America the Beautiful (Notgrass)

America the Beautiful is Notgrass History's one-year middle-school American history program — a single integrated course that combines a narrative text, a primary-source anthology, mapwork, and a Bible study component, and that is designed to award English, history, and Bible credit in a single year. It is among the most popular middle-school American history programs in Christian homeschooling, and its integration model is the pitch.

Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Subject-specialist / literature-based / integrated Christian
Worldview	Christian-evangelical (providential framing throughout)
Grades	5-8 (per the publisher)
Formats	Print (2nd edition curriculum package)
Cost tier	Standard
Parent intensity	3
ESA-common	Yes (where Christian curricula are permitted)
Accredited	No
Established	2011 (first edition of America the Beautiful); company founded in 2000 with Tennessee history
Website	notgrass.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	4	Substantive narrative with real primary-source readings at middle-school level
Ease of teaching	4	Daily lesson plan is explicit; parent mostly reads alongside and discusses
Content quality	4	Readable prose, photographed sites, anthology does real work
Flexibility	3	Designed as an integrated year; pieces work apart but lose the pitch
Value for money	4	Complete package at $125 covers three subjects of credit
Worldview scope	2	Christian-evangelical and providential throughout; not incidental
Visual/design	4	Full-color, well-photographed, clean modern layout
Support resources	3	Teacher materials are compact; strong retail and convention support

Who the publisher is

Notgrass History was founded by Ray and Charlene Notgrass, a married couple from Tennessee who homeschooled their three children and began publishing history curriculum in 2000 after Charlene wrote a Tennessee history textbook in response to a convention request. Ray Notgrass holds a bachelor's in history from Middle Tennessee State University, a master's in history from the University of Kentucky, and a master's in New Testament from Harding University. Before publishing full-time, he served twenty-two years as a campus minister and preaching minister. Charlene oversees curriculum development and co-authors several of the programs.

The company has grown from the original Tennessee volume into a full line of middle-school and high-school history, government, economics, and Bible curricula. America the Beautiful, released in 2011 and now in its second edition, is the flagship middle-school offering. Exploring America (high school US history), Exploring World History, and From Adam to Us (elementary) complete the core spine. Distribution is direct through the Notgrass shop, plus Christian Book Distributors, Rainbow Resource, and the homeschool convention circuit.

Notgrass is Christian-evangelical in both its self-identification and its editorial practice. Scripture is quoted in the narrative, providential interpretation frames the founding and the American story, and the Bible-study component of America the Beautiful is integral rather than optional. The program is upfront about this positioning; a family encountering Notgrass at a convention knows what they are buying.

The core pedagogy

America the Beautiful is an integrated course rather than a textbook. The core package, as of its second edition, comprises six components: America the Beautiful Part 1 and Part 2 (the two-volume narrative), the We the People primary-source anthology, the Maps of America the Beautiful workbook, a Timeline, and an Answer Key and Literature Guide. The course runs 150 lessons across 30 weeks, with each week including narrative reading, anthology readings, a mapping or timeline activity, and scheduled Bible-study integration tied to the week's theme.

Notgrass pitches the program as yielding three middle-school credits in a year: American history, English (through the anthology's literature selections), and Bible (through the Bible study component). That claim is accurate as long as the family uses all the pieces — the integration is the mechanism. Using America the Beautiful only as a history text wastes most of what the family paid for.

Signature mechanics: (1) Integrated three-subject design — history, literature, and Bible are braided into each week's lessons rather than taught as parallel strands. (2) Primary-source anthology — the We the People companion volume carries founding documents, speeches, letters, and poems, read in their actual forms rather than summarized. (3) Photograph-rich text — Notgrass has photographed American historical sites extensively, and the narrative volumes are full of primary visual material. (4) Daily lesson structure — each of the 150 lessons is roughly thirty to sixty minutes, with a mix of reading, anthology work, and a short assignment; the parent does not have to plan.

A day in the life

A sixth-grader using America the Beautiful spends about an hour daily on the program. The day begins with reading the current lesson from Part 1 — typically six to ten pages of narrative, photographed sites, and sidebars — at a student-led pace. Roughly three days a week, the lesson directs the student to a reading in the We the People anthology: a letter from John Adams, an excerpt from a slave narrative, a speech by Lincoln. One day a week brings mapping or timeline work from the companion workbook. One day a week is Bible-study-integrated — a thematic connection between the week's history topic and a Scripture passage, with a short written response. Friday is typically a review and short writing day. The parent's role is to pre-read the week's material, be available for discussion, and correct written work against the answer key.

A family using the optional literature add-on includes one additional novel or nonfiction book per month, read at the family's own pace, with response questions from the Literature Guide. This is where the English-credit claim is earned. Families who skip the literature thread get a strong history course but cannot honestly transcript the year as three credits.

What they do exceptionally well

Integration as a feature, not a kludge. Many Christian American history programs bolt a Bible study onto a history text. America the Beautiful writes the two together. The result is that the Bible-study moments feel thematically earned rather than inserted — a week on the Great Awakening naturally carries a devotional reading on revival, and a week on the Civil War carries Scripture on liberty and justice. Families aligned with the worldview find this seamless; the seams are there for families who want to see them, but the integration is genuine.

