My absolute favorite classes in my high school years were my history classes. I had these amazing teachers that didn’t teach me facts and dates, they taught me to look for why, and to look for how events in the past impact today, or how our current mood impacts how we view history events. They were great history lessons, and that’s why I’m always on the lookout for another great high school history class to recommend. This time I’ve found an amazing online high school history class, Nomadic Professor.
(This post is sponsored by Nomadic Professor, my opinions are my own, in addition there are affiliate links in here)
What is Nomadic Professor?
Nomadic Professor is an online high school history curriculum that is self-paced, asynchronous learning. It is in-depth enough it can prepare your high schooler to take AP or CLEP tests, and if you take the more advanced option could call the class an advanced history credit for a transcript.
It is unbiased history, or to be more specific, it teaches the student how to be historically literate and to recognize the slant someone is adding to historical events (I’m looking at you Howard Zinn)
Make sure you read all of this for a coupon code AND a giveaway for this awesome online homeschool history curriculum
What works great
- everything can be narrated, they took the time to create an audiobook version of all of the reading
- it is broken down great into short learning segments
- they give great advice for learning the material
- they go on-site to some really great locations so you can see where history happened
- it gives you advice on how to learn the materials best
My advice for taking this online high school history
Okay, I got briefly distracted as he was talking about future courses. And I want to take them all. Seriously, I’m planning to work through all of his American history courses for myself because they are so good. I’m also eagerly looking forward to when he posts the Asian history section. I know so little about history over there.
I started writing this post because I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget to tell you this, so I’m only in the introduction portion of the class.
Go through the Getting Started Guide, do not skip that.
This may seem obvious, but you would be amazed how many people skip that and then later on wonder why they didn’t understand something. There is some really good advice in getting started on how to study, how to get the most out of the class, and what is expected, including advice for the parent.
Take the quizzes on a laptop or desktop
This comes from using that same quiz format on an iPad and having problems with it working correctly. So, this may be updated from when I used that format over a year ago.
Side note, you have the opportunity and are encouraged to take a quiz and see where you need to learn more, then come back and take the quiz again.
Take their advice on how to review the materials
This is part of the introduction, I was incorrect this was talked about in the first summary section, and is a great review system I hadn’t heard of before.
This is part of what I love about getting to try different curricula, I can learn all sorts of amazing ways to learn more about learning.
YES, I am a nerd. Don’t judge me.
Do not “watch” these lessons while doing other things
I have to admit, I started doing this. I would be “listening” as I typed something so I could get more done. Then I would realize I’d zoned out and missed something.
Or they showed something really cool in the classroom videos and I missed it.
Yes, this is an obvious lesson for any online class, but I’m old and online classes weren’t a thing when I was in school. I’m having to learn these things as I want to learn more.
My favorite part of this history curriculum
I love getting to see where the events take place. These videos give you a hint of what the on-site lessons look like.
He gives you a bit of a glimpse into the past and that is so key. As my high school history teacher said history is about three things: location, location, location. You have the land I want, The land I’m on isn’t viable anymore, your land has better resources, on and on and on…
Recording Nomadic Professor on your high school transcript
Each class is worth a half credit, so if you complete all four American History classes that would be worth two high school credits.
Look at the level of work you required your student to do to determine if you want to consider it a basic or honors credit (I would look at how many of the essays you required and how much research you required them to do).
I almost forgot to tell you about the Media Literacy Course!
I cannot tell you how much I love that this media literacy course exists. There are loads of history classes (of various quality levels), but it is almost impossible to find courses that teach you to evaluate what you are reading or watching.
Let me give you an example. Recently a wildly popular podcast came out examining the rise and fall of a megachurch. The podcast very clearly set out to portray the senior pastor as the monster who caused all of this, and to ensure that is how everyone saw it they would use short clips from his sermons or speeches he gave.
The problem is I knew where at least two of the clips they used came from.
In the context of how it was used in the podcast it sounded like he was screaming at innocent people. In the context of how it was used in the sermon, he was yelling at people who would dare abuse women or children.
Very different context.
They also used emotionally loaded words, OR added music to twist your emotions.
Now imagine an entire course used to teach you how media or politicians try to shape your opinion? How the use of one word can change your perception, or the picture chosen to put up as the person is talked about changes your perception.
I love classes like this. I cannot being to tell you how much I love it.
That coupon code and giveaway I mentioned earlier
Take advantage of this coupon.
20% off any recurring subscription, it expires 7/31/23
Coupon Code: Nomadic20
GIVEAWAY
- Winner one: a year subscription to ALL courses! (value $360)
- Winner two: choice of a single course: American history1, 2, or 3 or Media Literacy (value $249)
Leave a Reply