Reading Our Way Through Medieval History with Beautiful Feet Books
We love to study history by reading great literature. There is something powerful about reading stories that draw us into historical time periods through people, their lives, and their relationships. We connect more deeply to people and their stories than we do to facts and figures.
Because of this we decided to read our way through the Medieval History with Beautiful Feet books this year. The Beautiful Feet Advanced and Intermediate Medieval History pack was a perfect fit for my 5th and 7th grade boys who were excited to study the middle ages this year.
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Medieval History with Beautiful Feet Books
When my boys asked to study the Middle Ages, I knew we needed an excellent set of literature books to carry us into this time period. I reached out to Beautiful Feet books because I was familiar with their company and knew they’d be a source of high quality books.
They were willing to provide their Medieval History pack in exchange for my honest opinion in a blog post. I was not required to write a positive review, but we had a great year and I am thrilled to share the details.
Spoiler alert: One of the best parts about this year was that I discovered a new historical heroine!
Our Year with Beautiful Feet Books
The Medieval History Intermediate set covers events and people between years 400 and 1522. This books combined with the teacher’s manual fosters an environment where families can discuss new ideas and social changes at this time.
This literature pack features King Richard, King Arthur, Saladin, Queen Eleanor, Joan of Arc, Shahrazad and more. We learned about these historical figures this year by reading engaging books that featured stories of their lives and adventures.
What’s included in the Medieval History Intermediate Pack?
This pack includes all of the materials you need for a 35 week study of the Middle Ages. You’ll recieve the teacher’s guide, 17 incredible books, a timeline, and a foldable world map.
The teacher’s guide is set up in a weekly format. It is so easy to use and lists everything you need to read each week with the discussion questions that relate to the reading. In addtion, the guide includes mapping activities, research and discussion topics, hands-on and craft suggestions, web links, and vocabulary lists.
There is no way to complete all of the incredible activities so we picked the ones that were most interesting to us throughout the year, but kept our focus on the literature.
The literature titles included in the Medieval History Pack are:
- The European World 4000-1450 by Barbara Hanawalt
- Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo
- King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green
- One Thousand and One Arabian Nights by Geraldine McCaughrean
- Queen Eleanor: Independent Spirit of the Medieval World by Polly Brooks
- Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green
- The Magna Charta by James Daugherty
- Cathedral by David Macaulay
- Castle by David Macaulay
- The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean
- Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Gray
- Morning Star of the Reformation by Andy Thompson
- Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
- Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, Adapted by Barbara Cohen
- Fine Print, A Story About Johann Gutenberg by Joann Johansen Burch
- The Trumpeter of Kradow by Eric P. Kelly
- The World of Columbus and Sons by Genevieve Foster
- Joan of Arc: A Photographic Story of a Life by Kathleen Kudlinski
An Overview of Our Typical Week
One thing I loved about Beautiful Feet books was the layout of the teacher’s guide. I like a checklist with flexibility and that is just what this guide offered.
Everything you MIGHT like to include for the week is listed in the guide. It’s up to you to decide what to add to your weekly schedule.
The weekly layout of the teacher’s guide suits both the Type A and Type B parts of my soul. The Type A in me loves to have more than a list of books. I want someone to schedule the reading for me. The Beautiful Feet teacher’s guide did this for me using a weekly layout. The Type B part of me loves the freedom I still have each week because reading and activites are not assigned to a particular day of the week – that would stress me out. Instead, I plan how much we do and on which days we do it.
Before the week began, I scanned the guide and added the reading for the week to our Morning Time. Then I looked over the suggested activities and linked websites. If there were any that I was excited about, I added them to our plan for the week.
And yes, more than once we allowed one week to trickle into the next and then caught up later. We also found that more activities were included for us than we could ever accomplish. I didn’t mind this at all because it let’s me pick and choose.
Honestly, we didn’t keep up with the mapping and vocubulary. I believe you need to make curriculum work for your family and these two activities weren’t our priority this year. We focused on the incredible books and occasionally enjoyed some of the fun activities or videos suggested in the guide.
The guide provides structure while allowing for plenty of freedom. I loved it.
NOTE: My only disappointment this year came when I was planning. Many of the links in the guide are broken links. That said, I simply used the idea and did a little searching for my own links.
It’s all About the Literature
It’s true. This fantastic program centers on great literature. And our year spent reading our way through the middle ages was an incredible one.
I’ll admit that my favorite book this year was Queen Eleanor: Independent Spirit of the Medieval World by Polly Brooks. I absolutely fell in love wtih Eleanor of Aquitaine, a historcial figure who was completely new to me. At least I had forgotten all I learned about her in school, probably because I only learned about her from a textbook….sigh.
We all enjoyed the variety of books included this year. The Beautiful Feet Medieval History Pack included a few picture books, such as the set from David Macaulay, sprinkled in with our longer chapter books.
The books this year introduced us to traveling minstrels, kings and queens, architectural design, and more from the Middle Ages. As a mom who wasn’t looking forward to studying this time period in history, I have been delighted to learn this year.
And my boys were more than ready for it!
These are the types of books you will be thrilled to add to your home library. They are high quality books that you can enjoy again and again.
Beautiful Feet Books
Beautiful Feet books help your family learn history through powerful stories. You can find literature packs for every grade level as well as every time period in history.
Beautiful Feet books is a christian company, but packs can be adapted for secular homeschools by dropping a book from the list. This is done for charter schools who are making purchases and would be easy for an individual family to do as well.
Check out Beautiful Feet for your history curriculum this year:
You will be so glad you did!
More about the Middle Ages:
Medieval History for Middle Schoolers
Engaging, Hands-On Art History Lessons with Take Time for Art
Our Homeschool Curriculum Choices: 5th and 7th Grades
She believes that creativity, laughter, and fun are the backbone for engaging and inspiring homeschools. You can find her encouragement and tips on this blog, Mary Hanna Wilson.
She is an enneagram 7 and an extrovert. She enjoys traveling, tea (iced or hot), good conversations, and books. You can connect with her on Instagram and Facebook.
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Thanks for the review! Do you think that this program would be too much/mature for a 3rd grader? I would be reading everything aloud for him, I know he would love learning about this time period.
Personally, I would try to find a book list for elementary school- the same company might have one. otherwise, many of these titles would probably work fine!