The last child. It’s a special one, isn’t it? There’s just something about knowing she will be the last kiddo to crawl into your bed at night or the last one to take his first steps. Don’t get me wrong: all of my kids are special. But that last kiddo has its own special place in a mama’s heart.
My baby is somehow 6 years old and the years just keep soaring past us! If you ask my other kids, they’ll say I baby him but in reality, I’m just trying to soak in all of the moments because I’ve realized how fast kids grow! I want to savor every tiny bit of their childhood that I can.
That feeling has rolled over into how I homeschool. While my other kiddos are old enough and prefer to do most of their schoolwork on their own, Bear still relies on me for nearly everything and I am totally taking advantage of it!
Thinking of how I want to approach the first few years of my little guys education, I decided I wanted more connection. I didn’t want to fill our days with workbooks, but instead with quality living books, fun art projects and activities that will make me look back on these years and smile.
In my quest to find everything I wanted, I stumbled upon Beautiful Feet Books.
I received this product for free and was compensated for my time. As always, a positive review was not required and all opinions are my own. I only share products my own family would genuinely enjoy.
Learn Through Living Books
Beautiful Feet Books is a game-changer for moms like me who know time with our kiddos is precious and fleeting. Instead of slaving over a workbok, Beautiful Feet Books provides learning through some of the most beloved living books on the market. Using the Teacher Guide, you can create a relaxed and stress-free day that includes hands-on activities, yummy treats and mesmerizing books. Gone are the days of staring at the computer for hours each day. Instead, your kiddo will fall in love with stories by snuggling with you on the couch.
In case you’re like me and are new to Beautiful Feet Books, here’s what you need to know:
Learn Through Literature:
Beautiful Feet Books has chosen some of the most gorgeous living books I’ve ever seen and turned them into a curriculum. Kids will enjoy the unit-study style approach as they learn through literature. Just picture it now: you’re mornings begin with an enticing book, followed by a fun activity. There’s no reason to struggle with other curriculum. Beautiful Feet Books strengthens your relationship with your child!
Perfect for All Ages:
From kindergarten to high school, there’s something for everyone! Whether you need geography, literature or history, there’s a curriculum that will fit your needs. My 6 year old instantly fell in love with the geography offered in Around the World with Picture Books. In fact, my 11 year old loved it just as much, even though I wasn’t planning on using it with her! But hey, when a kid is interested in learning, I don’t care what age it’s “recommended” for!
A PEEK INSIDE BEAUTIFUL FEET BOOKS
Easy to Use:
The included Teacher’s Guide is one like I’ve never seen before. It tells parents exactly what to do, from the questions to ask to the pages to read. It doesn’t require hard-to-find items but instead uses the books to teach your kiddos. You can really just “open-and-go.” The only prep work we did was copying a few pages in the back of the Teacher’s Guide (because I didn’t want to tear them out, but you can use the pages provided), visiting the library and shopping for the items needed for the recipes. Pretty simple!
Hands-On:
The end of each unit offers fun and hands-on learning opportunities. You can dive deeper into each unit by using the list of additional books, nature connection, art, music and even traditional food. For instance, when studying Italy, we talked about some of the amazing people from the area, including Leonardo da Vinci, Antoni Vivaldi, Galieo and Marco Polo. We also talked about the native animals and prepared a delicious dinner of homemade Italian egg noodles and mushroom pasta sauce.
Encourages Conversation:
Each lesson gives you simple questions that will inspire your kiddos to talk with you. This is particularly important for my little guy, who struggles with speech issues and often doesn’t talk as much as I wish. The questions offered by Beautiful Feet Books help to spark conversations beacuse they aren’t dull and ‘run-of-the-mill” questions. For example, when studying Chile, we read the book Lucia’s Travel. The Teacher’s Guide prompted me to ask the kiddos “Why does Grandpa want Lucia to climb the mountain?” My kids’ response: “He wanted her to travel and see the world that’s bigger than her.” Then we went on to talk about what WE see around us in our lives and where we could go to see a world bigger than ourselves. I ended up learning that my middle daughter dreams of visiting Angel Falls and Nova Scotia! The questions spark interest and can be applied to our own lives.
You Get What You Pay For:
The only downside of this curriculum is the cost. If you know me, you know I have to pinch my pennies. There are very few things I splurge on but I whole-heartedly believe this curriculum is worth every cent. After all, it does include 23 living books that aren’t cheap. In fact, the MAPS book alone will cost you $40 on Amazon! I’ll admit, I suffered from a bit of “sticker-shock” when seeing the price but once the curriculum arrived, I knew exactly why it cost so much. Beautiful Feet Books enjoy gorgeous literature and, like a lot of us, they wanted more. They did the dirty work for us, so we can have an open-and-go curriculum, complete with hands-on activities and the whole works.
When I step back and think about it, I typically order about $150 worth of Usborne Books each year. This usually ends up being 12-14 books. Those books are great but they aren’t part of a curriculum. If I spend just a little bit more money, I can have nearly double the amount of high quality living books AND a thorough lesson plan! Combining the cost of my typical Usborne Book order with our curriculum choices, I actually SAVE money by ordering through Beautiful Feet Books. So while it is a bit pricey, it is totally worth it for our family.
If you’re looking for a hands-on curriculum that encourages your kids to spend time snuggling with you instead of workbooks, you need to check out Beautiful Feet Books. You won’t be disappointed!
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