Modern American and World History

One of our newest programs in our Modern American and World History for grades 5-8. This literature-rich study picks up where our Early American History for Intermediate grades leaves off and has been very popular from it's introduction. Karyn from Teach Beside Me has been using it with her 6th grader and recently reviewed it here. A couple of highlights from her review hit right at the heart of what we want to accomplish with our literature approach to history programs. Here's a couple excerpts:

"I have been using the Modern American and World History curriculum with my 6th grade son. He is so happy with it and has really been thriving with this literature set. He is loving each and every book...He often forgets that he is supposed to only read certain chapters each day and reads beyond the assigned amount...His thoughts on the program are that it is simple and to the point. It makes history come to life and is making him think about how much the decisions we make matter in everyday life...He thinks it is the best way to learn history that we have ever done! He loves how the books are all related to each other, but each one has its own style and direction with new things to understand."

"In my discussions with a few other homeschool parents who have used Beautiful Feet Books, I have heard a few people talk about getting the books alone and not needing the literature guides. I have to say that I disagree completely. I was trying to do that in the past,  but never felt like there was enough structure and consistency to it. The Literature guides help with book order and guide you through it in such a wonderful way!   They are an amazing addition to this literature-rich curriculum."

Thank you Karyn for your kind words. Please read the complete review and check out Teach Beside Me for other great reviews and homeschool resources. 

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Using BFB's Early American History

Today Jessica from jessicalynette.com updates us on how things are going with our Early American History for Primary grades! Love this window into their homeschooling experience. Check it out! 

It’s been a while since I posted about our journey through Beautiful Feet Books for our history. I didn’t mean to take such a long break, it’s just that when you are a part of the journey – living very much in the moment of it – it can be hard to sit back and reflect upon the journey. Especially when Spring is in the air and our history involves sitting in the sunshine, reclining in a hammock, and delving into beautiful stories that feed the soul and imagination – all while educating the mind. It doesn’t feel like work.

{term 1 with Beautiful Feet books and Term 2 with BFB can be read following their respective links – this is a combo of term 3 and 4}

There is something about this gentle manner of learning that makes it hard to talk about … As if any embellishments on my part might complex the wondrous beauty and simplicity that BFB has pulled together. We have, and are, thoroughly enjoying this journey through early American history with our new found friends – Grimalkin the cat, the brave boy from The Matchlock Gun, little George whom wished to know what George Washington ate for breakfast (a fantastic story!) and many others.

Beautiful Feet Books for Early American History has been a wonderful fit for us – and it has been so neat to see the history we read “come to life” around us through various events.

I have been thankful for other tools that have helped to reinforce the learning – while we aren’t quite at the civil war we were able to watch a reenactment of Sherman’s march. And weeks ago while in Savannah we saw a rail tie like what Sherman was doing to the tracks – Sherman’s Bow tie as they are famously called. These visuals will be powerful learning aids when we reach this part in history.

Layers and layers and layers – that is (in my opinion) a wonderful way to learn. And these BFB give such a deep layer of character and, when the books are illustrated, beautiful visuals, too.
More layers – they learned how girls would roll bullets during the revolutionary war; 

They got to see the actual canons George Washington gifted the city of Savannah: 

Last week we had a particularly windy day. I brought out our kite and as we were struggling to get it up in the air (we never did succeed) my nine year old commented that he wished he had a key. And then he bemoaned the fact that, even if he had a key, there was no lightening flashing across the sky. It made me laugh (and make a mental note to closely supervise kites and stormy weather) – but Benjamin Franklin made his mark in the minds of two boys. 

Thank you Jessica! Love how your travels and adventures are lining up with what you're learning. So fun when that happens. 

We would love to hear what you think! Chime in below in the comments section and share your thoughts. Don't forget to check out our Facebook and Pinterest pages.  To learn more about Beautiful Feet Books, click here.

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Catching up with Jessica

Today we're catching up with Jessica. She and her boys are working their way through our Early American History study. If you missed the first entries in her series, here they are: Part I and Part II. Today Jessica talks about how homeschooling through difficult times poses unique challenges and sometimes you just have to press through. We have structured our study guides to take these sorts of circumstances into account. We know as homeschoolers ourselves that life is unpredictable and everyone needs flexibility. So if it means stretching a six week term into eight weeks like Jessica did, our studies are easily adjusted. We also want your history studies to be a time of connection where you can take a break from all the pressures of school, curl up on the couch with your kids and get lost in great literature and story. 

Here's Jessica: 

I can just hear this long, deep sigh emitting from my oldest when I look at this picture – and that is how I feel.

Term two has been rough.

Outside circumstances have been unpredictable and tossed us to and fro on the waves of uncertainty and we have learned to cling to the rock that is higher than us and stronger than our problems.

