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I am sharing exactly how we plan on combining two of our favorite curriculums together for one fantastic school year. Apologia Science and Beautiful Feet Books picture books come together seamlessly creating a fun-filled homeschool year perfect for your elementary aged child.
With having a fidgety little boy, school has not always been easy. As a “seasoned” homeschool mom, you would think homeschooling the youngest would be easier. But, it’s not. He has thrown everything I learned about homeschooling right out the window.
This means all that curriculum I saved from the girls hasn’t worked for the boy.
It means all the things I LOVED about homeschooling with the girls has not been as fun with the boy.
I have had to relearn how to teach, how to parent, how to save my sanity..
And one thing that this has meant is ditching the idea of an open and go curriculum. Yes, I have had to create a lot of things myself. I have had to lesson plan and cut things out.
I have needed to tweak the curriculum that I love (find out how to use Apologia Science here) as written to fit my son’s needs.
One way I am doing that this school year is with Beautiful Feet Books Around the World With Picture Books and Apologia Zoology.
I was compensated for this post by Apologia, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Around the World with Picture Books looks like it is going to such a fun curriculum. We will be traveling the world learning about cultures, and countries, and food, and so much more through picture books. It contains a lot of fun hands-on activities and is exactly what my son needs for a gentle introduction to history. It is also VERY different from what I ever did with the girls.
But, what about science?
For science, we have LOVED Apologia through the years and the zoology series contained some of our favorite science projects. BUT, I also know, for my son, doing Apologia as written would not be beneficial for him at this point in time.
He has expressed an interest in learning about animals though, and combining Around the World and Apologia Zoology seemed like a fantastic idea.
So, that is what we will be doing. I will be showcasing this on Instagram throughout the school year, and will probably add in a video or two as well.
Putting it All Together
I want to lay out our lesson plans for the first few months in case any of you want to combine the two as well. I have seen a LOT of parents asking in the Beautiful Feet Books Facebook group how to add science into this study, and I truly feel the Apologia Zoology books are the BEST way to do this. Why scavenger the library for multiple books on animals when you can get ONE book and be done?
For the first three countries, I will be focusing on the Land Animals guide. BUT, know that you can easily add in more studies on plants from the Botany book, birds and flying insects from the Flying Creatures guide, and ocean animals from Swimming Creatures. I am going to share how to lay out EXACTLY how to add in Apologia Science to Beautiful Feet Books Around the World with Picture Books.
The Lesson Plans
I plan on using Beautiful Feet Books Picture Books two days a week as written. Then, I plan on adding in an animal or two from Apologia Science, two days a week as well. The animals I pulled out are actually mentioned in the guide from Beautiful Feet Books. I listed them simply by scanning the guide as I showed in the video. Here is a sample lesson plan for three of the countries studied Beautiful Feet Books. You will notice that some of the animals are mentioned twice. You can choose which country you want to associate those animals with.
Kenya and Tanzania
Apologia Land Animals
- Giraffes p. 160-163
- Lions p. 55-57
- Gorillas p. 105-108
- African Bush Elephants 132-134
- Burchell’s Zebra p. 145
- Science Experiment for this country is Why do Giraffe’s Have Such a High Blood Pressure? p. 170
Ghana
Apologia Land Animals
- Hippopotamus p. 168
- Colobus Monkey p. 102
- African Lion p. 55-57
- Elephants p. 132-134
- Science experiment for this country is Primate Depth Perception p. 110
China
Apologia Land Animals
- Camels p. 158-159
- Giant Panta p. 40-41
- Science experiment for this country Opposable Thumbs p. 41
Apologia Flying Creatures
- Cormorant p. 50-51
- Silkworms p. 223
- Science experiment for this country Waterproofing Feathers p. 50
Click here for a google doc that you can print. I will add to this throughout the year. I hope this post gives you a few ideas of how you can combine these two wonderful curriculums together as well. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to leave them here. Also, be sure to follow along on Instagram this school year as I showcase some of our homeschool lessons.
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H, I have an ADHD learning impaired 11 yr old. I was wondering if you have any worksheets made to show what your kids are learning? My girl really struggles with writing and so note-booking her learning is too hard for her.
If you could only get one, I’d get land animals. ONLY because it was our favorite of the three guides. The second choice would be Flying Creatures because there are quite a few birds mentioned throughout the BFB Picture book guides. Hope that helps!
Thanks so much for the great idea! I’m planning on using BFB Around the World Part 2- Europe and South America- I was also planning on Apologia- which Zoology one would you get if you could only get one?