The Good and the Beautiful Curriculum Review

The good and the beautiful was a curriculum I stumbled upon on Instagram 3 years ago.

It was so beautiful that I had to try it. Was the beauty of the curriculum worth the hype?

This post will cover the pros and cons of this curriculum without bringing in a religious perspective into it.

My back story of using the good and the beautiful (TGTB)

I purchased level 2 for my grade 2 daughter a couple of years back. At the time didn’t know how advanced it was and we struggled. Looking back, we should have used level 1 and I highly recommend that you take the placement test.

I tried something else the year after, and this year I’m using the Good and the Beautiful pre-k (with my preschooler), Level 1 language arts (with my grade 2) and Level 3 language arts (with my grade 4). I also picked up the typing books and level K primer, as well as musical multiplication.

The pros of the good and the beautiful language arts

• Very open and go, no pre-planning needed
• In-depth and complete language arts program
• Very beautiful
• Includes geography and art picture study
• Each level is at least, if not more advanced, than grade level. This is a bonus if you’re taking the homeschooling year-by-year.
• Generally in-expensive
• Free language arts pdfs are available
• Emphasis on having good moral character and high quality literature
• Offers readers with each language arts level (which look beautiful and offer that classic feeling like you’ve stepped back in time)

Cons of the Good and the Beautiful Language Arts

• Some people find the lessons too long. I feel that in general, we often don’t do as much as is recommended. I listen to my child’s attention span that day.
• The curriculum can feel a bit too traditional. This depends on your homeschooling philosophy, we’re very Charlotte Mason inspired with a lot of copywork or dictation. Others really enjoy this aspect.
• Spelling lists are used for teaching spelling. Some kids do really well with this, others don’t. We adapt the spelling and also use Spelling You See.
• Emphasis on disliking twaddle literature. There are many instances when twaddle literature is discussed and discouraged. How you feel about twaddle (books that are for fun with no character building or good morals in the story line) is entirely dependent on your home.
• Not secular. If you’re wishing for a secular resource, there’s a lot of tweaking needed should you wish to use it. I’m personally a non-religious homeschooler but I have no problems using resources that are faith based or with mentions of God.
• Quite advanced, however if you take the placement test this should be ok. A lot of students place in a level below their grade.
• Some people aren’t looking to add geography or art picture studies into their language arts. I feel like the price is really great, and you can honestly skip certain lessons if you need to.
• If you don’t live in the U.S shipping is very costly.

In general, I find the Good and the Beautiful to be a very appealing and complete high quality curriculum.

I’ve really enjoyed their old fashioned looking readers and now they offer a whole library of high quality books. They’re started introducing fun language arts games that I’m looking forward to trying one day.

Personally, we don’t only use TGTB for language arts, I’m a very eclectic homeschooler. I pull in from many different curriculum and I also add in CM, Waldorf and Brave Writer into our homeschool days. That being said, I’ve really enjoyed using TGTB even if I have to tweak it to our families viewpoints.

Our preschooler is really enjoying the pre-k, although again, I think she needs more time before she’s ready for it. I plan on using the level k primer at the beginning of kindergarten and continuing with the level K. Our family never completes a full level in 1 year because it’s such a comprehensive program. I’m ok with that though!

The musical multiplication was ok, but my grade 4 wasn’t hugely keen on it. I haven’t tried their other math levels yet. The typing lessons seem good, my grade 2 daughter has enjoyed them, although it’s still a little hard for her.

Have you tried this curriculum?