So much in these past eight weeks have been miserable and just buckling down and getting through. Yes, eight weeks. Our six week term turned in to an eight week one as we just plowed through as we were able.

It’s the beauty and handicap of home education – the weight of it all is on you, and sometimes rest is required in order to handle it at all. So over the past eight weeks a bit of a lighter load was distributed and we focused on joy and good attitudes and thanking the Lord for His provisions and just breathing.

And things are looking much brighter as we head into term three and no one is worse for the wear for having taken things at a much slower pace. In fact, I would venture to say we are better off for it. We read some delightful books this term through our Beautiful Feet History curriculum. It is perfect timing as we head into the Thanksgiving season – we started with Pocahontas by Ingri and Edgar d’Aulaire. Can I convince you that these masterpieces are worth having in your collection?! The art work is beautiful and the stories are captivating. We are so enjoying reading through them and saturating ourselves in their beauty.

(See the blow dart gun in the above image? That is my life. Blow dart guns accompany many outdoor school adventures.)

From Pocahontas we moved to Jamestown, New World Adventures by James E. Knight which was another rich story (not quite the same compelling illustrations!) But written as a mother recollecting her father’s adventures and journal entries in the New World it is detailed and intriguing. 

 {a game we played – one that is said to have been played by the Native Americans and taught to the Pilgrims – see how to play the bowl game here.}

And from there we went to Pilgrim Stories by Margaret Pumphrey – I had never heard of this book before and, to be honest, it didn’t look like an exciting book. But wow! I was so wrong. This collection of stories about the Pilgrim’s adventures is excellent and the conclusion of each chapter had my kids asking for more and left me with a deeper appreciation and understanding over what the Pilgrims endured.  It is a great book to read leading up to Thanksgiving, and one I am going to be including in our Thanksgiving basket for years to come.

The guidebook for Early American History walked us through thought provoking questions and enrichment activities – and I added a bit extra in the form of a lapbook on Jamestown just because they enjoy such activities.

I am thankful for the Lord’s sweet provision and grace while homeschooling through hard times – we need to be faithful in our charge to educate our children and yet a thorough education is so much more than just open book learning. And the balance to be found can be hard. And maybe we leaned too much towards rest and taking things easy while homeschooling through hard times, but we can only do what we can do – and (I think!) we made it and things are looking up.

Thank you Jessica for sharing this part of your homeschooling journey with us! You can read her complete post here. 

Our new 2015-2016 catalog is now available! If you want to view it right now it's available online here. And if you would like to request a hardcopy, click here. 

We would love to hear what you think! Chime in below in the comments section and share your thoughts. Don't forget to check out our Facebook and Pinterest pages.  To learn more about Beautiful Feet Books, click here.

And if you've enjoyed this, please feel free to share using the buttons below!

Working Through the Modern American and World History Study

Today we're going to hear from Melissa of Reflections from Drywood Creek as she shares with us a peek at her family's experience with our Modern American and World History study! She shares lots of pictures of the guide and her children's work, so it's a lot of fun to be able to share their experience with you. Here we go!

Getting Started with BF Modern American and World History 

We are in our sixth week of the 2015-2016 school year.  I want to share a little bit about our Beautiful Feet Modern American and World History study.  The guide itself is much more aesthetically pleasing than the brown cover, comb bound guides of the past.  Initially, I was a bit worried about the spine cracking.  However, it seems to lay flat and so far has hung together well.  The color images, historic artwork, and short author biographies are a wonderful addition!

I'm using the study with a 5th and 6th grader.  I will be reading all the books aloud because up to this point, we have studied history as a family combining Riley and Ruben.  This is our sixth and final year of our first history rotation, which makes BF Modern American and World History the perfect fit, covering the Civil War to Modern Times. 

In the beginning, the study was a bit of a struggle because we were starting cold in the middle of A Child's First Book of American History.  When Lesson 1 began with assigning four chapters from A Child's First..., plus two chapters of Across Five Aprils, which were approx. 20 pages each, I was overwhelmed!  This was a couple hours worth of reading!  I knew then and there it would have to be split up. 

Eventually, we worked through A Child's First and started reading one chapter of Across Five Aprils during our scheduled school time and one at bedtime.  This worked much better, especially since Across Five Aprils is such a fabulous book!  I didn't want to cut it or save it for later.  The kids were constantly begging for more!  It was truly one of the best books I've read in some time. 

Anyway, following Across Five Aprils, we read The Perilous Road.  Both book are coming of age stories set during the Civil War.  However, Across Five Aprils is set in Southern Illinois and The Perilous Road is set in Tennessee.  Each protagonist is for a different side of the war, one being a Confederate and the other being for the Union. The Perilous Road is a much easier read, but, it's still a realistic telling of life during that time. 

