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I wanted my son to read Genevieve Foster's World of Columbus and Sons and Augustus Caesar's World during his high school years. I'd been planning it for a number of years--saving the books until then. However, when he enrolled in a private distance-learning school for the high school years, we hit a snag. The school didn't allow any materials unless they were specifically written for the high school level--and I had to be able to prove it. I was glad that these guides were available since they could provide us with a way to legitimize our use of World of Columbus and Sons and Augustus Caesar's World during the high school years.
So, I ordered them this spring and looked them over, but before we could put them to use, we ended up getting a refund from the school that my son had enrolled in. So we have not used these guides and have no need to now.
In keeping with my goal of trying to help homeschoolers to really know about a product before buying it, I thought I'd write a review of these guides before I sell them. I think the Beautiful Feet guides can be very helpful for some folks, but not for others; hopefully, this will settle any questions in your mind about their Ancient History and Medieval study guides.
These Beautiful Feet guides employ "a literature approach" to learning history. These guides are based on the principle that good stories, both historical fiction and biography, are an excellent way to learn history and enjoy literature. I do happen to think that studying "history through literature" is an effective method. It's much more interesting than the traditional textbook method, but it has ended up being more time consuming for us. Retention of the information is often much better when reading real books (as opposed to textbooks) because it's so easy for a student to just read the textbook and memorize a few things for a test and then promptly forget about it. Also, textbooks are often dry (some often describe them as boring), while reading real books (sometimes called "living books" and "history through literature"), on the other hand, tends to put the reader right in the midst of the action and the location, providing a vivid and memorable experience. A good book often evokes an emotional response that helps fix events and people into the memory. Okay, so I can't back that up with any kind of evidence beyond personal experience. Studies are being done and some researchers (Ratey) do seem to indicate that emotion does promote memory. My biases aside, a lot of homeschoolers seem to enjoy history so much more if it's wrapped in a good story.
I'll start
this review with the Ancient History guide.
| The Ancient
History guide starts out with a very short Introduction which is followed
by a page that describes how the guide should be used (page ii).
Half the page is about Streams
of Civilization. Also mentioned the need for a Bible atlas.
The student is supposed to keep a notebook of their work--reports, glossary,
maps, etc. There's a comment that reading aloud with parents is especially
beneficial.
Next comes the reading list. These books need to be purchased separately; some of them may also be found in your public library. A Bible
Atlas
Authors' names are also included in the guide. The guide also provides a short list of other helpful books and resources. On the next page, the assignments begin. According to page ii, we're told that 2-3 lessons are to be finished each week. I counted up 86 lessons (Egypt=19, Greece=16, Rome=51). So that works out to at least a 29-week school year or at most a 43-week school year if only 2 assignments a week are completed. A usual school year of 180 days is usually 36 weeks long. Adjustments can be made as necessary. Here's what the first lesson looks like. I've included these few lessons so that you can see what to expect should you order one of these guides. Many homeschoolers can attend curriculum fairs, but there are many parts of the country that are never visited by Beautiful Feet Books or their distributors. Lesson
1 of the Egyptian section contains this: (paraphrased)
