This sixth book in our award-winning history series gives you daily lesson plans covering the famous men and events of Modern Times, including both American History and World History. Designed to help you teach all your children together for history, geography, and Bible, it also covers the geography of Asia, as well as several Epistles and the book of Revelation. (Grades 1–12)
Study the Bible, geography, and history together as a family!
The sixth in our popular six-book history series, this study walks your family through people and events from Modern Times (about 1850–2012), covering both American History and World History. The geography of Asia is incorporated, and Family Bible lessons focus on truths from New Testament epistles (1 & 2 Peter; 1, 2, & 3 John; Jude) as well as the book of Revelation. Additional assignments are provided for older students to dig deeper into those same Bible passages.
The Charlotte Mason-style lesson plans
Engage your students’ hearts and minds through wonderful living books.
Help your students listen attentively and recall what was read by narrating.
Let you teach the whole family together by sharing some books as family read-alouds, then challenging older students with additional reading and writing assignments from other books on the same topic.
Connect geography to the people who lived there—both past and present.
Help all your students, grades 1–12, feel at home in Scripture and challenged to keep growing spiritually through short, practical Bible lessons for the whole family and additional corresponding Bible studies for the older students.
Keep things simple by providing helpful reminders of upcoming resources, teaching tips, and Book of Centuries entries.
See the complete year’s book list, along with suggestions of where to find the books, in the convenient Book List tab above.
Sample Schedule
The lesson plans in Modern Times & Epistles, Revelation are very doable. Your weekly schedule would look something like this, with older students also spending time on additional assignments:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
American History (20–30 min.)
American History (20–30 min.)
Geography (10–15 min.) Bible (15–20 min.)
World History (20–30 min.)
World History (20–30 min.)
Our History, Geography, and Bible Series
With our six-book series, you will cover the entire Bible, learn history from ancient to modern, and study all the main regions of the world!
Read the books listed under Family to all the students together. Add the grade-level books as individual reads for any children you have in those grades. For example, if you have students in grades 9 and 11, you will want to get the books under Family, Grades 7–9, and Grades 10–12.
(AH) = American History book, so if you are in a different country you can easily identify and substitute books as desired.
Family
Bible
(AH) Billy Graham: God’s Ambassador by Russ Busby ORBilly Graham: Just Get Up Out of Your Seat by Catherine Mackenzie
(AH) The Brooklyn Bridge by Elizabeth Mann
(AH) Empire State Building by Elizabeth Mann
Gandhi: The Young Protester Who Founded a Nation by Philip Wilkinson
George Mueller by Faith Coxe Bailey
(AH) The Hoover Dam by Elizabeth Mann
Mandela: The Rebel Who Led His Nation to Freedom by Ann Kramer
Material WorldandHungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel
(AH) Our Country’s Presidents by Ann Bausum (reference book)
(AH) Stories of America, Volume 2, by Charles Morris, et al.
Stories of the Nations, Volume 2, by Lorene Lambert and Charles Morris
(AH) The Story of Thomas A. Edison by Frances M. Perry
The Stuff They Left Behind: From the Days of Modern Times portfolio
Visits to Asia notebook by Sonya Shafer (one for each student)
Plus . . . Grades 1–3
(AH) A Boy Named FDR by Kathleen Krull
(AH) I Have a Dream: The Story of Martin Luther King by Margaret Davidson
The Journey That Saved Curious George by Louise Borden
(AH) Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca
Only a Dog: A Story of the Great War by Bertha Whitridge Smith
(AH) The Unbreakable Code by Sara Hoagland Hunter
Grades 4–6
(AH) Abe Lincoln: Log Cabin to White House by Sterling North
(AH) Always Inventing: A Photobiography of Alexander Graham Bell by Tom L. Matthew
(AH) I Have a Dream: The Story of Martin Luther King by Margaret Davidson
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Parker
The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy
Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
(AH) Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh
Grades 7–9
Across America on an Emigrant Train by Jim Murphy
(AH) Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Book of Centuries (one for each student)
(AH) Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt by Jean Fritz
Discovering Doctrine by Sonya Shafer (one for each student)
The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig
(AH) Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Parker
Louis Pasteur: Founder of Modern Medicine by John Hudson Tiner
Rescue and Redeem: Volume 5, Chronicles of the Modern Church by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
(AH) Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Strong in the Word by Sonya Shafer
(AH) Victory in the Pacific by Albert Marrin
(AH) The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman
(AH) The Yanks Are Coming by Albert Marrin
Grades 10–12
(AH) America: The Last Best Hope, Volume 1: From the Age of Discovery to a World at War by William Bennett
(AH) America: The Last Best Hope, Volume 2: From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom by William Bennett
(AH; optional) America: The Last Best Hope, Volume 3: From the Collapse of Communism to the Rise of Radical Islam by William Bennett
(AH) American Voices: A Collection of Documents, Speeches, Essays, Hymns, Poems, and Short Stories from American History edited by Ray Notgrass
Book of Centuries (one for each student)
Discovering Doctrine by Sonya Shafer (one for each student)
Hitler by Albert Marrin
How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer OR7 Men Who Rule the World from the Grave by Dave Breese
Rescue and Redeem: Volume 5, Chronicles of the Modern Church by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
Stalin by Albert Marrin
Strong in the Word by Sonya Shafer
The War to End All Wars by Russell Freedman
(AH) The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman
Note: We recommend that grades 10–12 students add an American Government course either during this Modern Times study or spread over two years, during Early Modern and Modern Times studies. One possibility might beExploring Government from Notgrass Publishing, taken at a slower pace.
