I was considering using one of the Beautiful Feet Books study guides for our history next year and wanted some opinions on them first. Has anyone had experience with them? The ones I am interested in are A History of Science and History of the Horse. My children are 8 & 6. Thanks in advance for any help or advice!
My daughter used the Horse one around age 10. She loved all the books! We’re using Early American History Primary and Intermediate now, like those, too. I leave out the comprehension questions and use narration instead.
Thank you for your response. I used the Early American Guide two years ago when my oldest was in 1st grade. I’ve considered using it again since my son will be entering 1st grade, but am afraid it will be too boring for my daughter since the books are still fresh in her mind…that’s how much we loved it! 🙂 I’m just stumped on where to go next where both my kids will benefit. Im trying to find reviews online, but am coming up empty handed.
I think the history of science would be a bit advanced for the ages of your kids. I used it with my 9 year old and some books worked and others didn’t. I would put off using Archimedes until 11 or 12 years old.
I’m thinking the same thing..that it may be a bit much. I did a little research on some of the Literature and I think it would just right over my kids heads. I’m thinking of going with the History of the Horse Guide, but still praying and researching my decision.
We LOVE BF and have used several of the guides! Our dd just completed the Horse guide this year, 11 years old, 5th grade, and it was perfect for her to do on her own. If you are planning to use with younger kids, you will have to read aloud and facilitate. I am planning to use the Science study starting this fall with rising 5th & 6th graders. As missceegee mentioned, the Geography study is wonderful! We just finished that up as well. I think it would be perfect to use with younger kids as well as the Early American History.
Interesting thread. I’ve been thinking about the coming year…not totally satisfied with different options I’ve been considering. For those of you who love the BF guides, what do you see as the advantages of using the guides (instead of just the books, for example)?
I looked at the samples for the geography guide and the intermediate American history guide. It seems like it’s mostly comprehension questions, so if you don’t use those because you’re narrating, but what do you use them for? I am honestly not trying to be antagonistic; I just want to learn more and think it through. Thank you!
I’d be looking to use something for a 1st, 4th, and 6th graders. Really need to give some attention to American history, but was considering running 2 lines of history with the 2nd picking up after ancients. Recommendations welcome! 🙂
I’ve also been looking at Beautiful Feet for next year.
I am curious about Mysterious Lady in Pink’s question – if you narrate instead of using the comp questions, what else is in the guide to make it worth using? I’ve looked at samples but they only give one page samples on their website so it’s hard to get an idea of what else is in there.
Do they have a good Bible basis in the guides too?
Has anyone used any of the high school guides?
If you’ve used them, do you feel like they solidly cover the history period? One of the things I’m drawn too is that they seem to fit the “less is more” state that I’m trying to reach but I also don’t want to go to low.
I ended up purchasing the History of the Horse Guide and the Teaching Character Through Literature Guide and I received both yesterday. They are basically just an outline of what pages to read on what day and questions to go with the reading. There are also prompts for scripture memorization, Bible readings, notebook work, drawings to do, and copywork. For me, I love the guides. I like having the “work” done for me in a sense where all I have to do is open up the guide, read the pages assigned for that day and do the questions and suggested work to go with the reading. My children are still young, so none of this is done independently yet. It works perfect for me and I recommend it for someone who likes things laid out for them! 🙂
I have only used the geography guide but I used it to space my readings and to make a map. We used narration in place of most of the questions. I used the other suggestions as I felt I wanted to or the kids were interested. For my Year 1 girls, I had them add something (a drawing, etc) to their history, science, and geography notebooks (a composition notebook) that I would help them write their narration in. My older kids would do more – look up the unfamiliar words, draw an illustration of something in the book, write a report of some event or person. It was enjoyable.
One thing that I like about the guides is that I do not feel compelled to do everything that is written because of the style and placement of the suggestions. They allow me to pick and choose what will serve my family best. 😉 If I had a book or picture that helped me further the lesson or discussion, I could easily add it without overwhelming myself.
We are using HoSci right now for DD13 and DS10. I am very happy I did not try this earlier. It is good, great living books! Do I do everything in the guide? no.
Character Through Lit, LOVED it. Will do it again with the littles in a couple years. I found I used the guide for a source of copywork material, the Questions as a catalyst for discussion and ruminating thoughts. We can’t narrate every single thing, we need a bit of variety. The guides also mention other good books to watch for.
I think we as homeschool mamas tweak as we go by nature. Having a guide that suggests reading is in itself helpful. Gleaning ideas for various kinds of narrations is great too. I don’t feel the guides are a waste of money because they do lend themselves CM friendly. If you are not inclined to work strictly to the letter, cover to cover, you would do fine.
Great info everyone! Thanks so much!
They sound perfect for us. I have a habit of tweaking frequently to the death of some programs : ). Sounds like BF would still work even with tweaks but give me some structure that I need right now also.
If anyone has used a high school program (specifically Ancient or Medieval), I would still love to have your input.
I like the new guides with some sidebar info that is helpful and interesting. There are some copywork and notebooking assignments I like. The breakdown of readings is finished for me, which is a help. My kids narrate instead of answering the comprehension questions, but the questions help me to keep some of the details in mind as I hear or read narrations. Oh, and the vocabulary gives me the list of some I might want to go over before reading or assigning a reading.