{REVIEW} The Good and the Beautiful Science: Geology

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small, 
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.  

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings, 
He made their glowing colours, 
He made their tiny wings. 

The purple-headed mountain, 
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning,
That brightens up the sky. 

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun, 
The ripe fruits in the garden, 
He made them every one. 

The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play, 
The rushes by the water, 
We gather every day.  

He gave us eyes to see them, 
And lips that we might tell
How great is God almighty
Who had made all things well.  

All Things Bright and Beautiful
By Cecil F. Alexander

This was our first time doing the Geology unit from The Good and the Beautiful and it was definitely a favorite. Do I say that every time? I really enjoy the science units so much. It has transformed my opinion about science and this unit was just as fabulous and what we have come to expect from The Good and the Beautiful. I am always a little skeptical (the kids never are!) about how much I am going to like a unit – I wasn’t sure how much geology would interest me – but I truly enjoyed it and learned just as much as the kids did!

Another thing that set this unit apart was the Rocks and Minerals Kit that goes with the unit. It was so much fun to let the kids experiment on the rocks themselves and it really helped make it a lot more hands-on without extra work for me!

Topics

• Introduction to Geology
• Earth’s Composition
• Plate Tectonics
• Volcanoes – Magma, Lava, Types, and Eruptions
• Earthquakes
• Minerals
• Crystals, Gems, and Geodes
• Rock Characteristics
• Igneous Rock
• Sedimentary Rock
• Metamorphic Rock
• The Rock Cycle
• Earth’s Processes
• Soil
• Mountains and Other Landforms

Vocabulary & Science Wall

Vocabulary for this unit included:

• Geology
• Geologist
• Crust
• Mantle
• Core
• Tectonic Plates
• Magma
• Continental Drift
• Divergent Boundary
• Convergent Boundary
• Transform Boundary
• Subduction Zone
• Convection
• Volcano
• Lava
• Eruption
• Earthquake
• Fault
• Seismic Wave
• Focus
• Epicenter
• Mineral
• Cyrstal
• Gem
• Geode
• Rock
• Bedrock
• Igneous Rock
• Sedimentary Rock
• Sediment
• Clastic Rock
• Metamorphic Rock
• Foliated
• Rock Cycle
• Weathering
• Erosion
• Deposition
• Soil
• Landform
• Terrain

Supplies

This unit I would say has a moderate amount of supplies needed. If you’ve read many of my reviews, I am not a huge fan of lots of supplies. However, The Good and the Beautiful has helped people like me out and now there are videos of all of the experiments available to watch. I try not to watch these too often, but it is nice for those times when there is just more prep involved than I want.

Also, the Rocks and Minerals Kit does help with this because everything you need is all in there!

Science Journal

All science units for The Good and the Beautiful require a science journal. This can be as simple as a notebook or binder. I give all of the details about how I put together our science journals here. I love them and they have worked wonderfully for our family. They are definitely worth the effort beforehand and make my life SUPER SIMPLE for science.

Rocks and Minerals Kit

I mentioned earlier about the Rocks and Minerals Kit, but I wanted to give it a little extra attention. In it are some “testing tools” (streak plate, copper nail, steel nail) as well as six minerals and three rocks. The course will prompt you when to use them and gives some great hands-on experiences with rocks and minerals.

Read Alouds

The Good and the Beautiful has created a “book pack” that goes along with the unit. We used:

• The Good and the Beautiful Rock and Mineral Study by Molly Sanchez
• The World Beneath My Feet by Ileana Board
• Caves: The Underground Wilderness by Anthony Klemm

We also added another book that we already had in our home library:

• Rocks and Minerals by Kathleen Zoehfeld

Length of Unit

This is a good size unit and will definitely take some time. There is also some lengthier experiments (like building a volcano) that might add more time to your unit. I would plan on at least eight weeks to complete this unit. Make the unit work for you – not the other way around – and have fun!

Our Favorite Activities

Final Thoughts

This is a really fun unit that can take you down a lot of exciting rabbit holes of learning if you want to. The kids loved learning about our beautiful planet and it has really helped enhance some of the other science units with what they have learned about geology.

Other Science Units That We Love

• Arthropods
• Botany
• Energy
• Kingdoms & Classification
• Mammals
• Marine Biology
• Maturation & Sexual Reproduction
• Meteorology
• Safety
• Space Science
• The Human Body, Part 1
• Water and Our World