in the early years i used Story of the World... Veritas Press... Mystery of History... we also did the Famouse Men of Greece, Rome and the Middle Ages series... we supplemented with literature and Learning Through History magazine... as my oldest reached middle school, i liked Notgrass History... we also did some Omnibus... next year he will be going through Starting Points—which is a worldview study by David Quine... we will be supplementing with DVDs from The Teaching Company... we used a lot of Christian History magazines this past year as we covered the Renaissance and the Reformation...
T h e B a l d w i n O n l i n e C h i l d r e n ' s L i t e r a t u r e P r o j e c t
The books are free and simply excellent. Our kids loved them and would expound on all manner of subjects. They made me want to read them as well.
The comprehensive history by M. B. Synge is outstanding and a good read for adults. Your kids will know more than 95% of their peers - all the kids who aren't homeschooled.