FAQs, Helps, and Extras

Like all of our language arts courses, the following subjects are integrated into the course: reading, writing, literature, spelling, geography, art appreciation, art instruction, grammar, usage, and punctuation, and even just a little bit of baking and cooking, connected to the literature in the course. 

The Level 5 course set comes with three items: The Level 5 course book, the Level 5 Book Set, and the geography and grammar cards. An answer key is also available as a free download or a physical answer key is available to purchase.The Level 5 Book Set comes in a sturdy box so you can keep the books and watercolor booklets stored together. 

Lessons take 25 to 50 minutes. The course also encourages the child to do personal reading for at least 20 minutes every day. A separate daily checklist is no longer needed as everything is included in the Level 5 Language Arts Course Book. The course is mainly student-directed, as the previous edition was, with each lesson starting with a short section that the parent completes with the child. This course includes a total of six units, three section reviews and a course assessment. The assessment includes extra practice for any principle the child does not pass so you can check the child’s progress and assign extra practice as needed.

The new Watercolor Around the World activities are a unique component that was a big favorite with our pilot families. Step-by-step instructions for 12 projects that are integrated through the course connect to what the student is studying in the course. Also included are templates for each project printed on high-quality watercolor paper. Please note that if you print the unit yourself, we highly recommend that you use high-quality watercolor paper to make the projects easier and more fun for the child. You may want to consider purchasing the Watercolor Around the World set for this reason.

You will find a lay flat perfect binding on our Level 5 Course book, rather than the coil binding previously used. The pages are perforated for easy removal or the child can write directly into the book, as usual. 

State capitals are memorized, as they were in the previous course, but we have now added Canadian Provinces and Territories.

You will still find a focus on writing with our writing workshops, but they are all combined into one course book, and now include additional projects such as hymn writing, which is incorporated through many activities and lessons throughout the course. Other writing assignments include writing essays, thank you notes, stories, articles, newsletters, book reviews, and nature poetry workshops. 

Spelling workshops are now included in every other lesson and are located right in the course book. These activities are a powerful and fun way to create strong spellers. Spelling rules, unit spelling words, suffixes and prefixes, contractions, and commonly confused words and more are all covered in our new Level 5 Language Arts Course Set.

You are welcome to download the entire course (for free) on our website to see if it is a good fit for your family. There is also a flip-through video of our amazing new Language Arts Level 5 posted on our YouTube Channel.

You should never skip a course level without having your child take the Placement Test including the reading level assessment for his or her corresponding age/grade level and passing it. If the child DOES pass the reading level assessment for his or her corresponding age/grade level, then you could choose any of these options:
1. Just keep going in order at a normal pace without skipping any course levels.
2. Do not skip any levels, but go through the courses more quickly until you reach the child’s
corresponding grade level by doing more than one lesson a day or skipping sections the child already has completely mastered.
3. Skip to the course level that matches the child’s grade/age level (as long as the reading assessment for that level is passed) if the child does not tend to get overwhelmed with language arts lessons.

You will need a set of quality pan watercolors (not tube watercolors) with at least 24 colors including basic colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black). Although we do not have specific suggestions, this set is one that our customers have found to be a great option:

Watercolors on Amazon

All of the books in the Book Set are integrated into the course and required. The books can be purchased separately, but a discount is given when items are purchased together in the Book Set. There are four books that come in the set with the watercolor books and are required for the course. There is a fifth book that is available as an audiobook only on our website.

Unit 1: Chico of the Andes

Unit 2: Gabriel and the Hour Book (audiobook only)

Unit 3: Marjorie

Units 4 and 5: The Clockmaker’s Son

Unit 6: Captured Words

The course consists of 120 lessons divided into six units, three section reviews, and a course assessment. To complete the course in one average school year, the child should complete one lesson daily, four days a week. This allows for five weeks of vacation days and/or sick days in addition to normal school breaks for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring break.

• Watercolor Around the World, Instruction Book and Watercolor Pad. The course book tells students when to complete assignments in the Watercolor Around the World book.

• Books: Captured Words, Chico of the Andes, Marjorie, and The Clockmaker’s Son

Assigned reading of each book is integrated with the lessons and required to complete the course.

Yes, the course tells students when to practice the Geography & Grammar Cards.

An answer key is available to purchase as a printed book under Recommended Resources or to download as a free PDF.

The child will do much of the learning on his or her own in this course. The lessons are designed to be engaging and very clear. They go in small, incremental steps so that the child is not confused or overwhelmed. The parent or teacher should check the child’s work on a daily basis, giving feedback.

Point out obvious errors, such as missing periods, and make sure the child followed instructions, such as using two or more transition words. Other than that, we suggest not having the child rewrite writing assignments. The child will be prompted to edit and revise writings.

The Watercolor Book and Template are sold as a set. The set can be purchased separately from the Book Set.

The PDFs are free for all items, so your child can read the books in the Book Set on a screen if physical books are not important to you. However, the watercolor pad is the biggest problem with at-home printing. The watercolor pad has templates printed on it, and at home printers usually cannot print on watercolor paper. We strongly recommend students use watercolor paper, which is so much more effective than painting on regular copy paper.

The challenging word and sentence climbs are not included in this course level. Reading and vocabulary are taught with many other activities and with the literature incorporated throughout the course.

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: Free PDF

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: Free PDF

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 June 2023). 

Any courses that do not have a future date are not anticipated to be replaced in the next 5-10 years.

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 of Level 4 was released on October 12, 2020.
Level 5: A new edition of Level 5 Language Arts was released on March 8, 2022.
Levels 6 and 7: We plan to release new editions of these levels in 2025.
High School LA Courses: We do not have plans to revise these courses. We will not be releasing any more high school classes in 2023 or 2024.