I’ve used G&B quite a bit and it’s a beautiful, well rounded program. I’m using the LA for high school now. As a homeschool mom/teacher of 20 years, the advice I would like to share is do not get bogged down in curriculum choices. Believe me when I say that there is so much more than curriculum in the elementary and middle school years. I’ve done it both ways and as I’m reaching the final years of homeschooling, I know I spent way too much time thinking about the right math program or the right LA books. As homeschool teachers we all lean towards a certain level of control. Controlling our child’s education is what we thrive on- that’s why we homeschool. Not a bad thing, but we can get “caught up” in always thinking there’s a better way. After 20 years, Ive seen and used a lot of the curricula out there. Just don’t get wrapped up in the choices and forget that homeschooling kids works best when we don’t follow a curriculum solely (you will burn out). Spend more time reading and playing games in those early years especially rather than jumping from curriculum to curriculum. Whenever I remembered to do that ( we had many days of just play) there was always so much more learning that went on.
This is the BEST reply I have seen. Thank you! Elementary years just need good exposure that builds upon itself. There is plenty of time for intensive writing when they get older, so of course not all curriculums are going to work long term. Supplementation is always needed along the way!
I home schooled 2 kids through high school in the 90's and early 2000's. Now they are home schooling their own. May I just say that home schooling, regardless of curriculum, is better than anything if you are conscientious and thorough. ( I know parents that did a terrible job). No curriculum is perfect, and where your child lacks or excels, you can add or subtract material as needed. TGTB Language Arts is working very well for our older grand daughter, but our grandson has needed a different approach. TGTB math is working very well for both. (Our grand daughter is in level 4 math and lang arts, our grandson is level 2 lang arts and level 3 math. He loves math, but struggles with reading). God bless every parent that is home educating their children in this world we live in.
I use the LA and Math for both of my kids. 3 years for the one and 2 years for the other and we love it! We've done kinder prep, and kindy la/math, and levels 1-3 (old levels) for LA and math new program 1-3. They've been life savers for me. The kids don't get bored and the phonics/spelling rules has improved his reading immensely. That being said, I tweak where I need and skip lessons if I feel a need, based on each child and what they need. That's the beauty of homeschool. All curriculums have pros and cons. I was told by veteran homeschooler when I started, don't get hung up on the curriculum because no curriculum is perfect and you will always find part of it that doesn't work for you. Just be ready to make changes and teach to your child's needs and interests. And so far TGATB is the program that ticks the most boxes for us and i have to do the least amount of adjusting.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who feels like G&B is just a bunch of busy work but doesn’t add any value to its lessons! Need to know what you find that works for you as far as language arts, writing and grammar, and history! And can’t wait to see a walkthrough of Saxon math!
I use TGAB for my three school-aged kids. We absolutely love it. We do skip some of the busy work, especially if it’s a concept they understand completely. That’s the beauty of homeschooling! My son is the same grade as his cousin (second grade). This week I got a glimpse of her public school education, and let me tell you, I have never been so happy that we’ve chosen the path we have! Her homework was an absolute joke and my son watched with his own eyes how important it is to continue doing school the way we do. He is about a fourth grade reading level 🤯 his cousin is less than a kindergarten level and she said that she’s not able to ask her teacher questions! Seriously?! Anyway, we do skip almost if the extras in the curriculum, but some days, they need that. They need to learn things a different way. Every child is different. 💕
Our kids hated Saxon math. We just started using TGTB this year and our kids are thriving in all subjects. Every family and child is different and I'm thankful for all the options out there to choose from.
Even throughout the year there can be a difference. My daughter hated the games at the beginning of her math this year. Now I ask her what her favorite part of homeschooling is and she says math because games.
I have one child in tgtb math and the other in Saxon 5/4 and I don’t like having two different math curriculum for my kids but it absolutely works for them just like that.
I cannot tell you, as a long, long time homeschooler with current dual credit and graduate kids, how much I hate Saxon. It kinda cracks me up to watch a video of someone talking about themselves as an “experienced homeschooler” with a year of experience.
Christian Light Education is what we use for Language Arts. The grammar, specifically, is so thorough. We also used TGTB LA alongside CLE as reinforcement, but dropped it when we saw how weak it was next to CLE. Such pretty curriculum, but we needed more repetition. We use Saxon as well. Best of luck finding what works best for you!
We switched from TGTB LA to CLE LA. I plan to still use the books for reading. We are still loving their math and science so really it's just what works for what kids and it might not work later on and we'll have to change.
I’ve been homeschooling since 1997 and I’ve used many different curriculums in that time. I am now homeschooling my grandchildren and some other children. I found TGTB four school years ago and we have loved it. We love the updates they’ve made and the kids love the games in math. We love the books in LA. I love how easy it is to teach and I don’t feel it’s leaving anything out. I’ve graduated four students with high school diplomas. I have students in preschool through third grade this year. I do filter in Trail Guides To Learning because I used those with my two youngest kids in elementary/jr high and love it. I supplement things for added learning and adventure but I don’t feel TGTB is missing anything. We all have to find what works for us and not worry about what other people have found for their family.
Hi! Love the video. Homeschooling Mom of 6 here. I totally agree with you. I don't like the format with the parent portion being on the page. It's just wayyyy too much on one page. We use primarily Abeka, but this year I decided to have my 3rd grade son do TGATB for Math and LA for many reasons. I'm actually going to do a video explaining my reasoning and what I'm using to Homeschool. I'm actually going in to this year with a lot of trepidation and low expectations. I'm worried I'm making a huge mistake, but only time will tell. 😬 I'll update on my channel as we go and kind of document how it's going.
First year homeschooler (k-5yr preschooler-3yr & 18mon) and I used to be a public school teacher taught (Kinder-5th)! I looked into curriculum so much and feel like there’s a lot of fluff and need enough writing (not a fan of just copy work) I like writers workshop but doesn’t seem like that’s a homeschool thing-it is for my kinder and preschooler though! They are writing narratives and letters and getting into nonfiction writing also. ELA I was putting together my own lessons bc I couldn’t find one that had it all. Decided a few days ago to bite the bullet and buy TGAB for this year until I find something I like more! This video couldn’t have come at a better time! Reading all the comments and going to do some more research for this upcoming year! I’m glad I’m in the beginning years 😅 thanks mamas for doing all the work for us who are just learning!
I recently made this decision but with CLE, I love the curriculum but we just needed a change after 3 1/2 years of using it. Sometimes it is just that we have outgrown a season and ready for something new. We switched for different reasons than you, but I think sometimes it is just good to step outside of what we know & try new things.
Best language arts curriculum I’ve used in 17 years of homeschooling: Grammar- Easy grammar, add daily grams for constant review Writing-IEW; my favorite are the history ones. Those include vocabulary too. Literature- Drawn into the heart of Reading by Heart of Dakota
You’re going to LOVE IEW!! We are half way through with year 1 Level A and I’ve seen tremendous improvement in my son’s grammar and writing. Go with your gut! You know your kids best! Also, my son was advanced too in 2nd grade and CLE was almost too easy for him. If you go on CLE’s website, you can take a look at all the math light units and see where she at…but I love Saxon, and if I knew about it then, I would’ve went with Saxon 3. We ended up using BJU press for 3rd grade and all it did was hold him back. Now we are using Saxon 5/4 along with IEW and it has been the best fit ever! Also, I am adding abeka spelling because it implements and reinforces spelling rules. Then I will have solid L.A program for writing, grammar, and spelling and all of them are rock solid. I too am looking long term and I have great peace to keep those subjects around forever…lol or whenever I see fit to move away from them, but for now, he is getting a ROCK solid education and this momma is happy!
So excited to look into all this. Starting the process of figuring out what I’m going to use for LA for my rising 4th grader. We are using Fix It Grammar from IEW this year and I really like that!
Thanks for your informative video! I work at a local homeschool curriculum store, and I’ve noticed an increasing number of customers telling me something similar - they’ve been using TGTB for 2-3 years for some or all subjects and now are ready to switch to other curricula. The subject areas that seem most problematic are math and language arts. With K through 5th grade math, students should be gaining an assortment of skills, like writing the numerals correctly and neatly, memorization of facts (+/- within 10 and then within 20, multiplication through 9x9), memorization of procedures (column addition/subtraction, long division, long multiplication, fraction work, and more), and clerical skills (checking one’s own work for errors, copying problems correctly, showing steps neatly). As they head into the middle grades, they will add in application skills (real-world math problems), problem-solving (puzzle-y math problems), and increasing stamina to concentrate on doing something they might not prefer. With language arts for most K-2nd, the priorities are handwriting, phonics, and listening to classic literature being read aloud to them (30-90 min/day). With language arts for most 2nd-5th, the priorities are handwriting/penmanship, spelling (which is backwards phonics), grammar/punctuation/capitalization (most programs combine these three), and literature (a combination of listening to a read-aloud and reading independently). Some streamlined/efficient and effective options for language arts: - Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading (scripted lessons) - Spelling Workout - Evan Moor Building Spelling Skills - Rod and Staff Spelling - First Language Lessons (scripted lessons) Levels 1-4 - Rod and Staff Building Christian English Grade 5 - Writing with Ease (scripted lessons) Levels 1-3 Note: Generally, students start spelling when they are near the end of their phonics instruction. For most, this will be 2nd grade, when they’ll do both spelling and phonics concurrently.
I used Saxon for math for my oldest. It was PERFECT for him. He is math minded naturally. I switched to the TGTB for math for my middle guy because I was bored of Saxon. I regret it and we are moving back to Saxon. You've made the right choice for your daughter. The are a lot of homeschool mama opinions about Saxon, but I'm here to say we LOVE it too.
I have an L5 & L3 in TGTB and they both love it and thrive!!! We use Ambleside online as our spine and TGTB as a supplement to that. Math was such a struggle for my oldest and she absolutely adores TGTB math. Having the stories speaks to her and let’s her put her guard down.
This is my experience as well! We’ve been doing AO from the beginning and just sprinkle some TGTB here and there. My 11 year old daughter had really struggled with spelling, and TGTB has made a tremendous difference, and my 7 year old was still not reading until we tried TGTB with her and it was THE key to unlock it for her. I doubt I’ll keep using the language arts past these needs, but they have been a blessing to us for this season’s struggles.
Hi! I’m so glad I found this comment. Could I ask, how do ya’ll supplement AO with TGTB? We’re in year 1 of AO and I’m really interested in TGTB, but not sure what path to take!
