From Adam to Us
Complete Middle School World History Curriculum
Are you looking for a world history curriculum for your middle school student that is complete and easy to use? From Adam to Us is a one-year course that is centered in God's Word and makes learning about the past exciting for homeschooling students and parents.
Who Can Use It
Authors Ray and Charlene Notgrass designed the curriculum for students to use successfully in 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade, or 8th grade. It combines the flexibility and richness of a literature-based unit study approach with the simplicity of a textbook-based approach.
Daily lessons guide your child chronologically through the history of the world from Creation to the present, highlighting key events, people, and places. With the lessons planned for you, you can enjoy learning history with your student, or your student can use the curriculum independently.
What's Included
The From Adam to Us Curriculum Package includes everything you need for a successful study. The course is flexible, so you can choose the assignments and activities that work best for your child.
- Two beautiful hardbound books feature narrative lessons with hundreds of colorful photographs and historic illustrations.
- A book of primary source documents reveals what people were thinking, feeling, and making in the past.
- Students complete assignments in a timeline book and map book as they go through the lessons.
- Each unit includes Bible study, vocabulary, and creative writing activities, plus a recipe, craft, game, or other hands-on project.
We suggest ten literature titles that coordinate with the lessons and enhance your student's understanding of each time period. We also offer optional review activities and tests.
Watch our intro video and keep reading to learn how the curriculum works, see sample lessons, and read what parents are saying.
Quick Overview
From Adam to Us is a one-year course that combines world history, geography, and literature. The material is divided into 150 daily lessons with clear instructions on what to do each day. Many students will be able to follow the instructions on their own, and you can be involved as much or as little as you wish.
From Adam to Us Part 1 and Part 2 are full-color, richly illustrated hardcover books that include the lessons to read and instructions for using the other components. You do not need a separate teacher's manual. You can choose the assignments you want your child to complete. For example, you might expect an 8th grader to do all of the suggested assignments while a 5th grader might only complete a few. The choice is yours.
If you prefer a video overview, watch author Charlene Notgrass explain how the components work together as she walks you through a sample unit from the curriculum.
What's In the Curriculum Package
The Curriculum Package includes these six books:
From Adam to Us Part 1: Creation to Cathedrals
This book has 75 lessons designed to be completed in one semester. It begins with the week of Creation and goes through the time of the cathedrals of the Middle Ages.
From Adam to Us Part 2: Castles to Computers
This book has another 75 lessons, also designed to be completed in one semester. It explores history from the days of castles to modern times.
Our Creative World
This collection of historic documents from around the world includes short stories, poems, songs, letters, diary entries, and speeches. It also features images of art and architecture.
From Adam to Us Map Book
This collection of 43 maps was created especially to accompany this curriculum. At the end of many lessons, your student will do activities using the maps.
From Adam to Us Timeline Book
This timeline of history from Creation to the present is designed specifically to accompany this curriculum. After most lessons, your child will add one or more events to the timeline.
From Adam to Us Answer Key
This book has all of the answers needed for the assignments included at the end of the lessons, the activities and tests in the Student Workbook, and the questions and tests in the Lesson Review. It also includes notes for parents about the recommended literature.
Optional Resources
We offer two optional consumable books to help measure your child's understanding of the material. You can choose to use one, both, or neither. We also offer a literature package with ten recommended titles and an audio supplement with the lessons read aloud.
Student Workbook
This collection of crosswords, word searches, matching, and other handwork activities reviews and reinforces information learned in the daily lessons. It also includes literature review questions and unit tests.
Lesson Review
This features daily lesson review questions, literature review questions, and unit tests.
Literature Package
All ten titles are available individually or as a package. Each book is assigned at a particular point in the course to enhance your student's understanding of that time period.
Audio Supplement
The From Adam to Us Audio Supplement is great for busy moms, siblings learning together, auditory learners, students with special needs, and families on the go. It does not replace the printed curriculum but is intended to be used alongside it. The audio recordings contain the full text of each lesson, except for the list of lesson assignments at the end.
