It all starts with resource lists. BP divides each year of study into units of 4 to 7 weeks each. The Family Guide has four resource lists per unit, one for each of four grade levels: K – 2, 3 – 5, 5 – 8 and 8 – 12. Most of our resources are history-related books that give your students a taste of times past. You can use these resources to custom-design the perfect program for each student.

The Family Guide has two kinds of resource lists: annotated and unannotated. The annotated lists have notes and comments to help you decide which resources fit your students best. The shorter, unannotated ones can serve as shopping or wish lists.

After the resource lists come the lesson plans. The Family Guide has a 2-page spread for each week of study, telling you what to read and when.

1. First come the history readings. The top of each spread is divided into three columns for three lessons per week. The first two rows tell which sections of Remember the Days or the Companion to read each day. The rest tell how to align other popular “spines,” or main history texts, with BP.
2. Next comes the literature. This section tells you which extra books to read every week, divided by grade level. There is one column each for grades K – 2, 3-5, 5-8 and 8-12.
3. Then come writing assignments for each week, divided by stage of development: Young Writer, Grammar or Logic.
4. Then comes a list of BP supplements for the week, followed by optional resources and activities.

Great literature is just the first resource BP suggests, not the only one. We also suggest videos, audios, crafts and other activities. Check the end of each lesson plan to see which ones you might like to add.