Two Programs, Very Different Time Commitments
The biggest thing to understand before comparing these two programs is the daily time commitment. Notgrass Exploring World History is a 2 to 3 hour daily course that integrates history, literature, Bible reading, and writing into a single program. Masterbooks World History runs 30 to 45 minutes a day and covers history only. If that does not register immediately, it will when you build your student's schedule: one of these programs fills a morning and the other fills a period.
This is not a criticism of either program. It reflects a real choice about what you want history to look like in high school. Notgrass earns three separate credits in one year. Masterbooks earns one. Both approaches work. They produce different transcripts and different daily experiences, and that difference matters more than almost anything else in this comparison.
Notgrass Exploring World History
Best for: Students who do well with narrative-driven, literature-rich history and parents who want one program to handle history, English, and Bible together.
Notgrass Exploring World History is written by Ray Notgrass, a Christian historian, and is currently in its 3rd Edition. The program covers world history from creation through the present day in a narrative style: readable, story-driven, and written to be engaging for a student working alone. It is designed for high school and earns one credit each in World History, English, and Bible when completed, for a total of three credits in one year.
A full school day in this program runs about 2 to 3 hours. The history credit involves reading the narrative lessons and primary source documents from the In Their Words companion book. The English credit involves completing writing assignments and reading assigned literature from outside the core set. The Bible credit involves reading large portions of Scripture and completing a Bible study lesson for each unit. Unit projects tie the three strands together.
The Curriculum Package (3rd Edition) is priced at $125 and includes the two course books (Part 1: Creation Through the Middle Ages, and Part 2: The Renaissance to the Present) and the In Their Words primary source anthology. This package does not include the Student Review Pack or the Literature Package, which are sold separately. Families who want graded tests and quizzes will need the Student Review Pack. The total cost with review materials and literature runs higher than the base package price.
Parents describe the writing as engaging and say their students read the lessons without being pushed. The integration of Bible, literature, and history into one daily block is what keeps families in the program. It is genuinely a lot of school in one course.
Masterbooks World History
Best for: Students who need a focused history-only course with an analytical, textbook style, and families who want a lower-cost, lower-time option.
Masterbooks World History is written by Dr. James Stobaugh and covers world history from creation through the early 21st century. It is designed for grades 10 through 12 and earns one credit in World History. The revised edition is in full color and runs 36 weeks at 30 to 45 minutes per day, five days a week. Supplemental video instruction is available at MasterBooksAcademy.com.
The Curriculum Pack is priced at $75.97 and includes the student textbook, the teacher guide, and So Noted!, a commentary on Genesis drawn from the Henry Morris Study Bible. The teacher guide contains a suggested daily schedule, student worksheets, critical thinking questions, quarterly exams, and answer keys. The worksheets use Bloom's Taxonomy as their organizing framework, moving students from recall questions toward analysis and reflection.
The course is designed for independent study. Students read the textbook chapter, complete the day's worksheet, and work through the So Noted! reading on the fifth day of each week. A parent or teacher grades the work and administers the quarterly exams. This is a more traditional textbook course than Notgrass, and that is the point: Stobaugh writes for students heading toward college-level work and builds the analytical habits needed there.
Some families find that the worksheet questions do not always match the text closely enough for students to answer them confidently without guessing. This is the most common criticism in reviews. If your student needs the practice of finding and restating textbook information before moving to analysis, this gap can create friction.
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Where They're Different
Price favors Masterbooks. The Curriculum Pack runs $75.97, including everything you need to complete the course. Notgrass starts at $125 for the base Curriculum Package, and families who want tests and quizzes add the Student Review Pack on top of that. If you also purchase the literature titles assigned in the English strand, your total rises further. For families on a budget, Masterbooks costs less and includes more of what you need in one box.
Credits tell a different story. Notgrass earns three credits in one year: World History, English, and Bible. Masterbooks earns one. Families who need to fill a transcript efficiently, or who want to check off multiple subjects through a single program, find Notgrass more efficient over the course of four high school years. Families who have English and Bible handled separately and only need a history course find Masterbooks straightforward and well-priced.
Daily time is where families feel the difference most. Notgrass is a 2 to 3 hour daily block during your student's high school years. Masterbooks is a 30 to 45 minute period. If your student is juggling math, science, writing, and a language, those ninety extra minutes every day matter. A student doing Notgrass is essentially doing three subjects at once, which is the value proposition, but it shapes the whole school day around it.
Writing style separates the two programs at the reading level. Notgrass reads more like a book: narrative, warm, and written to hold a student's attention across long passages. Stobaugh's Masterbooks text reads more like a structured textbook, organized by chapter objectives and analysis questions. Students who read for pleasure and do well with sustained narrative work tend to do well with Notgrass. Students who prefer knowing what they are being tested on and working through questions systematically tend to do better with Masterbooks.
Both programs teach from a young-earth, biblical worldview. Neither is secular. If that is not the right fit for your family, a different program will serve you better. If it is the right fit, both programs integrate faith and history throughout the course rather than treating them as separate subjects.
Which One to Pick
Pick Notgrass Exploring World History if you want history, English, and Bible in one course, your student reads willingly and does well with long narrative passages, you have the daily time to run a 2 to 3 hour block, and you want a program with a strong reputation among families who have used it across multiple levels.
Pick Masterbooks World History if you need history only, your budget is tighter, your student needs to work independently with a clear daily schedule, or you are looking for a shorter daily block and a textbook style that prepares students for college reading and analysis.
If you are still building the structure of your high school years and are not sure how history fits in, the guide on how to choose homeschool curriculum covers how to think about credits, schedule, and subject balance before you buy anything.
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The Program You Finish Wins
Notgrass and Masterbooks both cover world history thoroughly and both take the subject seriously from a biblical perspective. The difference is not which one teaches better history. The difference is what kind of course fits your student's learning style, your daily schedule, and what else is on the transcript.
Pick the one that fits and run it to completion. A finished course with a grade earns the credit. A better-reviewed program that stalls in month three does not.