New History Versions

The Good and the Beautiful is in the process of creating new versions of the History Years 1–4 course sets. This is an intensive, multi-year process including development and piloting. New editions will not be released before the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.

Development of these new editions is in progress and we do have some details below which are subject to change. As more information becomes available, we will share it in upcoming YouTube videos.

So that families may continue to utilize the current edition, resources such as Student Explorers and Audio Dramatizations will be available into the foreseeable future.

• The course books will be printed in full color.
• The lessons will be updated.
• Student Explorers will accompany each course and include greatly improved student activities. They will be available in printed and PDF format. One Student Explorer will be available for grades 3–6, and another with higher-level activities and additional lesson extensions will be available for grades 7–8. 
• Built-in discussion questions will be included in every lesson, allowing students and parents to dive into analyzing history and connecting historical events to their own lives. These discussion opportunities also allow families to discuss topics tailored to their own family beliefs and the ages of the children in their family.
• The History Time Line Book will be in a different, more user-friendly format with beautifully illustrated stickers.
• The new versions will have a similar, but updated, scope and sequence.
• The courses will now be for grades 3–8 family style instruction (instead of K–12 family style). We plan to work on high school history courses; however, it will be years before they are created. At this time, we encourage families to incorporate younger children into learning with these 3–8 family-style courses.
• The courses will continue to have a nondenominational Christian worldview.
• The courses will continue to support Christopher Columbus and the Founding Fathers as men led by God, with an emphasis on facts. We will also be incorporating learning moments focused on the importance of looking to primary sources for information. This will include information on evaluating sources for truth and the pitfalls of looking for facts from secondary sources This information will be eye-opening and help our users understand why, after years of research, we present these historical figures in a positive light and feel it is important to defend them against much false information that has been shared. Learning to evaluate the validity of sources and to be careful about historical bias is an important aspect of research that students of history should understand. 
• Last but not least, we will be adding in much more diversity! This is something we are very excited about. We have found amazing historical figures whose stories need to be shared, and we are delighted to do so.