World History
An online world history course: crisscross the globe with The Nomadic Professor
A Global History Survey
The history of the world, enlivened
The Nomadic Professor’s two-part World History course opens with World History 1: The Thousand Names of God, a survey of global history from the Paleolithic era to the shock of the Mongol conquests. The set’s second course, World History 2: From a Far Country, opens with war, plague, and schism in Europe and Asia, eventually bringing the student to the 9/11 attacks and the Global War on Terror. The Professor is on-site from highland-mountain Tibet to lowland-jungle Tikal, from Muhammad’s Medina to Denmark’s Viking coast. World History I and World History II zoom in on and establish critical connections between all 16 major world regions, making them global history courses in the truest sense of the term.
In total, this two-course set offers a stunning amount of material:
Narrative lessons — Forty units of 4-5 sessions each (also delivered in audio/podcast format and read by the Professor!)
On-location videos — Our engaging text is supplemented by hundreds of mini-lectures shot all over the world by The Nomadic Professor; get a feel at the NP’s YouTube channel
Student scaffolding — Guided notes, rigorous self-assessments, and CLEP prep (among other goodies)
Document lessons — Students are taught research, writing, and critical thinking skills in parsing a range of primary and secondary sources
Dynamic content — Our courses aren’t static! We are constantly adding to them, improving them, supplementing them, and otherwise providing extra educational value.
Introducing the two-part series
What a 60-Minute Daily Lesson Actually Looks Like:
Read / Listen
+/-50%-60% of your daily time will be spent on the course content—made up of text and/or audio, as well as video. We have a simplified text for users on our Basic and Standard Tracks, or our original text for users on the Advanced Track.
Watch
Our World History course set includes substantially more videos per session than others, approaching two videos per session. These are 3-minute to 20-minute virtual "field trips," filmed at key historical sites to bring the settings to life, to vary our approach for the student, and to put a face to the NP name.
Take Notes
As in all of our courses, our World History course set teaches active note-taking with fillable forms highly customized to the content being covered—from short answers, to maps and timelines, to organizers that help students get beneath the surface of what they're reading.
Self-Assess
A daily quiz tests student comprehension at the end of each session. These are auto-graded, come with feedback for right and wrong answers, and can be taken more than once.
What you’ll learn, course by course
The Thousand Names of God
World History Part 1
Content: The Rise of Civilization through the Medieval Period (~4000 BC – ~1300 AD)
Skills: Thinking like a historian; reading historical documents and “canonized” texts, art, music, and more; exhibit curation
Credits: (when paired with World 2): 1 credit World History; 1 credit Humanities
- Release: This complete course went live in December 2025.
From a Far Country
World History Part 2
Content: The Late Medieval to the Modern World (~1300 AD – near the present)
Skills: Historical literacy; making judgments about historical significance; argumentative essay writing
Credits: (when paired with World 1): 1 credit World History; 1 credit Humanities
Release: The first unit of this course was released in January 2026; the rest will be gradually released in time for students to take and complete the course during the winter/spring semester of 2026.
Click here for a more in-depth synopsis of the courses’ coverage, scaffolding, customization, and credits.
Why choose The Nomadic Professor?
Authentic, Place-Based Learning
Virtually travel around the world to historic sites through engaging, on-location videos.
Critical Thinking First
We don’t just teach facts—we teach students how to interpret evidence and form their own defensible conclusions.
Homeschool-Friendly Format
A complete survey course with printable guided notes, built-in assessments, and flexible pacing make it easy for parents to guide learning.
Honors & Credit-Eligible
Complete the survey to earn 1 World History credit plus 1 Humanities credit.
Accreditation Support
Use our handbook and your student’s portfolio of work to generate a transcript with real documentation and support behind it.
See why one homeschool parent recommends this course:
Homeschool parent Laura (Monkey and Mom) recently shared a wonderfully detailed review of our World History course, calling it one of her favorite options for a rigorous, secular high school world history curriculum. Watch the video below for an excellent breakdown of the program, its global 16-region structure, evidence-based approach, flexible workload tracks, and much more. Find Laura’s full review here.
Ready to begin?
Join us for a one-of-a-kind tour through the history of the world with The Nomadic Professor! This is no ordinary survey—it’s an immersive, multimedia journey that invites students to examine the past from diverse perspectives and to make historical judgements for themselves.
Questions? Contact us anytime at [email protected].
Using state ESA or education funds? The Nomadic Professor is an approved vendor. See how it works.
Frequently Asked Questions
What credits do your courses offer?
- World 1-2
- 1 credit in World History
- 1 credit in Humanities
Can my student earn high school credit?
These courses fulfill the hours and content requirements for the credits listed above. Students, instructors, supervisors, and/or parents should organize coursework into a portfolio that can be used to justify the credits and grades claimed on final high school transcripts. The Nomadic Professor does not provide the high school transcript, however each Nomadic Course comes with an Instructor’s Guide with further details about how to document hours and content for transcript credit.
What do your World History courses cover?
The Nomadic Professor’s World History 1 course provides a survey of world history from the neolithic era to around 1300 AD; World 2 provides a survey of world history from around 1300 AD to near the present. Both courses explore the social, political, and economic development of human societies across 16 major world regions: South America, Mesoamerica, Northern America, North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Central/Southern Africa, Southern Europe, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Australia/Oceania. The courses particularly emphasizes global themes and interconnectivity.
These courses include more than a hundred on-location videos filmed by the Nomadic Professor in more than 40 countries, bringing history to life from where it actually happened.
Each course includes ten units, made up of five sessions each (four core historical content sessions and one document-based lesson), roughly divided according to the following chronology:
- World 1
Unit 1: to 2000 BC
Unit 2: to 1000 BC
Unit 3: to 500 BC
Unit 4: to 200 BC
Unit 5: to 100 AD
Unit 6: to 340 AD
Unit 7: to 580 AD
Unit 8: to 820 AD
Unit 9: to 1060 AD
Unit 10: to 1300 AD
- World 2
Unit 1: to 1375 AD
Unit 2: to 1450 AD
Unit 3: to 1525 AD
Unit 4: to 1600 BC
Unit 5: to 1675 AD
Unit 6: to 1750 AD
Unit 7: to 1825 AD
Unit 8: to 1900 AD
Unit 9: to 1960 AD
Unit 10: since 1960 AD
Is there an audiobook?
Yes. Every session is recorded as a downloadable audio file read by the Professor.
When should my student take these courses?
Students take these courses between 9th-12th grades, to fulfill their high school World History requirement.
Who grades the student work?
There are consistent graded elements in each Nomadic Course. Daily quizzes are automatically graded and recorded in the student gradebook. Other graded assignments must be assessed by a qualified supervisor, parent, or instructor, who will manually enter scores into the gradebook.
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 student work can be graded in a few minutes a day, or in short sessions at the end of each week. The gradebook is pre-weighted, and will immediately reflect changes as new scores are entered.
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.
Further grading guidance is included within the course as part of the course Instructor’s Guide.
How much time will the courses take?
Sessions are designed to be completed in 30-90 minutes, depending on the reader and what parts of the course they utilize. Each course has approximately 50 sessions.
Courses are designed to be completed in 4-6 months, depending on how many days a week students will be in the class. Most students will be able to finish both courses in one school year.
Further calendar and planning guidance is included within the course as part of the course Instructor’s Guide.
