Join this dynamic middle school history course on Renaissance to Modern times. In Part Two, you’ll start with the New World and travel to the Cold 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.)
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: Opening the Atlantic
Class 2: The New World
Class 3: The Sun King and the Glorious Revolution
Class 4: French Revolution: From Revolution to Republic
Class 5: Napoleon Bonaparte
Class 6: The Post-Napoleonic Era
Class 7: Review for Midterm
Class 8: Industrial Revolution and rise of Nationalism
Class 9: Imperialism and the Church confronting the world
Class 10: The Great War
Class 11: The Red Revolution
Class 12: World War II
Class 13: The Cold War and cultural changes
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.
- Teacher: Inshal Chenet