Now Available: Our Updated and Expanded History of Classical Music!!

Our expanded and updated History of Classical Music Study Guide is now available! Now in full color with expanded information on many composers and the addition of a book on the greatest violinist in history, this study is sure to encourage a love of classical music in your family and classroom! Now features the biography of Paganini, the boy wonder violinist, Paganini, Master of Strings. 

This newly revised and expanded study covers the development of classical music composition from the Baroque Period to the Modern Period. Tracing the development of orchestral music from Corelli, gifted Baroque composer, up to the time of Igor Stravinsky, students will learn of the lives of the great composers, of their triumphs and failures. Students will study the formation and instruments of the orchestra, the complex job of its conductor, read the most famous ballets, and listen to the greatest music works in history. 

Students will utilize the following resources to learn about the wonderful world of classical music:

The Music Masters Collection, 17 CDs featuring the life stories and music of 21 famous composers

The Story of the Orchestra

Dance Me A Story: Twelve Tales from the Classic Ballets

Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers

Musical Genius, A Story About Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Paganini, Master of Strings

How to Grow a Young Music Lover

Coloring Book of Great Composers, featuring the life stories of composers from Chopin to Tchaikovsky

Coloring Book of Great Composers, featuring the life stories of composers from Mahler to Stravinsky

Classical and Romantic Composers Card Game

These resources are all combined in this year long course with hands-on activities, internet resources, discussion questions, and much more to create a view into nearly 400 years of musical composition. Check out our complete jumbo pack here - it contains everything you need to complete the course and is available for a special discounted price!

Also, don't forget to enter our giveaway! You'll get a chance to win a copy of this guide!!! You only have a few more days to get your reviews in! Be sure and leave a comment letting us know that you've submitted a review!

30 Year Anniversary!

Beautiful Feet Books celebrates its 30th Anniversary this year! We've come a long way since offering our first study guide, The History of California, to other pioneering home school friends. We now publish over 60 titles and offer history and literature curriculum for students K-12. Even though we've moved from California to Massachusetts and back again, one thing has remained the same: our dedication to offering great literature and study guides to make history real and relatable for students, and easy to teach for parents. We sincerely thank you for the privilege of providing teaching materials to educate the leaders of tomorrow. We promise to seek out the best books, provide the best study guides, and refine our existing studies to meet your history and literature needs. Sincerely, The Berg Family. 

To celebrate our 30th Anniversary we now include free shipping on all our Jumbo Packs. In addition to our Jumbo Pack savings, save even more now with free shipping! To browse our Packs click here.

We've offered our History Through Literature Study Guides to the home school community for 25 years. We thought it was time for a new look! Check out the new Medieval History for senior high, Early American for K-3, Early American for 4-6, and coming soon our History of Classical Music for 4-6. Same award-winning literature, new easy-to-use format, brand-new look! Stay posted for more new guides in the coming months.

As a small family owned and operated company, we don't get caught up in the cost-saving practices of many larger companies. For instance, all Beautiful Feet Books publications including books, study guides, timelines, and maps are printed in the USA. We are committed to keeping manufacturing jobs here. To learn more about buying American goods click here.

Review to Win!!! Now Extended!

Summer is here! And you've probably finished up your BFB study in the past few weeks, and we would love to know what you think! Before last school year slips too far into distant memory, we would love it if you would go to our website and write a review of the study guides and/or packs that you used last year.

Your reviews are not only valuable to other parents and teachers seeking out the best curriculum choices for their students, they are a wonderful resource for us! As many of you know, we are in the middle of a long-term process of expanding and updating all of our study guides. You feedback helps guide that process, especially in making the guides even more user-friendly. 

As an incentive we will be choosing at random two winners to receive one of our updated and expanded study guides! The winners can choose from our Early American History Primary Study Guide, our Early American History Intermediate Study Guide, our Medieval History for High School Study Guide, or our History of Classical Music Study Guide! 

Win one of these guides!

