This was our second time going through The Good and the Beautiful Level K Primer for language arts and it remains so good. Sarah loved her “kangaroo book” and could have done several lessons a day if I let her!
Previous Experience
Jacob blew through the Level K Primer during his kindergarten year. We “discovered” The Good and the Beautiful within the first month of homeschooling and pretty quickly switched everything over to them. We’ve never looked back!
Jacob went through this really quickly but I think it is really valuable to bridge that gap between Pre K and Level K. It solidifies letter sounds and introduces blending in a very gentle way.
When to begin this course?
When in doubt, I would start with Pre-K. Both the Pre-K and the Level K Primer courses are SUPER quick if you want them to be. When I did it with Jacob, it was more just to give him a solid foundation and I would set a timer for 20 – 30 minutes and we would just get through whatever we got through. He was able to finish this course in about a month.
To begin this course, your child should:
- Be able to sing most of the alphabet with or without help from the parent
- Know the majority of their letters and their sounds
- Count to ten
- Know basic shapes and colors
What is taught in this course?
This course covers:
- Letters and their sounds
- Long and short vowels
- Phonemic awareness and isolating sounds in a word
- Reading simple two- and three-letter words and sight words
- Counting 10 – 15
- Fine motor skills
- Rhyming, sorting, and order of events
What is included in the course set?
The course set includes:
- Level K Primer Course Book
- “My First Reading Book”
- 20 learning songs
There is also a FREE song that you can download on The Good and the Beautiful website. It is “The Vowel Song” and it is great and catchy and your kids will know their vowels FOR LIFE. This is also used in the Pre-K course, so if you’ve done that before, you know what I’m talking about.
What preparation is needed?
NONE. Truly, none. This course is so easy peasy to do and I view it more as a bridge between courses. There are a few extra items you may need, but these were all things we had in our home. They include:
- Pencil
- Crayons or colored pencils
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- 12 dried beans (we usually just used chocolate chips and Sarah got to eat them when she was done)
- 20 buttons (same as above, we used chocolate chips and it was great)
- 8 pennies, 8 nickels, 1 dime (we got a set of play coins and it was the greatest purchase – no stinky hands!)
- 6 cotton balls
- A clothespin
- A spoon
Day-to-Day
How you decide to go about teaching this course I think can vary a lot. As I said earlier, we have used this course both times as a bridge between courses. Sarah used the Pre-K course throughout our more “traditional” year and then this summer we have been using the Primer inbetween levels.
If your kiddos are anything like mine, especially when they are young, having large breaks in their learning is really not helpful. They forget. And I know it seems crazy, but doing even just a little bit continuously really helps keep things fresh in their mind and saves us time and frustration in the long run.
So I say – let this bridge be as short or as long as you want it. If you are trying to move things along, set a timer and/or listen to your child’s cues. If they are enjoying things and want to go on – LET THEM! You will cruise through the book.
On the other end, if you want this to take a little longer – I feel like you can stretch it a little. Sarah and I were completing about four lessons a week and finished in about two months.
Follow your child’s lead and all will be well.
Course Book
This course book is colorful and fun! It has beautiful art integrated into it, tracing, and other activities. I will note, Sarah did say that there wasn’t as many games as the Pre-K — which is true. But I just told her it was a different level and so things are just a little different. Also, we used chocolate chips (see above) – lifesaver and very motivating ☺.
My First Reading Book
Sarah has been so excited to read. And she finally got her chance in this course! The course set comes with a beautiful, simple book with short stories. These build upon what you are learning on in the course and are just perfect.
You don’t start reading through the book until about two-thirds of the way into the course though (in case you have another excited reader like mine!).
Primer Supplement
As an added resource, there is also a Primer Supplement (this is NOT included in your course set – it would be an additional purchase). I did not use this with Jacob because he did not need it and we went straight into Level K.
However, Sarah has been using the supplement. I would feel confident putting her right into Level K, but even though we are year-round learners, I still like to have a fresh start in August. So, again, we are using this supplement to elongate our bridge until we start our NEW school year.
The supplement is not teaching anything new – it is simply more practice with what is taught in the course book. So this is a great resource if your kiddo just needs that extra practice and confidence OR if you need to stretch out your time for whatever reason.
Favorite Moments & Activities
Final Thoughts
I love this course. It is solid. I love that it is simple and gentle. It builds confidence in my kiddos. I felt like it was enough new-ness (hello blending words!) but was done so gently that it helped bring that confidence which is so helpful when kids are first learning how to read. The last thing you want is for them to feel defeated and this course is such a great builder of that early reading confidence.
