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History is the heart of our curriculum. We orient the study of literature, geography, music history, and art history to the time period we're studying. There are several really good history programs out there that we like a lot. In every case, we use the textbook as a basis or "spine" for further studies using biographies, great literature, and historical fiction from the same period.

	These books are at the top of my list. They are interesting and even-handed. They don't try to avoid the ugly parts of history, but nor do they avoid the errors of being "politically correct." This is the world history textbook, and I would divide it into several years' study in order to provide the time to read great literature and biographies along with it.		This is the American history text associated with All Ye Lands, and it is also fascinating and even-handed. We are using this now and love it. I read it aloud to everyone and discuss it as we go. Then, the children read biographies, historical fiction from the particular period, and literature individually.
	This is another wonderful history text that goes from ancient times through the discovery of America. We have used this one too and like it very much, but I prefer the ones above.		This is a handy answer key to go with Old World and America--definitely a time saver though not absolutely necessary.
	This is the American history text from the same author as The Old World and America.		This is a helpful answer key for Pioneers and Patriots.
	Here's my third choice. Even though it isn't Catholic, I think it is worth serious consideration. This series is by Susan Wise Bauer, one of the authors of The Well-Trained Mind. It's from a fairly secular but also even-handed perspective that seeks to offer highlights from all parts of world history. I include it because the stories are riveting, and she makes history come alive in a wonderful way. There are 4 periods of history in the whole series, and each period has a textbook, an activity book, an audio CD (make sure to get the revised one if you get this), and a set of tests. My preference is to get the audio CD and the activity book. I tend to think that with the activities, the tests aren't necessary. This series is what the author recommends for elementary-aged children, but I think it could be used as high as 8th grade easily. This is the revised textbook for volume 1, ancient history.		This is the revised CD for Ancient History. Jim Weiss recorded it, and he is a fantastic storyteller. This is my preference for this series. This way, we can listen together in the car and the kids can do the coloring pages from the activity books while listening.
	This is the activity book with lots of neat hands-on activities as well as coloring pages and a big list of great literature to fill out the study of history.		This is the test booklet and answer key for the Ancient portion of The Story of the World.
	This is the volume 2 textbook that covers from the fall of Rome through the medieval era and to the beginning of the renaissance.		These are the audio CDs for volume 2 as read by Jim Weiss.
	This is the activity book for volume 2.		This is the test packet with answer keys for volume 2.
	This is the textbook for volume 3, which covers early modern history.		These are the audio CDs with Jim Weiss narrating.
	This is the activity book for volume 3, which is early modern times.		This is the test booklet and answer key.
	This is the textbook for volume 4 which covers modern times. There's no separate American history in this series, but it is included in the whole throughout. One thing to note is that this is the only one of the three history textbook series that goes all the way through 1990. The others stop at WWII.		This is the audio CD version narrated by Jim Weiss. As I said above, I'm all for using the audio version. That way even Mom gets a bedtime story.
	This is the activity book for volume 4.		This is the test booklet with answer key for volume 4, the modern history version.
	This is a fascinating book that every homeschooling family should own. Each row shows the year, and there are columns for: history and politics literature and theater religion, philosophy, and learning visual arts music science, technology, and growth daily life It makes it easy to see what things were going on in different fields at the same time.		This is the "spine" for high school history of The Well-Trained Mind. Each page has a historical event, going in chronological order. Like Story of the World, this is a secular encyclopedia, but as a basic text to be filled in with great literature, biographies and historical fiction, it's just great.
	This is a good alternative to Kingfisher as a spine for high school using The Well-Trained Mind method, but since a significant part is the internet linkage, just be very sure to keep your children safe.