Early American History for Primary Grades

Early American History for Intermediate Grades

Medieval History for High School

History of Classical Music

To enter, just submit a review on our website and you will be entered in the random drawing. The more reviews you post, the more chances you have of winning. All reviews submitted between today (7/15/2014) and 8/12/2014 will be entered to win! So, let us know what you think of our study guides and history curriculums. VERY IMPORTANT: For your review to be entered, you must comment below. For each review, leave a comment telling us what product you reviewed.

All the best!

Terms and Conditions: 

1. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

2. Eligibility requirements: entrants must be from persons over the age of 18. 

3. Giveaway begins on 7/15/2014 and ends at 11:59 PM on 8/12/2014.

4. To be entered, review a product on our website, bfbooks.com. 1 entry per review.  

5. Two prizes includes choice of  one  (1) Beautiful Feet Books, Inc. study guides of the winners choice. Approximate retail value: $17.00.- $28.00.

6. Odds of winning: the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.

7. Beautiful Feet Books bears no liability for technical failures or typographical errors.

8. Winner will be selected randomly on 8/13/2014 and will be notified on the blog within 24 hours. Winners have six months to claim their prize. 

9. This giveaway is sponsored by Beautiful Feet Books, Inc., bfbooks.com. Contact at: letters@bfbooks.com or 800.889.1978

10. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

2014 Practical Homeschooling Reader's Choice Awards

Practical Homeschooling Magazine Reader Awards are the highest honor the home school community can bestow. The winners are the products that receive the highest ratings from thousands of seasoned users. Thanks again for making Beautiful Feet Books a top choice in Geography, History, Literature, and Unit Studies!

First Place in Geography, 2014

Second Place in History, 2014

Third Place in Literature, 2014

Third Place in Unit Studies, 2014

Summer Literature Soirée

Dear Readers and friends,

Marilyn Nelson's tender, poignant, and inspiring
poetry portrays the life of a man of faith
and science.

August 9, 2014 will be my Summer Literature Soirée, which many of you have attended in the past.  Normally I like to do a summer reading event at the beginning of the summer and then a Back-to-School event at the end of August, early September.  But due to speaking engagements and other life commitments (2 new grandchildren born this spring!), I am only able to provide one this season. Regardless, I am very much looking forward to spending this special time discussing literature, nurturing friendships, and making new acquaintances too!

So, I am mixing it up a bit this time, as I’d like to spend a bit more concentrated time digging into literary analysis with all of you!  Don’t panic if you’ve never analyzed literature before as this format will empower you to feel confident and equipped to discuss literature with your children/students on a deeper level.

Richard Kim's memoir of his
childhood in Korea is one of the
most beautiful and moving
coming-of-age stories I've ever
encountered.

Here’s the literature we will discuss on August 9th:

Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson

Water Buffalo Days by Quang Nhuong Huynh

Lost Names by Richard Kim

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey

The Little Island by Margaret Wise Brown

For convenience sake, Beautiful Feet Books will offer anyone who signs up for the soirée, an opportunity to purchase the above books discounted and have them shipped  to your home, in the next week or so,  to give you enough time to read them before August 9th (yeah for summer lazy days to read and rest!).  If you are interested in this, please visit the this link to order as soon as possible. The book pack is featured at the bottom of the page. We will offer  the above set of books at a 25% discount, but this offer will only be available until Friday, July 11.   And of course, bring the books with you on August 9th, so you can work directly with the text!

McCloskey's classic summer
story evokes the pathos and
innocence of childhood days spent
on salt water, enchanted by the beauty
of nature and the freshness of
summer showers.

So here are the details:

Date: Saturday, August 9, 2014

Place: my home: 1306 Mill Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

Cost: $35.00 (which includes lunch)

Time: 9:30 am – 3:30 pm.

Registration here.

Hoping you’ll join me for this sweet summer time event!

