Lower Years History Curriculum

The Stories of Great Men and Women
Grades 1 to 4

These years can rely on picture books available at your public library and/or stories in collections such as were commonly published in earlier times. The names below are simply the most well-known historical figures that you can find in a chronological index of the latter that has been compiled in another post. Your favorite CM-website will be a good place to start in finding newer publications (such as the biographies by the D’Aulaires).

It is not necessary to be in any way systematic or orderly. In these years, it is most important simply to enjoy the stories. My only recommendation is to have a very gentle overarching chronological frame for each year. The only “violation” of this principle would be the reading of chapter-book biographies as the child gets older. The child can read these when he or she is ready to and would then return to figures or events from history encountered in previous years.

Although Charlotte Mason recommends starting with one’s own country, if I were doing this myself, I would probably be more wide-ranging in my choices. This is a good age to start thinking about the countries of the world, and the stories of great men of foreign countries would be a great way to do that. America will be privileged by nature of the very availability of materials.

Grade 1 – American History up through 17th Century

Leif Ericson – Christopher Columbus – Ponce de Leon – Hernando de Soto – Walter Raleigh – Pocahontas – Squanto – John Winthrop – Jacques Marquette & Louis Joliet – William Penn – Madeleine de Verchères

Grade 2 – American History, 18th Century

Benjamin Franklin – George Washington – Benjamin West – Daniel Boone – Paul Revere – John Paul Jones – Molly Pitcher – Francis Marion – Daniel Webster – Thomas Jefferson

Grade 3 – American History, 19th Century

Lewis & Clark & Sacagewea – Robert Fulton – Francis Scott Key – Longfellow – Robert E. Lee – Abraham Lincoln – James Audobon – Kit Carson – Andrew Jackson – Ulysses S. Grant – Clara Barton

Grade 4 – American History, 20th Century

You will not find much in the public domain, but there are an abundance of newer publications to enjoy.