Classical Curriculum
Frequently Asked Questions

Does it matter what order you study the history lessons?

We have a recommended sequence that begins with the Young Readers collection in about fourth or fifth grade, and then proceeds to with Ancient History in early middle school. However, each Curriculum CD includes books for all ages, and can be studied in any order.

Until students are fluent readers who can really benefit from structured, systematic history, the Young Readers collection has dozens of easy to read books covering a wide range of topics that can be read in any order. Once students are ready for structured history (sixth grade reading/comprehension level), we recommend they study Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, British Middle Ages, and the British Empire. Our recommendations for mature students, include Early America, Modern Europe, Christian Europe, and Spanish Empire.

What do you recommend for students younger than 4th grade?

Students who are reading well can begin reading books from the Young Readers library at any time. The books in that collection are all appropriate for read-aloud to younger grammar school students. However, we don't emphasize history as an independent subject until students can read fluently on their own at a "chapter book" level. For some students this can be in second or third grade, for others it is not until fifth or sixth grade. Until that time, just reading a few stories from books such as Fifty Famous Stories, America First, or Robinson Crusoe, is all that is needed.

Systematic history—that is, learning about a whole civilization rather than individual people—is usually not as interesting to younger students as historical anecdotes, legends, hero stories, and historical fiction. Also, older students can learn much more, much faster, and make more sense of it than younger students, so we don't think that it is imperative for students to begin learning history until they are reading independently. It is more important for younger students to learn to read well, using any material that suits them, than it is to focus on history. We see history as a life long learning project, not something that needs to be rushed in the early grades.

Do you need to start with the Young Readers collection if your student is already in middle school?

No. If your student is reading at a sixth grade level or older, you can start right in with Greek or Roman history. Everything in the Young Readers collection is covered again in the older grades. It is helpful to have the good foundation the Young Readers collection provides, bit it is not absolutely necessary. On the other hand, the books in the Young Readers collection are quite enjoyable for students of all ages so if there are books in it that interest an older student, that should be encouraged.

Does the Heritage curriculum go all the way through high school?

The books in the Heritage History library range from about fourth grade reading level to high school. The curriculum libraries were designed for life-long learning, so they have books in them of interest to all ages. Most of the books recommended for high school are very appropriate for a general interest adult. In other words, they may be of interest to a high school student or any moderately educated, non-specialist. It is hoped that parents as well as students can enjoy some of these books. We certainly have!

Do you recommend one or two units per year?

The program is self-paced so you can do it as slowly or as quickly as you would like. However, we recommend taking plenty of time to study each unit, because there is so much interesting material in each library. We also recommend letting students read a variety of history books of their own choosing, so that they see history as an opportunity to learn rather than an assignment to get through. For these reasons we discourage "rushing" through history, and focus only on one unit per year, but the curriculum can be adapted to suit any schedule.

Many other curriculum programs work on a three or four year rotating basis. The resources in the Heritage Curriculum can be easily adapted to such a program. Because there are a wide variety of reading selections for every age, a student could study the "Ancient World" or "Middle Ages" once in grammar school, and then four years later in middle school or high school.

How do you know what the right reading level is for your student?

Each Curriculum CD includes books at three levels: grammar school (green), middle school (brown), and high school (red). If your student is struggling with a particular book or having difficulty getting through it, you can allow him to quit and read a selection at a lower reading level. All the books in the Heritage collection, even those selected for beginners, are informative and can hold the interest of older students so there is no reason to overwhelm your student with more than they can handle. No student should have to "struggle" with history—it can be an enjoyable subject for students of all abilities.

In general, it is a better bet for most students to start off with books that are too easy than too challenging. If your student is reading slowly and not making good progress, than you should consider assigning easier books. Students will retain more information if they are interested and engaged than if they are overwhelmed.

Can you use these books with Tapestry of Grace or Story of the World?

Books from the Heritage History library can be used to supplement many other traditional history curriculums, including Tapestry of Grace, Ambleside and Story of the World. A general discussion of the possibilities for using Heritage resources with other curriculums is available here.

If there are no tests, how do you track progress?

The Heritage Classical Curriculum is a reading-based program that does not include written assignments or tests. Parents or instructors are welcome to design their own tests, and the era summaries, timelines and other reference material in the Study Guides can be used for this purpose, but the program itself does not require testing.

The purpose of testing is to see if students are retaining the information they read, but the Heritage Curriculum was designed to maximize understanding and retention. For ideas about how to assure your student is learning, see the Review and Retention section of the Heritage Curriculum User Guide.

How do you select the books used in the Classical Curriculum?

All of the books in the Heritage collection were originally published before 1923, and were recommended by children's librarians. We select books that have interesting subject matter and are engaging rather than analytical. We do not include any textbooks, or any college level analytical books. A more detailed description of our selection criteria is given here.

Are these books written from a Christian perspective?

All of the books in the Heritage collection are respectful of Christianity and promote traditional morality. A few are written from an explicitly Christian point of view, but most are matter-of-fact histories that don't deal directly with religious issues in a controversial way. All of the books in the Heritage Classical library were written before 1923 and so many of the distortions and anti-Christian biases that are apparent in modern children's histories are entirely absent.

Are there any offensive books or images in the Heritage History collection?

