Ancient Civilizations Curriculum Scope and Sequence 

History Content: 
Students will learn the independent and critical thinking skills specific to the study of history. They will apply these skills to the open-ended, analytical questions in the following topics: 

1. Early Human Civilizations
2. Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Kush 
3. Ancient Hebrews
4. Judaism
5. Ancient Greece
6. Greek Literature
7. Ancient India
8. Hinduism and Buddhism
9. Ancient China
10. Confucianism
11. The Roman Republic
12. Christianity in the Roman Empire

Socratic Discussion:
Students will engage the teacher and fellow classmates in the Socratic Discussion, as it pertains to the study of history.  Students will learn how search for the truth in honest dialogue.  Students will develop strong speaking and listening skills.  


The Tools of the Historian
The tools of the historian below are taught through the Classical Historian Socratic Discussion DVD Curriculum and the Take a Stand! series.  The Classical Historian products show you how to use these tools and train your students how to use them as well.  Below is a list of tools we teach through our Teaching the Socratic Discussion DVD program and the Take a Stand! series. The difference between the two products is that the DVD program features John De Gree teaching the tools to two students, ages 15 and 11, at home. With the Take a Stand! books, the teacher at home is responsible for going through the lessons with the student.

1.     Fact or Opinion?
2.    Judgment
3.    Supporting Evidence
4.    Primary and Secondary Sources
5.    Using Quotes
6.    Paraphrasing
7.    Researching Various Sources
8.    The Socratic Discussion in History
9.    Making a Counterargument
10.  Understanding Cause and Effect
11.  Understanding Compare and Contrast
12.  Understanding Bias
13.  Using Evidence and Not Emotion to Form Judgement
14.  Writing a Thesis Statement for an Analytical History Essay
15.  Writing an Outline  for an Analytical History Essay
16.  Writing a Rough Draft for an Analytical History Essay
17.  Revising an Analytical History Essay
18.  Citing Sources in the Text of an Analytical History Essay
19.  Writing a Works Cited Page

Forces that Influence History
In every history, the following forces play in influential role. In our Take a Stand! books, we challenge the young historian to analyze the past based on the following forces. For an in-depth explanation of these, please read Carl Gustavson’s A Preface to History.

1.      Technology
2.      Social forces
3.      Institutional factor
4.      Revolution
5.      Individual in history
6.      The role of ideas
7.      Power
8.      International organization
9.      Causation
10.     Loyalty