I truly believe that you could homeschool through the elementary years using your library card alone.
Really.
The single most important thing we can do for our children’s future success is to read aloud daily.
Moreover, when you read aloud to your children you are building connection and making memories that will last a lifetime.
Our homeschool routine includes carefully selected, high-quality read alouds and educational games.
On our worst homeschool days- and trust me, we have plenty of ’em! - I pick up a book and read to my kids and I just know that I am doing something BIG.
This is true even when we don’t get to math. It’s true even when we are all crabby and still in our jammies. It is true even on the days that I am counting the minutes until bedtime.
I know that if I have read a book to my children, I have done something incredibly important.
But let’s face it- as a busy homeschool mom, it can be hard to research and plan and organize all the things.
We have the best of intentions but there is laundry to put away and dishes to clean and shopping to do and dentists to visit. Life can get in the way of those best intentions.
And that’s where Beautiful Feet Books comes into play.
Beautiful Feet Books: Literature-Rich Learning for Book Lovers
*Disclosure: I received History of Classical Music at no cost and was compensated for my time to write this review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. I only share products and resources that I would use with my own family and those that I believe other families will enjoy. As you will see in this post, I am a huge fan of Beautiful Feet Books.
About Beautiful Feet Books
For the uninitiated, Beautiful Feet Books is an award-winning company that offers homeschool families literature-rich curriculum that is both inspiring and easy to use.
Beautiful Feet Books features some of the best literature available, with countless award-winning titles.
The lessons use a Charlotte Mason approach and therefore includes:
- reading
- reasoning
- relating
- recording
The activities contained in the study guides include drawing, writing, vocabulary, maps, notebooking, timelines, research, and more.
Want to see if Beautiful Feet Books might be a good fit for you? Check out these free downloads, including printables and notebooking pages!
Literature-Rich Learning for Bibliophiles
Beautiful Feet Books fuels a love of history and the world through incredible books and family read-alouds.
I have found the literature guides to be easy to use, but also flexible. (And if you keep reading you’ll see I’ve used a bunch!)
These studies can be used with multiple students or a single student. Many studies can be used for an entire school year or adjusted to be used for one semester.
These studies are designed to stand-alone, but you can also use them as stepping stones. I cannot tell you how many rabbit holes we have jumped down thanks to Beautiful Feet Books!
The best part? These are titles that you will want to keep on your family bookshelf for years to come. They are that good.
Oodles of Timelines for History Lovers
If you are a fan of books and timelines, you’ll love Beautiful Feet Books. Beautiful Feet Books’ Historical Timelines are well-known in homeschool circles. With the timelines, children cut out and color illustrated depictions of historical events and figures and then glue these onto their very own timeline.
Beautiful Feet Books currently has timelines for:
- Ancient History
- History of Science
- Early American History
- Medieval History
- History of Music
- History of California.
Beautiful Feet Books Recommended Study Sequence for Grades 1-12
- 1st Grade: Early American History Primary and Teaching Character Primary
- 2nd Grade: Around the World with Picture Books Part I
- 3rd Grade: History of Science and Teaching Character Intermediate
- 4th Grade: History of California and Western Expansion (or History of the Horse and Teaching Character Intermediate)
- 5th Grade: Early American Intermediate and Geography Through Literature
- 6th Grade: Modern American & World
- 7th Grade: Ancient History Intermediate
- 8th Grade: Medieval History Intermediate and History of Classical Music
- 9th Grade: Early American and World
- 10th Grade: Ancient History Senior High
- 11th Grade: Medieval History Senior High
- 12th Grade: Modern U.S. and World History for Senior High
My Obsession with Beautiful Feet Books
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to review Beautiful Feet Books’ Geography Through Literature Study. (You can read the full review here.)
I jumped at the chance to review Beautiful Feet Books’ Geography Through Literature Study because I had been eyeing Beautiful Feet Books for years.
To say that we loved the study would be a huge understatement.
Sometimes, you just have a feeling that a certain company will work for your family and that is how I felt about Beautiful Feet Books.
After experiencing the geography study, I knew we had found a perfect match for our book-loving family.
Now, you’re going to laugh at me, but I want to be honest here…
That first review started a bit of an obsession.
