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As someone who used to use this curriculum, I switched to Charlotte Mason. It is so much more deeper. It cultivates the child from the inside. And its foundation book is the Bible. Its a wonderful enrichment filled curriculum. It cultivates the mother as well because in order to teach your child what you want them to learn and how to be, the mother first has to fill and cultivate herself. TGATB is very fast paced. It doesnt focus on the child in excelling in areas. Just "go go go- we will come back later" type of style. In the later levels, the curriculum plants subtle sentences and their doctrine, which is being planted in the childs mind very subtle. It always tries to get the child to "focus on your feelings" which will be detrimental to the child later in their life. We live life by facts. Not feelings. And not hap-hazard work. But giving your best the first time and perfecting it.

I buy books i already have too 😅

Thanks for collaborating Rachel! I have seen the Harvest House books one other time. They are so pretty! We love Faithipedia too!😊

I love book suggestions!! Thank you for sharing these! 🥰

Totally agree with what you said about the readers for your first grader! We are in the same boat with our first grader! TGTB are definitely the best like you said and they go along so well with their language arts program. I actually need to place an order soon with them because my son has finished all the readers we have from TGTB, he needs more and those are his favorites 😍 😊

I love finding reference books, like the flowers book, especially when they’re so pretty.😊 Great finds!

Those are all so lovely! Those book hauls are always so exciting! 🥰🥰

These are great ideas! I've done good on and off about getting up early and every time I have, it's been life changing! But getting into the habit is the hardest part! Especial because we are night owls! I've really really wanted and needed to get back into the habit of waking up early. I honestly think my husbands work schedule makes it hard. He works from noon til about 9:30 pm. So trying to figure out a good bedtime and wake time has been tricky! Will definitely be trying these tips! Thanks for sharing!❤

I love the interview idea! Im going to do that! Our 1st day passed already but still 😅.

Those cinnamon rolls look delicious!! I love the basket of all the new school stuff too!! And I just did some scissor stuff with my daughter this morning too 🥰

Looks like an amazing first day!! 😊 We do similar first day of school questionnaires. We have a big board that we use chalk markers on for some fill in the blanks (age, grade, what I want to be etc) that each of the kids take a picture with. My husband takes the day off work to celebrate and start the year off with us. We also do a bigger craft project (that my husband takes the reins on). Last year was making birdhouses (he helped them cut the wood, assemble etc) and then they painted them. Still proudly on our trees outside with birds living in them 🐦 this year wasn't quite as elaborate...my son ended up assembling and painting a wooden box car and my daughter assembled and painted wood magnets. Still tons of fun! 🎉❤ Always love seeing what others do for their first day!!

We do first day pictures with printed signs. And that is kind of it. I made cinnamon rolls for our second first day (aka the second Monday of schoo) 😂 We’ll just say that elaborate traditions are not really my thing. 😂

Could I have your cinnamon roll recipe

Hi From South Africa 🇿🇦 I am new to your channel. I love watching homeschooling content. I enjoy geography and have learned so much with my daughter myself. We do not have as many resources available here or it is very expensive. My daughter is a very visual learner and definitely going to look for a good kids atlas.❤

We absolutely love TGTB. The spiral style of learning is the best thing for our daughter who needs lots of repetition, and the fun interactive style of teaching makes it fun for us both. As a born-again Christian myself we have not found anything in the LA or Math that goes against what we believe.

What are your favorite ways to make the first day back to homeschool special?

Love the water tip!! I need to drink more water!! 😉

Great ideas! I am totally a morning person; I love going to bed time cuz I love to wake up early and do some meditation, prayer and a cup of coffee! So peaceful in the morning as the sun rises! Looking forward to your morning routine post!!

I am pretty sure you made this video just for me!❤ I literally did the roll over and snooze this morning and then wound up completely turning my alarm off. 🤦🏻‍♀️ So I got up with the kids. I much prefer to have my coffee and Bible reading time before they wake up. I love the water tip. I am going to try this!❤ I always have classified myself as a “middle of the day person” because I don’t like early mornings and I don’t like staying up late. 😂

The most important thing to do is get to bed before 10pm.

Great tips! I struggle getting up early. On days I get up early, I feel way more productive❤

Are your morning person or night owl? What are your best tips for getting up early?

Unfortunately as someone who is a former Mormon and have family way back to the times of building the first temples their beliefs are in the curriculum especially as they get into the older grades. One point. All Mormons must pay a hefty tithe so yes your money is funding the church. That money is used for the massive corruption in the church. It’s an abusive church and a straight up cult. I am saying this with all love and respect. Please research more of the church. It is not Christian in any way shape or form.

