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.