The Nomadic Professor: US History 3 & 4 - 10-month Subscription

From the publisher: "The short answer is that Nomadic Courses actively avoid partisanship, ideology, and dogma. While we can’t (and don’t want to) escape the narrative we find most convincing, we are forthright with the students: we constantly remind them that they are reading an argument, not an authoritative, voiceless textbook, posing as The Final Answer. Further, we actively and rigorously train them in how to identify evidence and challenge conclusions, even our own evidence and conclusions, while avoiding the unnecessary headache of pretending that 'all answers are equally valid.' If you’re interested in a longer answer, you can read our full blog post on this question."

The courses are designed to be accessible to a range of students. Dr. Jackson’s content is as rigorous as the college courses he teaches, which makes it appropriate for college students and adult learners.

But the publisher also provides a unique level of support throughout each session and unit, which means the courses are a very good fit for high school students as well. (Families and classrooms will have to make case-by-case judgments about how well the content is suited for advanced middle school students.) Every session comes with clear expectations, guided notes (with an answer key), vocabulary, guidance in vocabulary retention, and quizzes (with feedback for nearly every question). Every unit also features a document lesson (with an answer key) that comes with video guidance from Nate, where he spends time in the sources with the student, modeling how to read like a historian.

Yes. Each unit plan shows how the content in that unit lines up with the CLEP and with Common Core State Standards.

For a sample daily schedule for the Basic, Standard, and Advanced tracks, see this document.

In the full Course Handbook—which you will receive with any course purchase—this question is answered in more depth. The short answer is that each Nomadic Course (e.g., US1, US2, World 1, World 2, etc.) earns a student .5 history credits. When a set of courses is paired (e.g., US1-2, US3-4, etc.), students earn a full history credit as well as elective credits. The elective credits include .5 credits in subjects like historical methods, college writing, American literature, rhetoric and logic, and more. Full details on hours spent and content covered are included in each Course Handbook.

We believe that our community, Nomad Nation, offers a valuable supplement to our online courses, by allowing parents, teachers, and students to communicate with other parents, teachers, and students. However, it is only a supplement to the course, and a student will not miss any content if they opt out. When you sign up for the course you will get a follow-up email inviting you to the community, which you may ignore without losing any of the awesome benefits the core course has to offer.

The text and on-location videos in each course were written by the Nomadic Professor. The scaffolding and guidance in each course were developed by Nate Noorlander.

The US History 4 course includes outside reading assignments from The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume E: Literature Since 1945, 9th ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2017. ISBN: 9780393264500.

This book is required for students who plan to claim the 1/2 credit in American Literature. Students can still claim all history credits without the use of outside texts.

Typically counted as 1 high school credit.

After you place your order (usually within a few days), the team at The Nomadic Professor will reach out to you for enrollment information. They will ask what date you plan to begin the course and what email addresses you'd like to use for the instructor and student. The Nomadic Professor grants access to the course two weeks prior to the date you plan to begin so you can poke around and familiarize yourself with the course layout before getting started.

The Basic track is built to mimic the pace and rigor of a typical high school history course. The Standard track layers more document readings and more research and writing onto the Basic Track. The Advanced track is for students who are preparing to pass a college credit exam, like the CLEP or AP U.S. History tests.

Sessions are designed to be completed in 30-90 minutes a day, and students will work three to five days a week. This variation depends in part on the student and in part on whether he is going through the Basic, Standard, or Advanced track. US History 1 & 2 can be completed in 8-12 months, depending on your student's time spent each day, whether he works three or five days a week, and which track he chooses. Further calendar and planning guidance is included within the course as part of the course Instructor's Guide.

The daily online quizzes are graded automatically and recorded in the student's grade book. A parent or instructor must grade the other assignments and manually enter the scores into the grade book. 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. 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, teachers can grade student work in a few minutes a day or in short sessions at the end of each week. The grade book is pre-weighted and will immediately reflect changes as you enter new scores. Further grading guidance is included within the course as part of the course Instructor's Guide.

The Nomadic Professor provides helpful video instructions, including introductory videos you can view before beginning the course and explanatory videos embedded within the course.

The Nomadic Professor: US History 3 & 4 counts as 1 credit of American History, half a credit of American Literature and half a credit of Rhetoric and Logic on a high school transcript. Its credits are the same ones The Nomadic Professor: US History 3&4 with Media Literacy earns, so count them once. 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.