is an integral part of this course. Students will read:

• Egyptian myths
• Greek myths and classic literature
• Fiction set in ancient times
• Descriptive sketches of the Egyptian pyramids (alternative book list)
• Mexican myths (alternative book list)

See the book list tab for a complete list of resources used throughout the course.

Writing assignments focus on two-level outlines, frequent short summaries of the readings, and the occasional full-page length summary.

The course gently guides students through the summary and outlining process. In early lessons, substantial support is provided. For example, short, fill-in-the-blank statements serve as the summaries for the first lesson. Soon thereafter, students are expected to craft their own sentences, and eventually paragraphs, about a specific event, place, or person from the reading.

Similarly, students will learn to extract main ideas to outline material. Initially, outlines are provided for the students to build from. Later, students are expected to write them on their own, perhaps using the suggestions provided for main ideas.

Almost every lesson allocates time to mapwork and adding events to the student’s timeline. By working on these together, students can begin to see the events of history as a product of both time and place.

There are 21 outline maps included in History Odyssey Ancients. Students will label countries, cities, bodies of water, cultural regions, empires, invasion patterns, trade routes, migration routes, and more. Additionally, they will frequently compare ancient political and cultural boundaries with modern ones to envision those differences on the physical landscape.

Students will maintain a timeline of ancient history. They can construct their own or use The History Odyssey Timeline. Each lesson provides a list of significant dates and events to add to their timeline as the events are covered. Additionally, there are three lessons throughout the course dedicated to studying their timeline to ensure they have a solid understanding of how events are oriented in time.