Early American History Intermediate

"This has easily been the most natural and relaxed curriculum I’ve used in my entire eight years of homeschooling. Ever." - Shelly, homeschooling mom of 11

"Our family thoroughly enjoyed the Early American Intermediate study this year. History comes alive with this wonderful collection of books!" - Stacia 

"We just finished up the early American package and loved it! The kids looked forward to the stories and retained so much info. I was surprised how much they learned!" - Tamara

Next up in our blog series featuring each of the history studies we offer is our Early American History: A Literature Approach for Intermediate Grades. Using our award-winning approach to teaching history using literature, this study takes you and your 4th-6th grader from the Vikings in 1000AD through the Civil War. This course features literature from beloved authors like Esther Forbes, Elizabeth Yates, James Daugherty, Jeri Ferris, Carl Sandburg and more! You'll study the lives of historical figures throughout the early years of our nation's history: Leif Erikson, Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin West, Amos Fortune, Sacagawea,

Sojourner Truth, and so many others! You'll read the wonderfully researched and beautifully illustrated A Child's First Book of American History by Earl Schenck Miers who paints a portrait of the struggles faced by the first settlers, the challenges of creating a new nation, and the the dynamic and complex events that formed our American consciousness. 

The study guide contains 101 lessons and it is suggested that 3 lessons be completed each week. Other features include: 

*Beautiful full color layout including historic art, paintings, charts, and maps.

*Internet links throughout guide for further interest and enhanced study.

*Guide includes an Answer Key.

*Many optional activities listed, especially having to do with geography.

*Expanded comprehension questions.

*Biblical principles.

Click on the images below to see sample pages:

To read about one mom's experience using this program, check out this review here. Shelly used it with three children at three different levels and say "This has easily been the most natural and relaxed curriculum I’ve used in my entire eight years of homeschooling. Ever." We strive to make teaching history easy and inspiring. Our guides are open and go, all you need are the books and a notebook for your student! And everything is available in a discounted pack that ships for free! 

We hope you find this helpful. Please never hesitate to contact us with any questions. We can be reached at 800.889.1978, letters@bfbooks.com, on Facebook, and Instagram.

Early American History for Primary Grades

"The teacher's guide from Beautiful Feet Books is open and go."

"I loved the Early American History Primary Study Guide and how it was laid out. Unlike other guides there isn’t a lot of extra *fluff* or wording. Each lesson is laid out in a simple fashion that takes no prep time, which for this busy momma was really nice!"

"Just opening up the package of books over the summer got me excited to start this curriculum. "

Photo: Joy for the Journey

One of our best-selling and most popular programs has always been our Early American History for Primary Grades. The books are by best-loved authors like Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire, Jean Fritz, Margaret Pumphrey, Walter Edmonds, and Alice Dalgliesh. The Charlotte Mason-inspired study guide could not be easier to follow as the above testimonials attest, and the activities are designed to help students develop skills to research, reason, relate, and record. But the heart of the program is the time spent curled up on a couch reading aloud the tales of our nation's earliest days.

We've intentionally made our programs easy-to-follow and flexible so that they are assets to every type of home schooling parent. We don't want them to become task-masters. All of our studies stand on their own, or can be incorporated into another program that you are using. For instance, Aurie from Our Good Life used our Early American study along with Classical Conversations Cycle 3! She writes all about it here.

Photo: Joy in the Journey

Misty from Joy in the Journey is a book-lover and appreciated the emphasis on literature as well as the activities that helped a fidgety child focus on the readings:

 

"The lessons are short and to the point. This means that my fidgety kid doesn’t bore easily from the lessons. He actually has asked to read MORE than what is assigned. This is a win/win for us! The coloring sheets keep him busy, which means he is more engaged in what he is hearing. With kids who love to move, you NEED to keep them doing just that. Otherwise, they just aren’t learning. I love that most of the lessons have a coloring sheet assigned also." 

You can read Misty's detailed review here.  For those of you wanting to know more, here's some basic info. This guide will take you and your K-3 students from the year 1000 AD with the Viking discovery of North America to the exploration, colonization, Revolution and Western Expansion of the mid-1800's with the Civil War. Used as a one or two year study, parents will read aloud award-winning literature from great authors such as the D'Aulaires, Walter Edmonds, Alice Dalgliesh, Clyde Robert Bulla and others. Organized into easily followed lessons, students (and parents!) will learn the history of our nation along with corresponding biblical principles, poetry, geography, character studies and much more! There are 97 lessons in the study guide which can be used for 1-2 years. Click on the images below to see some sample pages. And everything is available in a discounted pack that ships for free! 

 

We hope this helps you get a good idea of what this pack is all about. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below. If you have a question, chances are others do to, so please ask away! And thank you to our reviewers!

We hope you find this helpful. Please never hesitate to contact us with any questions. We can be reached at 800.889.1978, letters@bfbooks.com, on Facebook, and Instagram.

