Can you tell me about Beautiful Feet?

[jlcejb6]

I just found this program and dont know very much about it....I tried google and found it for sale and lots of other weird and random links but not exactly info about it!

[coffeefreak]

What would you like to know? Which year are you looking at?

:bigear:

 

In the meantime:

It is a Charlotte Mason program and it uses some great books. It is a Christian Curriculum that teaches a providential view of History. It's also very inexpensive (a huge plus).

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

[Mert]

:bigear:

[jlcejb6]

I am looking at teaching character through literature and Early american history for the primary grades. My kids are begging for American history. Is this a complete history/geography set? Can anyone tell me how it would compare to WP American story 1? I would like to compare the two.

My ds's would be k/2. Is BF pretty right on with their suggested reading/age groups?

 

Thanks for the help!

[southcarolinamom]

http://www.bfbooks.com is their website.

 

I've used their Teaching Character Through Literature, Early American History (Primary level and middle school level), Medieval, Renaissance and Reformation History (Sr High level), and Teaching Geography through Literature. We had a ball with all of them!

 

It's MUCH less reading than, say, Sonlight, and the teacher's guide doesn't have a lot of comprehension type questions. It's more of a daily notebooking project with their history programs.

[jlcejb6]

www.bfbooks.com is their website.

 

I've used their Teaching Character Through Literature, Early American History (Primary level and middle school level), Medieval, Renaissance and Reformation History (Sr High level), and Teaching Geography through Literature. We had a ball with all of them!

 

It's MUCH less reading than, say, Sonlight, and the teacher's guide doesn't have a lot of comprehension type questions. It's more of a daily notebooking project with their history programs.

 

Is there more hands on activities than SL? What ages did you use with the character and Early American history(primary)?

[coffeefreak]

We used Intermediate American History and there were no hands on activities. Also, I used it with my 4th grader and I wouldn't recommend using it with less than a 6th grader. The writing and notebooking assignments were VERY demanding and I really burned my dd out. I don't know about the younger programs, but I think WP and BF are vastly different programs. I don't know that they even compare. When I think programs like WP, I think Sonlight, MFW, and HOD. BF is very easy to use like the other programs, but doesn't give you a lot of parental guidence. It also doesn't have you reading several books at once like the other programs. You may have some overlap, but you generally read only one or two books at a time. I would look at the samples Here Also, the TG are $14. It might be worth buying one and then deciding what you want to do.

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

[Robin's Song]

We're starting BF Early American History this fall. The books selections are wonderful (I left out the spine). It looks like the only activities are coloring pictures from the books and adding them to a notebook. I am looking at adding an activity book (around $10 at Amazon). I think the notebook alone might get boring. The meat of the program is their wonderful books. In theory, I like the idea that there are no required activities so we can keep moving forward even during tough weeks. We'll see...

 

But like I said, we haven't started yet :)

 

ETA: My kids are the same ages as yours, fwiw.

Edited August 2, 2010 by Robin's Song
adding info

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

I used BF Early American for 3rd grade. It did not have any hands-on projects. I agree that you cannot even compare it to WP because they are so different. Your K child may find some of the books boring, it depends on what you are used to reading to them.

I used Christian Cottage Unit Studies vol. 3 with this to make it more fun.

[Annabel Lee]

I've used the 1st third of BF Early Am. Hist. and would add that some of the meat of the program is in the discussions. The TM is basically a schedule of when to read from other books and from the Bible. There were aspects I adored (ease of use, Bible and Christian character value tie-ins) and aspects I questioned (historical thoroughness and accuracy). To find out more about what people here think, you could go to the main page of the Curriculum forum and do a forum search for "BF Beautiful Feet".

 

I've also used WP AS1. The 2 are like apples and... uh... chocolate milk. Not that one is better for a child or that the other is more enjoyable... they're just *that* different. WP is so full that the authors instruct users to pick through it like a buffet. It has you making 3-D maps, learning multiples things at once (Native American focus alongside - but not aligning on a timeline with Am. Hist.), reading from 4-6 books a day if you do it as scheduled, recipes, websites to look at, student pages (notebook), timeline, games, crafts, and just about anything else under the sun you can think of, lol. BF Early Am. Hist. moves selectively through history, not worrying to catch every single topic, but moving strictly chronologically, applying Christian character values & principles at every opportunity. WP AS1 uses many Betsy Maestro books, which look at history through quite a different lens than BF's Providential History approach. Some people (myself included) find WP to feel disjointed and choppy on the timeline - it goes mostly chronological but not strictly so. You'll be in 1534 one week and then 1513 the next, but only for the main topic; additional reading may be set in the 1700's. They do have you keep a timeline which helps kids visually sort it out, but I just can't get over it.

 

Until SWB (or someone equally talented) creates a narrative story of U.S. history that I can easily add church/Bible history to, I'll continue making my own hybrid curric. based on the format of SOTW but using the content of mostly Guesthollow.com, WPAS1, and any WTM book/topic recommendations that fall under American History. Yay, more work for me. I must be a glutton for it, b/c I do it by choice. And Susan, I'm NOT hinting! You've got your hands full!