It is impossible to know for certain what some parents may find offensive, but one of the advantages of studying older children's books is that they were virtually all written with much discretion and in good taste. Almost all of the books in the Heritage collection are non-controversial, but some do include references to anti-Catholic, pro-Imperial, or Whiggish ideas that may rub some people the wrong way. Others include stories of pagan Gods and heroes which are distasteful to some Christians. Also, the issue of "natural history" vs. "biblical history" for prehistoric times does not arise, since all of the books in the library are "narrative" histories, based on authoritative histories rather than archeological speculation. In terms of lurid, prurient, or anti-Christian content however, there is none. All of the books in the collection are entirely G-rated.

What do you mean by "Living Books?"

History textbooks tend to be dry and condense a great deal of information into a relatively small space. The History books selected by Heritage history are story-based; that is, they are narrative instead of analytical and present the most important stories from history rather than condensed facts. This means that students are expected to read many books instead of one. The books in the Heritage collection however, are much more interesting and easier to read than most textbooks. By "living books", we mean books that were meant to be read for interest and pleasure, rather than analytical textbooks.

Why aren't the books in the Heritage Libraries protected by copyright?

As laws currently stand, any book published in the United States before 1923 is considered to be in the "public domain" and can be reproduced without paying a royalty to the copyright holder. Until 1998, American copyright law provided that 75 years after a book was published its contents became the property of the "public domain". In 1998, however, all U.S. Copyrights were extended for another 20 years, meaning that no more books can enter the public domain until 2018. At the time the new law was passed, however, everything published before 1923 was already deemed to be public domain.

Books published after 1923 can also be public domain if the copyright holder failed to renew their copyright, or if the copyright holder explicitly renounced their copyright claim. Heritage History currently concerns itself only with pre-1923 texts. We have pre-1923 copies of each of the books in our collection physically in our possession to avert any potential conflict.

Are the illustrations as well as the text copyright clear?

Yes and no. Whenever a visual image is reproduced, the new image is copyright protected. For example, photographs of great works of art are copyright protected, even if the work itself is hundreds of years old. Any image that was published in a book prior to 1923 can be scanned or re-photographed, but if it is, then the new image is copyright protected. Since Heritage History actually owns original, pre-1923 copies of almost all of our books, we are able to make digital images of the illustrations therein. Those images, however, are the property of Heritage History and are not, themselves, in the public domain.

Since virtually all of the books in our Compact Libraries employ electronic images, they cannot be freely reproduced without the permission of Heritage History. However, Heritage History does in fact grant generous usage and reproduction permission. See the Terms of Use page, for more details.

May I post the images from the Heritage Curriculum CD on my website?

For copyright information about the usage of Heritage History images, refer to the Terms of Use page. In short, the image directories on our compact libraries are intended to be used for personal and education purposes, such as slide-shows, projects, or illustrating papers. We do not grant usage of our images for commercial or public usage, including the internet, without special permission. We do, however, allow owners of independent websites unlimited rights to "source" the images on www.heritage-history.com—that is, to instantiate an image within html, which references an object in our online libraries. All of the images on the Heritage History website are accessible and we have search tools available to help locate images of interest.

How can I keep printing costs as low as possible?

We recommend reading the entire page on Printing and Binding for a complete discussion of the actual costs of printing self-published books. In short, per-page printing costs can vary dramatically depending on the technology used, so if you are considering printing more than a few books yourself, you may want to consider looking into a low-end laser printer, or making arrangements with someone who already has access to a high-performance, low-cost printer.

Which e-Reader do you recommend?

We do not recommend any specific e-Reader at this time. This is because the technology options and pricing of e-Readers are changing very quickly so any recommendation we made based on immediate cost/feature evaluations might be quickly out-of-date. We also believe that desirability of various e-Reader interfaces is subjective and that interested buyers should evaluate several e-Readers in person before making a purchase. We do, however, provide more information about general selection criteria for purchasing an e-Reader or Tablet in the Electronic Text Users Guide.

My e-Reader reads PDF files. Why do I also need EPUB and MOBI versions?

It is true that most e-Readers can read the text of PDF files. Depending on the particular book however, the PDF conversion sometimes does a poor job with images, captions, verse, and other unusual formatting options. The EPUB and MOBI versions of the books, on the other hand, have been optimized to deal effectively with many formatting irregularities. Since a great many of the books in the Heritage library include interesting illustrations, tables, poems, quoted letters, itemized lists, and a variety of other features, we thought e-Reader users would prefer to use versions that preserved as much of the original formatting as possible.

Unfortunately, the e-Reader market has not yet converged on one, single e-Reader format. The MOBI and EPUB formats are very similar, but not identical. We want to provide users of any e-Reader with a compatible, ready-to-use format. At this time the easiest way to do this is to simply provide both e-Reader formats to all customers, even though most will likely use one or the other. On the other hand, by providing both e-Reader formats, Heritage customers can be assured that if they do switch e-Reader technology in the future, they will still have access to their entire Heritage library.

Will the books work on my Nook, Kindle, iPad?

The electronic-reader format in which the Heritage books are presented is compatible with all currently available electronic readers. The entire library can be downloaded to any e-Reader without having to make any additional purchases. Instructions for uploading Heritage libraries to various e-Readers is found in the Electronic Text User Guide.

Can you read the books on a regular computer?

All of the Heritage Electronic books can be read on any computer. A PDF reader already exists on almost all personal computers which can read the PDF, printable version of each book. Free software can be downloaded that can read the MOBI and EPUB versions also. Instructions for downloading the Adobe Reader (which reads PDF files), and the Mobipocket Reader (which reads MOBI files), can be found in the Electronic Text Users Guide.