@@storiesfromthetower6603 we follow AO and I use TGTB for math. For ELA we use TGTB but it’s quite gentle do for my older two so we use it alongside AOs schedule. So instead of using TGTB as our main curriculum we use it to reinforce spelling, geog, art, etc like some use worksheets.
Hands down for writing and grammar - IEW structure and style for writing and Fix it grammar. The two work together, to the point, and great for all learners. IMO
Yes I added Fix It Grammar along side TGTB LA for my 3rd grade daughter. She’s a reluctant writer so still haven’t decided if I’ll put her in S&S this fall or wait until 5th grade.
I felt the same way about TGTB language arts. My son didn’t care for the readers. Stories were boring for him and me as well quite frankly. Writing instruction, in my opinion, just was not thorough enough. Math was way too “fluffy” for him. In short we switched to Saxon Math, IEW for writing, Moving Beyond the Page for Reading & Social Studies. Very happy with all of the changes we’ve made thus far. New subscriber! Good luck with all of your new curriculum. Can’t wait for future updates! It’s always nice to find the curriculum and flow that works best for your family.
We were a TGTB family all the way for SIX years! With my oldest we absolutely thrived with it in all subjects. He learned how to read and became an advanced reader, he was competent in math, the science especially we just adored. Then suddenly middle school came along and it just wasn’t fitting our needs but it took a long time to see it/figure out why because we didn’t know anything else. It was hard for me to let go 😬 After lots of research we ended up loving a blend of Memoria Press and CLE, two programs which are much more rigorous and demanding. We ran into same trouble around L4/5 with writing and spelling and when we tried out IEW I just could not believe the difference for my son. I came to realize that TGTB’s big selling point about it being easy, fast, simple to use… it’s 100% true but there is a downside to that after a certain point. It wasn’t enough for upper elementary/MS to me and I was totally brainwashed to think that parents who wanted more were being too demanding or too “school at home” haha. I think TGTB was a huge blessing to us in the years that I was building confidence in myself as a homeschooler. But now that I have a solid vision for my childrens’ educations I don’t think we will be using it at all for my upcoming first grader and preschooler. It’s ok to acknowledge that certain resources are for certain seasons and release when it isn’t serving us anymore 😊
We use MP and so far I enjoy it, though we do the usual tweaks that customize it for our children - such as bumping up the math and bumping down the handwriting for my oldest who detests handwriting but loves math 😂
First, I’ll give my creds, as homeschool moms do 😂: homeschool mama for over 20 years. Currently homeschooling my youngest who is in 10th grade and I’m also the head middle school teacher for an online homeschool academy. In that academy, I teach Writing/Grammar and History. My ears perked up when you said about your daughter going into middle school and you wanting her to write well. For context, my oldest daughter majored in Writing in college and she is a grant writer for Carnegie Mellon University. We’ve done A LOT of writing in our house. I have a couple stand outs in my opinion - Classical Writing is a full program beginning in about 4th grade. It is not open and go but it is a solid program. IEW is also a solid program. I don’t think you need to worry too much about the younger years - just read good books. As they transition to middle school, IEW can help them gain confidence in their writing and give you the structure (lol) and goals you need. I also want to say that you will find that you change often as you’re kids change and grow. That’s totally okay. As for the Math and your middle girl, I’d just do some supplemental things with her or find a ‘real life’ math book. I think Rainbow Resource has a section of resources on that subject to do in the interim between this year and next. Math exhaustion is real. Good luck to you!
I love their history lol…I purchased all four years before it was discontinued. It’s the one subject we are keeping as is for next year. I love how different things work well for different people. Great review. 😊
This is exactly where we are right now, it's beautiful and all but academically it is just not meeting the standards that I have for my children's learning and that is what it's about, no matter how beautiful it is, if it's not working academically as a curriculum then it does not matter.
We've been with CLE for three months and I have no plans to ever change it! My kids are loving it and they are learning so much with it. It's simple and straight to the point, which means they can get it done and go play! I just need to find the perfect curriculum for Science and History...
We also made this exact conclusion one week ago and for the same reasons. We are now transitioning to the Robinson Curriculum which also uses Saxon Math. Please keep us updated! I am intrigued :)
We use Robinson and Saxon has been amazing. Every now and then, we used to try something new, but always ended up going back to Robinson and Saxon. We have homeschooled 7 kids from k-12 and Saxon just really works. We will never leave Saxon. And our grandkids are using it now as well.
I’m also moving away from the good and the beautiful. I ordered math with confidence a few days ago. And I think for language arts we’re going with first language lessons for the well trained mind. But I want to wait until next school year to start.
MWC is so good! I’m using it with my preschooler and 2nd grader. She was in horizons before MWC. Horizons worked wonderfully with my oldest but not my 2nd. She has completely blossomed with MWC and I don’t plan to switch her anytime soon! We have also used FLL and have completely loved it for my oldest. He did the first 3 levels. It didn’t work for my 2nd grader but she isn’t an auditory learner. I still love it though and am holding on to it to see if it will work for my preschooler or toddler when the time comes. Good luck!
It’s good to try something different if it’s not working! We landed on TGATB after using other stuff for the first 2 years of our homeschool. Now I couldn’t imagine switching because it’s so good! But I might change my mind one year, who knows!
Every single thing you’re saying here resonates exactly the same for us. I have 4 school aged kids and there is just something not clicking or gaps or something is happening. We are switching everything this year. Doing Math U See and All About Reading and Spelling…. Going back to basics and keeping it simple. I think the building blocks and mastery just isn’t there in THTB…. For us anyways. Was great in the beginning for us.
We quit using TGATB after about 15 lessons of 2nd Grade Language Arts and Math. You're right, it's very helpful for a parent who's just beginning to homeschool. It's beautiful, engaging, and affordable. For us, it later started to feel cluttered and overwhelming. There's too much going on in the pages that don't really add to how effectively it helps kids learn/remember the lessons. The only things we use from TGATB now are Typing and the books from the TGATB Library that we purchased during their big clearance sale about three years ago.
I'm a single mom to an 11 yo, a 9 yo and a 3 yo and i've been homeschooling them "on and off" for about 9-8 years (two years total was spent in a school setting). One thing I can say about homeschooling is that there is no "one size fits all". I trial and error a lot and I use different curriculums and formats to teach. Last school year, my kids were enrolled in a small private school to get a break from homeschooling and also because I was between jobs. They fit right in to their grade levels no problems and they loved the experience. As of this September, we will be back to homeschooling. I agree 100% with you and GB is a curriculum I use often enough though it is not the only one. My oldest daughter didn't like it much. We had a better experience with Sonlight but as we know, the price point is high. I may start documenting our journey to see if it will help others like me.
We're on our third year of homeschooling, and we did TGTB for 2/2.5 years. It worked really well in the beginning - I needed something that told me exactly what to do at the beginning, but it did just stop working for us and caused a lot of frustration and pushback. We switched to Ambleside Online, math we switched to Strayor-Upton and Simply Charlotte Mason math, grammar we switched to Fix It Grammar, and writing we're doing Writing and Rhetoric. One of the best parts of homeschooling is switching from a curriculum and seeing the concepts just clicked (this happened with my youngest when we switched to SCM Math). I realized that some of the curricula was geared more toward one type of learner and not another. As much as I liked TGTB, I disliked that most of the writing was done by the creators and not actual well-known writers of kids' literature. It's one of the reasons switching to AO has been such a good fit for us. The best part is we get to test it out and shift when our kids need the change to understand things.
I just stopped TGATB after our holiday break. My 3rd grader just seems to be doing each lesson but as you said the lessons start to seem pointless and we are doing them to just check off that we did language arts for the day. I just put an order in for Christian Light Education. I’m going to try language arts, reading and their math. We have used TGATB for 3 years and it’s just not working for us. We tried Masterbooks but that was too easy and I didn’t feel like it was “enough”. It’s so frustrating! I have learned that my kids prefer less fluff in their curriculum. They just want to learn the concept and do the work.
We switched to CLE two months ago and my kids love it. I have a second grader and fourth grader and they are much happier and motivated. CLE gets straight to the point and they like that.
I'm still using TG&TB. We just skip verses or songs if we don't quite get it memorized. We just go faster or slower as we need to. I still love it for now 💕
I completely understand. We switched from Sonlight to ACE last year because of math and especially language arts. We have finished one year & my children all learned so much more.
I hope Saxon works well for y'all. We used it for years and it seemed my kids were learning a lot. On paper they could do all the problems. But in real life they struggled greatly to apply it. I didn't like that because I was teaching them for real life, not for tests on paper. So we switched to TGTB a few years ago and wow, the difference is amazing. They can do mental math so well. People are amazed at how they can do problems in their mind and not even need to write it down. But again everyone is different. Hopefully Saxon works well for y'all. ❤
If something isn’t working switch it up! Needs are going to change year to year. From my research the reviews have been Singapore up to grades 3, then switch to Saxon grade 4 and up!
I totally did this as well, except with Masterbooks. 🤦🏼♀️ it was my first year and we needed easy and open book, so I understand the frustration. I also know now we need spiral!!
This. I found master books not in depth enough. My son found the math ridiculously easy and that's when we switch to TGATB Partway into grade 1 and he's back to loving math again. Currently almost done level 3.
I have gone through all levels from K to High School 3 TGTB LA. At times we have left TGTB LA thinking there might be something better, but we have always returned to it... Most of the other LA curriculum were very boring, repetitive, and super routine. My kids don't enjoy that and neither do I. What we have stuck to is adding Fix-It-Grammar and either IEW writing or Essential in Writing(alternate each year) to TGTB LA. TgTB doesn't cover an entire school year for us. We do at least 180 days and the lesson are 120 to 140. My kids do TGTB 5 days a week, fix it grammar 4 days a week then take a week or two off from the LA to do the writing every so often. We love Saxon for Math, Apologia for science and Notgrass for history.
You have to do what you have to do, especially when it comes to your kids and what’s gonna be best for the education and love of learning. Totally understandable!
My daughter is 5 and she got through PreK LA, Kindergarten Prep and is a third of the way through K level LA. She has learned to read and in such a short time. We love TGATB and have been so impressed so far. I do appreciate these types of videos in case we run into something in the future but so far I can't imagine moving on to something else
See, I attribute my daughter's great reading, writing and storytelling to The Good and The Beautiful. What works for one child might not work for the other. I want to switch though, as I feel like the lessons take too long and we homeschool because we want them to have more time to learn through play and experience other things. Even with 4 days a week, we feel like all we do is work in books. So I'm looking into other curriculum to suit their needs.
