Living History Books

We decided to toss the history text books and switch to living books (literature and non fiction) this year. Sometimes textbooks are necessary—-if you have known me for 5 minutes, you know that I’m a huge fan of Saxon Math textbooks. History is different. It should be told from a variety of perspectives, voices, and stories. Living books let your child hear those stories closer to the source. However trying to collect all the individual books at a good price was super time consuming and stressful. And then I found Beautiful Feet Books, who are based out of California. They have awesome history bundles available—we love K-3 American History package! The packages also come with a teacher’s guide—which really just helps you to facilitate discussion.

The package of books is well worth the price—these are real books that can be read over and over again—and we will be using them for the next few years since each pack spans multiple grades.

Here’s a smattering of what they offer.

• What does K-3 look like?

  At the K-3 level the focus is on beautiful picture books, hands-on activities, simple discussions, and lots of time snuggled together on the couch reading and talking about great books!

  • Package options: American History, Around the World with Picture Books Parts I and II, and Teaching Character Primary reading pack

What does 4-6 look like?

The 4-6th grade level studies emphasize connecting with your students by going deeper into each story and subject covered. These studies highlight reading aloud well-written books, while offering short writing prompts, more detailed notebooking, higher level questions, and allowing student to gain some independence.

Package options: Western Expansion, History of California, History of Science, Teaching Character through Literature, and Geography through Literature.

What does 7-8th look like?

At the 7-8th level students are becoming more independent which is reflected in our teacher guides. Wonderful stories help students connect with the figures of history, ideologies, and social changes. We recommend reading with your students as much as possible but in this level students can complete readings on their own and work with teacher on questions, writing assignments, and activities.

• Package Options Modern American + World, Ancient History, Medieval History, and the History of Classical Music

What does 9-12th look like?

The high school level studies spotlight acclaimed and classical literature helping students gain understanding, perspective, and critical thinking skills. The goal with these studies is helping students gain confidence in analysis and choosing a position and defending it with evidence. This stage promotes independent thinking, empathy, and features a wide variety of books.

• Package Options: Government and Economics, Early American + World history, Senior Medieval History, Senior Ancient History, Senior Ancient History, and more!

The Magic Tree House Series

We also supplement with time traveling brother and sister from the Magic Tree House series- my 6 and 4 year old LOVE THEM. They can be used as a read aloud, or independently for a stronger reader. Sometimes we do a book-on-tape throwback and my older daughter listens the the audiobook and follows along in her book. WIN WIN.

We have read quite a few—most are fine as-is, some have stronger historical themes that we talk about together ahead of time.

If you would like a one-on-one zoom consultation to find out more about how to integrate these history bundles into your homeschool journey, contact me here!