kalphs
- Reviewed on Wednesday, May 27, 2009
- Grades Used: 2nd
- Dates used: 2009
This year during our study of history for Ambleside Online Year 1 we utilized several of the American History books by Edgar and Ingri D'Aulaire. Our daughter enjoyed the books so we decided to purchase Beautiful Feet Early American History.
Beautiful Feet curriculum is based on the teachings of British educator, Charlotte Mason.
Beautiful Feet Early American History Primary is an introduction to American history covering the time of Leif the Lucky to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Rea Berg has chosen such outstanding literary classics as "The Story of the Pilgrims, Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims, The Courage of Sarah Noble, The Matchlock Gun and the D'Aulaire's "Leif the Lucky, Columbus, Pochahontas, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Buffalo Bill."
The curriculum emphasizes the notebook approach, but it can be given more of a Charlotte Mason feel by having the student do narration, copywork and dictation. To round out your study of Early American History I would recommend using Earl Schenck Miers "The Rainbow Book of American History" and "The Children's Book of America" by William J. Bennett.
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Emma's Mom
- Reviewed on Sunday, April 19, 2009
- Grades Used: 2nd
- Dates used: 2008-2009
We used Beautiful Feet this year for our Early American history class. My son REALLY enjoyed this way of learning. He has a love for history now. I believe this is due to the "living book" method of learning they introduced to us. We were disappointed they didn't have another curriculum that followed Early American history. I did change some of the assignments as they felt more like busy work. I made up tests after studying different sections to see how well my son retained the information and he made an A every time. So not only did he enjoy the books but retained the information as well. We will be using Tapestry of Grace next year and hope that we enjoy it as much as the Beautiful Feet curriculum.
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dittobrooks
- Reviewed on Thursday, September 11, 2008
- Grades Used: 3rd & 5th
- Dates used: 2007-2008
We LOVE this program! I tried to use this when my children were smaller--K and 2nd grade, and was a bit frustrated with all the copy work. However, waiting a couple of years made a huge difference. My children really enjoy the books and WOW, this is the way to study history! They are learning, learning, learning. We love to cuddle on the couch while we do this. We do the Early Am. History and I am looking forward to adding in History of Science.
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agreenfw
- Reviewed on Saturday, April 05, 2008
- Grades Used: K and 2nd
- Dates used: 2007-2008
We have been using Early American History this year. For the most part, we have followed along with the BF guide, although I did tweak it quite a bit.
Overall, it has been a good experience. The D'Aulaire biographies are wonderful. My children also loved Stories of the Pilgrims, although it was a bit hard for my K5 to understand. We didn't care for Boys and Girls of Colonial Days, and also found it redundant because the same book is used in BF's Teaching Character Through Literature. This is also the case with The Courage of Sarah Noble.
I'm a bit sad that BF doesn't offer a second year of US history for the primary grades. This was a wonderful break from SOTW - I really do enjoy using living books.
The notebooking for this course has been quite a chore, and BF has too much copywork for the age group. We kind of let this slide - the children love the books and reread them often, so I think this is better than notebooking.
There wasn't any information about Lewis and Clark, so in one of my many tweaks to this curriculum, I found a book about it and we read it.
Overall, I like the idea of living books for history, and I liked this curriculum. I did like that it was very easy to tweak and add and remove books while following the same format. I thought the notebooking was too difficult for the age group.
I would probably buy a history course from BF again - we have enjoyed history this year.
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