WHAT YOU NEED TO GET STARTED
Lesson Videos
- Available on DVD, as digital downloads, and streamed as an individual subscription or as part of the Compass Classroom Membership
- 26 lessons with 5 videos each; additional videos explain the quarterly projects
Need help organizing the digital curriculum? We’ve got a helpful entry on our blog that covers just that!
HOW DAVE RAYMOND’S AMERICAN HISTORY WORKS
There are a number of different elements to this curriculum that make it quite unique.
Once you see how everything works together, however, it should be fairly easy to teach.
The class is designed to fill two semesters. It covers 26 Lessons with the goal of completing one Lesson per week. Each Lesson is broken down into five different lectures (approximately 10 minutes each) with associated readings or assignments.
Each day, plan on scheduling approx. 10 minutes for the video and 10 minutes for the daily reading and questions.
Each week, budget approximately 20 minutes for the exam, and another 20 for the Lesson’s Portfolio entry. These elements can be modified to suit the age and frame of your student. For example, parents of middle school students might remove the daily readings to concentrate on the Portfolio, and integrate the Exam questions as a summary of the applicable lesson video.
You can assign one lecture a day or you can go through two or more lectures in one day. Your student will be the best gauge as to how much he or she can effectively cover at one time.
One Lesson is normally completed per week. Use the included chart (sample) to mark off what has been finished. Only exams, essays and projects are scored.
If an Assignment asks one or more questions, these are meant to be considered by the student as he or she does the reading. You can also use these questions as a way to discuss the lesson with your student after the lesson and readings are complete.
CALCULATING HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HISTORY

HSLDA recommends spending approximately 150 hours on a subject to qualify for high school credit.
This is how Dave Raymond’s classes generally break down to achieve that credit. Some students will spend more time in some areas and some will spend less, but there is clearly enough different types of work to qualify for full high school credit.
The reader includes 372 pages of original historical materials. It increases in length as the year progresses. For example, Lessons in the first semester comprise 150 pages while those in the second comprise 222 pages. If additional reading is desired for older students, we include recommendations for that.
If a parent desires to do two or more thesis papers for older students, that is perfectly acceptable and will only increase the amount of time spent in the class.
Suggested Titles for Further Reading
In Order of Lessons
Lessons 1 & 2
- Theodore Roosevelt’s History of the United States, selected and arranged by Daniel Ruddy
Lesson 3
- A New World in View by Fred Young, Gary DeMar, and Jane Scott
- The Log of Christopher Columbus by Robert Fuson
Lesson 4
- A New World in View by Fred Young, Gary DeMar, and Jane Scott
- A History of the American People by Paul Johnson (Selections from this hefty tome are great for multiple lessons.)
Lesson 5
- Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
- Punic Wars and Culture Wars: Christian Essays on History and Teaching by Ben House