My issue with this curriculum is that they claim to be a christian curriculum but besides the owner being a member of the LDS church there are people working for her who are Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist. None of these believe what orthodox christianity teaches. They have their own doctrines that are not biblical. Mormons believe that their God (Heavenly Father) was once a man who lived on another planet and worshipped a different God. The goal of mormonism is to become a God of your own planet, have a goddess wife, and give birth to many spirit children. Mormons also believe that Satan is Jesus' spirit brother. I could go on and on. After studying mormonism and the LDS church I found out that their beliefs are not even close to what Christians believe. They are not another denomination. I cannot support a curriculum that claims to be christians but uses people as reviewers that don't believe what christians ought to believe. Please do your own research.

i’m a member of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and I love Jesus! thank you for your heartfelt video. Lovely to see someone not hating it immediately out of hand because of “mormonism”. (as other christian’s like to label us). also would encourage you to not try and guess if someone is going to be saved. That is for Jesus to decide. much love! thanks again.

Mormons are not Christian. They have their own book (not the Bible) and their beliefs are way different from Christians. This has to be understood, because it brings the difference between denominations of the same religion to actually two different religions. They are fundamentally different and you cannot ignore that. So, even if the curriculum does not contain anything Mormon, it’s definitely not Christian either. You cannot label it Christian when the founder is LDS and definitely not in line with the Word of God.

I agree full heartedly.❤ We started usimg tgtb last year and I am of non denominational faith. The curriculum hasnt said anything about mormonism in any of the lessons. I am a mom who really pays attention to every lesson and ai have a very sensitive spirit and I can pick up on a lot others may not see. ❤God will show me its not good if its not. So far we love it and will continue usong tgtb for language arts. We use Faithipedia for Bible and we attend church. I talk with my kids about our beliefs and I dont depend on their language arts to teach them about our faith. ❤

Dissenting opinion- 1. Supporting them is not the same as drinking Pepsi or staying at a Marriott. This is the education of your children, and when they grow up and a Mormon missionary visits their home, they will be aware that the LDS is just another friendly Christian denomination and that it’s somewhat benign. If they join the cult, you will have been a part of conditioning your own children that being taught by a Mormon company is harmless. Pepsi isn’t teaching your kids. We wouldn’t let Target teach our kids either, if they started pushing something out to bring in book revenue. 2. You are speaking to things you don’t know about. You say you don’t THINK you’re supporting the Mormon church but then you go on to say they are starting schools in Africa. You are literally supporting Mormon missions, and yet you deny this in the same video. 3. The truth will eventually come out and all you will be able to say is, “we were just doing the best we could. How was I supposed to know?” Etc.

I'm so grateful for Christians like you. Even those who don't like my church, i love them. Anyone who honestly professes the name of Christ is someone I celebrate in my heart. But you seem particularly centered on Christ. You have a lovely light. I've actually not used the curriculum. Nothing against it, just haven't gotten around to trying it yet. I might give it a chance this year.

If other Christians had any idea how much we love all of you ("Mormon" here), you'd realize that maybe we're not such a threat. We love supporting other Christians. We consider ourselves Christian because we worship, love and devote our lives to Jesus Christ. We believe in being truly good and upholding all that is good and very much the same things other Christians uphold. Yes, there are doctrinal differences between us and you, but I'm not convinced they are as big or profound as the differences between the many non-LDS Christian sects. TGTB tends to go more general Christian because there's already a very plentiful amount of homeschooling curriculums within our church community that are very much more centered specifically on our doctrine, history, etc.

I figured I'd make a comment instead of just a reply but Mormon here. To anybody who is worried about using this program because they don't want to contribute money to an organization that they don't agree with, the only money that the church would receive from this curriculum would be the money that its creator pays in tithing (if she is deciding to pay tithing on it which isn't necessarily a given for members of the church). In fact, in almost all cases, if a company or product is created by a Mormon that is all the involvement that the church will have. The only companies and organizations that earn profit directly for the church are those that have been created directly by the church by the direction of church leadership (Deseret Book, City Creek Mall in Salt Lake City, KSL Broadcasting, etc...) If a business venture is pursued by the lay membership of the church, it ought not to be associated with or even considered to be approved by the church. It is merely an individual venture by someone who happens to be a Mormon. That being said, of the idea of any portion (10% to be exact) of your money going to the church is hard to stomach, but you still want to use the curriculum, think about it (at risk of perpetuating a stereotype) like buying something from a gas station. You take the commodity, pay the guy behind the counter, and leave feeling satisfied with the snack you got. You don't know if the guy behind the counter will give part of his paycheck to a homeless guy or to his drug dealer, but at that point it is up to him to decide...

