36 weeks · Grades 5-12, easily scaled up or down
Homeschool Social Studies
One full year of social studies where your student actually runs the country.
A complete social studies spine that pulls geography, civics, economics, and world cultures into a single storyline: your student founds a nation inside SFC Nations and every lesson feeds a decision they have to make that week. Instead of memorizing a chapter about taxation, they set a tax rate and live with the result.
What your student will be able to do
- Explain how geography shapes economy, culture, and conflict
- Compare 20 forms of government and defend a choice with evidence
- Build and balance a national budget across a full year
- Analyze trade relationships, surplus, scarcity, and dependency
- Write persuasive diplomatic communication with a clear thesis
- Track a nation's decisions in a written journal and defend them aloud
Scope and sequence
| When | Focus | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-4 | Founding a nation | Pick a real-world location, name the nation, write a founding charter |
| Weeks 5-9 | Geography and resources | Map the terrain, identify three key resources, predict trade partners |
| Weeks 10-15 | Government and civics | Compare three government types, hold a household election, adopt one |
| Weeks 16-21 | Economics and budgeting | Run a monthly budget, adjust taxes, measure the happiness tradeoff |
| Weeks 22-27 | Trade and diplomacy | Negotiate two trade agreements, write a treaty in plain language |
| Weeks 28-32 | Conflict and peacekeeping | Study a real historical conflict, then resolve a simulated one |
| Weeks 33-36 | Capstone | Present a State of the Nation report with charts and a defense of decisions |
What you need
- • Free SFC Nations account (browser, no install)
- • A printed or digital nation journal
- • World map, physical and political
- • Printable worksheet packs from the Printables library
Unit studies in this track
World Geography Unit Study
6 weeks · Geography · Grades 4-9
Give a student a blank map and a nation to run, and geography turns into strategy.
Economics Basics Unit Study
5 weeks · Economics · Grades 5-10
Hand a student a treasury and they will learn scarcity in about four days.
American Government Unit Study
6 weeks · Civics · Grades 6-12
Read the Constitution, then run a government and find out why every clause is there.
Printables for this track
Questions parents ask
Does this replace a boxed social studies curriculum?
Yes for most families. It covers geography, civics, economics, and world cultures across 36 weeks. Some families keep a separate history spine and use this alongside it.
How much time per week?
Plan on three sessions of 30-45 minutes. The in-game side runs on real time, so short daily check-ins work better than one long block.
Can I use it with multiple children at once?
Yes. Each student can run their own nation and then trade or negotiate with each other, which becomes the best part of the year.