An Honest Review of The Good & The Beautiful
Official Description
- Emphasizes family, God, high character, nature, and wholesome literature
- Requires no daily prep time—just open the book and follow the instructions, learning and exploring along with your child
- Family Style – History, Science, & Electives
- Combines multiple subjects, which connects learning and eliminates the need for six to seven different courses
- Thorough phonics reading program creates excellent readers
- Thorough and advanced courses leave no gaps
- Offers a free book list for all ages — click here to access
My Opinion
The Good & The Beautiful (GB)’s Language Arts Preschool bundle is… plain beautiful to look at and experience. The artwork is sweet, old-timey, and wholesome yet basic and not pretentious. It’s a joy as a parent to see your child working with/on something that’s so delightful.
But that’s where the benefits end for us because as delightful as I thought it was, and as fun as some of its concepts and activities were (we kept practicing letters with “Mouse House” and played with the other games even after taking a break from GB!), it was also filled with a LOT of busywork and concepts that (depending on your priorities) a child doesn’t need to be pressured to be so proficient at so soon.
For instance, at some point during the earlier weeks, the lessons were trying to teach me to teach B(oy) how to properly hold a pencil. I might’ve been properly holding a pencil at 5 years old, but we really don’t care when our kids do (I mean.. definitely/hopefully while they’re still little!), and I doubt most homeschoolers would insist that their preschoolers know how to either.
Another example of us not observing milestones in our homeschool involves reading. While GB’s Preschool bundle didn’t address reading (at least not within the lessons we did), American academics require that little kids learn to read at 6/by 7 years old, but I know homeschoolers are OK with their little kids focusing on other skills and play activities because reading can wait.
So we’re fine with our children holding their writing utensils the best way they can (i.e., the way that’ll let them do what they need to accomplish) because we know that overtime, they’ll learn a better way to hold them (i.e., the way that’ll let them do something more effectively, easier). As a result, I learned to skip these lessons.
Another mind-blowing discovery I/we made is that while B originally enjoyed letters (he knew them at 2-3YO), I can confidently say that GB made him strongly dislike them, to the point where he’d ask me to NOT do letters. Same with tracing, which he used to like, and overtime he developed a distaste for it. So I knew when it was time to introduce both with other curricula that let him interact with them differently.
GB also taught me that I’m not a huge fan of open-and-go curriculum and that I much prefer actually preparing activities and materials for the full week ahead. I think it’s awkward to read a script to your child that tells you what to say and when.. when you should be looking in his/her eyes. I mean if you read ahead and memorize bits of it, it can be less awkward, but still: not my favorite when I homeschool mostly in Spanish.
In conclusion, The Good & The Beautiful is a wonderful program if you child doesn’t mind busywork–and the potential stress you might instill when (s)he’s not getting something that’s right there. If (s)he prefers more active didactic activities, however, GB worksheets aren’t for your family.
The Good & The Beautiful “Controversy”: Should you care?
A few years ago people found out that Jenni Phillips, the creator of GB, is a Mormon. Many Christians took issue with this because they didn’t want to financially support a non-Christian. They instead believe that we live in a perfect world and that 100% of their funds always go to only Christian Conservative institutions.
OK, that was a little snarky and not all that charitable. But I hope it shows where I’m going with this bit.
The Phillips family being mormons doesn’t bother us Catholics in the slightest, for two reasons:
- No, they’re not Christian, but neither are, I’m sure, many individuals whose businesses we patronize. Unless they’re open about their anti-Christian beliefs or discriminate against US personally, we have no business caring for someone’s religion. If they’re good people who create good-quality wholesome content, who are we to judge?
- GB is clear about its adherence to a worldview where God created everything, and some of its lessons refreshingly teach that (without being too overt or shoving God down your throat, so to speak). To see a lesson that states that “God created all these pretty colorful flowers” and then asks the child to talk about the flowers, or to find the letters hidden in the picture of a girl reading her Bible was really neat because it further normalizes something that’s so important and not very commonplace today.
So no, we don’t care that Ms. Phillips isn’t Christian, and we’ll likely invest in relevant GB bundles or units as needed, as the years go by.