In addition to reading, we are notebooking.  I have pulled in notebooking pages from Home School in the Woods' Time Travelers CD-Rom, The Civil War.  I have also printed pages from various Dover Coloring Books and The American Civil War History Pockets.  Riley and Ruben enjoy notebooking and pre-printed pages are easier for Ruben since there's more coloring and not as much writing involved.  Due to dyslexia, much of his comprehension work is done through oral narration and discussion, but the notebook gives a place for copywork and is a nice momentous portfolio to look back on.  I'm including photos of misc. notebook pages completed so far. 

Overall the BF Modern American and World History study is going great!  We are just starting Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass.  I plan to continue giving updates regarding this study every 4-6 weeks throughout the school year. 

 

 

 
 

Thank you Melissa! I love all the notebook pages you put together. Your children's notebooks truly are wonderful portfolios of everything they're learning this year. Read Melissa's original post here.

Are any of our readers working their way through our new Modern American and World History guide? Chime in and let us know what you think? What adjustments have made to make it work for your family? Do you like the built-in flexibility? We'd love to hear from you!

Our new 2015-2016 catalog is now available! If you want to view it right now it's available

online here. And if you would like to request a hardcopy, click here.

We would love to hear what you think! Chime in below in the comments section and share your thoughts. Don't forget to check out our Facebook and Pinterest pages.  To learn more about Beautiful Feet Books, click here.

And if you've enjoyed this, please feel free to share using the buttons below!

Teaching Early American History!

Today we get caught up with Jessica from jessicalynette.com as she gives us a look into the first six weeks of using our Early American History, A Literature Approach for Primary Grades. Her thoughtful approach to reading through the literature slowly, taking time to process character lessons, and delving deep in to a period are so refreshing. Enjoy! Post original published here. 

This year, for the first time ever, I am following a set schedule for our history reading- using the engaging books and useful guidebook published by Beautiful Feet. You can read my intro post to this living books approach to history here. Now that we are finishing off our first term (6 weeks) I wanted to write an update on how it is working for us.

Term one led us through the lives of Leif Erikson and Christopher Columbus with the beautiful D’aulaire books and the thoughtful questions from the guidebook.

“There was once a boy who loved the salty sea. He would be a seaman when he grew up. He would not be a weaver like his father, who sat all day in a dark, little shop weaving yarn into cloth. A ship would be his shuttle, the waves his warp, the wide and bounding sea his loom.”

That is just a taste of the beautiful language these books contain that paint such vivid images for your mind and dance you through history with living books.

Here is where I must offer up my secret confession:

I was terrified about the pace.

I know many whom stretch these books into two years.

But can I be honest? The pace is much slower than what we normally do.

Two books (which was 18 lessons) over the course of 6 weeks seemed painfully slow.

I had previously read the boys Leif the Lucky as a bedtime story in one night and I wasn’t entirely certain what to think of this slower pace that the manual lays out.

I dutifully followed the reading plan laid out in the guide, and while narration and conversations have always been a part of our family culture, I have been pleased with this slowing down and marinating of the characters. We have labored, adventured, and talked over these men for 6 weeks. I feel as if we know them more intimately.

“Having found the book which has a message for us, let us not be guilty of the folly of saying we have read it. We might as well say we have breakfasted, as if breakfasting on one day should last us for every day! The book that helps us deserves many readings, for assimilation comes by slow degrees.” -Charlotte Mason

I had formatted, printed and bound all of the resources from BFB for the Early American History books and we have kept pace with working through them.  My third grader is not overly enthusiastic about coloring in the pictures, but my second grader enjoys doing that as I read. I have really enjoyed the questions that the guide shares to stimulate conversations. A lot of them focus on the character of a person, and I am convinced that this is a powerful way for us to learn. In fact, it is point number 11 in our list of 13 ways to help protect our children from the addiction of pornography. Connect them to great men of the past – talk about the strengths and weakness. Cause and effect.

The Early American History guide book has done an excellent job at extracting deeper conversations with our sons about the character of Leif and Columbus and I am looking forward to us finishing off the life of Columbus (an oral presentation is required) and studying the life of Pocahontas, the details of Jamestown, and some of the pilgrim stories in term two.

Thank you Jessica! Love this glimpse into how you are making BFB your own! Your workbooks are genius. Be sure to check out Jessica's blog where she talks about home education, Charlotte Mason, developing character, and much more. 

Our new 2015-2016 catalog is now available! If you want to view it right now it's available online here. And if you would like to request a hardcopy, click here.

We would love to hear what you think! Chime in below in the comments section and share your thoughts. Don't forget to check out our Facebook and Pinterest pages.  To learn more about Beautiful Feet Books, click here.