I agree, I think it's great for new home schoolers to ease you in but once you find your rhythm and everyone is settled down and growing, you notice it contains alot more fluff than needed.... Not every everyone's case but I am also looking for something else going into year 3
Completely agree. I started out my homeschooling journey using all TGTB and now that I’m a lot more confident in finding what works for my kids and more aware of all the options I’m choosing differently. My kids and I actually really loved their Math until they revised it. Won’t ever be using that again for sure!
So Saxon k-3 is very different from the 5/4+. I would look into CLE for your 3rd grader or bump her up in G&B until she is ready for 5/4. Always give a placement when switching math.
Girl I can’t even imagine how advanced your kids are. I have a 4th grader and I’m still on the fence of pulling him out of school to homeschool but I’ve been researching and did their assessment test and he’s at a 2nd grade level right now….and that’s not to say my son isn’t smart, he knows the material but I just can’t believe how behind the schools are in teaching these kids
We use saxon using the Robinson curriculum method. Flash cards a 6 years old and then they do 54 at 7 years old. There is no reason to do any saxon books before 54. John saxon didn't even design math books before 54 until it was requested. Don't let them do busy pointless work. All five of my kids finished 54 by 8 years old and haven't looked back. We recommend using the versions of saxon which has the lesson instructions # by every problem in brackets. We use Robinson for reading and all other subject except writing we use EIW. All of our kids are doing great. Our oldest is in track to graduate 🎓 from college at 20 years old with an engineering degree and our other kids are scoring high as well.
Also if you kids need help with saxon there are online lectures (supplements). We have used shormann math lectures for saxon for our kids for algebra 2, advanced math (pre calc) and calculus (calc 1 & 2). At first I was hesitant to be opinionated and share but now that I have seen the results I want to share. Our oldest is on a full ride scholarship (in college) for engineering and our other kids are testing out between 95-99% every year for math.
Hello @xwingdma595 I have my kids doing RC as well, but I must admit, I'm a little loose on the writing portion. I have a 2nd and 5th grader. What have you used from IEW for their writing, might I ask? I took a look at what they offer, and there are several things, so I wouldnt know where to start without too much trial and error. I have seen their Fix It Grammar, and I like it's short, quick lessons. Fits in w the "no unnecessary busy work" if the child needed more grammar work of that sort. Also, if there is a way I could contact you more personally, to possibly pick your brain about RC, I would greatly appreciate it. It's not as easy finding RC families as many other curriculum homeschoolers. Thank you, Trina
It's my first year homeschooling, and I chose TGATB for the same reasons. It was an easy and faith-based curriculum for me to use. LA is a subject that you can use pretty much any curriculum for where I live, so I went for it. I'm using it for grade 3 and grade 1. For grade 3, I'm with you. Although my son really enjoys it, it does feel to me like there is something missing, but at the same time, I see some learning and progress going on. And I constantly compare with regular school to try to make sure I'm not missing anything (he has 5 older siblings who all did public school so I kind of have an idea of what was going on in that grade). I'm not sure what to do for next year. I was thinking I would use the schoolboard curriculum that is 15$ and complete it with other resources. As for my first grader, she enjoys level K doing 2 lessons per day (this is where her placement was), and we will continue with level 1 TGATB in a month or so. I have nothing negative to say. She is learning to read very well. I did complete with sight word worksheets like they used in school in that grade. But after this, I'm not sure I'll go with TGATB for grade 2 either. For all the other subjects, I went with our schoolboard materials and so for so good, kids do the work and learn! I also went with IXL that I thought we would use more. Thanks for your input!
We did 2.5 years of TGATB and my son did not learn HOW to write at all (level 4 and 5). Also, he couldn't stand the readers:/ Now we are doing Essentials in Writing and real books which he enjoys (Narnia, Little House, etc). So so glad we ditched it!
We've used good and beautiful English and math for 4 years and it has worked well for us. However, now that our kids are approaching 5th grade we have switched to Saxon Math and my 1st grader we are using Math With Confidence. I don't regret using good and beautiful However and I think its a great free option. I will still be using their language arts program, with spelling and writing supplements
I’m actually gonna try the level 3 new LA. However, I’m adding a piece to the reading. Each day she will need to write a short summary of the chapter read, a paragraph of copywork from the chapter, write the vocabulary words taught in the chapter and write a sentence with one of the vocabulary words. I think it just needed some extra “Charlotte Mason” techniques splashed in. 😄 I tried the Math 3 last year and it was just too wordy and busy. I think the only thing from TGATB that will work for us is the LA. But that’s with adding in some of my own flare, which I actually found from the “momdelights” RUclips channel. She has awesome homeschooling advice.
This video spurred me on a 2 day journey of sitting at my computer researching different curriculums and placing orders. We’re done too. It was the simplicity of tgab that helped me be not be intimidated and learn to be consistent day to day. But there have been a lot of indicators that this curriculum isn’t the best one for us. Thank you sharing your thoughts. It has helped me so much! And thanks to all of the commenters, too! The suggestions have pointed me in the right direction!
I completely agree on everything here! My oldest is going to 2nd grade we used it for first grade and she came into first grade reading on a second grade level- tgtb was boring for her and it felt really busy workish! I found myself supplementing with spelling, novels, writing stuff and I’m like why am I even using this???? Same with their math we ditched it at the end of K and switched to math with confidence best choice ever bc there is a logical flow to it and man… tgtb math has not logical flow just randomly learning random things so glad to be done as of last year. This year went way better
I have several friends who started with tgtb after 2020. But almost all of them have left it due to the changes in it and too much busy work. We love Nicole the Math lady for math. I do pick how much we do of the extra review as Saxon can have a ton. I’m very eclectic in my curriculum.
I haven’t tuned into the homeschool RUclips community in a while and I haven’t posted a new video in FORRREVERR and I always enjoyed your videos and sitting down watching your videos right now has motivated me to want to get back to my channel 😭 not sure why it’s such a struggle for me lol but hey girlllyyyy is been a while and thank you for motivating me, hopefully I do something with it 🤣 Excited to see your experience with the new curriculum 🤗
For us, the Language Arts didn’t mesh. We chucked it partway through the kindergarten year and finished with reading aloud. Then we started this year with Logic of English and it’s been a hit! I’m still so-so on math. But we may switch to Horizons eventually.
We walked away from TGATB after two years. For as much as they claim to be about good and beautiful stories they are ridiculously boring and there are classical books that are actually good and beautiful. It was a nice transitional homeschool program when we first started, but after the last round of changes with the levels that was the final straw. I just stopped trusting it. We’ve moved to Memoria Press and I love it so much!
Thanks for the update. Looking forward to your 2nd grader's update. My daughter is 2nd grade also. I have made so many changes over the years. Saxon works great for my oldest, but the younger grades are different. It didn't work for my daughter, so I have her in Singapore Dimensions. Great thing about homeschool is the flexibility. Enjoy the rest of your winter break. :)
Thank you for your honesty ❤️ I subscribed just because of it, and plus your videos are very informative and you are not afraid to try new things 😉 This is my second year homeschooling, so I am soaking all of info about curriculum... I'm using CLE, Generations curriculum, IEW, Lifepacs and Masterbooks 📚
Abeka Curruculim is #1 its what most private Christian schools use and is fully accredited we are loving it. It's definitely not for the faint of heart HS mom though you've have got to dedicate time to being a full on teacher. The Bible curriculum is optional so if that's not your thing you don't have to include it but we start every morning our with it
I will be in my first year of homeschooling my son this fall and i really like the good and beautiful books/ curriculum but im struggling to figure out how to get things to be " accredited". Ive found some GREAT accredited homeschool programs but they're insanely expensive. I was just wondering how you go about accreditation and any other info and tips you have.
I don’t think curriculum can be accredited, only schools. So maybe that’s why it would be so expensive? We don’t look for “accreditation” in our homeschool. We just follow our state laws.
Yes! Go with your instinct! We tried TGTB when it first came out years ago, it was the ONLY curriculum we quit and never finished. That was the year my children didn't learn much 😬 CLE math, reading and LA is extremely solid and open and go. A favorite here. We also pick up with Saxon 5/4 and continue all the way through high school with it. The absolute BEST math.
Same here highly recommend cle inexpensive and solid! I’d say I like it even more than abeka. But since your coming from tgab you have to take a placement test bc they might have many holes and place differently. I’d make the switch now and this remaining year you can work on filling the gaps and start new next year best of luck.
I've been using cle math LA and reading and cursive and keep looking for anything better but then I'm glad I'm still doing it. I'm curious what grade you switched to Saxon and what do you do for science and social
I feel the same way! We switched back in November as I was seeing gaps in my oldest child's math skills and facts. Their kindergarten was perfect for my son, but for my older daughter, the lessons in Math 2 and LA 3 were taking way too long and the way the information was presented was confusing to her and just getting through lessons was tedious and frustrating. Every day math was a fight, until we switched to CLE math. She has been able to teach herself, even multiplication! I just check her work, and she's doing awesome. We're still trying to find an LA curriculum that works for us though.
We did TGTB last year for my daughters 4th grade year (after switching from Saxon). I feel like she didn’t master anything, especially in math… They would introduce new topics so frequently, she never had a chance to master concepts (she has severe ADHD). We are starting this year again doing 4th grade, she’s very discouraged. Im trying to figure out what to do, so many curriculum choices, I’m so overwhelmed… Although my now 2nd grader is doing wonderfully in the curriculum, she’s very similar to how you described your younger one, but if I can find some new foundations in math and english I’ll be a lot happier.
There have been sooooo many videos in this past year or so, just like this one! This is not a dig on you, this is a great video, I am just highlighting that MANY families are coming to the same conclusion about TGAB lately. I feel like it was trendy and pretty and people went crazy for it , but now that they have used it and have more experience under their belts, they are seeing it's many flaws. It's pretty, sure, but that's about it. I hope TGAB is paying attention so they can make changes.
I 10000% agree. I actually searched for these types of videos thinking I was crazy for feeling this way. It’s an easy curriculum when you are new to homeschool and it serves a great purpose for that but there are so many other tried and true curriculums that have been around way longer. Thanks for being here 🫶
I noticed that as well. I am not surprised because Masterbooks went through a similar trend. It was hot then the hype went down. I tend to avoid the very big/flashy names now that I have 6 years of experience. I am still learning though.