Reading the Bible is one of the assigned activities in almost every lesson of the Ancient Egypt section of the guide; lesson 2 is completely Bible based. Overall, there seems to be an emphasis on Abraham, Sarah, Joseph, Moses, divinity of Pharaoh vs. God's divinity, Israelite testing in the wilderness during the Exodus. Bible reading isn't assigned in the Ancient Greek and Ancient Rome sections, but there is probably an average of 1.5 biblical references/questions on every page of these two sections. I'm guessing that it's about 3-5% or less of the Greek and Roman sections. There are map assignments--meaning the student is to draw their own map based on those found in the Bible atlas. I would suppose that a regular historical atlas might also work. These maps are to be added to their notebook, though I think some time on the fridge would be beneficial. Or hung up some place where the student will be forced to glance at it at times throughout the day--maybe on the wall across from the dining room table or right outside their bedroom door or above their desk. Considering some of the activities, I would think that your family would need a set of encyclopedias or the ability to search online for information on such things as the Bronze Age and Ancient Egypt to help with the papers. Colored pencils or paints would help with the map making and drawing. Actually this holds true for this Ancient History guide and the Medieval guide also. Two reports/papers are assigned in the Egypt section--one is on Abraham being called out from Ur and his trips to Canaan, to Egypt, and over to see Lot. The other paper is supposed to be about Ancient Egypt and include its roots, agriculture, religion, government, etc., plus biblical accounts of Joseph and Moses. Some reports and papers are also assigned in the Greek and Roman sections. These guides are marginally similar to Cliffs Notes. I had expected these guides to be much more similar to Cliffs Notes. I expected there to be much more handholding and much more discussion provided for each of the books. I also expected there to be chapter synopses for each book. As a parent that doesn't make the time to read each and every book along with my child, it would be helpful to have some chapter synopses just so that I can keep up. For Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, here's the breakdown of guidance provided in this guide: Chapter
1 - a few activities/questions
So while there are a some activities and questions for Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, there are no questions or discussion for the books The Golden Goblet, Pyramid, and Tales of Ancient Egypt. For these three books, there are just assignments telling the student how much to read for that lesson. The Bible readings, which are included in just about every lesson in the Egypt section, have questions to go along with them about half the time. Sometimes it's just an assignment to read a few chapters in Exodus. I think a chart might possibly illustrate better which books have questions and activities provided specifically for them. I'll place it at the bottom of this section about the Ancient History guide. This is an Ancient History guide and contains units on Egypt (including Bible history), Greece, and Rome. I think it's a little narrow in its coverage. Why isn't Persia considered from a viewpoint other than Greek? What about the Hittite Empire or Lydia? The Etruscans? Babylon/Chaldea is mentioned, but in passing. What about the ancient history of nations not near the Mediterranean--like Australia or China? Foster's book does cover some of these topics in about 30 pages, but for the most part, this guide is restricted to helping the student learn about Egypt, Greece, and Rome. A better name for this guide might be Western Civilization: Ancient Times. However, I'm forgetting that there are readings assigned in Streams of Civilization. These textbook readings may fill in the seemingly apparent holes in the coverage of ancient history presented by this guide. The whole Greek section of the guide actually depends on the out-of-print The Greeks: A Great Adventure. There are some other activities and readings that don't require this book, but if you were to try to complete the Greek section without this book, you'd notice a giant hole in your curriculum. Frankly, I wouldn't buy this Ancient History guide unless I had access to The Greeks: A Great Adventure because it's just that necessary for the Greek section of the guide. And, by the way, these Isaac Asimov books are excellent! Most are out of print.
