BEAUTIFUL FEET BOOKS EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY FLIP THROUGH | Homeschool History Curriculum

[@thriftyminia]

Those d’Aulaire books are amazing! My library (which consists of 30 branches) had a few that were non-circulating, meaning I couldn’t check them out. If I wanted to read them, I had to go to the downtown branch & read inside. I bit the bullet & bought Pocahontas & George Washington. I wish I could’ve bought them all, they’re beautiful & well written. I didn’t BFB, I did a history picture book study I found on teachers pay teachers. It incorporated a lot of these similar books, some KZbin videos, notebooking & reviews.

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

Oh, that sounds like a great history picture book study. We love adding those components into our homeschool. Yes, those books are beautiful. That's why I couldn't resist :) We did really enjoy this history course.

[@marilynlopez3302]

Thank you for doing this. I watched a few videos, but I love your presentation because you make it look easy and that's what I need with 5 kiddos 😅

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

Thank you! I honestly just mostly read what I’m told to read, ask a few questions, and look up any links they might suggest. The kids put the pictures and captions in their notebooks. We don’t do the research papers or anything like that. I prefer to do that with the other kids independently.

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Thanks for the review! It was helpful to get a look inside the teacher guide!

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

Great! Glad that helped! We are enjoying doing it this year.

[@homeschoollifemom]

Oh man I thought I was settled on using Notgrass for History this year but now I’m torn. I really like this too!!

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

I have not used Notgrass, but I have heard really great things about it. I also have heard that it can be textbooky, which is something I generally shy away from as a more Charlotte Mason inspired homeschooler. So if you prefer a more “rigorous”, Classical, or Traditional style of homeschooling, Notgrass is probably amazing. When I start reading a textbook, I get bored and can’t do it anymore (I’m sure I did when I was a student). So, I lean towards more living books for my kids.

[@homeschoollifemom]

@@CalmintheChaosHomeschool definitely going to be doing some more research now. I have gotten a bunch of the books that come with this from the library. I did a textbook science (apologia) read aloud for my kids last year and it was not a hit. I’ve spent 2 years trying to get through one book and still haven’t made it through. Definitely trying something different this year.

[@vanessatrevino6943]

Thank you for this review! It’s so helpful and exactly the type I was looking for regarding Beautiful Feet books!

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

So glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!

[@jennajadeg7010]

How fun! We are going to do the BFBooks Early American Intermediate with our 4th grader.

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

I'm sure you will enjoy it!

[@robinhill8787]

Thank you for the sharing. Very nice

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

Thank you for watching!

[@mycupoverflows7811]

I just bought the old version from eBay (I think it's the 1st edition). Hoping to put a lot of it together from the library and our homeschool store. I absolutely love BFB, but their newest version of this has a TON of books. I'd rather go with the older version that has fewer books. We've done their history of science and history of the horse, and I absolutely love the laid back feel of this curriculum.

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

Thank you for sharing! I’m alway torn between tons of books and a more minimal approach :)

[@HomegrownHomeschool]

Great review Davene! You know how obsessed I am with BFB 😂

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

Thank you!

[@annacbrown1986]

I'm considering combining this curriculum with the Playful Pioneers

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

I have heard to a lot of great things about Playful Pioneers. That sounds like it would be an amazing combo!

[@cottingtonmae]

I haven’t heard of playful pioneers!! Is that an elementary school thing??

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

@@cottingtonmae it’s a literature based history by Peaceful Press. It’s for 5-12 year olds. Very Charlotte Mason style too.

[@jessicajones611]

Thanks for sharing. Is there rabbit trails on the Vikings, and the Mayflower and it’s voyage suggested in the guide? I am interested in going down those rabbit holes quite a bit. I’ll be using this with a 9 and 11 year old, so glad you said this would still be suitable. I’ll be tying it in with Sonlight la d & E.

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

I don't have the guide any more (as I usually sell my curriculum once we are complete), so I can't tell you for 100% certain. I am pretty sure that the Viking section has a lot of additional books and my guess would be that the Mayflower would also have a good deal of suggestions. Because we were combining curriculum, we did not do any of the rabbit trail books.

[@jessicajones611]

@@CalmintheChaosHomeschool thank you, I really like how you combine history programs. The only level which looks a bit text bookie in the history part is in d & E, and I didn’t see that would be popular with myself or my boys either. We shall just use BFB early American history primary with Sonlight la D&E combo and a mix of the readalouds from Bookshark and Sonlight d & E programs, and we can’t wait. I like that you show how to mix programs and also that it’s totally ok not to have to finish a level at the end of a school year but it’s ok to pick it back up next school year, much more natural and less stressful and sustainable way to homeschool,

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

@@jessicajones611 thank you! Yes! Finishing curriculum seems just about impossible if you like to go deeper or do things that fit the rhythm of your home or your children. Just setting up regular times to do a subject and just doing whatever we end up doing definitely feels more natural to us. Nowadays we definitely are more inclined to drop the textbook and just do the read alouds and readers, along with a good visual encyclopedia for history. Sometimes we will listen to story of the world while we are in the car to tie in what is happening in the world as well :)

[@WilliamTheUnkownShoutout]

This is so cool and interesting😀.