What do you recommend? Ive been using TGAB for 2 years now, my son seems to be too advanced for his level - he is currently doing level K but i add extra work outside of the curriculumn for him.
I have a masters in Ece. I think it is still the very best language arts program out there, and it is ranked as the best. We do supplement writing and comprehension, but nothing is perfect, so prepare to supplement per kid. However, their math changes have us leaving. The online part and hour long time it takes is TOO MUCH. We loved the old. We like the stories and games. We are using teaching Textbooks and ordering Apologia 5 soon. I can't stand Saxon- its basically public school. I miss their old science units, too. BTW, preschool doesn't need a curriculum. Play;) What English language arts are you going to use?
I started using tgatb LA in 2017. I liked their old LA so much more before they did an update. It was much more rigorous. It used to be considered advanced and now I feel it is behind a grade level. My math loving kid loves math mammoth.
We won’t be continuing the good and the beautiful next year for sure. Uncertain on the math yet but pretty positive we’re going to be going away with it. I’m so nervous to use something else especially for the way tgab had exactly what the teacher needed to say so idk. But for sure language arts will be gone.
We are doing GATB preschool with my oldest right now and I already k is I want to pick something different. The open and go style was great for me being new to homeschool but if find that the GATB is too easy for my son and doesn’t capture his attention. My son is not a genius, but he needs something more challenging for sure!
Same, we dropped TGTB La and math before thanksgiving. I pieced together workbooks and they are so much happier. I think I’m going to use TGTB science units, though. But for the other subjects traditional style works better for us!
Have you looked at Trail Guide to Learning? It's one that doesn't get the most hype and that's unfortunate. It's Science, history, and LA all rolled into one. Next year your kids would be the perfect age. Cathy Duffy lists it as a top pick, it was written by the creator of LLATL. It's a good one!
TGATB was the most difficult curriculum I tried with my son. It stressed him out and me even more, when I emailed about help they said their curriculum was open and go and easy to use. They never helped 😒.
Same! I stopped using their LA and Math one month after we started our school year. My daughter who did amazing with LA in Kindergarten was so stressed and frustrated every time we did a LA lesson. I find there's too much going on in one lesson and most times they were asking the child to do something that hadn't even been taught yet.
I’d definitely look into CLE for LA! Their Learn to Read is a great (and inexpensive) curriculum. We do Saxon as well. You should test your 2nd grader because my kindergartener is in Saxon 1.
We love CLE. Way more thorough than TGATB and it’s not colorful but it’s still beautiful in its own way and my kids engage so much more with it than they did with TGATB. My preschooler is using their kindergarten program and my kindergartner is using their Learning to Read program and their language arts 1 program and their math program. We love CLE.
Different strokes for different folks. It's nice you gave it a look/try and giving myself and others some things to think about. Thank you for this video and the work you do. 👍
Interesting thoughts. I thought about trying other curriculum before and my oldest just finished level 3 in G&B math and language arts. I do sometimes feel like math is a little bit too much, and the day is a little too long and stressful. Do you do placement tests at the end of the year? My son completed the CAT tests last year and this year and constantly scores in the 90% but... How accurate are these exams? I look at his CAT scores and I'm like it must be working? Right? Anyone have a similar experience? Did you switch curriculum and see the test scores either get higher or stay the same with easier homeschool days?
We do take tests at the end of the year. I wouldn’t base results solely off year end testing and do your research on the CAT test data, it’s from the 70s. Curriculum is more about is it working for the child and you? Do you feel they are learning more concepts and building on knowledge.
If you feel like the work is pointless, just move on. Better to start with something fresh halfway through the year and have that work be engaging and help them grow then just do busy work. We haven't had luck with TGTB either. I respect the heart behind the company but none of the curriculum worked for us. You aren't alone.
For your 2nd graders math, since she is almost done with Math2 TGATB, why not use this next semester to try out different math3 curricula and see what works. It’ll give you some buffer if Saxxon doesn’t work for her
Wondering what you’re considering for kindergarten? My oldest starts in sept and with a new baby coming in June - I’m leaning heavily toward TGTB K for its open and go structure.
I chose Abeka K5 for my daughter when I was due with a son in Sept as well. Fast forward 5 years, and my daughter loves Abeka, but I can't see my son engaging with it because they are so different. I am leaning toward starting my son with TGTB because Abeka does require a lot from me, and my son is not a good sit and work kinda guy. I think he will like the music, stories, etc. It's hard to pick curriculum because I think kids end up picking it for us based on who they are and how they learn as well as the season of life a family is in.
We stopped G&B half way through the year for my kids as the curriculum is very sparse and does not provide opportunities for true mastery. It was too easy for us and I had to supplement a lot to challenge my kids. I would still use some of their resources because I like how pretty it is I just know it’s not enough.
Thanks for sharing! We have just started using TGTB math for my kindergarten. I love it so far and wanted to look more into it for future years and/or different subjects since I see so many people using it.
Hey, We are going with Abeka for 2023 to 2024 and going forward. So many love it for the earlier elementary and high school years. We like it for our children because someone else can teach our children. They do have video lessons. A piece of advice: Don't let your children not being not interested in a certain curriculum change the your curriculum choice. Children need structure for adulthood. Changing curriculum so much leaves frustration at least for our children and gaps in their learning. Make sure you at least pray and fast on this big decision. I wouldn't choose a curriculum that is not solid and doesn't have structure. With that being said, TGATB is a beautiful curriculum but not solid. You do need to supplement a lot with it according to my friends that use the curriculum. For our children we want a curriculum that they will use for ever. Abeka is high priced, but worth it all from our understanding. I don't suggest watching so many new curriculum here on RUclips because it can get overwhelming. You are a great mom. You know what's best. I'm guessing that's why you decided to homeschool in the first place. Remember your reason why. Remember there is no perfect curriculum no matter what. Thanks!
Same! But it only took me a year to figure this out! It was a great start but I could see it wasn’t something I would stick with long term. My oldest just didn’t care about all the fluff! Like it was cute to look at but she didn’t care one bit. We switched to Singapore Math and she never even asked for TGTB math ever!
We are looking into TGATB Math only right now with our first child for when we begin homeschooling. He is still very young but I am a major planner and I like to think years in advance and research curriculum from all different places. I think it seems really worthwhile for young children but I am not sure what we will do yet for older children. However, as someone who did Saxon math as a child, I will tell you for me and my siblings it was awful. Most of us began flopping and doing terribly at around Math 87. I feel Saxon Math does not have enough explanation in the beginning of the lessons. I got to Algebra and basically quit math, because I couldn't do it. I went onto Khan academy, which helped a bit, but I only succeeded in Math through college. I think it works out very well for people who are more mathematically minded, so hopefully it works well for you guys.
I used Saxon Math when I was being homeschooled in the 90s and hated it. My oldest (11) switched to TGTB in Level 3 after hating Math-U-See, and he's benefited so much. He's working at a math level "behind" his grade level (level 5 right now), but even so his math test scores last year were unbelievably good. I was shocked. Different curriculum works better or worse for different children!
I 100% agree with your video. I do not use the good and the beautiful for math under grade 4. It's too much fluff. I do like their language arts but I do not like their spelling and writing at all! It's just not enough.
We used TGTB last year Level 1 and it was good, but this year with Level 2 math and LA is not really working well. I mean I see lots of gaps. We are switching back to Abeka.
My son and I hated TGTB level 4 LA. We dropped it after about half the level. A few years later we came back and he is doing the new LA 5 and I actually LOOOOVE IT. But, he won't continue after this level because it is back to the old, boring format. I am thinking either EIW and Lit units from Rainbow Resources (trying Novel-ties and Novel Units soon to see how they go) or IEW fix it and Structure and style. But my kids find SS so long and tedious :( for math my kiddos love CLE. It reminds me a lot of Saxon but a lot less expensive. My son did teaching textbooks for several years and got to a point where he couldn't advance because of so many gaps. He was in tt 7 and had to go all the way back to cle 4! He is now in level 7 cle math and doing fantastic, but still a year behind in math because of so much time wasted and knowledge gaps due to TT. SO, I dont ever recommend TT for math no matter how tempting those hands off computer lessons may be🤣
I’m leaving G&B for miacademy and Miaprep this year not because I didn’t enjoy G&B but because I need to switch to a digital curriculum this year. I’m thinking of supplementing here and there with G&B though because I’m sad not to use it.
@@gatheredandgroundedhomeschool yep, not enough for some subjects but I like using unit studies and other resources that I can always add on. I just can’t do it that way full time anymore so miacademy keeps them working independently for a few hours then I jump in with supplements.
My sister has been using tgatb for my niece for the last 3 years and she’s had a great experience with it.I did a lot of the lessons it’s her the second year and i thought it was really good. I am pretty new to home schooling and My boys are starting first grade and I’m doing tgatb with them this year.
Were done with the good and the beautiful as well. My 4th grader hated the fluff as well. We decided to go with iew and spelling u see for language arts and horizons and teaching textbooks. I wanted to do saxson but I couldn't do it.
We’re not new to homeschooling but use TGATB math and LA for my 4th grader. I was going to change the LA because I think the content is boring, but my son begged me to keep it. He’s really good at math, and is learning plenty with TGATB, though he thinks it’s easy. I don’t think it’s fair to say that people who use the curriculum don’t aspire for their kids to excel in math. It’s middle of the road as far as difficulty goes. We tried Abeka last year and my son was miserable because it was so boring and tedious, not difficult. It’s ok that it’s not working well for your family though.
Oh my goodness. I feel the exact same way! Same reasons. We are still using TGTB but gah it's driving me crazy. Like I love it for some reasons but it's not working for my oldest
I’ve used G&B quite a bit and it’s a beautiful, well rounded program. I’m using the LA for high school now. As a homeschool mom/teacher of 20 years, the advice I would like to share is do not get bogged down in curriculum choices. Believe me when I say that there is so much more than curriculum in the elementary and middle school years. I’ve done it both ways and as I’m reaching the final years of homeschooling, I know I spent way too much time thinking about the right math program or the right LA books. As homeschool teachers we all lean towards a certain level of control. Controlling our child’s education is what we thrive on- that’s why we homeschool. Not a bad thing, but we can get “caught up” in always thinking there’s a better way. After 20 years, Ive seen and used a lot of the curricula out there. Just don’t get wrapped up in the choices and forget that homeschooling kids works best when we don’t follow a curriculum solely (you will burn out). Spend more time reading and playing games in those early years especially rather than jumping from curriculum to curriculum. Whenever I remembered to do that ( we had many days of just play) there was always so much more learning that went on.
