Beautiful Feet 2012-2013 : Page 2
Welcome to Beautiful Feet Books Catalog! “History isn't just something that ought to be taught or ought to be read or ought to be encouraged because it's going to make us a better citizen. It should be taught for pleasure: The pleasure of history, like art or music or literature, consists of an expansion of the experience of being alive, which is what education is largely about.” – David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize author of John Adams and Truman D ear Friends of Beautiful Feet, Sir Ken Robinson has written a challenging and inspiring book entitled Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative , in which he makes an astute evaluation of the present state of education in America, as well as an inspiring plea to break out of our old educational para-digms in order to properly equip our children for the future. Whether you are a veteran home schooler, or just embarking on this journey, you will find Robinson's work a powerful incentive to continue to blaze a trail of home education that is fresh, innovative, enriching. Though as home schoolers we have taken steps to break out of an institutionalized approach to education, it is easy to allow our passion and energy to become jaded; while we may not have our children in traditional class-rooms, we sometimes bring a classroom mentality to bear upon our studies. As Robinson notes: Education in a way dislocates very many people from their natural talents. Human resources are like natural resources, they're often buried deep. You have to go looking for them, they're not just lying around on the surface. You have to create the circumstances where they show themselves. G e o g r a p h y H i s t o r y As home educators, we are most fortunate in that we have a golden L i t e r a t u r e opportunity to create the circumstances whereby our student's natural talents may show themselves. Digging for these talents involves time, the right tools, and patience. Exploration and discovery require the perusal of lots of territory, until an area of specific interest or leaning, is hit upon. Then the requisite investment of time and capital will nurture that talent and allow it to grow. Robinson makes the case that without the arts–literature, music, dance and drama, education is bereft of what makes us truly human–our imagination, and our ability to create. “In imagination we can bring to mind things that are not present to our senses. We can visit the past, and not just a single view of the past. We can review and rein-terpret the past. We can enhance our sense of the present by seeing with other people's eyes”. The above notion supports the paradigm promoted for the last 28 years here at BFB. By applying a literature approach to history, we have recognized the power of lit-erary art to motivate, educate, and inspire. The best children's book do that naturally, and while we are learning history this way, we are also nurturing and developing the capacity for empathy, compassion and virtue. Once again, these are the qualities that make us human and make life worth living. For our latest offerings, we'd like to call your attention to a few new products that may help you on the aforementioned journey. First of all, our most popular curriculum, the Early American History for primary grades, has recently been updated, expanded and enhanced. Josh Berg has rewritten the guide, incorporating a few new titles into this perennial favorite, and we think you'll like it even more in this new edition. Rebecca has recently rewritten the Medieval History Through Literature for inter-mediate (5th-8th grades) and this study now appropriately covers the years from 400 to 1530. We've incorporated a new background text, The European World 400-1450 , 1 Cover Art: Femme en Barque, 1885 John Singer Sargent
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