{REVIEW} The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts: Preschool

Benjamin finished the Preschool course from The Good and the Beautiful in January and it was an extremely happy day! School has not come easy for Mr. Ben and he ended up doing this course twice. Letters were just not clicking for him – BUT I have spent a lot of time researching preschool curriculums and I could not think of one that would have worked better for him either. The Good and the Beautiful redid their preschool curriculum and I like the thoroughness in this new course compared to the old. Ben enjoyed it and the variety of lessons and activities made it so we could do it twice with only minimal frustration. We loved the “dog” book but are really excited to move forward!

Previous Experience

Jacob and Sarah both did the previous preschool curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful. I enjoyed many of the changes that they made to the course. It is almost twice as long. The old course was 53 lessons while this is 90 lessons. I actually liked that it was longer and worked a lot better for Benjamin. Jacob and Sarah were naturally learning letters very quickly on their own – so the quick pace of the previous course worked for them but would not have been helpful for Benjamin.

Several of the games were the same or similar to the previous course – which we loved! I really liked the changes and they worked well for our family at this stage.

*** I am DYING over little Jacob and Sarah. Why do they have to grow so quickly?! ***

CLICK HERE for my previous post reviewing the old Preschool Course from The Good and the Beautiful.

Course Overview

As I mentioned earlier, there are 90 lessons in this course and it is divided into seven units. Each unit covers 3-4 letters as well as other topics. The course covers:

• Colors
• Shapes
• Counting and Numbers
• Rhyming
• Sequencing
• Recognition of the Letters
• The Most Common Sound of Each Letter
• Correct Pencil Grip
• Beginning Handwriting Skills (tracing)
• Fine Motor Skills

Course Set

When you purchase the course set, you receive several components:

• Course Book: This is what you will be working out of and where all of your lessons are. The illustrations are BEAUTIFUL!
• Preschool Practice Sheets: These are another great addition and one that was very helpful for Benjamin that needed the additional practice. There is a full page for each letter and then practice sheets which review all of the concepts being taught in the course book. These are optional but helpful!
• Preschool Folder Activities: In the prior course, you had an activity pack which included several games. In the updated course, you receive a packet full of file folder games. These are lots of fun and are a nice break from the course book.
• Songs and Videos: Another nice upgrade from the prior course, is the songs and videos are included as free downloads. These are a lot of fun and I always feel like songs help reinforce things in such a unique and powerful way.

Supplies and Prep

The supplies required for this course are very minimal. There was nothing special I needed outside of what I usually have on hand (think crayons, glue stick, pencil, scissors, tape, etc.). For the letter activities in the Practice Sheets, they sometimes suggest special ways of filling in the letters – like using mini pom-poms, pipe cleaners, cereal pieces, glitter, etc. We chose not to use them in this way to keep things simple, but if you wanted to include them I would suggest looking ahead so that you are prepared.

There are sometimes additional supplies needed in the course but I, again, always felt like they were already accessible in my home. If they weren’t, I felt like I could substitute with something I already had.

The only prep would be to prepare your folder activities. All of these activities come with perforated edges so they just pop out. It was very easy to prepare but does take a little bit of time.

Target Audience

This course is designed for ages 3 – 5. For Jacob, he did it at age 5 – Sarah did it at age 4 – Benjamin started at age 4 took a break in-between and then finished it the second time just after he turned 6. I will admit, it was easier said than done for me not to be worried about him taking longer than I anticipated, but just trust the process and follow your gut.

Course Book

Practice Sheets

Folder Activities

Favorite Moments & Activities

Final Thoughts

Benjamin and I really loved this course. It is gentle, beautiful, and thorough. I would recommend it for preschool over and over again! Now on to greater things!

Other Language Arts Courses from The Good and the Beautiful

We have used every language arts course from Preschool to Level 5 (some multiple times). I haven’t always reviewed each of them, but am more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

• Kindergarten Prep
• Level K
• Level 1
• Level 2
• Level 3
• Level 4
• Level 5