Thank you so much for this
This is the BEST reply I have seen. Thank you! Elementary years just need good exposure that builds upon itself. There is plenty of time for intensive writing when they get older, so of course not all curriculums are going to work long term. Supplementation is always needed along the way!
this blessed me !
She just wrote what I was going to.
@@janiecediariesthis blessed me too!
I home schooled 2 kids through high school in the 90's and early 2000's. Now they are home schooling their own. May I just say that home schooling, regardless of curriculum, is better than anything if you are conscientious and thorough. ( I know parents that did a terrible job). No curriculum is perfect, and where your child lacks or excels, you can add or subtract material as needed. TGTB Language Arts is working very well for our older grand daughter, but our grandson has needed a different approach. TGTB math is working very well for both. (Our grand daughter is in level 4 math and lang arts, our grandson is level 2 lang arts and level 3 math. He loves math, but struggles with reading). God bless every parent that is home educating their children in this world we live in.
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽💗
This blessed me!
I use the LA and Math for both of my kids. 3 years for the one and 2 years for the other and we love it! We've done kinder prep, and kindy la/math, and levels 1-3 (old levels) for LA and math new program 1-3. They've been life savers for me. The kids don't get bored and the phonics/spelling rules has improved his reading immensely. That being said, I tweak where I need and skip lessons if I feel a need, based on each child and what they need. That's the beauty of homeschool. All curriculums have pros and cons. I was told by veteran homeschooler when I started, don't get hung up on the curriculum because no curriculum is perfect and you will always find part of it that doesn't work for you. Just be ready to make changes and teach to your child's needs and interests. And so far TGATB is the program that ticks the most boxes for us and i have to do the least amount of adjusting.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who feels like G&B is just a bunch of busy work but doesn’t add any value to its lessons! Need to know what you find that works for you as far as language arts, writing and grammar, and history! And can’t wait to see a walkthrough of Saxon math!
Same! Looking forward to hearing what you find for LA. I have an upcoming 2nd grader and have been having these same doubts about TGATB.
This is exactly where I’m at . I need to find a new reading curriculum for the upcoming 4th grade year
Same!! Not feeling TGATB. I often have to supplement with other resources.
I found TGTB to be lacking as well.
I use TGAB for my three school-aged kids. We absolutely love it. We do skip some of the busy work, especially if it’s a concept they understand completely. That’s the beauty of homeschooling! My son is the same grade as his cousin (second grade). This week I got a glimpse of her public school education, and let me tell you, I have never been so happy that we’ve chosen the path we have! Her homework was an absolute joke and my son watched with his own eyes how important it is to continue doing school the way we do. He is about a fourth grade reading level 🤯 his cousin is less than a kindergarten level and she said that she’s not able to ask her teacher questions! Seriously?!
Anyway, we do skip almost if the extras in the curriculum, but some days, they need that. They need to learn things a different way.
Every child is different. 💕
Our kids hated Saxon math. We just started using TGTB this year and our kids are thriving in all subjects. Every family and child is different and I'm thankful for all the options out there to choose from.
That’s great you found something that works for you guys! ☺️
Even throughout the year there can be a difference. My daughter hated the games at the beginning of her math this year. Now I ask her what her favorite part of homeschooling is and she says math because games.
I have one child in tgtb math and the other in Saxon 5/4 and I don’t like having two different math curriculum for my kids but it absolutely works for them just like that.
I cannot tell you, as a long, long time homeschooler with current dual credit and graduate kids, how much I hate Saxon.
It kinda cracks me up to watch a video of someone talking about themselves as an “experienced homeschooler” with a year of experience.
Christian Light Education is what we use for Language Arts. The grammar, specifically, is so thorough. We also used TGTB LA alongside CLE as reinforcement, but dropped it when we saw how weak it was next to CLE. Such pretty curriculum, but we needed more repetition. We use Saxon as well. Best of luck finding what works best for you!
I do the same thing I am using G&b and cle
We switched from TGTB LA to CLE LA. I plan to still use the books for reading. We are still loving their math and science so really it's just what works for what kids and it might not work later on and we'll have to change.
We did the same
I’ve been homeschooling since 1997 and I’ve used many different curriculums in that time. I am now homeschooling my grandchildren and some other children. I found TGTB four school years ago and we have loved it. We love the updates they’ve made and the kids love the games in math. We love the books in LA. I love how easy it is to teach and I don’t feel it’s leaving anything out. I’ve graduated four students with high school diplomas. I have students in preschool through third grade this year. I do filter in Trail Guides To Learning because I used those with my two youngest kids in elementary/jr high and love it. I supplement things for added learning and adventure but I don’t feel TGTB is missing anything. We all have to find what works for us and not worry about what other people have found for their family.
Hi! Love the video. Homeschooling Mom of 6 here.
I totally agree with you. I don't like the format with the parent portion being on the page. It's just wayyyy too much on one page.
We use primarily Abeka, but this year I decided to have my 3rd grade son do TGATB for Math and LA for many reasons.
I'm actually going to do a video explaining my reasoning and what I'm using to Homeschool. I'm actually going in to this year with a lot of trepidation and low expectations. I'm worried I'm making a huge mistake, but only time will tell. 😬 I'll update on my channel as we go and kind of document how it's going.
First year homeschooler (k-5yr preschooler-3yr & 18mon) and I used to be a public school teacher taught (Kinder-5th)! I looked into curriculum so much and feel like there’s a lot of fluff and need enough writing (not a fan of just copy work) I like writers workshop but doesn’t seem like that’s a homeschool thing-it is for my kinder and preschooler though! They are writing narratives and letters and getting into nonfiction writing also.
ELA I was putting together my own lessons bc I couldn’t find one that had it all. Decided a few days ago to bite the bullet and buy TGAB for this year until I find something I like more! This video couldn’t have come at a better time! Reading all the comments and going to do some more research for this upcoming year! I’m glad I’m in the beginning years 😅 thanks mamas for doing all the work for us who are just learning!
I recently made this decision but with CLE, I love the curriculum but we just needed a change after 3 1/2 years of using it. Sometimes it is just that we have outgrown a season and ready for something new. We switched for different reasons than you, but I think sometimes it is just good to step outside of what we know & try new things.
Best language arts curriculum I’ve used in 17 years of homeschooling:
Grammar- Easy grammar, add daily grams for constant review
Writing-IEW; my favorite are the history ones. Those include vocabulary too.
Literature- Drawn into the heart of Reading by Heart of Dakota
We just started the trial of IEW writing today! ❤️ thanks for all the recommendations
You’re going to LOVE IEW!! We are half way through with year 1 Level A and I’ve seen tremendous improvement in my son’s grammar and writing. Go with your gut! You know your kids best! Also, my son was advanced too in 2nd grade and CLE was almost too easy for him. If you go on CLE’s website, you can take a look at all the math light units and see where she at…but I love Saxon, and if I knew about it then, I would’ve went with Saxon 3. We ended up using BJU press for 3rd grade and all it did was hold him back. Now we are using Saxon 5/4 along with IEW and it has been the best fit ever! Also, I am adding abeka spelling because it implements and reinforces spelling rules. Then I will have solid L.A program for writing, grammar, and spelling and all of them are rock solid. I too am looking long term and I have great peace to keep those subjects around forever…lol or whenever I see fit to move away from them, but for now, he is getting a ROCK solid education and this momma is happy!
So excited to look into all this. Starting the process of figuring out what I’m going to use for LA for my rising 4th grader. We are using Fix It Grammar from IEW this year and I really like that!
Agreed. The only curriculum we love from TGTB that works well for us is their science units. Those are fabulous
Thanks for your informative video!
I work at a local homeschool curriculum store, and I’ve noticed an increasing number of customers telling me something similar - they’ve been using TGTB for 2-3 years for some or all subjects and now are ready to switch to other curricula. The subject areas that seem most problematic are math and language arts.
With K through 5th grade math, students should be gaining an assortment of skills, like writing the numerals correctly and neatly, memorization of facts (+/- within 10 and then within 20, multiplication through 9x9), memorization of procedures (column addition/subtraction, long division, long multiplication, fraction work, and more), and clerical skills (checking one’s own work for errors, copying problems correctly, showing steps neatly). As they head into the middle grades, they will add in application skills (real-world math problems), problem-solving (puzzle-y math problems), and increasing stamina to concentrate on doing something they might not prefer.
With language arts for most K-2nd, the priorities are handwriting, phonics, and listening to classic literature being read aloud to them (30-90 min/day).
With language arts for most 2nd-5th, the priorities are handwriting/penmanship, spelling (which is backwards phonics), grammar/punctuation/capitalization (most programs combine these three), and literature (a combination of listening to a read-aloud and reading independently).
Some streamlined/efficient and effective options for language arts:
- Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading (scripted lessons)
- Spelling Workout
- Evan Moor Building Spelling Skills
- Rod and Staff Spelling
- First Language Lessons (scripted lessons) Levels 1-4
- Rod and Staff Building Christian English Grade 5
- Writing with Ease (scripted lessons) Levels 1-3
Note: Generally, students start spelling when they are near the end of their phonics instruction. For most, this will be 2nd grade, when they’ll do both spelling and phonics concurrently.
I used Saxon for math for my oldest. It was PERFECT for him. He is math minded naturally. I switched to the TGTB for math for my middle guy because I was bored of Saxon. I regret it and we are moving back to Saxon. You've made the right choice for your daughter. The are a lot of homeschool mama opinions about Saxon, but I'm here to say we LOVE it too.
We changed curriculum throughout the seasons. Kids change and we also change. I have to say I’m so relieved that God never change.
I have an L5 & L3 in TGTB and they both love it and thrive!!! We use Ambleside online as our spine and TGTB as a supplement to that. Math was such a struggle for my oldest and she absolutely adores TGTB math. Having the stories speaks to her and let’s her put her guard down.