* The Kite That Won The Revolution - 1963
Finding Asimov's The Greeks: A Great Adventure can be a costly issue. Your library might have it, though many libraries are withdrawing these excellent historic books by Asimov. Our local library doesn't have it. It's disappointing that the original publishers won't reprint it. There are some very helpful activities included in the Greek section: discuss character flaws in certain individuals that lead to the demise of the Golden Age; name contributions to science, architecture, and literature during the Golden Age of Greece; draw a Greek temple; short biographies on a fair number of Greek notables. I believe that the activities in this guide will often stretch the student. The types of activities, if enjoyed, will help the student to retain much of what is learned. If all the maps, biographies, glossary, etc., are kept in a notebook, as is suggested by the guide, the student will end up with an excellent keepsake of their work. If done during high school, and with some depth, this notebook could be referred to for years to come. Lesson
4 of the Greek section contains this: (paraphrased)
Moving on to the Roman section of the guide, the student starts off by reading Augustus Caesar's World by Genevieve Foster. The play, Julius Caesar, should take a week, and then parts of D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths are to be read next, followed by Caesar's Gallic War and Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. The student then reads The Bronze Bow and City; a reading of Quo Vadis rounds out the study. Here's what a couple of the lessons in the Roman section look like. I chose one long lesson and a shorter one. Lesson
3 of the Roman section contains this: (paraphrased)
Lesson
47 of the Roman section contains this: (paraphrased)
The Ancient Rome section is quite a bit larger than the other two sections. It starts on page 11 and culminates on page 25. This section is similar to the other two sections in format and tone. As in the other sections, there seems to be an underlying theme of studying the character of certain individuals. For instance, Caesar's nobility is questioned when he is trying to motivate his men in chapter 4 of Caesar's Gallic War. Another case of this is when the leadership qualities of Hatshepsut are examined in the Egyptian section. It's not an overwhelming theme; I don't think it's at all overdone. It's usually helpful to analyze the character of successful and non-successful people to evaluate which traits one might want to emulate or eschew. Some extra help is given for two books in the Ancient Rome section. Vocabulary words for these two books are provided so that they can be gone over prior to reading the selection. Some students might consider it drudgery to look up words and record them in the glossary in their notebook. However, maybe looking them up online in a dictionary and then cutting and pasting the definitions into a word processing program might make the job easier. Then the page can just be printed out for easy inclusion to the student's notebook. Knowing what these words mean prior to reading the book will make it much easier to understand and learn from the books. (Page numbers are included, so it might be wise to acquire the recommended versions of the books.) It sure would be handy to have the definitions of the words included in the guide. Following the section on Ancient Rome, there's a Lesson Notes section where some of the answers can be found. A few explanations or book suggestions are also included. This section is 5 pages long. The four-page test section is located at the end of the book. There is a test for each section--Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The questions usually require a one-word answer, but there are also a few of what I would call "short answer" which means that a short paragraph is necessary to answer the question. There are questions about what stoics and epicureans believed, the purpose of embalming, listing some important contributions of certain individuals, etc. Answers to the tests are supplied on a separate page. So, that's your tour through the Ancient History guide. I hope you now have enough information to help you make a decision as to whether this guide would serve your homeschool well or not. Personally, I need to have a lot of facts before I make any curriculum purchases. I've made enough errors in curricula buying to know that it's best for me to view the product before buying if at all possible. I hope this review is the next best thing to seeing the product for yourself. Here's the chart showing which required books have questions and activities and which don't.
quite a few activities/questions = about 5+ Of course, this isn't a perfect system; it's just supposed to provide a rough idea of what to expect. |
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| On the
cover of the Medieval, Reformation and Renaissance History guide, it is
stated, "With Study Notes for Grades 7/8 and 9/10." On page 33 it
states that this course is perfectly suitable grades 11/12 also.
There are two courses of study: one for Junior High level students
and one for Senior High level students.
