Curriculum Review: The Good and the Beautiful

This past year, I was given the opportunity to review The Good and the Beautiful curriculum. The curriculum looked solid, but as the author, Jenny Phillips, is Mormon, I had some concerns about differences in worldview. I emailed with a list of questions about the curriculum and the Jenny wrote back personally. She offered to send me the curriculum to try out for myself. 

Here's what I tried:

Language Arts and Literature: PreK, K, and 3rd

PreK

Pros: The materials are so pretty! There are many sweet little games to teach letters. 

Cons: I didn't care for cutting out all the pieces. In fact, my sweet preschooler saw me cut things out and decided to help. She destroyed a couple of my favorite games. :( 

Kindergarten: 

I did not get a chance to use this program, as I gave it away to someone who needed it more than I. However, it looks like a solid phonics program and it is printed beautifully, just like PreK. 

3rd grade:

Pros: This level includes so many things... grammar, reading, writing, art appreciation, spelling, vocabulary, geography, and more! Also, this level (along with levels 1-5) are offered free as online downloads!

Cons: The program was too teacher intensive for our family. I did not like the organization of the program, it jumped around too much from topic to topic. There was a required book to purchase that wasn't mentioned until I had gotten a few weeks into the program. There was SO MUCH in the program that it left me overwhelmed, but perhaps I was moving through it too quickly. 

 Handwriting: Levels 2 and 4

Pros: We love these handwriting books! They are practical, pretty, and fun! Both levels contain art "extras," like mazes, coloring, and drawing. My children have become quite the artists!

Cons: It's hard to think of one, except I wish there were some longer passages to work on, especially in the upper level

Year 1 History

The Good and the Beautiful History is a 4 year schedule. Each year you go all the way through history, but touching different topics each time. You can find a detailed outline of how this works HERE. 

There are several elements to the history program. 

-Course Book: This is the teacher's guide. Here you will find daily readings, questions, pictures, and instructions for the other parts of the program. 

-PDF Student Explorers: This is a lovely set of printables in 4 levels. There are maps, coloring sheets, research assignments, and other activities. 

-The Big Book of History Stories: Beautiful 204 page story book with maps and lovely illustrations

-Keys of History Board Game: A game for the whole family to review history

-Dramatized audio recordings: Two children listen as their uncle tells stories from history

Pros: Very good quality materials. The history portion is interesting, the student explorers sheets are excellent, and even I enjoyed listening to the audio recordings. My husband and I agree that the board game is FUN!

Cons: I just have a hard time getting into the 4 year rotation of topics. I prefer a chronological approach. But that's just my opinion. 

Science

The Good and the Beautiful science is comprised of unit studies. You can go through them as fast or as slow as you like. We tried Arthropods and Meteorology. 

Pros: Once again, the materials are gorgeous and interesting. The activities are simple and fun. 

Cons: I can't think of any. We dropped the science program because I had overplanned my school year and was trying to do two science programs (a mistake on my part!). 

We have also been using the nature notebooks. 

Pros: These are excellent if you don't know how to "do" nature walks! My kids have drawn pictures and written summaries to describe nature, gone on leaf hunts, done bark rubbings, and more!

Cons: None

 As far as that worldview I was concerned about, the only issue I had was the occasional moralizing. Such as, "Christ taught us to be kind to others, to seek learning, to be respectful, to be clean, and to be organized." I am wary of anything that teaches my children that they have to work to become better people. The most important thing about Christ's work is that it is finished; there is nothing we can DO to add to it. We believe; and He lends us the strength to obey.

Although I have some differences of opinion on the worldview and the structure of some of the lessons, overall I am pleased with The Good and the Beautiful curriculum as a beautiful, well done, well organized program. I am deeply indebted to Jenny Phillips for providing curriculum for our family. It has been a huge blessing!

That being said, we will not be continuing with the Good and the Beautiful curriculum for the upcoming year. As stated above, I prefer a chronological approach to history, I was overwhelmed by the language arts, and we need more practice for handwriting. We will be going with My Father's World in the upcoming year, and Cheerful Cursive for handwriting and Sonlight for literature. We WILL continue to utilize the nature notebook though, along with our My Father's World program, and the board game will be fun to play to supplement our history study.