This is my experience as well! We’ve been doing AO from the beginning and just sprinkle some TGTB here and there. My 11 year old daughter had really struggled with spelling, and TGTB has made a tremendous difference, and my 7 year old was still not reading until we tried TGTB with her and it was THE key to unlock it for her. I doubt I’ll keep using the language arts past these needs, but they have been a blessing to us for this season’s struggles.
Hi! I’m so glad I found this comment. Could I ask, how do ya’ll supplement AO with TGTB? We’re in year 1 of AO and I’m really interested in TGTB, but not sure what path to take!
@@storiesfromthetower6603 we follow AO and I use TGTB for math. For ELA we use TGTB but it’s quite gentle do for my older two so we use it alongside AOs schedule. So instead of using TGTB as our main curriculum we use it to reinforce spelling, geog, art, etc like some use worksheets.
Hands down for writing and grammar - IEW structure and style for writing and Fix it grammar. The two work together, to the point, and great for all learners. IMO
That is awesome to hear! 🫶
Yes I added Fix It Grammar along side TGTB LA for my 3rd grade daughter. She’s a reluctant writer so still haven’t decided if I’ll put her in S&S this fall or wait until 5th grade.
I felt the same way about TGTB language arts. My son didn’t care for the readers. Stories were boring for him and me as well quite frankly. Writing instruction, in my opinion, just was not thorough enough. Math was way too “fluffy” for him. In short we switched to Saxon Math, IEW for writing, Moving Beyond the Page for Reading & Social Studies. Very happy with all of the changes we’ve made thus far. New subscriber! Good luck with all of your new curriculum. Can’t wait for future updates! It’s always nice to find the curriculum and flow that works best for your family.
Thanks for being here!! I am looking at all the curriculum you switched too! Will be doing lots of updates ☺️
We were a TGTB family all the way for SIX years! With my oldest we absolutely thrived with it in all subjects. He learned how to read and became an advanced reader, he was competent in math, the science especially we just adored. Then suddenly middle school came along and it just wasn’t fitting our needs but it took a long time to see it/figure out why because we didn’t know anything else. It was hard for me to let go 😬 After lots of research we ended up loving a blend of Memoria Press and CLE, two programs which are much more rigorous and demanding. We ran into same trouble around L4/5 with writing and spelling and when we tried out IEW I just could not believe the difference for my son. I came to realize that TGTB’s big selling point about it being easy, fast, simple to use… it’s 100% true but there is a downside to that after a certain point. It wasn’t enough for upper elementary/MS to me and I was totally brainwashed to think that parents who wanted more were being too demanding or too “school at home” haha. I think TGTB was a huge blessing to us in the years that I was building confidence in myself as a homeschooler. But now that I have a solid vision for my childrens’ educations I don’t think we will be using it at all for my upcoming first grader and preschooler. It’s ok to acknowledge that certain resources are for certain seasons and release when it isn’t serving us anymore 😊
Yes 🙌
We use MP and so far I enjoy it, though we do the usual tweaks that customize it for our children - such as bumping up the math and bumping down the handwriting for my oldest who detests handwriting but loves math 😂
First, I’ll give my creds, as homeschool moms do 😂: homeschool mama for over 20 years. Currently homeschooling my youngest who is in 10th grade and I’m also the head middle school teacher for an online homeschool academy.
In that academy, I teach Writing/Grammar and History.
My ears perked up when you said about your daughter going into middle school and you wanting her to write well. For context, my oldest daughter majored in Writing in college and she is a grant writer for Carnegie Mellon University. We’ve done A LOT of writing in our house.
I have a couple stand outs in my opinion - Classical Writing is a full program beginning in about 4th grade. It is not open and go but it is a solid program.
IEW is also a solid program. I don’t think you need to worry too much about the younger years - just read good books. As they transition to middle school, IEW can help them gain confidence in their writing and give you the structure (lol) and goals you need.
I also want to say that you will find that you change often as you’re kids change and grow. That’s totally okay.
As for the Math and your middle girl, I’d just do some supplemental things with her or find a ‘real life’ math book. I think Rainbow Resource has a section of resources on that subject to do in the interim between this year and next. Math exhaustion is real.
Good luck to you!
Thanks so much for all the tips!! Appreciate it 🫶
I love their history lol…I purchased all four years before it was discontinued. It’s the one subject we are keeping as is for next year. I love how different things work well for different people. Great review. 😊
This is exactly where we are right now, it's beautiful and all but academically it is just not meeting the standards that I have for my children's learning and that is what it's about, no matter how beautiful it is, if it's not working academically as a curriculum then it does not matter.
We've been with CLE for three months and I have no plans to ever change it! My kids are loving it and they are learning so much with it. It's simple and straight to the point, which means they can get it done and go play! I just need to find the perfect curriculum for Science and History...
That’s awesome to hear!! I’ve heard LOTS of great things about CLE.
Look at Science Shepherd for science; my daughter is thriving on it.
What does CLE stand for?
@@itsnotme7969 Christian Light Education. We’re still using it and still loving it!
We also made this exact conclusion one week ago and for the same reasons. We are now transitioning to the Robinson Curriculum which also uses Saxon Math. Please keep us updated! I am intrigued :)
We use Robinson and Saxon has been amazing. Every now and then, we used to try something new, but always ended up going back to Robinson and Saxon. We have homeschooled 7 kids from k-12 and Saxon just really works. We will never leave Saxon. And our grandkids are using it now as well.
I’m also moving away from the good and the beautiful. I ordered math with confidence a few days ago. And I think for language arts we’re going with first language lessons for the well trained mind. But I want to wait until next school year to start.
MWC is so good! I’m using it with my preschooler and 2nd grader. She was in horizons before MWC. Horizons worked wonderfully with my oldest but not my 2nd. She has completely blossomed with MWC and I don’t plan to switch her anytime soon! We have also used FLL and have completely loved it for my oldest. He did the first 3 levels. It didn’t work for my 2nd grader but she isn’t an auditory learner. I still love it though and am holding on to it to see if it will work for my preschooler or toddler when the time comes. Good luck!
It’s good to try something different if it’s not working! We landed on TGATB after using other stuff for the first 2 years of our homeschool. Now I couldn’t imagine switching because it’s so good! But I might change my mind one year, who knows!
If it’s working for you keep with it! It did us a great service for the time we used it!
Every single thing you’re saying here resonates exactly the same for us. I have 4 school aged kids and there is just something not clicking or gaps or something is happening. We are switching everything this year. Doing Math U See and All About Reading and Spelling….
Going back to basics and keeping it simple. I think the building blocks and mastery just isn’t there in THTB…. For us anyways. Was great in the beginning for us.
We quit using TGATB after about 15 lessons of 2nd Grade Language Arts and Math.
You're right, it's very helpful for a parent who's just beginning to homeschool. It's beautiful, engaging, and affordable. For us, it later started to feel cluttered and overwhelming. There's too much going on in the pages that don't really add to how effectively it helps kids learn/remember the lessons. The only things we use from TGATB now are Typing and the books from the TGATB Library that we purchased during their big clearance sale about three years ago.
We use Memoria Press for everything and have since the beginning, have never looked back!
I'm a single mom to an 11 yo, a 9 yo and a 3 yo and i've been homeschooling them "on and off" for about 9-8 years (two years total was spent in a school setting). One thing I can say about homeschooling is that there is no "one size fits all". I trial and error a lot and I use different curriculums and formats to teach. Last school year, my kids were enrolled in a small private school to get a break from homeschooling and also because I was between jobs. They fit right in to their grade levels no problems and they loved the experience. As of this September, we will be back to homeschooling. I agree 100% with you and GB is a curriculum I use often enough though it is not the only one. My oldest daughter didn't like it much. We had a better experience with Sonlight but as we know, the price point is high. I may start documenting our journey to see if it will help others like me.
We're on our third year of homeschooling, and we did TGTB for 2/2.5 years. It worked really well in the beginning - I needed something that told me exactly what to do at the beginning, but it did just stop working for us and caused a lot of frustration and pushback. We switched to Ambleside Online, math we switched to Strayor-Upton and Simply Charlotte Mason math, grammar we switched to Fix It Grammar, and writing we're doing Writing and Rhetoric. One of the best parts of homeschooling is switching from a curriculum and seeing the concepts just clicked (this happened with my youngest when we switched to SCM Math). I realized that some of the curricula was geared more toward one type of learner and not another.
As much as I liked TGTB, I disliked that most of the writing was done by the creators and not actual well-known writers of kids' literature. It's one of the reasons switching to AO has been such a good fit for us.
The best part is we get to test it out and shift when our kids need the change to understand things.
I just stopped TGATB after our holiday break. My 3rd grader just seems to be doing each lesson but as you said the lessons start to seem pointless and we are doing them to just check off that we did language arts for the day. I just put an order in for Christian Light Education. I’m going to try language arts, reading and their math. We have used TGATB for 3 years and it’s just not working for us. We tried Masterbooks but that was too easy and I didn’t feel like it was “enough”. It’s so frustrating! I have learned that my kids prefer less fluff in their curriculum. They just want to learn the concept and do the work.
We switched to CLE two months ago and my kids love it. I have a second grader and fourth grader and they are much happier and motivated. CLE gets straight to the point and they like that.
You said it perfectly with too much fluff. We’ve felt the exact same way. Thanks for the suggestions!
I'm still using TG&TB. We just skip verses or songs if we don't quite get it memorized. We just go faster or slower as we need to. I still love it for now 💕
I completely understand. We switched from Sonlight to ACE last year because of math and especially language arts. We have finished one year & my children all learned so much more.
That’s so great to hear you found something that works!!
This is our first year with ACE as well and love it!
what is ACE? New homeschool mom and trying to figure out what is best
I hope Saxon works well for y'all. We used it for years and it seemed my kids were learning a lot. On paper they could do all the problems. But in real life they struggled greatly to apply it. I didn't like that because I was teaching them for real life, not for tests on paper. So we switched to TGTB a few years ago and wow, the difference is amazing. They can do mental math so well. People are amazed at how they can do problems in their mind and not even need to write it down. But again everyone is different. Hopefully Saxon works well for y'all. ❤
If something isn’t working switch it up! Needs are going to change year to year. From my research the reviews have been Singapore up to grades 3, then switch to Saxon grade 4 and up!
I totally did this as well, except with Masterbooks. 🤦🏼♀️ it was my first year and we needed easy and open book, so I understand the frustration. I also know now we need spiral!!
This. I found master books not in depth enough. My son found the math ridiculously easy and that's when we switch to TGATB Partway into grade 1 and he's back to loving math again. Currently almost done level 3.