Where to Find the Books
Simply Charlotte Mason
Book of Centuries (one for each student in grades 7–12; download a free basic one or purchase an expanded edition)
Visits to Asia notebook by Sonya Shafer (one for each student) (Family)
Your Local Library
(These are the titles that a library is most likely to have. The links will take you to the CM Bookfinder, where you can find out if a library near you has a copy. If your library does not have access to a book listed here, add it to your Book Store list.)
Are the printed handbooks bound so that they lay flat when opened? It does not look like they are spiral bound from the picture. Thanks!
Jordan Smith–
The handbooks are not spiral-bound, so they don’t lay flat when opened.
Rebecca K–
Is it really important to follow the plan to do the epistles Bible study first? or would it be ok to do Revelation first? We are studying Revelation in church, so i’d like to do it first if possible. or is it intermingled…
Sonya Shafer–
The Revelation study is a stand-alone study and can be used any time.
Rebecca K–
I know- i just wonder if it would mess with the flow of the program to do the Bible studies in reverse..
Sonya Shafer–
The main reason for the order in which the epistles are studied is chronological; they are studied in the order in which they were written, for the most part. I’m a big believer in uniting church and home study when you have the opportunity, so my leaning would be to do a little rearranging. 🙂
Jenn–
Is the Visits to North America supposed to be used with this handbook? It looks like other resources are recommended for Geography. Is that because this handbook was written before the Visits To series came out?
Jordan Smith–
The Modern Times lesson plans use a different geography study because the Visits to… hadn’t been created when we published the book. You can feel free to substitute Visits to North America by doing one lesson from Visits each week of the Modern Times study, instead of the scheduled geography resources.
Rebekah Howell–
Under the book list for this, the Bible materials used to be listed but now with the undated versions I don’t see them on the book list. I still need to order them separately, correct? Would that include the GOAL journal as well as the Epistles and Revelation book?
Jordan Smith–
The new 2nd edition includes the Family Bible lessons right in the lesson plans, so there’s no additional book needed for the younger grades. Students in grades 7–12 are assigned the new book Strong in the Word for more in-depth Bible study. Strong in the Word incorporates most of the material from the Revelation study used in the 1st edition.
Beth –
Are the printed handbooks bound so that they lay flat when opened? It does not look like they are spiral bound from the picture. Thanks!
Jordan Smith –
The handbooks are not spiral-bound, so they don’t lay flat when opened.
Rebecca K –
Is it really important to follow the plan to do the epistles Bible study first? or would it be ok to do Revelation first? We are studying Revelation in church, so i’d like to do it first if possible. or is it intermingled…
Sonya Shafer –
The Revelation study is a stand-alone study and can be used any time.
Rebecca K –
I know- i just wonder if it would mess with the flow of the program to do the Bible studies in reverse..
Sonya Shafer –
The main reason for the order in which the epistles are studied is chronological; they are studied in the order in which they were written, for the most part. I’m a big believer in uniting church and home study when you have the opportunity, so my leaning would be to do a little rearranging. 🙂
Jenn –
Is the Visits to North America supposed to be used with this handbook? It looks like other resources are recommended for Geography. Is that because this handbook was written before the Visits To series came out?
Jordan Smith –
The Modern Times lesson plans use a different geography study because the Visits to… hadn’t been created when we published the book. You can feel free to substitute Visits to North America by doing one lesson from Visits each week of the Modern Times study, instead of the scheduled geography resources.
Rebekah Howell –
Under the book list for this, the Bible materials used to be listed but now with the undated versions I don’t see them on the book list. I still need to order them separately, correct? Would that include the GOAL journal as well as the Epistles and Revelation book?
Jordan Smith –
The new 2nd edition includes the Family Bible lessons right in the lesson plans, so there’s no additional book needed for the younger grades. Students in grades 7–12 are assigned the new book Strong in the Word for more in-depth Bible study. Strong in the Word incorporates most of the material from the Revelation study used in the 1st edition.