Knowable World

Scott Powell is a historian and teacher who has been teaching homeschooled students online for nearly 20 years. He is the author of three books including "The 4-Hour Historian", "The History of Now", and the upcoming "The History of Tomorrow". His present-centric approach was developed from the conviction that history is an essential subject that is vital for anyone who wants to live a fully engaged life and make sense of the world they live in.

Heather Schwarz is a homeschooling coach and Masters of Education student whose mission is to make it easy for parents to provide a high-quality academic education to their children at home. Her own children are students of Mr. Powell's History at Our House program, and she is keenly aware of the need for a conceptual, easy-to-use, secular curriculum for the youngest students. Heather brings more than ten years of experience and study in the field of home education to help make Knowable World the very best place to help your child begin to make sense of the world they live in.

Knowable World is a secular curriculum. This means it assumes that the events of world history have naturalistic, cause-and-effect explanations, with no room for appeals to supernatural intervention. Religious topics are introduced when appropriate as ideas that have impacted the behaviour of human beings, not as reliable sources of historical knowledge.

In our experience, many four and five year olds are beginning to ask questions about the world and will be interested in the topics presented in the Knowable World levels. The lessons are intended to connect with familiar places, people, and objects, and to build upon this existing awareness to gain new knowledge in small steps that they can grasp, retain, and use. Children at this age find it very satisfying to use their intellectual abilities in this way!

The program is designed to be completed in three years, at one lesson per week, by a child who begins the program around age 4-6. If your child is older, you may want to go through the first levels at a faster pace and complete the program in one or two years.

As the parent, it is ultimately up to you to decide when and how to use this curriculum. The activity options and extension ideas included with each lesson allow you to use the program in the way that works best for your child and your schedule.

The lessons are designed to be open-and-go, requiring little to no preparation ahead of time. You will want to check the activity instructions to print any pages you will need and gather some simple supplies (markers, scissors, glue, etc.). Extension ideas may require more preparation from the parent, but these are optional activities that do not need to be done at the same time as the lesson video and main activity.