I agree there are times where you can try to take your money away. We should try to support companies that support our values. I do use TGATB. I feel it is based on good values and it works for us. As LDS requires a mandatory tithe. The owner of TGATB is profiting from her company and a portion of that income is supporting LDS. Again if this is a problem then don't use it.

Im stuck in the same boat. I want to use this curriculum. Not only because it's free! But also because it is simple, and i think it will work for my child. My family will jump on me for it, so trying to defend that decision among them would be difficult. I appreciate your kind words amd thoughts about this curriculum. I have been using Masterbooks for about 4 years now. If you dont know about them, look them up. It is a life changing christian curriculum.

Honestly they'd be better off labeling it just the good and beautiful, not Christian. The good and the beautiful is a wolf in sheeps clothing. It is not focused on Christ dying for our sins and rising on the 3rd day, which is the cornerstone of the Christian faith.

I think you made very good points and I completely agree. When I first became a Christian, I unintentionally became very legalistic, and I know I would never have used a curriculum that was produced by someone who didn't believe the same as me. Thankfully, 10 years later, God has opened my eyes to so many things and allowed me to see so many things in a different light. We are using The Good and the Beautiful's Language Arts with my 3 oldest, and I'm using their Math with my kindergartener. It is such a beautiful, fun, and simple curriculum and I am so glad to be giving it a chance. Also, Jenny Philips has an incredible video on TH-cam sharing all the time, money, and struggles that have come with making this curriculum high quality while also keeping it free for those who need it. So amazing and eye-opening. Thanks for sharing this!!! ❤❤

We love Thegoodandthebeautiful curriculum. It's the best out there ❤ Made with pure love ❤️

Hey @reclaimingwonder we were just wondering if you would be interested in reading the world atlas we wrote? (If not yeah I get it, I might not respond to a random comment in my comment section either ) Our atlas is called "The World A Comprehensive Guide to Geopolitics" It has breakdowns for over 1,400 geographic regions covered. Every continent, every UN member, every partially recognized nation (Taiwan, Kosovo, Palestine etc.), every autonomous region, every external territory. We even included breakdowns for every known base camp in Antarctica, by both summer and winter populations. It has over 440 colorized maps. And over 490 colorized flags. And we even included a geography section full of facts such as the largest rivers, lakes, deserts, the lowest elevations, highest altitudes, longest mountain ranges, most northerly and southerly nations just to name a few. It took us almost 2 years to make. I'm proud of it. We finally published on June 12, 2024. Almost 2 and a half months ago.

I think we have to use our best judgment. I tried it a few years ago, but I’ll admit I felt uneasy using it. My thoughts were that when the original author refers to God in her writing she doesn’t mean the true God of the Bible. I also felt like the underlying message was “being good = salvation” vs faith brings good works into fruition. With that said, there wasn’t anything obviously LDS about it. 😅

I love Geography songs! We can still sing the Middle East song. It was our favorite!❤️ I love your enthusiasm for Geography. 😊

I just found out about Generations curriculum this Summer. I’m intrigued. I was thinking of trying their Science curriculum, but the History looks really great too!😊

Totally agree! Especially with your point on the drama and judgment that surrounds it. That part makes me sad.

Yes! It is so hard to know because even companies claiming to be Christian may not truly be. The truth is we will never know. We did TGTB two years and loved it. I never came across anything that would go against our family's Christian beliefs. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. 🙏☺️

But don't some of the profits go to the Mormon church? I heard that from someone else on youtube

Lots of great ideas and resources!! Thanks so much for sharing all of it!! 👍

Geography is my favorite!!! And I agree about social media stuff. It is nice to have a homeschool community online to help and encourage each other… but I’m wary of it too 😉

Thank you for sharing. I had never heard of that country adventure series. We also love learning about geography! I have so many resources it’s not even funny, lol. Some books that are fun are Passport to the World by Masterbooks, Hungry Planet, DK geography of the world, Window on the World, and some Evan-Moor resource map/country worksheet books. I also have a set of country flash cards from Memoria Press where one side has the flag that can be colored in and the other side shows where the country is. We love also the Professor Noggin games there is one for US geography and one for World geography. Something also that I have is a magnet map that has the different countries as a magnet and when you learn about the country you can add that magnet to the map. Hope you have fun with all the geography learning.

Thanks for sharing. I am definitely going to check out the geography songs and some of these books. :)

Good finds! Best wishes on your new school year. 🌻

I love the thing that you put on your pencil to help them hold it right! I have never seen those before!!

Love these tips! My 5 year old is now able to help me with so much more than before and it’s such a gift!!!