HistorySkills.com is a free website (with a subscription option) that offers lessons for the sequential study of world history for junior and senior high. What caught my attention was the series of lessons on specific countries for modern history for America, France, Russia, Germany, Australia, India, Japan, and Israel-Palestine. Rather than comprehensive courses on each country, they serve as supplements. (Find these lessons under the Classroom tab, then under Modern History.)
HistorySkills.com does something unusual by offering students two or three options for studying each topic, with all options covering similar material. The first option gives students an article to read and a downloadable worksheet with a set of questions to answer. The second provides students with a graphic organizer “research worksheet” to complete with much of the same information covered in the questions asked on the worksheet for the first option. Students are to use the internet to research, but no specific links or websites are provided. (Elsewhere on the website are suggestions for websites for research.) The third option, which is not always included, uses a History Skills video on YouTube® and a page of questions. The worksheets for all three options conclude with the same essay question. The first option seems to use the script from the third-option video, but only a few of the worksheet questions are identical for both options. Online, multiple-choice quizzes are scored immediately, but they only show whether answers are correct or not. Parents need the answer sheets to see the correct answers. Students can retake the quizzes. Scores are not retained by the program, so they must be recorded immediately.
Some lessons include extension activities, generally articles and videos that significantly expand the lessons.
Aside from the lesson content, the website includes lots of extra free resources, such as “Rules About In-text Referencing” and a lesson on “How to Analyze and Evaluate Historical Sources.”
HistorySkills.com also sells downloadable forms, such as the “Cause and Consequence Graphic Organizer,” “Background Research Worksheet,” and Historical Knowledge Exam Revision.” (Revision is the term for review in some countries.)
Optional teacher passes range in price from $15 to $55 dollars. Be aware that these are subscriptions tied to the calendar year rather than the American school schedule. Subscribers have access to answer sheets, class debate activities, imaginative writing assignments, poster projects, PowerPoint presentations, and more, with the available teacher resources varying for each topic. For most homeschoolers, the answer keys are probably the most helpful component, but you can manage without them since the quizzes are computer-scored.
Summary
HistorySkills.com should be a helpful resource for homeschoolers teaching junior and senior high, and should be especially helpful for those who want specialized study of countries not usually included in history courses.