The Nomadic Professor

The Nomadic Professor American History I & II is an online history curriculum for high school students. Dr. W. Kesler Jackson (aka ~ The Nomadic Professor) along with Nate Noorlander approach history without a dreaded textbook and outside of the typical classroom setting. Dr. Jackson utilizes pre-recorded mini lessons that he recorded on location all around the world. What better way to bring history to life than to see where events in history actually to place. This makes for a more engaging learning experience. Nate Noorlander has extensive experience working with high school students. He produces the handouts, guided notes, quizzes, and document lessons for the courses. High School students can earn high school credit for the courses. The Nomadic Professor is part of Timberdoodles Nonreligious 2022 Eleventh-Grade Curriculum Kit . The Nomadic Professor is also part of Timberdoodles Nonreligious 2022 Tenth-Grade Curriculum Kit .  

The courses currently offered by The Nomadic Professor are: 

American History Part I & American History Part II. Part I entitled, TO BEGIN THE WORLD ALL OVER AGAIN.  From the Pre-Columbian Americas to the Ratification of the Constitution (pre-15th century to 1790's). Part II entitled, THE NOISE OF DEMOCRACY. The Presidency of George Washington to the End of Reconstruction (1790 - 1877). 

American History Part III and IV are in the works. They are also working on courses in World History, Western Civilization, Asian History, and Free Speech. They currently also have a course on Media Literacy.

What is so great about The Nomadic Professor courses is that they can be customized for the needs of your student. Once enrolled you can have your student start at anytime. You can help your student set the perfect pace to work through a course. You can adapt the course to fit the needs of your student. There are 3 levels of difficulty: basic, standard, and advanced. Each course is comprised of 10 units, each broken into 3-5 lessons. Course material includes video, audio, text, maps, photos, drawings, charts, and many other graphics. Students will learn by reading, watching, and listening. Courses have around 400-500 pages of notes and informational handouts. There are approximately 70 short lectures filmed on location. Audio versions of the lessons are also available. 

Christopher Columbus Unit 2, Session 3 is part of American History Part I. At the beginning of each session there is a For Instructors section. This will include the Guided Notes Key, Guided Notes Rubic, and a Comprehensive Course Workbook Key along with other course materials. 

The student has the option of either printing the Session Guided Notes or opening them with Google Docs.  

The teacher key is identical to the student notes but has the 

answers written in red. 

Students have the option of listening to the session via Audio. 

I like that multiple options are given. Visual aids such as the below 

Christopher Columbus Timeline help students fully grasp the material.  

The snippets of written text are extremely informative and quite interesting. It 

definitely is not your traditional boring history textbook material. 

The Nomadic Professor does a FANTASTIC job at making learning history fun. 

History comes alive as he travels the world sharing adventures, discoveries, hardships, triumphs, wars, and more throughout American History. 

Dr. Jackson knows his American History! 

After each section that your student completes within a session they

will click on the Mark Complete button. This will take them to the next topic. 

At the end of each session there is a section entitled, In Sum. This pretty 

much summarizes the session. 

This section entitled, Structure Terms tests your students grasp on the material 

learned in the session. They are to match the terms with the definitions. 

I LOVE THIS! 

There are flashcards using Quizlet for the students to study their definitions.

This is the breakdown of Unit 2 Session 3 and the 7 topic covered. 

As your child's teacher you are able to go into your child's Course Report to check on grades, what has been completed, and the date completed. The parent tools throughout the course are easy to access. Students will also find that the site is very user friendly. There is even a Nomad Nation Community Chat Group that is moderated by Nate.  

I would give The Nomadic Professor ★★★★★! I had my incoming 9th grader start American History I and soon realized that the curriculum was a bit too advanced for her. Instead of following the curriculum as intended I had her watch the videos and learn the vocabulary. I love history and enjoyed reading through the text and watching the videos myself. In my opinion, The Nomadic Professor is an AP History Course that prepares students for college level history or to even clep out of Intro to American History in college. Check out The Nomadic Professor American History I & II