FAQs, Helps, and Extras

Not necessarily. If a child has completely mastered all the letters and their sounds (including short and long vowel sounds), knows the vowels, can sing the alphabet, and can sound out short, simple two and three letter words, the child is ready to begin the Level K course. Children who use the Kindergarten Prep course will be better prepared for the speed of the Level K course.

Everything you need comes in the course book including 15 punch pages in the Appendix. The course book tells you when to remove the pages and play the games.

All the songs used in this course are available for free. They are available above or on the free Good and Beautiful Homeschool app. Many of the songs and videos can also be viewed on The Good and the Beautiful Kids YouTube channel.

Lesson length will vary greatly between children. Have the child do as much work each day as the child’s attention span will allow. You do not need to complete exactly one lesson a day. You might do less than or more than one lesson. Look for cues of frustration or fatigue to help you know when to end. The child will learn much from you as you display love, patience, and enthusiasm for learning.

While this course reviews and cements letter recognition and the sounds of letters, the child needs to have these items mastered before starting this course. If the preschool course has already been taken but the child doesn’t quite have the letters mastered, use the Preschool Folder Activities that come with the preschool course and accompanying flashcards until the letters are mastered.

It includes 30 open-and-go lessons.

We are so happy that you chose The Good and the Beautiful to be part of your homeschooling journey!

This is one of the most common questions parents have when they first visit our website. Our Getting Started Guide will help you navigate what products are needed and what is typically used for each age group. We also have recommendations for each grade level at the link below. 

Choose Your Grade

Once you’ve received your order, this same guide will walk you through your new courses.

As we create new editions of language arts, we are aligning the instruction methods and layouts more toward grade level. We are focusing the lower levels more on reading, writing, and spelling.

Many concepts are still considered advanced but they are introduced in lessons that are easier to follow for both the child (in the self-guided levels) and the parent (in levels 3 and under). We now save some of the more complex grammar concepts for higher levels, but grammar is still covered thoroughly. Our courses have increased, rather than decreased, in how thorough and rigorous they are for children as there is more learning woven into each and every lesson. If your child is advanced, he or she may be able to move through the lessons more quickly. 

You can download our Language Arts Levels K-8 for free. By downloading the free courses, you will be able to see exactly how concepts are introduced and taught.   

If you are PARTWAY through a language arts course released before 2022 and you want to switch to the new edition of the course released in 2022 rather than finishing the original edition, we suggest starting at the beginning of the new edition of the course and skipping sections already mastered. The scope and sequence of the new editions are completely changed.

It is typically not recommended to start a new course before completing the previous course, especially when the child is learning foundational phonics and reading principles. However, if you would like to assess if your child is ready for the next level prior to finishing the level you are on, administer the reading level assessment included in our Course Placement Test. If your child passes the reading assessment that corresponds to the child’s age/grade level, it can work to move to the next course level without finishing the current course level the child is on.

Most children can start on the corresponding grade level for their age if they do not need extra reading help. We suggest taking the Placement Test if you are unsure whether the child needs extra reading help. Extensive placement FAQs can be found on the Placement Test document.

No, you can continue straight into the next level when your child finishes.

We have introduced a free Letter Tiles app that can be used in correlation with the lessons and which has been a favorite with pilot families.

We have also released a Homeschool app, which will be a tremendous resource and make it easy and quick for you to access resources.

The app resources are highly recommended to enhance learning, and pilot families, even those who do not use screens in their homes, were raving about the videos, video books, and spelling resources. Most parts of the courses can be completed without the use of our apps, but some parts, especially geography, and some highly effective spelling rule videos require the use of the app, but those parts can be skipped if desired. The apps can be accessed and used on the computer if desired.

Yes, there are answer keys for Levels K-8. There is not an Answer Key for Kindergarten Prep since the answers are very basic. Answer keys are available as a free download and include answers only to select pages (not every page).

To access the free download of the Answer Keys for Language Arts Levels K-5 and Level 8 Book Studies go to goodandbeautiful.com, navigate to the Level Language Arts product page, and click on the “FAQs, Helps, and Extras” button below the product image.

The Language Arts  Level 6 Answer Key is included in the free PDF download of Language Arts Level 6. You can download the full course including the Answer Key here: https://www.goodandbeautiful.com/free-downloads/language-arts-level-6/

The Language Arts Level 7 Answer Key is included in the Level 7 Course Companion beginning on page 119. You can download Language Arts Level 7 including the Level 7 Course Companion here: https://www.goodandbeautiful.com/free-downloads/language-arts-level-7/

The previous edition Answer Keys for Language Arts are no longer available.

You can move straight into the new edition. The new edition courses are adjusted to be more on grade level, but we still teach almost all the same concepts and topics just as thoroughly, and in many cases more thoroughly. The difference is that we teach the concepts in a more gentle way that is age appropriate for the child, so that the child does not get overwhelmed.

My First, Second, and Third Nature Readers and My First Africa Reader are available now. My Second and Third Africa Readers will be released in the future. At this point, we have not decided if we will have other My First, Second, and Third Readers series after that.

Please email our customer support team ([email protected]) if you find a typo in the curriculum. If you are using an edition that is older than two years, the typo has most likely been fixed and will not need to be reported.

Our curriculum does not follow Common Core standards, but it does match or exceed most national public school standards. The academic spine of our curriculum was developed by compiling national state standards and then determining which ones match Good and Beautiful moral standards and the abilities of our pilot families. We believe that children who work on The Good and the Beautiful curriculum consistently each day will find that they are far above public school standards.

The Language Arts courses are not based on one specific educational philosophy or method. Rather, the creators of the curriculum intensely studied many different philosophies over a period of years and compiled what they felt were the best elements from several different philosophies, pulling mainly from Charlotte Mason. Find more about our philosophy in the video below

No. The goal of The Good and the Beautiful curriculum is not to teach doctrines specific to a particular Christian sect, but to teach general principles of moral character such as honesty and kindness. The King James Version of the Bible is used when quoting Bible verses.

Language Arts New Edition Schedule (Schedule Last Updated March 2024)

Any courses that do not have a future date do not have new editions in development and are not anticipated to be replaced in the near future.

Preschool: A new edition of our Preschool Course (which replaced our Pre-K Language Arts course) released on August 30, 2021.
Kindergarten Prep: Kindergarten Prep (which replaced our Level K Primer course) was released on April 19, 2022.
Level K: A new edition was released on June 7, 2022.
Level 1: A new edition was released on June 14, 2022.
Level 2: A new edition was released on July 12, 2022.
Level 3: A new edition was released on June 6, 2023.
Level 4: A new edition was released on October 12, 2020.
Level 5: A new edition was released on March 8, 2022.
Levels 6 and 7: We plan to release new editions of these levels in 2025.
Level 8: A new edition of Level 8 will be released in the coming years after the Level 6 and 7 courses are released. It will be a full-length course that will replace our current Level 8 Book Studies.
High School LA Courses: We do not have immediate plans to revise these courses. We will not be releasing any more high school courses in 2024.