All right, I have the feeling I should stay out of this, but a couple of things are bothering me a little...

First, how are you going to know if the sources you are using to learn on your own are credible sources?
I ask Cajunscot because he is a historian and he can help sort through the land mines, but that is not learning on my own; in fact, reading a history book is still removed or secondhand from the actual research that went into the book, so the author of the book is teaching me.

I haven't quite figured out how to make my second point, but I would think History is an interdisciplinary field that requires some knowledge from many other fields including math and sciences. I majored in English, and it required some knowledge of history if for no other reason than for the context of the literature being studied; I recall most science and math courses having some history included in the study, as well. Yes, I realize this was not in depth study of history... I would think the university setting is a good place for the fields to interact and keep an eye on each other.