This is our catalog of courses. We will occasionally adjust the course listing to reflect the addition of new courses and the retirement of others.
Using historian Anne Carroll’s popular text, enjoy learning American history (Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement) from a strong Catholic perspective.
Total classes: 14
Prerequisite: None, however, Christ and the Americas, Part One is recommended.
Suggested grade level: 9th to 12th grade. Advanced middle school students are welcome (assignments can be adjusted for younger students)
Suggested credit: One full semester of American History
Description
Using Anne Carroll’s Christ and the Americas as a framework and guide for the second part of a yearlong study, this course roughly traces American History from 1861-1965. This includes the Civil War, Industrialism, Expansionism, two World Wars, and the Civil Rights movement.
Outline
Week 1: Introduction and overview of syllabus and assignments
Weeks 2-5: Civil War and Reconstruction
Week 2: Manassas to Chancellorsville
Week 3: Gettysburg to Appomattox
Week 4: Radical Reconstruction
Week 5: The Lost Cause
Weeks 6-9: Making a Superpower
Week 6: Railroads and Bison
Week 7: Isolationism, and war with the Spanish
Week 8: The Progressive Era
Week 9: The WWI years
Weeks 10-14: Modern Problems
Week 10: Boom and Bust
Week 11: The new Superpower at War
Week 12: America vs. Russia
Week 13: America’s Hot Wars
Week 14: The Civil Rights Movement
Materials and Homework
Course Materials: Anne Carroll’s Christ and the Americas, www.amazon.com/Christ-Americas-Carroll/dp/0895555948/chrisgooverth-20, ISBN-10: 0895555948 or ISBN-13: 978-0895555946
Homework:
Approximately 15 pages of reading from the textbook per week. (Middle school students in this course are exempt from the readings.)
Writing is an integral part of demonstrating both the assimilation of knowledge and the articulation thereof. Therefore, students will be guided through the process of writing a short (3-5 page, double-spaced) review of a book of their choice relevant to the subject matter. (Middle school students in this course must instead write a one- to a two-page book report.)
Weekly extra-credit review quizzes based on classroom lectures and discussions. Graded by the computer.