[@HomeSweetHomeschoolLife]

I don’t think you are ever to old for a picture book.

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

Good point!

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

Have you used Beautiful Feet Books? Which did you use? How did you like it?

[@SummerMeyers]

Every year I decide I'm going to do Beautiful Feet, and then end up with something else. 😅🤦‍♀️ But it's sooo pretty!! Maybe when I transition my two big kids into Middle school, I'll do Beautiful Feet with my younger elementary kids.

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

That's funny! It's funny what we THINK we will use, and then what we actually end up using. Like, I was super drawn to Sonlight's science, but I ended up never getting their science, but loving their HBLs. What have you been doing for history with your bigger kids?

[@SummerMeyers]

@@CalmintheChaosHomeschool We just got Story of the World so we are trying that this year. I've done Nutgrass which was fantastic, but it's Star Spangled Story is a bit young for my big kids now. We also tried TGTB and that was a colossal fail. 😅 One more year of all of us doing history together, and then I'm going to start splitting up my big kids and littles. I just haven't found something that works for highschool and lower elementary and does it well, ya know? ❤️

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

@@SummerMeyers we love story of the world! We only use the audio, but it’s fantastic! Hope it works well for you all.

[@SummerMeyers]

@@CalmintheChaosHomeschool 🤞🤞 Fingers crossed it works! 🤞🤞 Gives me hope that you guys liked it! ❤️❤️

[@tuathadesidhe1530]

While the DAlaires books have beautiful artwork - after using some of their books as part of our Viking, and Norse studies I wouldn't be relying on them for facts, their books that I've read so far are christianized - even with their Leif the Lucky they missed the mark, they explained how the Vikings and natives traded, and the Vikings gave them dairy products, then they went into how the natives came back and attacked the Vikings... Why not explain how the natives had never been exposed to lactose and that made them believe that the Vikings had poisoned them ? Instead it's written like they attacked dispite the Vikings trading and sharing with them. Great artwork, but many holes, and straight up fabrications in their stories. Some of your other books look great - especially the beautiful artwork in them.

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

Thank you for sharing. We have been reading a bunch of books about each topic, so I don’t think we got the impression that the natives attached for no reason, but definitely good to note! I guess that’s why it’s important to try to see things from different angles. I appreciate you pointing out the possible issues in the D’Aulaire books.

[@tuathadesidhe1530]

@@CalmintheChaosHomeschool which books that you used do you think give a good coverage of the natives perspective (preferably with good artwork) - we are doing an ongoing native cultures study so I'm looking for some good books... Which in reality is a History study as we are all native/indigenous to somewhere. As an Animistic Heathen my main issue is with their Norse Gods and Giants book, I could deal with their derogatory, and some might say "racist" terminology in Children of the Northlights, and Trolls books as that's how people spoke back then, but the clear christianization of Norse Gods and Giants was too far.

[@CalmintheChaosHomeschool]

Well, the good artwork piece, I can’t help you on. And I think the sense that there are always more than one perspective is just something that I alway talk to my kids about (and that, we can’t really know what happened because we weren’t there, and even if we were, we would still only have our own perspective). But, another specific Viking book my kids read was A Viking Adventure by Clyde Robert Bulla. Then, as far as the explorers and the “discovery” of the Americas, Pedro’s Journal talks about a boy aboard Columbus’ ship and how he felt sick about the treatment of the natives that they met. Beautiful feet books also had The Discovery of the Americas that talked about how the Americas first became inhabited and the explorers and what happened when they came over. Also, Encounter was a great way to think about the native’s perspective of Columbus’ arrival. Other than that, we will be reading quite a few books written by native Americans about various tribes around North America: The Corn Grows Ripe, Om-Kas-Toe, Vostaas: White Buffalo’s Story of the Plains Indian Life, Naya Nuki, Tikta’Liktak. Most of these don’t involve the Vikings at all, but just give an overall view of a perspective other than the “European explorers” views. And, these are all chapter books.

[@tuathadesidhe1530]

Yes we always look at multiple perspectives too - but I can't stand fabrication of cultures, what happened to most native cultures also happened to our Animistic European Ancestors by the same source.