Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum World History: Why It’s Our Choice for Next Year

In the old days, whenever I chose curriculum, I was always looking for stuff that could be used by ALL of my kids, thereby saving me the expense of having to replace it for each one who came next. I researched, made a decision, then had the first kid use the chosen curriculum. And if it wasn't absolutely horrible, then all the rest “got to” use it, too.

The interesting thing is, now that there is only one student left in our homeschool, I am much more open to trying new curriculum. Amazing how that works, isn't it? LOL

We have even tried a whole new style of homeschooling the last few years, joining a co-op for the first time in a decade. The nature of the co-op was such that you followed the curriculum they had already picked out, which meant I didn't have to research AT ALL — which was a nice breather, actually.

But we have decided not to return to that co-op for next year, and so now I have the opportunity to re-evaluate whether I want to go back to our “old” curriculum, used by kids #1-4, or switch it up a little.

This post was sponsored by Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum. All opinions are my own.

Take World History. Four of my children used Exploring World History by Ray Notgrass. It filled the need of the time and provided a thorough course in a subject that is required at the high school level by many college admissions policies.

But here's the funny part: We also used Notgrass American History (because why fix it if it ain't broke, and since World History worked for #1, the American History oughta be fine, right?) — and over time three of them also ingested Notgrass Government (ditto same reason), as well as Notgrass Economics (double ditto).

Well, guess whose kids got sick and tired of Notgrass? LOL. We have family jokes about it, now that those four are all graduated from high school. Apparently three full years of the same author can get a little, um, stale.

So as #5 is approaching World History next year, I wasn't sure about doing Notgrass again. And it turns out that we won't be, because we have found something new!

Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum has a homeschool high school World History curriculum that looks like a good fit for my last homeschool student.

“The word ‘Paradigm' means a new system. A paradigm shift means a change in the way things are done…moving from status quo to something new, and hopefully better than the way things have been done.”¹ So says the Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum blog — and I think they're onto something, at least for our family at this point in time.

I already know how PAC curriculum works, because we've used their World Geography and their Economics (#4 put his foot down about Notgrass, lol, and I wrote a review of the Economics here: When You Need an Easy Homeschool High School Curriculum Choice: A review of PAC Economics).

All of the things that I love and wrote about PAC Economics are also true of the World History, the main one being that it is text- and workbook-based, making it perfect for your student to do on their own. Mom only grades the quizzes and tests with the easy-peasy-to-understand answer key. You know I love me some independent learning, y'all! Especially in high school!

To see what it looks like, and what comes with it, you can watch my Facebook live unboxing video:

For this 1-credit course, there are:

• six workbooks
• six activity books
• Teacher's Resource Kit which includes quizzes, tests, and answer keys — as well as other helpful resources such as progress charts, an academic contract, and more.

All of that put together means a “paradigm shift” for how we'll be doing world history next year.

But here's another word to consider, that I hadn't really paid attention to before: “accelerated.” And for this student at this time, this word becomes applicable, when maybe it didn't as much for my older children.

One of the reasons we are leaving the co-op we've been in is that my daughter has felt so BOGGED DOWN with the sheer amount of the work. She really loves to learn — but this year that has been submerged under the weight of all the assignments and reading and papers and projects in the lesson plan, so that she feels behind basically all the time. Picking and choosing what to do and leave out isn't always easy, especially with someone like her who is not only competitive but definitely experiences FOMO. Ya know?

PAC homeschool high school world history curriculum is designed for the student to work at their own pace.

And if that means they want to work hard and get through it fast — i.e., accelerated-ly, they can. I can see my daughter easily finishing this 1-credit course in ONE semester by putting in a little extra effort — mainly because the curriculum itself is very streamlined and not fluffed up with a bunch of supplemental readings or research or projects.

Those things aren't always bad; don't get me wrong — and if you want to add them for yourself, there is certainly room to do so. But when you are burnt out from doing all. the. things, it can be nice to just read, answer questions, and take a quiz or test every now and again. Especially when it means you can get done the course and still have time left in the day (or year!) to pursue your own interests.

Which leads me to the point that we often as homeschoolers think that history, because it is a core course, has to be a big hairy deal. So we think we should have all the historical fiction and the research papers and the timelines. But what if your kid — or maybe yourself, hello — just isn't into history? Do we HAVE to expend that much time and effort on it?

I say no. If my kid would rather dissect everything she can get her hands on than read the Magna Carta or memorize the dates of the Ming Dynasty (and Biology will also be a thing next year, which my science-loving-might-wanna-go-into-medicine-as-a-career daughter is looking forward to with great anticipation), then why do I need to force her to spend lotsa time on World History? I don't. I can let her get the job done — then get on with the rest of her life.

Homeschooling is all about what doing what works best for our families and our children as individuals. This daughter saw me looking at the PAC materials for this review, and, well aware of what her siblings have said about Notgrass, lol, asked if she could do PAC for World History instead. At that point, I hadn't made a decision one way or the other; but her enthusiasm as she looked it over and saw that she was going to be able to progress through it at a good pace — while still getting a thorough (enough) grounding in the history of the world — was enough for me. PAC it is!

And I gotta confess that I am relieved, too. If you have followed my blog for ANY length of time, you know that I am all about making things as easy as possible. No muss no fuss. No mess no stress. You do you. And me doing me means I'm likin' the idea of a simple homeschool high school world history curriculum for next year! Woot!

If you are interested in PAC homeschool high school World History curriculum, you can see it by clicking here: PAC High School World History.

If you'd like to see any of the other courses they offer, you can go to their website by clicking here: Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum website.

AND HEY, PAC HAS AN AMAZING DISCOUNT PROGRAM:

Single parent? 40% off. EVERY DAY.

First-time customer? Or any of these: policeman, fireman, EMT, EMS, other first-responder, farmer, rancher, pastor, missionary, wounded warrior? 20% off. EVERY DAY.

If you fall into any of these categories, or if you have a group order of either $1000 (for 20% off) or $2000 (for 40% off), just email PAC to get a discount code. Or go to this page and hit the Contact Us button: Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum discounts.

Now you see why I like them so much!! Go check them out now, and tell them Annie sent you! :-)

¹https://pacworks.com/unnecessary-confusion-personalized-learning/

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It's Not That Hard to Homeschool

Ann, former owner of It's Not That Hard to Homeschool:homeschooled for 22 years and has graduated all five of her children. She believes that EVERY mom can CONFIDENTLY, COMPETENTLY -- and even CONTENTEDLY -- provide the COMPLETE high school education that her teen needs. Ann's website, NotThatHardtoHomeschool.com, offers information, resources, and virtual hugs to help homeschool moms do just that.

Ann has written Cure the Fear of Homeschooling High School: A Step-by-Step Manual for Research and Planning, Save Your Sanity While Homeschooling High School: Practical Principles for a Firm Foundation, and recently Taming the Transcript: The Essential Guide to Creating Your Teen's Homeschool Transcript from Scratch (without overwhelm). She also founded the popular Facebook groups It's Not that Hard to Homeschool High School and It's Not Hard to Homeschool K-8, and in addition she voices the It's Not That Hard to Homeschool High School Podcast.

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