 

Oh. Gee. I wrote another long diatribe. Perhaps *I* should do WWE w/ the kids and learn to summarize. hehe

[Ellie]

Is there more hands on activities than SL? What ages did you use with the character and Early American history(primary)?

Beautiful Feet Books is Principle Approach: reading specific selections, recording things in a notebook (copywork, maps, analysis of character traits or events, and so on, depending on the age level), memorizing poems and whatnot,...not activity-oriented at all. It does not ask comprehension-type questions, because it isn't studying a book; it's reading the book and recording what is learned, which isn't eactly the same thing.

 

There are samples on the Beautiful Feet Books web site.

[jlcejb6]

There are samples on the Beautiful Feet Books web site.

 

Thanks for all the comments. I have looked at the TM on their site but when you dont know much about a curric. some times you can feel... "duh.. hu???" To me, seeing the TM and actually having an idea of what it looks like being used is different.

 

We have looked at WP,SL and now BF for american history. I like that BF and WP are geared towards the younger age group and we can use them sooner. I like what I have heard about BF intergrating christianity and values... lol... that is something I could grasp from the TM.:)

 

Does it really matter if you do the ancients or American history first? Eventually they will get it again when they are older and get more out of it. :), anyone else feel like having so many choices makes it complicated!!

[Ellie]

Does it really matter if you do the ancients or American history first? Eventually they will get it again when they are older and get more out of it. :), anyone else feel like having so many choices makes it complicated!!

Rea Berg, owner of Beautiful Feet Books, believes it is important to teach American history first. As I said, her study guides are Principle-Approach based. These are the seven principles.

[coffeefreak]

Thanks for all the comments. I have looked at the TM on their site but when you dont know much about a curric. some times you can feel... "duh.. hu???" To me, seeing the TM and actually having an idea of what it looks like being used is different.

 

We have looked at WP,SL and now BF for american history. I like that BF and WP are geared towards the younger age group and we can use them sooner. I like what I have heard about BF intergrating christianity and values... lol... that is something I could grasp from the TM.:)

 

Does it really matter if you do the ancients or American history first? Eventually they will get it again when they are older and get more out of it. :), anyone else feel like having so many choices makes it complicated!!

 

I understand what you're saying. We used BF for the first semester last year and, while I thought it was a great program and very thorough, it required a lot of work on my part because it doesn't have any other activities. You read, you write, you do copywork, you do timeline work, that's it. I LOVED the Christian values it integrated, but the Intermediate guide was too advanced for my dd. Not to mention that my youngest was getting NOTHING out of it, and therefore getting no History at all.

 

Not to confuse you more, but have you looked into My Father's World? We switched half way through this year and are loving it! It has all the components you're looking for, has no prep time, and combines all the kiddos into one year. It's worth taking a look. It sticks to the timeline and schedules just the right amount of books. Sonlight overwhelmed me. Too many books, the spines weren't at all interesting, and there were no hands on activities. I never used WP.

 

I don't think it's important to start with Ancient History. I like starting with Geography. We used Galloping the Globe with my oldest in 1st grade and it was fabulous! She loved it. If I had it to do over, I would do Five in a Row for K, Galloping the Globe for 1st, MFW Adventures for 2nd, and then MFW cycles the whole way through. Good thing I have a second dd, huh?;)

 

HTH!

Dorinda

[~blessedmom~]

Christianbook has a larger sample, a whole 6 lessons:

 

http://www.christianbook.com/early-american-history-rea-berg/pd/78312?item_code=WW&netp_id=214202&event=ESRCN&view=details#curr

 

:001_smile:

[EmeraldGirl]

We are going to use the BF Early American Guide for Primary b/c I really like the book selections. I am going to use the activities from Guest Hollow (free website) for the hands-on. We'll see how it goes....

[Mert]

WP AS1 uses many Betsy Maestro books, which look at history through quite a different lens than BF's Providential History approach.

 

A bit OT... So HOW do the Maestro books and WP differ from providential history? I really love what I've seen of BF and the go-along books, and I also liked the couple of B Maestro books I've read. I don't have any idea what different "kinds" of history are out there. TIA :D

[Annabel Lee]

A bit OT... So HOW do the Maestro books and WP differ from providential history? I really love what I've seen of BF and the go-along books, and I also liked the couple of B Maestro books I've read. I don't have any idea what different "kinds" of history are out there. TIA :D

 

I like them all, too. The B Maestro books tell things more from a First Nations or indiginous peoples' perspective when applicable, and certainly don't assert that it was part of God's will for Europeans or anyone else to cross the ocean, settle in America, and spread Christianity. America's Providential History, a book used in the BF Early Am. Hist., is based upon this view. WP AS1 has not put forth this particular assertation.

[Mert]

I like them all, too. The B Maestro books tell things more from a First Nations or indiginous peoples' perspective when applicable, and certainly don't assert that it was part of God's will for Europeans or anyone else to cross the ocean, settle in America, and spread Christianity. America's Providential History, a book used in the BF Early Am. Hist., is based upon this view. WP AS1 has not put forth this particular assertation.

 

Thank you! :)