What the Lessons Are Like
From Adam to Us is divided into 30 chronological units with five lessons each. You can complete the curriculum in one year by doing one lesson per day for 150 days during your school year. While this course is designed for children in middle school, younger children can listen to the lessons and participate in suggested family activities.
Your child can read the daily lessons independently, or you can read them aloud. The lessons are filled with historical photographs, illustrations, and artwork.
At the end of each lesson is a list of about four to six activities. Students do not have to complete all of these. You know your child best, so you can choose which activities work well for the age and ability of your student.
Depending on how many activities you assign, most students will need 45-90 minutes to complete one lesson. The exact activities vary from day to day, but they include:
- Readings in Our Creative World
- Map activities in the From Adam to Us Map Book
- Adding a sentence to the From Adam to Us Timeline Book
- Assignments in the Student Workbook or Lesson Review
- Thinking Biblically
- Vocabulary
- Creative writing
- Reading chapters in the recommended literature titles
Each unit has one special family activity. These include crafts, art projects, recipes, and other multi-age activities. Allow extra time for history on the day you do the family activity, or enjoy it as a family night or weekend project.
Watch author Charlene Notgrass explain how the components of From Adam to Us work together as she walks you through a sample unit from the curriculum.
Our World Story: We use major events to provide a framework for understanding the chronology of world history. Examples include the Tower of Babel, the conquests of Alexander the Great, the early church, the invention of the printing press, and the fall of Communism in Europe.
God's Wonder: We explore geographic wonders around the world and show how they have influenced history and culture. Examples include the Mediterranean Sea, the Indus Valley, the Potosi Silver Mine of the Andes, the Gobi Desert, and the Cape of Good Hope.
World Landmark: These lessons explore places that demonstrate the amazing abilities of people made in the image of God and their place in history. Examples include the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China, the moai statues of Easter Island, Macchu Piccu, and modern skyscrapers.
World Biography: These lessons relate the life and times of some of history's most influential personalities. Examples include Ramses II, Judas Maccabeus, Johann Sebastian Bach, Queen Victoria, and C.S. Lewis.
Daily Life: We look at everyday life from the beginning of history to modern times, exploring how new ideas and inventions made a difference for ordinary people. Examples include early writing, Chinese porcelain production, the missionary work of Methodius and Cyril, the Industrial Revolution, and globalization.
We recommend ten works of literature that complement the lessons in From Adam to Us. These books are not essential for understanding the lessons, but each one adds a valuable perspective on a different time period.
Middle-school students can read the books on their own, or you can use them as family read alouds. Five books go along with From Adam to Us Part 1 and five books with Part 2.
- The Golden Goblet by Eloise McGraw (Units 3-5)
- The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs, editor (Units 6-7)
- The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (Units 9-11)
- A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (Units 13-14)
- Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle (Units 15-16)
- The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell (Units 18-21)
- Madeleine Takes Command by Ethel C. Brill (Units 22-23)
- The Switherby Pilgrims by Eleanor Spence (Units 24-25)
- The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy (Units 26-28)
- Children of the Storm by Natasha Vins (Units 29-30)
Read sample lessons and see sample pages from the consumable books with these PDF files.
Table of Contents / Introduction
Audio Sample - Lesson 16
You've Done It All for Me
Many Pictures a Huge Plus
One of Their Favorite Subjects
Gentle Not Scary
Exceeding Our Expectations
Ray and Charlene Notgrass are followers of Jesus and veteran homeschooling parents. They met at Middle Tennessee State University in the political science department. After graduating they were married in 1974. Ray went on to earn master's degrees in history and New Testament. Ray and Charlene are lifelong history lovers and began writing homeschool curriculum in 1999. They enjoy classic literature, traveling together, and spending time with their children and grandchildren.
From Adam to Us Purchase Options
Are you ready to experience all that From Adam to Us has to offer? Order today with confidence. If you are not satisfied for any reason, we offer a full money-back guarantee.
Use the product links below to order online or call 1-800-211-8793. If you have any questions about choosing the right options for your child, please call, text, or email us.