Get to Know BP Lesson Plans Plus
(formerly the Family Guide)
Lesson Plans Plus is where BP blends history with literature. To really understand the past, students must read literature that takes them back to the past. BP finds the best literature for every era, and then tells you where it fits into our program.
Click the features below to see how it all works.
Resource Lists
It all starts with resource lists. Lesson Plans Plus has four annotated resource lists per unit of study, one for each of four grade levels: K – 2, 3 – 5, 5 – 8 and 8 – 12. When you begin a new unit, use your knowledge of your student or students to decide how many living books to assign. Then use the annotations in the lists to decide which living books you want. If all that sounds like too much work, then just choose the “quick picks” marked by thumbs-up signs. Either way, you can use our lists to custom-design the perfect program for each student.
Besides all the annotated resource lists, Lesson Plans Plus also has straight lists with no notes to serve as shopping or wish lists.
Weekly Lesson Plans
- First come the history spines. The top of each spread is divided into three columns for three lessons per week. The first two rows tell which sections of BP Remember the Days or Consider the Years / Companion to read each day. The rest tell how to align other popular “spines,” meaning history surveys, with BP.
- Next come the living books. This section lists your living book options for the week divided by grade level. There is one column each for grades K – 2, 3-5, 5-8 and 8-12.
- Then come writing assignments for each week, divided by stage of development: Young Writer, Grammar or Logic. Use Cool History for Advanced to find writing assignments for rhetoric stage students.
- Then comes a list of possible BP activities for the week, followed by optional resources and activities.
Options and More Options
Living Books are just the first resources BP suggests, not the only ones. 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.
Click the covers to see Lesson Plans Plus sample pages:
Ancients
Medieval
Early Modern
Year Four,
Modern
