History enters the school curriculum in elementary grades and structures general knowledge through the end of middle school. Here is a guide to help your child master the standard program.
Elementary level: from prehistory to modern times
Standard themes. Earliest civilizations (Mesopotamia, Egypt), Greek and Roman antiquity, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Enlightenment and revolutions.
Figures to know. Pharaohs, Pericles, Caesar, Charlemagne, Joan of Arc, Leonardo da Vinci, Napoleon.
Key dates. -3000 (writing), -490 (Marathon), -44 (death of Caesar), 800 (Charlemagne emperor), 1492 (Columbus), 1789 (French Revolution), 1804 (Napoleon).
See our article on the complete world history timeline.
Middle school: 19th to 21st century
Standard themes. Industrial revolution, colonization and decolonization, world wars, Cold War, contemporary world.
Figures to know. Lincoln, Marie Curie, Churchill, Roosevelt, De Gaulle, Mandela, Martin Luther King.
Key dates. 1815 (Waterloo), 1865 (end of US Civil War), 1914-1918, 1929 (Wall Street crash), 1939-1945, 1947 (independence of India), 1969 (Moon landing), 1989 (fall of the Berlin Wall).
Ancient civilizations focus
Themes. The long history of humanity, migrations, first civilizations, ancient empires.
Figures to know. Ramses II, Hammurabi, Pericles, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Constantine.
Key dates. -3.3 million years (first tools), -10,000 (Neolithic), -3000 (writing), -509 (Roman Republic), 0 (Jesus), 476 (fall of Rome).
Method to help your child
Three principles.
Do not replace school at home. Complement, do not replace. The teacher does their job. You spark curiosity.
Tie history to outings. A castle visit makes the Middle Ages concrete. A history museum brings antiquity to life.
Use quizzes. The science of active learning shows kids retain 50% better with quizzes. SAPIRO offers 500+ historical figures with explanations.
Mistakes to avoid
Pressure. History should spark interest, not create school anxiety.
Date cramming. Better to understand sequences than recite lists.
Confusing eras. Clearly distinguish Middle Ages (5th-15th century) from Renaissance (15th-16th), Roman Empire (Antiquity) from French Empire (Napoleon).
Worth reading: world history timeline and historical figures.