Application- please wait for acceptance before paying tuition.

Course Description: 

Honors Ancient World History is a full-year, academically rigorous survey of global history from prehistory through approximately 1200 CE. Designed for motivated middle and high school students, this course emphasizes historical thinking, comparative analysis, and evidence-based writing while exploring the political, economic, cultural, and religious foundations of the ancient and post-classical world.

Students will examine early human societies, river valley civilizations, classical empires, belief systems, trade networks, and post-classical states across Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Rather than focusing on memorization alone, the course prioritizes why civilizations developed as they did and how ideas, technologies, and systems spread across regions.

As an Honors-level course, students will regularly engage with primary and secondary sources, write analytical paragraphs and essays, and practice skills such as comparison, causation, and continuity and change over time. Instruction includes structured scaffolding early in the year to support advanced 8th-grade students, with increasing independence expected as the course progresses.

This course is intentionally designed to serve as a strong foundation for AP World History: Modern, giving students the historical context and analytical skills needed for success in advanced high school history courses.

Prerequisites:
Strong reading comprehension, willingness to write weekly, and teacher recommendation or placement writing sample.

Is this just a “pre-AP” course?
No. This is a complete Honors Ancient World History course with its own content, assessments, and writing expectations. However, students who later take AP World History will benefit significantly from the historical context and skill-building emphasized throughout the year. This course restores the historical foundations that many students no longer receive due to the shift to AP World History: Modern. Students explore ancient civilizations, classical empires, belief systems, and early global interactions while developing the analytical reading and historical writing skills expected in honors and AP-level coursework. The course emphasizes evidence-based writing, primary and secondary source analysis, and historical thinking skills that directly support success in high school, college, and beyond. Families who enroll in both Honors Ancient World History and AP World History Modern in later years will be eligible for priority enrollment.

Class Schedule:

START DATE: August 24, 2026

END DATE: May 21, 2027

3 BREAKS:

• Fall Break- November 23-27, 2026.

• Holiday Break- December 21, 2026- January 2, 2027

• Spring Break- March 22-March 26, 2027. 

Resources: High-speed internet and a reliable computer with an internet browser. No specific software is required, although instructor-student cooperation regarding technical difficulties is expected. The course will utilize the Canvas platform.

Text(s): 

• Required: textbook will be determined by summer 2026.

• Optional: will be posted at a later date

*Mrs. Newman can recommend more resources, if needed.

Tuition: Early Bird special- $650; $700 as of July 1, 2026. There is no audit option for this class. 

Class size: Honors Ancient World History will be limited to 25 students. Course may be opened to more students, if needed.

Syllabus- work in progress

This course is taught asynchronously, with work assigned Monday morning and due on Friday each week. There may be a Zoom class meeting (recorded) maybe towards the end of each unit as a check-in & provide discussion. The assignments are related to the content we are studying and help students' historical thinking skills and writing skills. 

Tentative Schedule: 

1st semester- Thinking like a Historian, early humans/Neolithic Rev., River Valley Civilizations, Classical civilizations, belief systems

2nd semester- Empires & state building, trade networks, the rise & spread of Islam, post-Classical civilizations, (a capstone project possibly)

Who should apply: Highly motivated high-school students 8th-10th grade who are able to work independently, but also are able to work with other students during group discussions. 

Instructor qualifications and bio:

Mrs. Jessica Newman is from Birmingham, Alabama. She graduated from the University of Montevallo (Montevallo, Alabama, USA) with a Bachelor of Arts in History and in 2004, a Masters in Education from the University of Montevallo. She also passed the Social Sciences PRAXIS. In 2012, Mrs. Newman graduated with a Masters in History from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (Birmingham, Alabama, USA).  In 21 years of public school teaching, she has taught Modern World History, Modern U.S. History, AP European History, Comparative World Religions and Current Events, AP World History, AP World History Modern, and Speech/Debate. In 2015, she passed the English/Language Arts PRAXIS. Mrs. Newman has also been an AP European History Reader since 2014 along with online AP review collaborations with fellow AP Euro teachers/Readers with multiple leadership roles such as Reader, Early Reader, and Table Leader. I have been teaching with PAH since 2019: AP World History Modern and offering Honors Ancient World History starting 2026-2027!

Mrs. Newman currently resides near Birmingham, Alabama with her husband & has a daughter who is married and an 18 year old son attending SCAD 2026-2027. She loves everything history including shopping for antiques and doing genealogy research. Her Masters Thesis was "Berry G. Jackson: Murder Witness and Murderer"- detailing Mrs. Newman's GGG Grandfather, who was enslaved in Levy Co., Florida, who escaped enslavement, joined the Union in the Civil War, and became a respectable member of a society in Rochester, New York. Mrs. Newman loves to cheer for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide and the UAB Blazers. She loves to travel and has visited England, Ireland, Scotland, France, and Italy multiple times along with Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Greece. She also enjoys taking her 1971 Chevelle Malibu out for a spin when she is able to. She loves watching history/fantasy tv shows and also has 2 rescue cats (tuxedos) named Panther and Simone.