Good and Beautiful Math

Do you have a child that struggles to understand math? Try The Good and the Beautiful Math to change their dread to joy. See why I love this math so much!

With all the math workbooks and other curriculum that I have tried, I can honestly say I have found one I love and want to use forever! If you have a child that struggles with math or even hates math, if you are nervous about teach and explaining math concepts, or if you have a child that loves and excels at math, this is the curriculum for you!

I cannot say enough good about The Good and the Beautiful Homeschool Curriculum. It is hands down my favorite in all subjects! We are currently using it for Language Arts (we have used levels 1-5 so far), History (Year 1), and Science (Space Science and Kingdoms and Classifications). We just started using the math curriculum this year and I LOVE it! Let me break down the specifics of why I love it so much:

Beautiful

I don’t think I even need to say that a math course written by a company called “The Good and the Beautiful” is beautiful. However, this is above and beyond any expectation I had for a math curriculum. The textbook pictures are all vibrant, amazing quality, and full color.  They include beautifully illustrated pictures to teach the math concepts, as well as high quality photos to demonstrate patterns, shapes, and lines in nature and in the world around us.

Not only is the book beautifully put together, but the Math Activity Box is as well. While you could teach the material without the Math Activity Box, I would highly recommend that you purchase it. It adds so much more to the curriculum with games, activities, and manipulatives. The Activity Box comes with laminated color mats for different games and manipulative exercises. There are tangram puzzles, ten frames, a clock, etc. The contents of the Activity Box can be seen here.

Logical Advancement

There is a story line that takes you through the math course to help you learn each of the concepts. So far in Level 1 we are learning about Hali. Her story helps kids with adding, subtracting and sorting as she sells and restocks her family seashell shop. She has some of her seashells get washed out to sea and her mom has twin babies! All of the math concepts fit right in with these stories to help with logical sequencing of math concepts. In Level 2, Asher teaches about adding, subtracting, a compass and grids while he does his paper route. He takes on the responsibility of his friends’ paper route so he has to learn new directions and keep track of how many papers he has left to deliver.

The best part about using a story to teach the math concepts is that story problems no longer seem like this big scary thing. If you have learned math with story problems from the beginning, you naturally weave math into your everyday situations more easily.

Fun

Games, can we talk about games for a minute? These are not your average time-filling games. The games in The Good and the Beautiful Math are SO fun! Some of the game rules can seem a bit repetitive, but since there are so many different game boards, my kids feel like they are learning a totally new game. The actual teaching part of the lesson is kept fairly simple, and then uses different games or worksheets to ensure the child has learned the new concept. Lessons incorporate the use of the textbook, the white board, worksheets in the textbook, and then the games and activities from the Activity Box.

The part that really makes this fun for my kids is there is no daunting worksheet with 30 problems on it. Instead, with the lesson being broken up through six “Daily Dose” problems (review problems to get your brain thinking), learning the new concept with includes 3-5 math problems, a worksheet with includes another six problems, and then a game. The game is where I see the actual “brain click” happening. The kids are taking their turn and forget that they are doing math. It’s crazy, and I don’t know if I would have believed anyone else telling me this, but it’s true. My kids love the games and usually want to play them more than once which has been great to get other siblings involved!

Simple to Use

Everything from The Good and the Beautiful is “open and go”. I mean that literally. Each and every lesson will tell you at the beginning what you will need for the lesson. These items will include which manipulatives, game boards, and game pieces you need from the Math Activity Box, and even if you will need a white board.

If you are nervous about teaching math, I honestly just read the text right from the book. I know how to teach these lower level concepts, but to avoid confusion and trust the professional team of individuals that wrote the curriculum, I just read word for word what is written. It’s that simple. There is no ambiguity in what to teach or how to explain. I don’t have to study and research beforehand, I just literally open-and-go.

Are you convinced?

We have used other math programs for my older kids, and have used plenty of worksheets and public school textbooks over our years of living and never have I ever loved anything like I love this curriculum. Here’s the real reason why I love it and why I would choose it over any other: My kids now LOVE math. I have watched the tears that come along with frustration for not understanding math. I have experienced children saying they understood when their teacher explained concepts, but they try to do their homework and it just doesn’t make sense anymore. Yes, I have also seen the burden of kids trying to work a story problem.

We have taken a step back with a few of our kids to really solidify math. It was more important to go back and really understand the basics than to continue forward only to experience continual hurdles and roadblocks. With my younger child who has been able to use The Good and the Beautiful Math, it has been a complete transformation. There is confidence now, and they identify themselves as being good at math!

If you are looking for a curriculum that is hands down the best I’ve seen, please look into The Good and The Beautiful Math. (and all of their other amazing curriculum. No, this is not sponsored. I am just passionate and want to share amazing things with everyone!)

Have you tried The Good and the Beautiful curriculum?

Check out these posts if you are interested in creating your own homeschool routine, or seeing how we run our homeschool!