Join this dynamic middle school history course on Renaissance to Modern times. In Part One, you’ll start with the Black Death and travel to the Thirty Year War. (If you have younger students, this course fits with the Homeschool Connections Grade School Unit Study Program for grades 3-6 so that your whole family can learn the same era together.)

How to get the most out of  Renaissance to Modern History for Middle School, Part One with Inshal Chenet:

  • First, read the course materials below before the first recording.

  • Then have a notebook ready and available for class notes each recording.

  • Read assignments before class watching recordings.

  • Watch that week’s recording if you need to revisit information.

  • Do the assignments, quizzes, and any extra work assigned for that week.

  • Once the course is completed to the parent's and professor’s satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records.

Special notes: This is Part One of a 2-part course. Students are expected to sign up for Part Two in the spring.

Total classes: 14

Duration: 45 minutes

Prerequisite: None

Suggested grade level: 7th to 9th grade

Suggested credit: One full semester History, Church History, or World History

Instructor: Inshal Chenet

Instructor Email: inshalj@gmail.com

Course description: The purpose of this course is to provide you with a knowledge and understanding of the history, ideas, and culture of the early modern Western world (from about 1300 until now), as well as develop an understanding of the nature of religion and its proper role in society. This era is a major transitional period in the history of the West: Christendom collapses with the rise of the modern nation-state, the visible Church is sundered, secular humanism surfaces, “religion” is slowly forced into a state of socio-political privatization/ marginalization, and new philosophies are developed that reinforce and expand this new world order. At the same time, the natural sciences, art and architecture, world exploration and capitalism come into their own in a tremendous expansion of human activity.

Course outline:

Class 1: Avignon Papacy and Black Death

Class 2: The Hundred Years War

Class 3: St. Catherine of Sienna and the Western Schism

Class 4: Humanism and Heresy

Class 5: Renaissance Popes

Class 6: New Monarchs and the War of the Roses

Class 7: Review for Midterm

Class 8: The Protestant Revolt

Class 9: The English Revolt: Henry VIII - Elizabeth I

Class 10: The Catholic Revival and Tridentine Reform

Class 11: The Wars of Religion

Class 12: Huguenot Wars

Class 13: The Thirty Years War

Class 14: Review for Final

Course materials: Armenio, Peter, The History of the Church, Woodridge, IL: Midwest Theological Forum, 2005, first edition. ISBN 978-1890177461 Available from your favorite Catholic homeschool vendor or used through BookFinder.com. Note: While this is a high school textbook, the instructor has used it successfully with middle school students. Students will only read selections of the book.

Homework: Each week, students will be required to read a selection from the textbook, take a short 10 question quiz. There will also be one paper written for the class.

Answer Key: An answer key booklet is included with this course.