Review of Beautiful Feet Homeschool Curriculum: The History Course

Review of Beautiful Feet Homeschool Curriculum: The History Course
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History With Living Books (4 out of 5)

Beautiful Feet Books, Inc. is the publisher of the History Through Literature Study Guides. Rea and Rebecca Berg wrote these guides in order to teach history through the use of living books that incorporate a biblical Christian worldview. This curriculum won first place in the Practical Homeschooling Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Awards in 2008 for the history category.

The History Through Literature Study Guides use fine quality literature, such as the highly regarded books by Ingri and Edgar D’Aulaire and Genevieve Foster. Landmark books and classic children’s literature are included in the program as well. Each study guide is intended for one year’s work, with two to three lessons scheduled per week. The assignments in the guides include thought-provoking discussion questions, vocabulary, writing assignments, copywork and map work. They also incorporate Bible study into the lessons, with the use of relevant scriptures.

Unique as Well as Traditional Topics

Eight history study guides are available, and you can use each of them with a wide range of ages, although most are written for late elementary through middle school students. The really neat thing about these publishers is the unique themes of some of their programs. As well as the Ancient, Medieval, and American History guides, they offer the History of Classical Music, the History of Science, and the History of the Horse guides. These would be ideal for your budding musician, equestrian, or scientist, or if you would just like to study something different for history one year.

Pros

This program is simple to use, and it can be very inexpensive. The guides are only around fifteen dollars, and most of the books can be found in your public library or bought used. The assignments vary from day to day, which keeps the student interested. Several of the programs use Your Story Hour CD’s, which are dramatized stories about historical figures. The greatest strength of these programs is the books: they are beautifully illustrated, and most children find them interesting enough to read even outside of school.

Cons

The American history guide for the primary grades contains a lot of written work that may be excessive for younger students, and the discussion questions are more abstract than some children will be ready for. Many would like the primary American history spread out over two years so that more topics could be covered. The Beautiful Feet programs are not as meaty as some other comparable programs, such as Sonlight or WinterPromise. The lesson plans are a bit confusing at times, and you may need to make some adjustments to the amount of work assigned in order to even out the workload from week to week.

Beautiful Feet Study Guides have been a popular choice among homeschoolers for many years. The programs effectively teach students history in an enjoyable way. These programs are great for families who want a unique approach to history and don’t want to spend a small fortune on books and other materials.

This post is part of the series: Homeschool History Curriculum

Read reviews of several, popular homeschool history curriculum to find the one that’s right for your students.

  1. Reviewing the History Odyssey Curriculum
  2. A Look at the Beautiful Feet History Curriculum