Katiebug1976 Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 Someone recommended The Good & the Beautiful to me while I was looking for a new approach to language arts. I had never heard of it before, so I went to check it out and it all looks so amazing!! Has anyone used all of her curriculum? I'm super curious to hear from those that have used it. My kids think the nature notebook looks amazing...I'm very interested in the history (even though it's a different path than we're used to...Ancient to modern every year, just different content)...I'm still digging & researching, but would really like to hear your likes/dislikes. We're moving toward a minimalist approach to "school" without sacrificing the education content and this looks to fit that category pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdbates78 Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/639723-the-good-and-the-beautiful-for-la-and-history/ This post has a lot of information. I am in the midst of planning level 1 LA for my rising 2nd graders (some of the LA seems more advanced). I purchased the reader and the phonics cards and DH is trying (unsuccessfully at this point!) to get the book printed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insertcreativenamehere Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 I am planning on the LA for the fall - grades 2, 5 and 7. I started level 2 a few weeks before school ended as a trial and it went well. I purchased the Nature Notebooks and LOVE them. I've been looking for something like this forever! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebug1976 Posted June 16, 2017 Author Share Posted June 16, 2017 http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/639723-the-good-and-the-beautiful-for-la-and-history/ This post has a lot of information. I am in the midst of planning level 1 LA for my rising 2nd graders (some of the LA seems more advanced). I purchased the reader and the phonics cards and DH is trying (unsuccessfully at this point!) to get the book printed. Thank you for the link! I will check it out! I'm really liking what I see in this curriculum...just not sure of the history full year cycle every year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebug1976 Posted June 16, 2017 Author Share Posted June 16, 2017 I am planning on the LA for the fall - grades 2, 5 and 7. I started level 2 a few weeks before school ended as a trial and it went well. I purchased the Nature Notebooks and LOVE them. I've been looking for something like this forever! I m definitely sold on the nature notebook! It looks amazing!! Everything else that I have looked at looks really good, too. Now I just have to decide what we should try out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjand6more Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 I am using LA K over the summer and plan to start LA 1, 4, and Pre K in the fall. We are using the Insects study. I really like the look of the science units! I am going to be using 3 levels of handwriting and the nature books this fall. So, I am pretty committed. LOL I hesitate with the history. It does look nice. We are hitting Modern history this year. I may consider trying it out in a year or two. I left SL partially because I wanted to follow the 4 year cycle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 We have just started the history and the language arts. I have to say it is just wonderful. We are on lesson 8 of history. My dd is 12 yo so she does the Explorer Sheets for grades 7-9, and they are a huge jump from the ones below. We take 2 days to do each history lesson. There are 60 lesson in all so that will be 120 days. I was on the fence about covering such a large span of time each year, but GB will come back around each year, covering something else in the same eras . And it makes for less monotony when you shift gears every few weeks. We are on lesson 8 of the language arts and dd loves it as well. I started my dd on level 4 because I wanted her to get the spelling, writing instruction, and the pastel art instruction in this level. She is past the grammar in this level, but I'm not a believer is the need for heavy grammar every year anyway. She is also above the reading, but does much harder books for the reading challenge. If anyone is on the fence about whether to buy or do the free down loads, let me just say if you can afford to purchase you won't be disappointed. The GB vids on YT by Salty Tribe are wonderful. She has one on the history and levels 1-4 (maybe 5) of the language arts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReadingMama1214 Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 We are using level 1 with my Ker. We may not do all of the LA aspects of there's diagramming and such, but the K level was way too much review to keep her interest. I do love how it is all in one. We don't do the spelling lists and just focus on the spelling in the lessons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixpix5 Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 We are using level 1 with my Ker. We may not do all of the LA aspects of there's diagramming and such, but the K level was way too much review to keep her interest. I do love how it is all in one. We don't do the spelling lists and just focus on the spelling in the lessons This is helpful to hear. My twins who are K did A beka language arts grade 1 this year and that curriculum is advanced and seems to cover more than grade 1 concepts. I am switching them to TG&TB next year and worried a bit about where to place them. I printed out grade 1 as I had heard it was advanced but after finally doing the placement they both placed firmly in grade 2. I just wasn't sure if I wanted to so that or drop back to 1 which will have more review. I don't want them getting bored. Besides spelling, is there anything in grade 1 that you find to be challenging? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReadingMama1214 Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 This is helpful to hear. My twins who are K did A beka language arts grade 1 this year and that curriculum is advanced and seems to cover more than grade 1 concepts. I am switching them to TG&TB next year and worried a bit about where to place them. I printed out grade 1 as I had heard it was advanced but after finally doing the placement they both placed firmly in grade 2. I just wasn't sure if I wanted to so that or drop back to 1 which will have more review. I don't want them getting bored. Besides spelling, is there anything in grade 1 that you find to be challenging? The spelling isn't challenging, I just don't like the lists since they seem random and based off of high frequency words. I prefer phonics based spelling so we use whatever phonogram we're working on as a basis for spelling. Level 1 seems to start pretty easy. My 5.5 year old has been able to keep up with it so far. We're not too far in though. I'm guessing the level of writing expected increases between level 1 and 2. My DD placed into level 1 on the old assessment. The old assessment just did Reading and didn't have the spelling and grammar portion. So she placed into level 1 and almost into level 2. She wouldn't have passsed the level 1 assessment that includes spelling though. But level 1 is a good fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoutingmom Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 The spelling isn't challenging, I just don't like the lists since they seem random and based off of high frequency words. I prefer phonics based spelling so we use whatever phonogram we're working on as a basis for spelling. Level 1 seems to start pretty easy. My 5.5 year old has been able to keep up with it so far. We're not too far in though. I'm guessing the level of writing expected increases between level 1 and 2. My DD placed into level 1 on the old assessment. The old assessment just did Reading and didn't have the spelling and grammar portion. So she placed into level 1 and almost into level 2. She wouldn't have passsed the level 1 assessment that includes spelling though. But level 1 is a good fit. Not sure at the early levels, but in level 3 there are spelling lists that seem rather random to work on, but in the lessons there are phonics based spelling as well. Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReadingMama1214 Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 Not sure at the early levels, but in level 3 there are spelling lists that seem rather random to work on, but in the lessons there are phonics based spelling as well. Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk That's how Level 1 is as well. The random lists and then the spelling in the lessons through dictation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joyfulmomSDG Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 We have downloaded several of the free levels for LA and have been using level 1 for the past few weeks. I agree with the pp as we focus on spelling via dictation in the lessons rather than via the spelling lists provided. I will probably use the lists as review/practice further along in the level. I have noticed lessons such as "Spelling Rule #1," so maybe they teach specific rules at various times. I am using level 1 for my 2 & 3rd graders and plan to work through each level for reinforcement. They both read well beyond their grade level, but spelling is an issue. For whatever reason, the way the material is presented (i.e. booth shown as b-oo-th) just makes sense to my boys when it comes to spelling. It's going really well so far so I'm planning to purchase K, 2, 4 & 7 for the fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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