Review: Geography Through Literature

How does one teach geography using literature? Perhaps this question has popped in your head while browsing through the programs we offer or seeing friends post about it on Instagram. It's a completely valid question. After all, most geography is taught by studying and memorizing maps, capitals, elevations, etc. We believe that there is a lot more to geography than stats and facts, we believe that geography has a way of shaping us and what better way to understand this than by reading great stories?

The geography around us determines so much of our behavior as human beings. We don't often think of it, but the history of humanity cannot be separated from geography and ecology. Civilizations cropped up around water sources. Mountains divided cultures back when traveling over them presented insurmountable challenges. Droughts, floods, natural disasters shaped geographical landscapes and therefore human behavior. We cannot be separated from our surroundings and our geography program helps us understand how geography shaped mankind and mankind has been trying to return the favor since the beginning of time. Our Geography: A Literature Approach for Intermediate Grades opens student's minds to the amazing study of this science in a whole new way. One of our most popular programs, this combines great books with detailed mapping assignments so students understand the history, ecology, biology, and humanity of the places they're studying. 

Here are excerpts from a couple of reviews we just received of our Geography: A Literature Approach study. 

 "I cannot wait to gush about the literature-rich geography curriculum we’ve been using!" writes Caitlin from My Little Poppies. 

I believe that you could homeschool the elementary years with your library card alone...And yet, this is easier said than done...I’ll be honest: I love when someone does all that work for me. I love an incredible book list or a literature-rich curriculum.

And that’s where Beautiful Feet Books comes into play...I knew this curriculum would be a win for our family before it even arrived on our doorstep. Our family adores Holling Clancy Holling, winner of the Newbery Honor, the Caldecott Honor, and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Holling’s amazing stories which are filled with fantastic illustrations and geographical and scientific facts." To read more of this review and see pictures of the maps and books that are included in this study, click here. 

Ami from Walking by the Way wrote about using this study with her active, nature-loving son: 
"I have this kid who wants to live outside. When he's not outside, he's inside–learning about wild edible plants or how to build a survival shelter or maybe finishing his math so he can go back outside. 

I asked him if he wanted to try some history, and he looked through a few things. He settled on a geography program from Beautiful Feet. I admit I was a bit nervous. Was my bird-calling, plant-loving, waterfall-chasing boy going to enjoy this geography program? We started on the first book, Paddle-to-the-Sea, and he was hooked: a boy building a miniature boat, the Great Lakes, a pond, a marsh, birds. Yes, he was hooked. And he learned a ton. And I learned I love this program for many reasons."

As alluded to above, this study uses Holling C. Holling's wonderful books and focuses on North American geography with an introduction to world geography. We've published custom maps to go with each of the books and students work on coloring, illustration, and marking those maps throughout the course of the study. 

Photos: My Little Poppies

Photo: Walking by the Way

The Study Guide provides lesson plans with reading assignments, research projects, activities, mapping projects, and much more. 

We offer everything is an affordable discounted package (that ships for free!) and you can buy additional maps for each of your students! 


We hope this helps you get a good idea of what this pack is all about. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below. If you have a question, chances are others do to, so please ask away! And thank you to our reviewers, Ami and Caitlin!

We hope you find this helpful. Please never hesitate to contact us with any questions. We can be reached at 800.889.1978, letters@bfbooks.com, on Facebook, and Instagram.

Testimonial

"We used Early American History last year with our 3rd and 1st graders...and a toddler! It was our best year yet! Rich conversations and deep connections--that's why we're homeschooling. These books became the heart of our days."
—Kortney G

Check us out at bfbooks.com

We hope you find this helpful. Please never hesitate to contact us with any questions. We can be reached at 800.889.1978, letters@bfbooks.com, on Facebook, and Instagram.

Why BFB?

"This has easily been the most natural and relaxed curriculum I’ve used in my entire eight years of homeschooling. Ever." Shelly

"I can't recommend this curriculum to enough people. We used it for my daughter's 4th grade year. I would say the only problem we had was that she loved the books so much that several times when I would assign her the reading, she would tell me she finished the book already!!! She took them to bed and read them over and over all year. We absolutely love this curriculum." Tonya F.

"We just finished up the early American package and loved it! The kids looked forward to the stories and retained so much info. I was surprised how much they learned!" Tamara

"Our family thoroughly enjoyed the Early American Intermediate study this year. History comes alive with this wonderful collection of books!" Stacia

For those of you who are not familiar with our studies, here's what they are: big piles of wonderfully written, beautifully illustrated, and impeccably researched literature organized by an easily adaptable, clear, simple-to-follow study guide. We began writing our study guides way back in 1986 and have been improving them ever since. We believe that teaching history using the best literature available is not only the greatest way to teach this important subject, it's the most fun, interesting, engaging, and thought-provoking approach. And our guides also make it the easiest! We've put years into researching each guide: sorting through hundreds and hundreds of titles to find the very best books. We break down each collection of literature into approachable lessons with do-able reading assignments, conversation provoking comprehension questions, fun activities, vocabulary lists, and more. For sample pages, click here.
Additionally, as established publishers, if we find a wonderful book that is no long readily available because it's out of print, we search out copyright holders, restore text and illustrations, and bring these lost treasures back in to print! Ensuring that the lost literary treasures of yesteryear are available to today's families is one of the passions that drives us! Did you know that the following titles are all titles that are exclusively published by Beautiful Feet Books?

