With my 8th grader, we do both world history and U.S. Civics. She reads the world history on her own (Story of the World volumes 3 & 4 this year). We do the civics lessons together (Uncle Sam and You). Our read aloud historical book (either historical fiction, biography, or non-fiction) varies. Sometimes it is related to the history, sometimes it is related to civics. Though this year the history and civics are beginning to overlap quite a bit, since she’s learning so much about American history.
Last year, we did something similar. She read the first two books of Story of the World on her own. We did geography and cultures lessons together. Again, we varied the read aloud books to either go with history or cultures.
We just started doing this, but we have done it in the past as well. We are following the schedule from A Delectable Education, which breaks it down nicely into a 4 year cycle. On Monday we are reading from Ancient Egypt and Her Neighbors and using the Stuff They Left Behind portfolio. On Wednesday, we cover British history. Each child has their own book (Our Island Story, A History of England, or Birth of Britain). On Friday we cover American history the same (America’s Story, Story of the Thirteen Colonies, This Country of Ours, or A History of the American People). My youngest only has American History, but the older kids all cover 3 streams. We are reading biographies and historic fiction in the afternoons or evenings.