-Rea

Kathy reflects on To Kill A Mockingbird

“Maycomb was a tired old town, even in 1932 when I first knew it. Somehow, it was hotter then. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon and after their three o'clock naps. And by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frosting from sweating and sweet talcum. The day was twenty-four hours long, but it seemed longer. There's no hurry, for there's nowhere to go and nothing to buy...and no money to buy it with.” (1)

Every time I read this paragraph from Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird I have to smile. Like Scout, I too grew up in a small southern town. The community was an eclectic mixture of people. We had our own general store, where on any given day of the week, the gentlemen of the community would sit around to talk, read the newspapers, listen to the radio and play checkers. Every home had a party line telephone, from which the town gossip gathered her information for her local newspaper column. Children ran freely in the backyards and took turns playing games of “statues”, “freeze tag,” and when the temperatures climbed in the 90’s, they would play on the latest toy, the “Whammo Slip ‘n Slide. I remember going on “visits to the elderly” as I called them each day. I not only went for the social aspect, but each of the elderly was very generous with their supply of candy and soda pop. I do remember our community being tight knit, where everyone treated their neighbor as they wanted to be treated and looked out for each other.

When I was about six years old, my parents and I were watching the weekly Saturday night movie on the local public television station and the featured movie was To Kill a Mockingbird. This was my first introduction to Harper Lee’s classic and it made a huge impression on my formative years. Immediately, I connected with Scout. Like Scout, I was a tomboy. I could have cared less if my hair was combed and I would rather have been dressed in a shirt, shorts or pants than have to wear a scratchy, fancy dress to school. I too had learned to read before I went to school and had a passion for reading the written word. My poor kindergarten teacher had no idea what to do with me after she discovered I could read. In typical tomboy fashion, I entered into the playground scuffles despite my obligatory dress. I remember having to learn life’s lessons the hard way. I remember my parents quoting a line of Atticus’s to me quite frequently, “"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." (2) My family was not a rich one, but like Scout, my parents gave me what I needed.

Harper Lee and President George W. Bush
at the November 5, 2007, ceremony awarding
Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom for To Kill a Mockingbird

As an adult, I now identify with Atticus, Scout’s father. I believe that all parents deep down wish to live out a life of integrity before their child. As the old saying goes, “More is caught than taught.” From Atticus I have learned to follow my conscience and not let others sway my beliefs and convictions. I have learned that you need to look beyond an individual’s skin color or physical appearance to see the person they are deep down inside. Each and every person on this planet is a “child of God, created in His image.” When another person is wronged or mistreated you need to stand up for that individual no matter what the cost to you personally. If you or your family has become the subject of gossip, remember to hold your head high and conduct yourself in a moral, upright manner. Family is a gift from God and you need to love your family unconditionally without strings attached, to be there for them through the good times and bad.

On July 8, 2014 Scout, Jem, Atticus, and Boo Radley will be entering the digital age. Harper Lee, 

author of the 1961 Pulitzer Prize novel had this to say about her timeless classic, “I'm still old-fashioned. I love dusty old books and libraries. I am amazed and humbled that Mockingbird has survived this long. This is Mockingbird for a new generation." (3)

I heartily agree with Miss Lee’s comments. Of all of the books I have read To Kill a Mockingbird has been the most influential piece of literature in my life as a child, and now as an adult. My heartfelt wish is that this perennial classic will continue to thrive and endure for the enjoyment of generations to come.


Bibliography

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; J. B. Lippincott & Co.; 1960
2. Ibid.
3. "To Kill a Mockingbird Finally Going Digital"; The Associated Press; USA Today; April 28, 2014

Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July! We hope you all have plans to celebrate with cookouts and fireworks. Independence Day is a wonderful time to look back on our nation's history and remember the principles upon which she was founded. 

Here are some resources to help you do just that!

A More Perfect Union by Betsy and Giulio Maestro

America's Paul Revere by Esther Forbes

Ben Franklin, Inventing America by Thomas Fleming

A Child's First Book of American History by Early Schenck Miers

The 4th of July Story by Alice Dalgliesh

Online Resources

A brief history of the 4th of July

4th of July crafts

Would you pass the US citizenship test? 

We at BFB wish you a celebratory 4th of July! We'll leave you with John Adam's great words on celebrating this day:

John Adam's famous words regarding this special day:

The fourth day of July "will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. you will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even although We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not." (The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784)