IN THIS POST YOU’LL FIND THE GOOD AND THE BEAUTIFUL HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM REVIEW.

This past year we started our sixth year homeschooling! If you haven’t read our homeschooling journey you can read more here.
One of the questions that I am asked the most when it comes to homeschooling is what curriculum we are using. In years past I have primarily used the Horizon curriculum.  You can see a little review of curriculum from a few years ago here.  One of the reasons that I have always been drawn to Horizon curriculum is because of how straight forward the lessons were, the workbook style of the curriculum and also how nicely the lessons built on each other.  Because the lessons were so structured, it freed up our time to do additional unit studies.  

So why the decision to change?

The older my big kids got, the more I felt like we were just needing something more when it came to language arts and writing. Because while the Horizon workbooks were wonderful for teaching Math and Phonics, we were lacking in additional language arts/writing skills.  So, I began the hunt for new curriculum.  Everything I was finding looked wonderful, but the amount of planning overwhelmed me.  This year I have a 5th, 3rd, 2nd and Kinder. I know my limits and planning something extensive for each grade would just be setting myself up for failure.  The search continued and I began to think that the curriculum I was dreaming about wasn’t even out there.  UNTIL… I stumbled upon The Good and the Beautiful.  

I remember gasping when I started scrolling through TGTB’s site.  It was an absolute answer to prayer.  It is a faith-based (more on this below), high academic literature that has a strong emphasis on building character.  I thought I would type out a few questions that I have received below to help simplify this post.

WHAT SUBJECTS DOES THE GOOD AND THE BEAUTIFUL COVER?
The thing that intrigued me the most with TGTB was that they combined and condensed several subjects into each child’s curriculum.  Instead of finding curriculum for each individual subject, they combined reading, writing, spelling, grammar, punctuation, literature, geography and art. The lessons are absolutely beautiful and I have been blown away by what my children are learning!

IS THIS CURRICULUM EXPENSIVE?
No! This is an incredibly affordable curriculum and quite a bit cheaper than most homeschooling curriculum.  TGTB’s goal is to strengthen children and families, which is why they keep their profit-margin low. You can purchase the PDF for a small cost or purchase the curriculum printed and bound. 

IS THIS CURRICULUM WRITTEN BY A MORMON AND DO YOU FEEL LIKE IT HAS MORMON INFLUENCE IN IT?
It is written by Jenny Phillips who is a Mormon and no it is not Mormon influenced. I am a Bible Believing Christian (Southern Baptist for reference) and DO use and love this curriculum.  I thought I would give a little back story about finding this curriculum and why I chose to use it.  Like I mentioned above, when I discovered TGTB I was overjoyed.  It was exactly what I had been looking for and it felt like such an answer to prayer in our homeschooling journey.  After ordering the curriculum I hopped on the internet and starting googling reviews on TGTB because I couldn’t wait to find other mamas who were loving and using it. I of course found mamas who raved about TGTB. But I also found several reviews from Christian mamas who said they were no longer using TGTB because the author was Mormon.  Their concern was that the author might have put Mormon influences throughout the curriculum. After watching the videos I gathered their decisions were based purely off of personal choices and not because of something they found in the curriculum. You can read what I believe as a Bible Believing Christian here. After receiving the curriculum, looking through it thoroughly and praying about it… I knew that TGTB would be a wonderful fit for us.  I have been vigilant about reading through every lesson to make sure it aligns with what we believe.  And I can honestly say that after having used the curriculum for half a year (5th, 3rd, 2nd and Kinder) I have yet to find anything that contradicts with what we believe as Christians. TGTB does a wonderful job of emphasizing high moral character and basic Biblical principles. 

DOES THE CURRICULUM TEACH TO THE CURRENT GRADE?
I have found that the curriculum teaches UP in grade. I would highly suggest taking their assessment test that they offer on their website. 

IS IT HARD TO LESSON PLAN?
Absolutely not!  It’s designed to just open and go!  However, I prefer to have written weekly schedules for each child so that they know what needs to be accomplished each day.  Going through each grade and typing everything out would be a bit of a hassle.  I was thrilled when I found Homeschool Planet!  It’s an amazing online  homeschool planner that you can use for the majority of homeschool curriculum out there (not just TGTB!). I will do a separate blog post and Youtube video specifically on Homeschool Planet and how to use it. . If you’re wanting to simplify your homeschool year, you’ll definitely want to look into it.  

IS IT HARD TO TEACH MULTIPLE GRADES WITH TGTB?
It is no more difficult than teaching multiple grades with any other curriculum.  It took us a few weeks to get into a good rhythm and for me to figure out how long each child needed for certain things.  My older kids are in 5th and 3rd grade.  The majority of the TGTB curriculum they can do on their own.  I will help them with spelling tests, dictation and also working through things that are a bit trickier.  First thing in the morning they will cover everything that they can work on independently. During this time I am able to work more one on one with my Kindergartener and 2nd grader.  I’ll be doing a separate blog post and Youtube video later on with what a normal homeschool day/schedule looks like for us.  

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