I have gone through all levels from K to High School 3 TGTB LA. At times we have left TGTB LA thinking there might be something better, but we have always returned to it... Most of the other LA curriculum were very boring, repetitive, and super routine. My kids don't enjoy that and neither do I. What we have stuck to is adding Fix-It-Grammar and either IEW writing or Essential in Writing(alternate each year) to TGTB LA. TgTB doesn't cover an entire school year for us. We do at least 180 days and the lesson are 120 to 140. My kids do TGTB 5 days a week, fix it grammar 4 days a week then take a week or two off from the LA to do the writing every so often. We love Saxon for Math, Apologia for science and Notgrass for history.
Same! I definitely think it's a great option for starting out, but it wasn't a good fit for us for the long haul.
You have to do what you have to do, especially when it comes to your kids and what’s gonna be best for the education and love of learning. Totally understandable!
My daughter is 5 and she got through PreK LA, Kindergarten Prep and is a third of the way through K level LA. She has learned to read and in such a short time. We love TGATB and have been so impressed so far.
I do appreciate these types of videos in case we run into something in the future but so far I can't imagine moving on to something else
That’s so great it’s working for you!!
See, I attribute my daughter's great reading, writing and storytelling to The Good and The Beautiful. What works for one child might not work for the other. I want to switch though, as I feel like the lessons take too long and we homeschool because we want them to have more time to learn through play and experience other things. Even with 4 days a week, we feel like all we do is work in books. So I'm looking into other curriculum to suit their needs.
I agree, I think it's great for new home schoolers to ease you in but once you find your rhythm and everyone is settled down and growing, you notice it contains alot more fluff than needed.... Not every everyone's case but I am also looking for something else going into year 3
Completely agree. I started out my homeschooling journey using all TGTB and now that I’m a lot more confident in finding what works for my kids and more aware of all the options I’m choosing differently. My kids and I actually really loved their Math until they revised it. Won’t ever be using that again for sure!
So Saxon k-3 is very different from the 5/4+.
I would look into CLE for your 3rd grader or bump her up in G&B until she is ready for 5/4. Always give a placement when switching math.
Girl I can’t even imagine how advanced your kids are. I have a 4th grader and I’m still on the fence of pulling him out of school to homeschool but I’ve been researching and did their assessment test and he’s at a 2nd grade level right now….and that’s not to say my son isn’t smart, he knows the material but I just can’t believe how behind the schools are in teaching these kids
We use saxon using the Robinson curriculum method. Flash cards a 6 years old and then they do 54 at 7 years old. There is no reason to do any saxon books before 54. John saxon didn't even design math books before 54 until it was requested. Don't let them do busy pointless work. All five of my kids finished 54 by 8 years old and haven't looked back. We recommend using the versions of saxon which has the lesson instructions # by every problem in brackets. We use Robinson for reading and all other subject except writing we use EIW. All of our kids are doing great. Our oldest is in track to graduate 🎓 from college at 20 years old with an engineering degree and our other kids are scoring high as well.
Also if you kids need help with saxon there are online lectures (supplements). We have used shormann math lectures for saxon for our kids for algebra 2, advanced math (pre calc) and calculus (calc 1 & 2). At first I was hesitant to be opinionated and share but now that I have seen the results I want to share. Our oldest is on a full ride scholarship (in college) for engineering and our other kids are testing out between 95-99% every year for math.
Hello @xwingdma595
I have my kids doing RC as well, but I must admit, I'm a little loose on the writing portion. I have a 2nd and 5th grader. What have you used from IEW for their writing, might I ask? I took a look at what they offer, and there are several things, so I wouldnt know where to start without too much trial and error. I have seen their Fix It Grammar, and I like it's short, quick lessons. Fits in w the "no unnecessary busy work" if the child needed more grammar work of that sort. Also, if there is a way I could contact you more personally, to possibly pick your brain about RC, I would greatly appreciate it. It's not as easy finding RC families as many other curriculum homeschoolers.
Thank you,
Trina
@@xwingdma595 Sorry, not sure I tagged you properly in my previous comment.
It's my first year homeschooling, and I chose TGATB for the same reasons. It was an easy and faith-based curriculum for me to use. LA is a subject that you can use pretty much any curriculum for where I live, so I went for it. I'm using it for grade 3 and grade 1. For grade 3, I'm with you. Although my son really enjoys it, it does feel to me like there is something missing, but at the same time, I see some learning and progress going on. And I constantly compare with regular school to try to make sure I'm not missing anything (he has 5 older siblings who all did public school so I kind of have an idea of what was going on in that grade). I'm not sure what to do for next year. I was thinking I would use the schoolboard curriculum that is 15$ and complete it with other resources. As for my first grader, she enjoys level K doing 2 lessons per day (this is where her placement was), and we will continue with level 1 TGATB in a month or so. I have nothing negative to say. She is learning to read very well. I did complete with sight word worksheets like they used in school in that grade. But after this, I'm not sure I'll go with TGATB for grade 2 either. For all the other subjects, I went with our schoolboard materials and so for so good, kids do the work and learn! I also went with IXL that I thought we would use more. Thanks for your input!
We did 2.5 years of TGATB and my son did not learn HOW to write at all (level 4 and 5). Also, he couldn't stand the readers:/ Now we are doing Essentials in Writing and real books which he enjoys (Narnia, Little House, etc). So so glad we ditched it!
Yes!!!! Agree I feel like we are missing so much writing and my kids did not enjoy the readers
We've used good and beautiful English and math for 4 years and it has worked well for us. However, now that our kids are approaching 5th grade we have switched to Saxon Math and my 1st grader we are using Math With Confidence. I don't regret using good and beautiful However and I think its a great free option. I will still be using their language arts program, with spelling and writing supplements
I’m actually gonna try the level 3 new LA. However, I’m adding a piece to the reading. Each day she will need to write a short summary of the chapter read, a paragraph of copywork from the chapter, write the vocabulary words taught in the chapter and write a sentence with one of the vocabulary words. I think it just needed some extra “Charlotte Mason” techniques splashed in. 😄
I tried the Math 3 last year and it was just too wordy and busy.
I think the only thing from TGATB that will work for us is the LA. But that’s with adding in some of my own flare, which I actually found from the “momdelights” RUclips channel. She has awesome homeschooling advice.
I use all different kinds of curriculum for each of my kids because they are all different.
I’ve got kids from 1st to high school.
This video spurred me on a 2 day journey of sitting at my computer researching different curriculums and placing orders. We’re done too. It was the simplicity of tgab that helped me be not be intimidated and learn to be consistent day to day. But there have been a lot of indicators that this curriculum isn’t the best one for us. Thank you sharing your thoughts. It has helped me so much! And thanks to all of the commenters, too! The suggestions have pointed me in the right direction!
I completely agree on everything here! My oldest is going to 2nd grade we used it for first grade and she came into first grade reading on a second grade level- tgtb was boring for her and it felt really busy workish! I found myself supplementing with spelling, novels, writing stuff and I’m like why am I even using this???? Same with their math we ditched it at the end of K and switched to math with confidence best choice ever bc there is a logical flow to it and man… tgtb math has not logical flow just randomly learning random things so glad to be done as of last year. This year went way better
I have several friends who started with tgtb after 2020. But almost all of them have left it due to the changes in it and too much busy work. We love Nicole the Math lady for math. I do pick how much we do of the extra review as Saxon can have a ton. I’m very eclectic in my curriculum.
I haven’t tuned into the homeschool RUclips community in a while and I haven’t posted a new video in FORRREVERR and I always enjoyed your videos and sitting down watching your videos right now has motivated me to want to get back to my channel 😭 not sure why it’s such a struggle for me lol but hey girlllyyyy is been a while and thank you for motivating me, hopefully I do something with it 🤣
Excited to see your experience with the new curriculum 🤗
Yes 👏 I took a break over the holidays to recharge because it was needed!
Hope to see you back soon 🫶
For us, the Language Arts didn’t mesh. We chucked it partway through the kindergarten year and finished with reading aloud. Then we started this year with Logic of English and it’s been a hit! I’m still so-so on math. But we may switch to Horizons eventually.
We walked away from TGATB after two years. For as much as they claim to be about good and beautiful stories they are ridiculously boring and there are classical books that are actually good and beautiful.
It was a nice transitional homeschool program when we first started, but after the last round of changes with the levels that was the final straw. I just stopped trusting it. We’ve moved to Memoria Press and I love it so much!
Yes! I feel exactly the same way about their books .. my daughter didn't learn much using TGTB last year, we've moved on !
@@suzannearmenta8307 Same, we used it for 2.5 years then moved to Memoria Press!
Thanks for the update. Looking forward to your 2nd grader's update. My daughter is 2nd grade also. I have made so many changes over the years. Saxon works great for my oldest, but the younger grades are different. It didn't work for my daughter, so I have her in Singapore Dimensions. Great thing about homeschool is the flexibility. Enjoy the rest of your winter break. :)
Thank you for your honesty ❤️
I subscribed just because of it, and plus your videos are very informative and you are not afraid to try new things 😉
This is my second year homeschooling, so I am soaking all of info about curriculum...
I'm using CLE, Generations curriculum, IEW, Lifepacs and Masterbooks 📚
So happy you are here! There is SO much curriculum so I am happy to share ❤️
Abeka Curruculim is #1 its what most private Christian schools use and is fully accredited we are loving it. It's definitely not for the faint of heart HS mom though you've have got to dedicate time to being a full on teacher. The Bible curriculum is optional so if that's not your thing you don't have to include it but we start every morning our with it
I will be in my first year of homeschooling my son this fall and i really like the good and beautiful books/ curriculum but im struggling to figure out how to get things to be " accredited". Ive found some GREAT accredited homeschool programs but they're insanely expensive. I was just wondering how you go about accreditation and any other info and tips you have.
I don’t think curriculum can be accredited, only schools. So maybe that’s why it would be so expensive? We don’t look for “accreditation” in our homeschool. We just follow our state laws.
Yes! Go with your instinct! We tried TGTB when it first came out years ago, it was the ONLY curriculum we quit and never finished. That was the year my children didn't learn much 😬 CLE math, reading and LA is extremely solid and open and go. A favorite here. We also pick up with Saxon 5/4 and continue all the way through high school with it. The absolute BEST math.
