History Year 3: Quick Start

The History Year 3 Course Set includes the four individual items listed below.

The course can be successfully completed without the game which is sold out and does not have a digital version.

You also have access to two digital items: Student Explorers and Audio Dramatizations. Both items can be found here. The access code is located in the About This Course pages in the front of the course book.

About This Course

Click below for a printable download of this information.

Course Pacing

This family-style course is broken into four units for a total of 60 lessons, each about 60 minutes long. This also includes 20 minutes for a family read-aloud book of your choice. We encourage you to also discuss and explore the topics that spark interest in your family.

If you complete two lessons per week, it will take one school year to complete a course. We recommend completing three lessons a week if you are teaching children in grades 6 and above.

Four-Year Outline

All history courses (years 1–4) cover ancient times to modern history; each course stops in different places and periods to explore in depth. Thus, children see the whole sweep of history and how it fits together during each course. Each of the four history courses places an emphasis on US history, the Founding Fathers, and principles of freedom.

Download the Four-Year Outline here.

Lessons

There are a few lessons that require additional items. We suggest that you look ahead a few lessons to gather the items. 

Bold text indicates instructions to you. Regular text is what you read to children. [Text within brackets are the answers to questions you ask the children.]

The Big Book of History Stories

This full-color book is a compilation of stories, maps, and images. The Year 3 Course Book indicates when to refer to the maps and images.

History Timeline

Used in History Years 2, 3, and 4, the History Timeline comes with the History Year 2 Course Set. If you did not do History Year 2 yet, you will need to purchase the timeline here.

Student Explorers

The lessons indicate when to use the Student Explorers. Not all lessons use them, and in some lessons the older children use the Student Explorers while younger children do not.

Print a Student Explorer for each child (based on their grade level), and place each Student Explorer in a 3-ring binder. For how to access the Student Explorers, read the About This Course pages in the front of the course book.

Audio Dramatizations

The password for the audio dramatizations page is in the About This Course section at the beginning of your history course book. Once you open the audio online, you can stream the audio or download it. To download, right-click and choose “Save As.”

Bill of Rights Round-Up

Rather than having lessons on the Bill of Rights, children learn about the Bill of Rights through the Year 3 history game, Bill of Rights Roundup. This game also helps add variety and family or class interaction. The course book indicates when to play this game at different points throughout the course. In addition, we suggest (and directed by the course book) that you play this game occasionally during the Year 4 history course as a review.

The game can be played by 1–8 players and includes an instruction card.. A card titled “Facts to Know” is also included. It is highly recommended that you read this card aloud each time before you play the game. If desired, older children can work on memorizing some of the key amendments each time you play the game.

Please note that The Good & the Beautiful U.S. Constitution & Government course contains several lessons on the Bill of Rights that go into greater detail on this subject.

Teaching Older Children

Students in grades 7–12 create a history notebook from loose leaf paper that students put in a binder. The course book and student explorers guide students through creating this notebook.

The Grades 10–12 Student Explorers contain in-depth reading assignments and activities that students complete independently to prepare them for college-level learning.

Teaching Younger Children

Occasionally, in a big box under the lesson heading, you will see a message that suggests you skip the lesson if you are teaching only children in younger grades. All lesson material is appropriate for all ages, but these particular lessons may be too complex for younger children.

If you have both older and younger children, it is suggested you do all the lessons and let younger children participate to the degree you choose.

Recommended Resources

As part of the course, we encourage you to select and read four books to your children, one for each of the four units in the course. For a list of suggestions, click on this link Read-Aloud Suggestions. 

Reading engaging books with high literary, moral, and educational value is a powerful way to teach and instill a love of history. Most lessons set aside 20 minutes for the teacher read-aloud, but to finish a book by the end of the unit, most read-aloud books require that you read outside of lesson time as well.

All history read-aloud book packs are permanently sold out.

History Year 3 Read-Aloud Book Pack

New History Updates

See all the latest information about the updates for History Years 1–4. If you have our current editions, you will still be able to access all the digital extras on the website as described in the About This Course pages in the front of the course book.

Click here to see the latest updates.