Primary-source anthology depth. We the People does real work. It is not a thin handful of extracts. Students read the full Mayflower Compact, substantial excerpts from the Federalist, the Gettysburg Address, selections from Douglass and Lincoln and King, and dozens of other primary documents. For a middle-school program, this is a meaningful contribution to what the student actually encounters.

Photography and site documentation. Ray and Charlene Notgrass have photographed historic American sites across the country for the second edition, and the narrative volumes carry large full-color images of places the text describes. A student reading about the Alamo sees the Alamo. This is closer to National Geographic's visual register than to a traditional textbook's stock art.

What they do poorly

Tightly bound to the worldview. Families who do not share the providential framing of American history will find that framing present on nearly every page — in sidebars, in discussion questions, and in the Bible-study integration itself. The program is not modular in that respect. A secular or non-Christian family trying to adapt America the Beautiful will find themselves editing continuously, and will lose the integration advantage that is the program's main pitch.

Post-1950s coverage is compressed. As with most single-volume American surveys, the later decades move faster than the founding era. Vietnam, civil rights, and post-Reagan politics are covered, but at a density that will feel light to families wanting sustained treatment of the late twentieth century. Supplemental reading is worth planning.

Not designed for high-school rigor. The publisher markets America the Beautiful as a middle-school course, and for high-schoolers Notgrass offers Exploring America separately. Families attempting to stretch America the Beautiful into a high-school credit will find the writing load and analytical depth below what a transcriptable high-school course requires.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick America the Beautiful if: you want a middle-school American history course that earns English and Bible credit in the same year; your family is Christian-evangelical and the integrated Bible study is a feature, not an obstacle; you value a substantial primary-source anthology at middle-school reading level; you prefer a full open-and-go daily lesson plan; you like photograph-rich narrative over plain text.

• Skip America the Beautiful if: you are secular, Jewish, Catholic, or theologically broad-evangelical and want a program whose worldview is modular; you want an academically rigorous high-school American history course rather than a middle-school integrated course; you already have separate Bible and literature programs you plan to keep; you want a reading-heavy, textbook-light classical approach; your student needs AP-level analytical writing preparation.

Cost honest assessment

As of April 2026, the America the Beautiful Curriculum Package (2nd Edition) is priced at $125.00 direct from the publisher (down from a regular $141.00). The package includes America the Beautiful Part 1 and Part 2, We the People, Maps of America the Beautiful, Timeline of America the Beautiful, and the Answer Key and Literature Guide. Optional add-ons include the Student Workbook, Lesson Review, and Literature Package (the recommended novels and nonfiction used for the English-credit track), sold separately.

Compared to Bright Ideas Press All American History (roughly $95-$110 per volume, with two volumes for a full survey) and to Abeka's middle-school American history (approximately $175-$225 for the full grade with teacher editions), Notgrass sits in the middle of the standard tier. A family running America the Beautiful with the full literature package adds roughly $80 to $150 in novels and nonfiction, bringing the all-in annual cost to approximately $200 to $275.

An honest dollar-per-credit analysis: $125 for the core, dividing three middle-school credits, is unusually efficient — roughly $40 per credit. Families who do not use the Bible and English integration are paying for integration they do not use.

ESA eligibility notes

Notgrass sells through its own shop, Christian Book Distributors, and Rainbow Resource, all of which are approved vendors on most state ESA marketplaces. Arizona's ClassWallet, Florida's Step Up For Students, and Iowa's Student First Scholarship have all historically reimbursed Notgrass purchases. Because the program is overtly Christian, states that restrict religious materials — including portions of West Virginia's Hope Scholarship and some categories within Arkansas's LEARNS Act marketplace — may flag America the Beautiful or require the family to purchase the history components separately. Families in restrictive states should verify the specific package's approval before ordering.

Alternatives

• Bright Ideas Press All American History — a family would choose Bright Ideas over Notgrass for lighter Christian framing, a two-volume American survey that splits across grades, and a less tightly integrated course structure.
• Sonlight American History cores (Core D and E) — a family would choose Sonlight over Notgrass for a literature-heavy American history approach with substantially more assigned novels and a more discussion-based pedagogy.
• Beautiful Feet American History — a family would choose Beautiful Feet over Notgrass for a Charlotte Mason literature-based approach with living books as the spine rather than an integrated single text.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed the Notgrass History shop pages for America the Beautiful 2nd Edition, the About page covering Ray and Charlene Notgrass, the sample lessons and scope-and-sequence documents, and the Cathy Duffy Reviews entry. We cross-referenced against HSLDA's publisher directory and current retail listings at Christian Book Distributors and Rainbow Resource. Biographical information on the founders was verified through Ray Notgrass's academic credentials and Charlene Notgrass's publishing record. The 2011 initial release date for America the Beautiful was confirmed through the publisher's curriculum timeline. Prices and edition information verified April 2026.