First off, the guide offers the Introduction. It seems to indicate that liberty is going to be a major theme in this guide. On pages 2-7, there is a short book list with a synopsis of each book mentioned. The 7th/8th grade course is found on pages 8 - 32 (25 pages). The high school course is found on pages 33 - 79 (47 pages). There is a timeline that Beautiful Feet sells that they assume you are using when assigning activities. Both the grades 7/8 and grades 9/10 sections start with the course objectives. The main goal seems to be to learn about the progress of civil and religious liberty beginning at 1215 (Magna Charta). Also, this guide is supposed to help students learn about the biblical principles behind true civil and religious freedom and how to apply those principles to current events. Lastly, a goal of the course is to help the student to grasp the development of liberty and to identify and appreciate God's hand in it. So my guess, which was based on the Introduction, was correct--liberty is a major theme. It looks like "God's hand in liberty" is also a theme. From what I can gather, it appears that for both the 7/8 and 9/10 sections, Coffin's The Story of Liberty is used as a spine. What that means, in case you aren't familiar with the term spine when referred to in homeschooling, is that The Story of Liberty is used throughout the whole year. Read a chapter, research an event that was discussed in that chapter, read 2 more chapters in The Story of Liberty, read a novel about someone mentioned in one of those chapters, read 2 more chapters in The Story of Liberty, write a paper about a topic from one of the chapters, etc., until The Story of Liberty is completed. Basically, The Story of Liberty is a guide, a jumping off point for all the activities and learning opportunities of the course. It's the centerpiece, and all other activities and readings revolve around it. Using this book as the spine for the year fits in very well with the liberty theme that is set forth by the Beautiful Feet guide. I blindly bought The Story of Liberty thinking that I might end up using more of the grade 9/10 guide than just the Columbus part. I started reading it, but only got to the 3rd page before putting it back on the shelf. No kidding. I'm not sure that the book is accurate. I searched the internet trying to find documentation verifying some of the actions that were attributed to King Richard I of England (Lionheart). While on a crusade, Richard purportedly ate a Saracen thinking it was pork. Then when he was told it was not pork, he laughed (and there's more). Because I can't find any sort of corroboration of this event, I question the accuracy of the complete book.1 I fear it may just be a tome littered with fanciful stories masquerading as history. If you can verify this story of pork eating, please let me know so I can include a link to that web site. You can read excerpts of The Story of Liberty, including the one about Richard I mentioned above, at Amazon by using their "look inside" feature. You'll also find page views of the complete table of contents and index. Since the whole course of study is based on this one book, you may want to make sure that you really like it prior to buying Beautiful Feet Books' Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation guide. When you buy this guide, you should know that this is a study of Medieval times, the Renaissance, and Reformation. The study is adapted so that you can use it for grades 7/8 or grades 9/10, but it's the same study guide regardless. You cannot use this guide in grade 7 and again in grade 10; the repetition would be too great. Lesson one is the same in both sections. In fact, as I page through, comparing the two sections, it becomes quite clear that they are exactly the same most of the time. Any book that is on both required books lists, will basically contain almost the exact same questions--except for Canterbury Tales, which are decidedly different. To illustrate, the study notes for The Magna Charta in the grade 7/8 section are reprinted again in the grades 9/10 section. When the student is directed to study further about Galileo, the exact same information is printed in both the grades 7/8 sections and the 9/10 section. It's the same study, just adapted for two different levels of learning--you choose which will be best for your student. The adaptation is almost exclusively limited to the literature books chosen; other adaptations are rare. The 7th/8th section states that additional information will be needed so that the student can perform some activities and that an encyclopedia would be adequate. In one case, a trip to the library is suggested. Usually a report is the result of the further research. At other times, brief reports are also assigned. Since no writing instruction is included in the guides, it will be helpful if your student already knows how to write a report prior to beginning either of these guides. If your students need to brush up on their skills you may want to look into Writing Step-by-Step or Format Writing. They are inexpensive, simple, and effective products. Look for links to reviews of these two items in the margin to the right. As I look at it, I think that this study might emphasize the Reformation. For those that don't know, the Reformation was when some people started their own churches with different beliefs than those the Catholic Church had. That's a very simplified definition. The reason that I believe that this guide focuses predominantly on the Reformation is because Tyndale, Knox, Wycliffe, John Huss, Martin Luther, and Calvin are all studied while other common topics of the Middle Ages are completely skipped over. But that's just my take on the subject.
