“Our whole high school history program, done according to our recommended sequence, is one long argument about the nature of government in general and our government in particular.” - Laura Berquist

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"The Fourth of July, 1916" by Childe Hassam PD

Tomorrow we will celebrate the 250th birthday of the USA! MODG students study US history in depth with the ultimate goal of having a true understanding of the nature of government. Read below as we explore the key American history classes our students take!

The MODG history program begins in 2nd grade, when the student works on understanding the passage of time through studying his own family tree. Students in the Grammatical Stage (3rd-5th grade) are then prepared to study the history of their own country, as this history is what is already most familiar to them. For most of our students, this is American history and this begins our study of famous persons and stories from the United States of America.

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The Mayflower on Her Arrival in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall PD

As our MODG students enter high school, they begin to set the context for the overall argument about the nature of government and of a law. As they learn about the beginning of the USA and the issues that moved us into revolution, they study the way those issues and others have affected the course of our history as a nation. 

They have the opportunity to strengthen their writing skills by writing analytical essays that teach them to consider different sides of an argument, as they delve more deeply into the types of constitutional issues that our Founding Fathers had to consider. 

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Artwork: Signing of the Constitution by Howard Chandler Christy PD

The culmination in our program is the understanding of St. Thomas on Law. …We measure a concrete institution, namely the United States’ government, against these principles.”  -Laura Berquist

Though this is challenging course material, Laura finds that our MODG students are capable of undertaking this study because they have been prepared for it through the earlier parts of the MODG history program.

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You can listen to Laura Berquist give an overview of the entire MODG history program in our latest podcast episode! Laura outlines our program and shows how it aims to help our students understand the true nature of government. Tune in here!