Since then, we have added the following to our homeschool bookshelf:
- Early American History Primary
- Teaching Character Primary
- Around the World with Picture Books Part I
- History of Science
- Teaching Character Intermediate
We have honestly enjoyed every single title included in these studies. Every. Single. One.
So far, I have resisted the temptation to add:
And I have also had my eyes on History of Classical Music, so when I was offered the chance to review this set I once again jumped at the chance.
And, once again, Beautiful Feet did not disappoint. (More on that in a second!)
What this Homeschool Mom Loves About Beautiful Feet Books
I know I’ve been gushing quite a bit in this post, but here are just a few of the reasons I love Beautiful Feet Books:
- Beautiful Feet Books is a family run company and they are so nice. Truly. Every correspondence is helpful and kind.
- When I purchase a set of books from Beautiful Feet Books, I am adding high-quality titles to our family’s library. These are books that you will want to save for…ever. Seriously. I have such positive memories around so many of these titles that I want to read them with my grandkids.
- Beautiful Feet Books works with their customers. If you already have a handful titles in the literature packs, simply contact them and they will adjust the price.
- I believe in the power of a read-aloud, not just for learning but for building family connection and making memories.
- Detailed lesson plans are included but you can go as in-depth as you wish. You can complete everything included in the book, or you can use the lesson guides as a stepping stone for deeper exploration.
- These studies can be used for all ages. My children are 10, 8, and 6-years-old and I have used the aforementioned studies with all of them.
- I try to use secular curricula. Beautiful Feet Books is not secular, but it’s not overtly religious either. Much of the emphasis is on character and building empathy and I love that.
- The study guides are simple, easy-to-follow, and complete and yet not overwhelming at all.
Beautiful Feet Books: History of Classical Music
Over the last few months, our family has had the opportunity to explore History of Classical Music. In addition to phenomenal books, this pack incorporates a set of 18 CDs from Music Masters and my children have absolutely adored the CDs!
This study is designed for grades 4-8, although I have been using it with my 6-, 8-, and 10-year-olds with only minor adjustments.
“Composer War” anyone? My little gameschoolers LOVE that a deck of cards was included in this study pack!
This study pack takes students on a musical journey from the Baroque Period to the Modern Period. On the journey, children will learn about many different composers, the creation of the orchestra, and also an exploration of various instruments.
There are 75 lessons included. It is recommended that 2-3 lessons be completed each week for one year.
We have only been using this pack for a few months but we are enjoying it and have only positive things to say about the books and CDs that we have explored so far!
We will be sure to come back and update when we’ve completed the study!
A Giveaway from Beautiful Feet Books
Enter to win a $100 Beautiful Feet Books credit here:
Beautiful Feet Books in Your Homeschool
If you are interested in using Beautiful Feet Books in your homeschool, you can get started here.
Follow Beautiful Feet Books
You can follow Beautiful Feet Books on Facebook and Instagram, Pinterest, or subscribe to the Beautiful Feet Books blog to receive all updates! Or, request a catalog here.
Do you want to read more about our curriculum choices?
Be sure to check out these related posts:
Do you love homeschool curriculum? We do, too!
Do you love children’s books, too?
Be sure to follow My Little Poppies because we share snapshots of our homeschool day… and heaps of fantastic books!
You are also invited to join the {Virtual} Family Book Club at My Little Poppies, a private Facebook Group for parents who love to read fantastic books to their children… and chat about them!
Now, it’s your turn. Tell me: Do you use a literature-rich geography curriculum in your homeschool? Share here.
Cait co-hosts The Homeschool Sisters Podcast and is co-founder of Raising Poppies, a community for parents of gifted and twice-exceptional children. Cait is also founder of the Family Book Club at My Little Poppies, a fantastic community of book-loving parents and the Gameschool Community at My Little Poppies, a vibrant community of gameschoolers.
Cait is a contributing writer for Simple Homeschool. Her work has also appeared on The Huffington Post, The Mighty, Scary Mommy, GeekMom, and many others. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram
and G+.
- Gifted Homeschool Curriculum Choices {4th, 5th, and 7th grade} - July 7, 2020
- Raising Stonecatchers - June 27, 2020
- Homeschooling 7th Grade: Resources by Subject - June 25, 2020
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