The guide also claims to be a guide for the Renaissance, yet I'm not sure it covers it all that well, but this review is just too long, so I'll have to let you be the judge if you buy this guide. Not every historical event can be studied completely; we all have holes in our history education. Also, this guide is designed to be used for one year. No guide can cover everything in one year, and we should not expect it to. Lessons in the Medieval, Reformation and Renaissance History guide are set up in a similar way to the Ancient History guide. My overall impression is that these lessons will take a little more time that the lessons in the Ancient History guide. A lesson might direct the student to research a notable figure's life and then write brief report on this person. For my high school student, that would be at least a 3-hour project, possibly up to 6 hours. There are about 61 Lessons in the Grades 7/8 guide, but no guidance as to how many lessons should be done each week. The parent or student is left to figure that out for themselves. It is suggested that many lessons will require more than a day and that an average of 30 pages per book should be read each day. As for the Grades 9/10 guide, there are approximately 130 Lessons. With that many lessons, 3.6 lessons would need to be completed each week in a 36-week school year. That would be a lot of work. Of course, you may be planning on this course fulfilling both Literature and History requirements--two classes. That would mean that two hours per day may be spent on this course. If that's the case, your student will realistically have a better chance of completing the course in its entirety. The Lesson Notes (answers to the questions in the study guide) are much more exhaustive in this guide than the notes in the Ancient History guide, but there are no tests provided for this guide. I really think that the study ends abruptly. It would be excellent to have a summation page of some sort in the study guide to tie it all together or possibly give the student some feeling of completion and/or accomplishment. Maybe an assignment of a short paper recapping all that has been learned (although a paper can be seen as a drag by a student) or a movie suggestion that might tie a number of the events in the study guide together. A review sheet for discussion with the parent might be helpful. If you use this guide, hopefully you'll be able to figure something out by going back to the goals outlined at the beginning to see if the objectives have been met. 7th/8th grade list of required books
quite a few activities/questions = about 5+ "a few activities/questions for the book" means for the whole book, not for each chapter Of course, this isn't a perfect system; it's just supposed to provide a rough idea of what to expect.
9th/10th
grade list of required books
quite a few activities/questions = about 5+ "a few activities/questions for the book" means for the whole book, not for each chapter Of course, this isn't a perfect system; it's just supposed to provide a rough idea of what to expect. The guide says, "... some books should be read and appreciated just for the beauty and value of literature...." For that reason there aren't notes for all the required books. Providing study notes for all the books, though, would allow the student to decide which books could be read just for the pleasure of reading fine literature. |
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For folks who've never thought to use literature as a way to approach history, these guides can be revolutionary, opening up new avenues for learning. Either of these guides would be very helpful to a family that has always used traditional history textbooks, but are now looking to alter their approach. Even if you don't like the guides, one will provide a way for you to learn how to put together your own literature-based program with the books you and your students choose. On the other hand, if you've already been doing history ala Charlotte Mason, The Well-Trained Mind, etc., then using one of these guides for a year will give you a well-deserved break from planning out your own curriculum.
Could these guides be used by those that would prefer to skip Christian curricula? The Egyptian section would be difficult because a lot would have to be skipped. Both the Greek and Roman sections, though, don't have as many references to religious issues. They could conceivably be skipped without losing much at all. The Bronze Bow might also be skipped as it does contain a little religious content depending on your viewpoint (see reviews at Amazon.com). As for the Medieval, Reformation, and Renaissance guide, I don't think so. The whole guide assumes a Protestant viewpoint. While not every lesson contains a biblical reference, the basic, foundational thrust of the course is decidedly religious.
You know, one thing I'm not too sure about is the "providential position" alluded to in the guides This idea of providence in events keeps showing up in both the Ancient History and Medieval guides. Here's one question that sort of illustrates this viewpoint--they ask if the student thinks that Akhnaton's monotheistic conversion was providential preparation for the appearance of Moses on the scene fifty years later. Of course, if you disagree, you can answer, "No." But what exactly does this question mean? What's "providential preparation?" I noticed another question with the word "providential" in it in the Roman section: "What do you sense may have been the providential purpose in the betrayal of Jerusalem to the Parthians?" After some searching on the internet, I found some web sites that state that Beautiful Feet products do teach a providential view of history. The Beautiful Feet web site doesn't clearly state that they subscribe to a providential view of history. However, their web site tells us that they see themselves as meeting the need with respect to children's books similar to The Light and the Glory. The link to that book will provide you with some varying viewpoints at Amazon.com. The Beautiful Feet Books catalog doesn't mention the word "providential" in a glaring way, but it is used when describing their Early American History curriculum and their California curriculum uses a providential text. I include this paragraph for informational purposes only, to help homeschoolers make the best decision for their families concerning curriculum selection. For some people, knowing a curriculum's underlying ideas is important.
