The Nomadic Professor: Pirates - 10-month Subscription
From Blackbeard to bias detection, this swashbuckling course blends action, analysis, and argument writing—ideal for teens who want history with grit and credit.
$149
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Please note: this item is non-refundable.
2026 Ninth-Grade Curriculum Kit
Pirates: A Swashbuckling History of the Americas in the Age of Sail is a one-semester digital history course that examines piracy across the Americas from the 1400s to the present.
Students work through six units that trace the development of piracy in a historical context, including trade routes, colonial expansion, and shifting political power. The course uses on-location video, guided notes, and document-based research to help students engage with the material from multiple angles.
The subject draws immediate interest, but the course stays grounded in historical context, asking students to look past the mythology and work with the actual record.
The structure supports independent work. Most students move through the course at a pace of two to four sessions per week, using the built-in grading tools to track progress. The final unit connects historical piracy to modern portrayals, giving students a chance to compare popular narratives with historical accounts.
This course typically counts as ½ credit in history or social studies.
Note: Some historical artwork included in the course contains partial nudity.
How to Use Pirates: A Swashbuckling History
- Set aside about two hours each week. Some students will move through it quickly, while others spread it out over a longer stretch—both approaches work.
- Have your student watch the video lessons and complete the guided notes for each session. These provide the structure for understanding the material as it builds.
- Assign the quizzes and research activities as they come up. These are where your student works directly with the content rather than just moving through it.
- Encourage him to pay attention to how the course separates popular pirate stories from the historical record. That distinction becomes clearer as the course progresses.
- Keep track of completed work as you go so you can easily document the ½ credit at the end.
In the 2026 kits this course earns high school credit:
0.5 credits of Media Literacy Elective
Language Arts · 11th grade · Classic and Non-Religious kits
- Content sessions: Spain and the Spanish Empire, French Privateers, English Sea Dogs, the Anglo-Spanish War
- Document lesson: Who was the “greatest” pirate of all time? Unit 2: The Dutch Moment
- Content sessions: Dutch Sea Beggars, Dutch Privateers, The West India Company, The Naval Revolution
- Document lesson: How do I find good sources on pirates? Unit 3: The Buccaneers
- Content sessions: Pirate Havens, The First Buccaneers, The Greatest Buccaneer, The Turn Against Piracy, South Sea Buccaneers
- Document lesson: How do I read and take notes? Unit 4: The Indian Ocean Pirates
- Content sessions: The Indian Ocean World of the 17th Century, The North America-East Indies Piracy Circuit, 1690s, Captain Henry Every’s Triumph, Captain William Kidd and the Politics of Piracy, 1689-1701, Attacking Piracy at Its Roots, 1690s
- Document lesson: How do I organize my thoughts in preparation for writing a paper? Unit 5: The Golden Age of Piracy
- Content sessions: The New Pirates of the Bahamas and Jamaica, 1713-1716, The Enemies of All Mankind, 1717-1722, The Short Lives of Infamous Pirate Captains, 1716-1722, End of the Golden Age, 1716-1726
- Document lesson: How do I write an effective introduction to my paper? Unit 6: Pirates After the Golden Age
- Content sessions: Pirates and Privateers of the New Americas, 1808–1826, The West Indian Pirates, 1820s, The Pirates of Fiction, 1600s–present
- Document lesson: How do I use evidence to support my arguments in the main body of a paper?
- Pirates: Hawkins, Drake, Raleigh, Sea Beggars, Buccaneers, Morgan, Swan, Coates, Kidd, Bonny, Reade, Blackbeard, Gibbs, Silver, Sparrow, and so many more.
- Places: England and the colonies, Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, the Caribbean, Tortuga, Jamaica, the South Sea, Port Royal, the Indian Ocean, Madagascar, the Bahamas, Virginia, Florida, and so many more.
- Who had the greatest impact? Who was the best at his trade? Were pirates outlaws, hired guns, or state employees? Did piracy influence global events? Why are we still so fascinated by the image of these roguish mercenaries?
Publisher: The Nomadic Professor
Author: Dr. William Kesler Jackson & Nate Noorlander
Age Recommendation: 14+
Grade Recommendation: 9th Grade+
Faith-Based: No
Subscription Info: Online 10-Month Subscription
System Requirements: Internet access
Lessons/Projects: 10 Units, made up of 5 sessions each
Format: Online
Copyright: 2025
Pirates fulfills the hours and content requirements for the credits listed above under the "High School Credit" tab. Students, instructors, supervisors, and/or parents should organize coursework into a portfolio that can be used to justify the credits and grades claimed on final high school transcripts. The Nomadic Professor does not provide the high school transcript. Each Nomadic Course comes with an Instructor’s Guide with further details about how to document hours and content for transcript credit.
Receive complimentary access to The History of Free Speech course with any Timberdoodle purchase of The Nomadic Professor!
Find answers to the most frequently asked questions about this product below:
Pirates has been designed to fulfill the hours requirements of a one semester, ½ credit elective course, when taken in full. The course will require approximately 65 hours of classroom time to complete.
The course is most appropriate for students in high school. Middle school students could also consider the course at teacher/parent discretion.
There are consistent graded elements in each Nomadic Course. Daily quizzes are automatically graded and recorded in the student gradebook. Other graded assignments must be assessed by a qualified supervisor, parent, or instructor, who will manually enter scores into the gradebook.
To assist with grading student work, all graded assignments include (1) an answer key, and (2) an easy-to-use checklist rubric. In most cases student work can be graded in a few minutes a day, or in short sessions at the end of each week. The gradebook is pre-weighted, and will immediately reflect changes as new scores are entered.
In some cases students can be trained to assess their own work, perhaps overseen by a supervisor, but this should be decided case-by-case.
Further grading guidance is included within the course as part of the course Instructor’s Guide.
Sessions are designed to be completed in 30-90 minutes, depending on the reader and what parts of the course they utilize.
Pirates has been designed to fulfill the hours requirements of a one semester, ½ credit elective course, when taken in full. The course will require approximately 65 hours of work to complete.
Further calendar and planning guidance is included within the course as part of the course Instructor’s Guide.
The Nomadic Professor: Pirates counts as half a credit of Maritime History on a high school transcript. To turn its grade into a GPA, use our free homeschool GPA calculator: it works out each letter grade from your student's scores, figures the GPA by year and for all of high school, and prints a grade record for the transcript.
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