To learn more about teaching history using literature instead of textbooks check out our website, bfbooks.com. We have a "Getting Started" page to help you sort through your options and if you want to read more about this approach, check out these articles and our FAQ page.

We will be updating the blog over the next few weeks with more reviews as well as detailed looks at each of the history programs we offer. Please post any questions you may have in the comments and we'll do our best to answer as quickly as possible. You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook, linked below. 

We hope you find this helpful. Please never hesitate to contact us with any questions. We can be reached at 800.889.1978, letters@bfbooks.com, on Facebook, and Instagram.

Heart Education

"When asking my kiddos about this past year's favorites, my son enthusiastically exclaimed, "History is my favorite!"  I know this is in large part because of the wonderful, rich resources you have provided for our family!  He has been able to make a solid, heart connection to actual people throughout history - God's people, whom He loves dearly. History is not a "long ago, distant date" in which some random people happened to live. The novels you have selected have made "history" right here, right now for my kids. They care about the characters in these books. And because they care about them, they can grieve with them and can celebrate with them through the events that the characters experience. For me, this expands their worldview and their empathy toward others in the here and now. 

Thank you so much for all you do to contribute to the heart education of the next generation!  We are so blessed because of your efforts! 

Many thanks,

Laura S

We hope you find this helpful. Please never hesitate to contact us with any questions. We can be reached at 800.889.1978, letters@bfbooks.com, on Facebook, and Instagram.

Teaching Character Through Literature

Our newest guide is now available! It is our revised and expanded Teaching Character Through Literature study and we're so excited about it. We've added titles, authors, Bible verse memory cards, discussion questions, and so much more to this study. It still has notes and lists for both the Primary and Intermediate levels and is a wonderful resource for families seeking to add meaning to their read aloud time, concentrate of character development, and see depth in conversation. From the description:

Neil Gaiman once wrote, "Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” This is one of the many reasons a literature-rich childhood is as important to a child's moral development as vegetables are to his health. We know that reading aloud is important for nurturing academic skills, but even more essential, the stories we choose to tell our children will help shape their moral imaginations. Choosing the best tales, myths, and fiction for our children can be a daunting task, but this guide will provide a roadmap for your journey. Lists of wonderful books for multiple levels are paired with comprehension questions designed to draw character lessons out of the stories. Each title has been picked for its literary value as well as the character traits exhibited by the heroes and heroines. Nothing dry and didactic here!

Additionally, lesson plans make it easy to incorporate these books into your family reading time, while spurring discussions that will jump off the pages and impact real life. Bible verses are provided along with memorization cards to make it easy to incorporate these essential truths into your child's daily habits. This latest edition of the study guide has added dozens of books to broaden its scope while retaining its flexible structure. Use this guide as a reference for trips to the library, to help add depth to family read-aloud time, as a character development curriculum, and more.

Of course, the literature used in the study is the most exciting part, and we're thrilled with these book offerings. Check out the titles in the Primary Pack: 

~When God Made You

~The Seven Silly Eaters

~Obadiah the Bold

~Rachel and Obadiah

~Wilfrid Gordon Macdonald Partridge

~Last Stop on Market Street

~Time of Wonder

~When I was Young in the Mountains

~Miss Rumphius

~Brave Irene

~Clown of God

 All beautifully illustrated stories of courage, beauty, and wisdom. The study notes and discussion questions help bring out lessons of faith in God, respecting one another as fellow image-bearers, a recognition of sin and the grace of redemption. And check out the wonderful illustrations. These are books your child will ask you to read over and over and over. And we know this from experience because our kids have worn through copies of these books.

From Last Stop on Market Street 

From When God Made You

From The Seven Silly Eaters

And here are the books in the Intermediate level pack. 

~The Green Ember

~Caddie Woodlawn

~The Happy Prince and Other Tales

~The Door in the Wall

~A Gathering of Days

~Call it Courage

~The Whipping Boy

~The Family Under the Bridge

~The Little Prince

~The Hundred Dresses

~Fables

~Benjamin Franklin

This mix of classics and new titles will allow your middle schooler to travel from pioneer America to post-war France to Indonesia and England, as well as an imaginary world where rabbits wear swords and fight evil wolves. We hope that this guide brings delight to many families as they discover the joys of reading and discussion great stories together!

We hope you find this helpful. Please never hesitate to contact us with any questions. We can be reached at 800.889.1978, letters@bfbooks.com, on Facebook, and Instagram.