Beautiful Feet Books: Around California with Children’s Books History Review
My daughter and I have been studying California history this past school year and we chose Beautiful Feet Books Around California with Children’s Books history curriculum. We have used other Beautiful Feet Books curriculum in the past such as Around the World with Picture Books Part 1 and Around the World with Picture Books Part 2 and Medieval History.
All Beautiful Feet Books curriculum is literature based meaning reading great literature is the bulk of the learning. Depending on your homeschooling type and your children’s personalities you will want to know this up front as it is a lot of reading on top of your other subjects such as language arts and science that will have their own literature requirements. I tend to spread out all of the reading for different subjects over the course of the day including reading aloud before bed and this works great for us. I like that Beautiful Feet Books Around California with Children’s Books is a full year curriculum based on 3-days a week. This gave us grace throughout the week and the ability to stagger all our subjects.
The Beautiful Feet curriculum tends to include the best of the best in literature no matter what subject you are studying and Around California History is no exception. A lot of the books are Newbery or Caldecott Medal Winners or Honor Titles. The books included in Around California are:
THE ICE AGE
The Discovery of the Americas by Giulio and Betsy Maestro
Once Upon a Mastodon by Bonnie Worth
THE CALIFORNIA INDIANS
California Indians by Elizabeth Sonneborn
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
Adopted By Indians by Thomas Jefferson Mayfield
DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION
The Cruise of the Arctic Star by Scott O’Dell
The Story of California by May McNeer
THE MISSION ERA
Junipero Serra: Founder of the California Missions by Linda Gondosch
Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi
PATHFINDERS AND PIONEERS
Patty Reed’s Doll: The Story of the Donner Party by Rachel Laurgaard
Jessie Benton Fremont: California Pioneer by Marguerite Higgins
THE GOLD RUSH AND THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD
By The Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman
Riders of the Pony Express by Ralph Moody
John Muir: America’s First Environmentalist by Kathryn Lasky
With Open Hands: A Story about Biddy Mason by Jeri Chase Ferris
Coolies by Yin
Locomotive by Brian Floca
Forest in the Trees by Connie McLennan
THE 20TH CENTURY TO CONTEMPORARY
Blue Willow by Doris Gates
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
Who Was Walt Disney? by Whitney Stewart
Who Was Steve Jobs? by Pam Pollack
The Around California with Children’s Books Teacher Guide is beautiful in terms of pictures however in all honesty some aspects of the layout could use a little change. As one reviewer on the website stated, the lessons are in paragraph style and some are overlaid on top of a wood background which makes reading it hard on the eyes. I think using bullet points to break up the lessons would have solved this. I would also have liked the answers to be included alongside the lessons instead of at the end of the guide. This does not ruin or detract from the information or the guide itself which as I said is beautiful.
What I liked about the teacher’s guide was the wonderful timeline, nature drawings and images in the back. The timeline was very helpful, and the drawings and images were great to paste into the notebook. I would have liked the drawings and images to have been less detailed to allow children to color or paint them. The guide directs the children to use watercolor however there is not enough white space to do so, and my daughter just wasn’t into it. The blank map of California was perfect for marking all the various places “we visited.” I think it helped to put into perspective where we live in relation to all of these different places.
Where the Around California with Children’s Books Teacher Guide really shines is in the nature, library, biography, field trip and culinary connections. Again, the photography is outstanding for a curriculum and helped these areas to stand out.
Children are naturally drawn to animals and the outdoors and the guide covered this well. It encouraged discussion and peaked interest resulting in us looking up many, many pictures and videos online.
The library connection takes the literature up a notch. Though we did not check out all of the books suggested there were a few that were wonderful additions such as Leif the Lucky, Camping with the President, Levi Strauss gets a Bright Idea, and Journey to Topaz.
The biographies were short and sweet. They added a little more direct and fact based learning which I feel is necessary when using a literature based curriculum.
The field trips and culinary connections is where the fun is! Because we live in the suburbs of Sacramento we were able to visit a lot of different historical places. Children retain what they have learned best when they can physically experience it. My daughter liked learning about the Gold Rush but taking her to actually gold pan was the bees knees. She also very much enjoyed trying to replicate the recipes in the guide. We did modify some because of personal taste and preference but it was fun to serve up a “Hangtown Fry” on Saturday morning to the family.
Overall, the Beautiful Feet Books Around California with Children’s Books history is top notch for a literature-based curriculum. Although we did not read every book included and substituted or added a few it was a very enjoyable and thorough learning experience. My suggestion is to take the time to preview the guide and books over the summer before you begin school and pick the books to read that will excite your child to learn. Go through YouTube and save videos that correlate, plan out the field trips and decide which recipes you want to try. Reviewing and planning ahead will help you to make full use of the Around California history guide.
Beautiful Feet Books Around California
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