If you're picky about grammar, you may be concerned by misuse of "it's" instead of "its." The misuse can be found in both guides. Also, there is a lack on consistency in the use of "The Childrens Homer" and "The Children's Homer." This lack of consistency is also found a couple of other places. These are difficult to notice, though, and of little consequence in my opinion since I'm a horrible proofreader of my own work, though I know that some would feel this displays a lack and could indicate other problems with the guides (though I am not aware of any). Another inconsistency found in the Medieval guide is that a "6/7 course" is referred to in the Study Book List. This guide is supposed to be for grades 7/8 and 9/10, and it's confusing to have a 6/7 course mentioned three different times.
On page 27 of 7/8 section of the guide, it states, "... students would enjoy video A Man For All Seasons...." I disagree. While it's an excellent film, a sentence like, "Students might enjoy A Man for All Seasons would be a more helpful statement. You can read my review of the movie, if you like, elsewhere at this site. I'm baffled as to why this movie isn't suggested as a good one to watch in the 9/10 grade section also. It would be completely appropriate and easy to understand after reading Shakespeare's Henry VIII or some other source of information on Henry's quest for Boleyn. It's a good movie, but not necessarily enjoyable without a little preparation on the part of the viewer. I tried to watch it once when I was ready to be entertained and was disappointed. This movie is more of a learning experience than a diversion. Of course, this is a minor point.
Overall, these Beautiful Feet guides are useful; they obviously fill a need for homeschoolers. They cover the Middle Ages and Reformation and Ancient History from a position seldom taken in home-education circles. The literature choices were made with quality and interest in mind, and many of the books will hold the attention of your student. It asks a fair bit of the student academically, but doesn't burden them with too much work or analysis. These guides demonstrate that learning history through literature is possible--maybe even preferable--and they are a valuable addition to the homeschool market.
Online study guides for some literature can be found at the Doucette Index if you're interested in putting together your own literature studies.
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Review
of
Genevieve
Foster's
books
Visit
the Homeschooling Section at Amazon.com!
The
Oxford Illustrated History of Ancient Egypt
Cleopatra:
Goddess
of Egypt, Enemy of Rome
c.
55 - 30 B.C.
Rulers
of Ancient Rome
or
Leaders
of Ancient Greece
Archimedes
and the Door of Science
c.
287 - 212 B.C.
Review
of
Format
Writing
Review
of
Writing
Step-by-Step
Distant Mirror written for adults by prolific writer of history Barbara W. Tuchman |
Beautiful Feet Books
Tibaldo
and the Hole in the Calendar
1582
- switch from Julian to Gregorian calendar - Italy
Queen
Eleanor:
Independent
Spirit of the Medieval World
c.1150
- Mother of Richard the Lionheart - Queen of France
Saladin:
Noble
Prince of Islam
1138-1193
- participated in the 3rd crusade
The
World in the Time of Charlegmagne
April
2, 742 - January 28, 814
Review
of
The
Measly Middle Ages
Empire
of Islam
PBS
Video
Life
in the Middle Ages:
The
Countryside
The
Crusades:
Failed
Holy Wars
The
Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe
The
King's Shadow
prelude
to Battle of Hastings, 1066
King
Harold II (Godwinson)
Tamerlane:
The
Ultimate Warrior
1370,
Central Asia
Seven
Wonders of the Medieval World
Giotto
and Medieval Art:
The
Lives and Works of the Medieval Artists
1266
- 1337
Alfred
the Great
849
- 8997
A
Short History of Byzantium
849
- 899