Same here highly recommend cle inexpensive and solid! I’d say I like it even more than abeka. But since your coming from tgab you have to take a placement test bc they might have many holes and place differently. I’d make the switch now and this remaining year you can work on filling the gaps and start new next year best of luck.
I've been using cle math LA and reading and cursive and keep looking for anything better but then I'm glad I'm still doing it. I'm curious what grade you switched to Saxon and what do you do for science and social
TGATB is fine preschool & kinder. It’s very laid back.
I feel the same way! We switched back in November as I was seeing gaps in my oldest child's math skills and facts. Their kindergarten was perfect for my son, but for my older daughter, the lessons in Math 2 and LA 3 were taking way too long and the way the information was presented was confusing to her and just getting through lessons was tedious and frustrating. Every day math was a fight, until we switched to CLE math. She has been able to teach herself, even multiplication! I just check her work, and she's doing awesome. We're still trying to find an LA curriculum that works for us though.
We did TGTB last year for my daughters 4th grade year (after switching from Saxon). I feel like she didn’t master anything, especially in math… They would introduce new topics so frequently, she never had a chance to master concepts (she has severe ADHD). We are starting this year again doing 4th grade, she’s very discouraged. Im trying to figure out what to do, so many curriculum choices, I’m so overwhelmed… Although my now 2nd grader is doing wonderfully in the curriculum, she’s very similar to how you described your younger one, but if I can find some new foundations in math and english I’ll be a lot happier.
There have been sooooo many videos in this past year or so, just like this one! This is not a dig on you, this is a great video, I am just highlighting that MANY families are coming to the same conclusion about TGAB lately. I feel like it was trendy and pretty and people went crazy for it , but now that they have used it and have more experience under their belts, they are seeing it's many flaws. It's pretty, sure, but that's about it. I hope TGAB is paying attention so they can make changes.
I 10000% agree. I actually searched for these types of videos thinking I was crazy for feeling this way. It’s an easy curriculum when you are new to homeschool and it serves a great purpose for that but there are so many other tried and true curriculums that have been around way longer. Thanks for being here 🫶
I noticed that as well. I am not surprised because Masterbooks went through a similar trend. It was hot then the hype went down. I tend to avoid the very big/flashy names now that I have 6 years of experience. I am still learning though.
What do you recommend? Ive been using TGAB for 2 years now, my son seems to be too advanced for his level - he is currently doing level K but i add extra work outside of the curriculumn for him.
Same here! I loved it at first. I still think its a high quality program, but my son hated it. We are now unschooling using no curriculum at all.
I have a masters in Ece. I think it is still the very best language arts program out there, and it is ranked as the best. We do supplement writing and comprehension, but nothing is perfect, so prepare to supplement per kid. However, their math changes have us leaving. The online part and hour long time it takes is TOO MUCH. We loved the old. We like the stories and games. We are using teaching Textbooks and ordering Apologia 5 soon. I can't stand Saxon- its basically public school. I miss their old science units, too. BTW, preschool doesn't need a curriculum. Play;) What English language arts are you going to use?
Thank you for this! I’m debating if I want to continue g&b. Same age kids. I was considering Saxon…
I started using tgatb LA in 2017. I liked their old LA so much more before they did an update. It was much more rigorous. It used to be considered advanced and now I feel it is behind a grade level. My math loving kid loves math mammoth.
We won’t be continuing the good and the beautiful next year for sure. Uncertain on the math yet but pretty positive we’re going to be going away with it. I’m so nervous to use something else especially for the way tgab had exactly what the teacher needed to say so idk. But for sure language arts will be gone.
I agree! It’s hard to let go of the ease of it!
We are doing GATB preschool with my oldest right now and I already k is I want to pick something different. The open and go style was great for me being new to homeschool but if find that the GATB is too easy for my son and doesn’t capture his attention. My son is not a genius, but he needs something more challenging for sure!
Same, we dropped TGTB La and math before thanksgiving. I pieced together workbooks and they are so much happier. I think I’m going to use TGTB science units, though. But for the other subjects traditional style works better for us!
Love it!!
Have you looked at Trail Guide to Learning? It's one that doesn't get the most hype and that's unfortunate. It's Science, history, and LA all rolled into one. Next year your kids would be the perfect age. Cathy Duffy lists it as a top pick, it was written by the creator of LLATL. It's a good one!
I’ll have to check that out! ☺️ thanks for the recommendation!
It is nice.😎
It is nice.😎
TGATB was the most difficult curriculum I tried with my son. It stressed him out and me even more, when I emailed about help they said their curriculum was open and go and easy to use. They never helped 😒.
Same! I stopped using their LA and Math one month after we started our school year. My daughter who did amazing with LA in Kindergarten was so stressed and frustrated every time we did a LA lesson. I find there's too much going on in one lesson and most times they were asking the child to do something that hadn't even been taught yet.
Thank you for your honesty! I would like to try this out for K. First time home school SAHM here.
That will be a great option! level K is one of the only levels we haven’t done but I’ve heard great things
I’d definitely look into CLE for LA! Their Learn to Read is a great (and inexpensive) curriculum. We do Saxon as well. You should test your 2nd grader because my kindergartener is in Saxon 1.
Thanks for the tips! I will check out the Saxon tests ☺️
@@gatheredandgroundedhomeschoolCLE is amazing 👍
Is CLE Christian Light?
We love CLE. Way more thorough than TGATB and it’s not colorful but it’s still beautiful in its own way and my kids engage so much more with it than they did with TGATB. My preschooler is using their kindergarten program and my kindergartner is using their Learning to Read program and their language arts 1 program and their math program. We love CLE.
Sounds great! So many people are recommending CLE, I’ll have to check it out
We are doing CLE math and lang. Arts. TGATB did not work for us either! Do what works best for you.
Different strokes for different folks. It's nice you gave it a look/try and giving myself and others some things to think about. Thank you for this video and the work you do. 👍
Interesting thoughts. I thought about trying other curriculum before and my oldest just finished level 3 in G&B math and language arts. I do sometimes feel like math is a little bit too much, and the day is a little too long and stressful.
Do you do placement tests at the end of the year?
My son completed the CAT tests last year and this year and constantly scores in the 90% but...
How accurate are these exams?
I look at his CAT scores and I'm like it must be working? Right?
Anyone have a similar experience?
Did you switch curriculum and see the test scores either get higher or stay the same with easier homeschool days?
We do take tests at the end of the year. I wouldn’t base results solely off year end testing and do your research on the CAT test data, it’s from the 70s. Curriculum is more about is it working for the child and you? Do you feel they are learning more concepts and building on knowledge.
If you feel like the work is pointless, just move on. Better to start with something fresh halfway through the year and have that work be engaging and help them grow then just do busy work. We haven't had luck with TGTB either. I respect the heart behind the company but none of the curriculum worked for us. You aren't alone.
I couldn’t agree more. Move past the busy work and keep on keeping on.
For your 2nd graders math, since she is almost done with Math2 TGATB, why not use this next semester to try out different math3 curricula and see what works. It’ll give you some buffer if Saxxon doesn’t work for her
Wondering what you’re considering for kindergarten? My oldest starts in sept and with a new baby coming in June - I’m leaning heavily toward TGTB K for its open and go structure.
We are still two years away from kindergarten so I haven’t fully planned it all out, but for prek this upcoming year we are using Sonlight 😀
I chose Abeka K5 for my daughter when I was due with a son in Sept as well. Fast forward 5 years, and my daughter loves Abeka, but I can't see my son engaging with it because they are so different. I am leaning toward starting my son with TGTB because Abeka does require a lot from me, and my son is not a good sit and work kinda guy. I think he will like the music, stories, etc. It's hard to pick curriculum because I think kids end up picking it for us based on who they are and how they learn as well as the season of life a family is in.
We stopped G&B half way through the year for my kids as the curriculum is very sparse and does not provide opportunities for true mastery. It was too easy for us and I had to supplement a lot to challenge my kids. I would still use some of their resources because I like how pretty it is I just know it’s not enough.
Thanks for sharing! We have just started using TGTB math for my kindergarten. I love it so far and wanted to look more into it for future years and/or different subjects since I see so many people using it.
Hey,
We are going with Abeka for 2023 to 2024 and going forward. So many love it for the earlier elementary and high school years. We like it for our children because someone else can teach our children. They do have video lessons. A piece of advice: Don't let your children not being not interested in a certain curriculum change the your curriculum choice. Children need structure for adulthood. Changing curriculum so much leaves frustration at least for our children and gaps in their learning. Make sure you at least pray and fast on this big decision. I wouldn't choose a curriculum that is not solid and doesn't have structure. With that being said, TGATB is a beautiful curriculum but not solid. You do need to supplement a lot with it according to my friends that use the curriculum. For our children we want a curriculum that they will use for ever. Abeka is high priced, but worth it all from our understanding. I don't suggest watching so many new curriculum here on RUclips because it can get overwhelming. You are a great mom. You know what's best. I'm guessing that's why you decided to homeschool in the first place. Remember your reason why. Remember there is no perfect curriculum no matter what.
Thanks!
Thanks! All the changes we made are working great for us!
Same! But it only took me a year to figure this out! It was a great start but I could see it wasn’t something I would stick with long term. My oldest just didn’t care about all the fluff! Like it was cute to look at but she didn’t care one bit. We switched to Singapore Math and she never even asked for TGTB math ever!
Everything has a season. We have curriculum that we either dropped or never finished because it just wasn't serving us.
👏👏👏
We are looking into TGATB Math only right now with our first child for when we begin homeschooling. He is still very young but I am a major planner and I like to think years in advance and research curriculum from all different places. I think it seems really worthwhile for young children but I am not sure what we will do yet for older children. However, as someone who did Saxon math as a child, I will tell you for me and my siblings it was awful. Most of us began flopping and doing terribly at around Math 87. I feel Saxon Math does not have enough explanation in the beginning of the lessons. I got to Algebra and basically quit math, because I couldn't do it. I went onto Khan academy, which helped a bit, but I only succeeded in Math through college. I think it works out very well for people who are more mathematically minded, so hopefully it works well for you guys.
I used Saxon Math when I was being homeschooled in the 90s and hated it. My oldest (11) switched to TGTB in Level 3 after hating Math-U-See, and he's benefited so much. He's working at a math level "behind" his grade level (level 5 right now), but even so his math test scores last year were unbelievably good. I was shocked. Different curriculum works better or worse for different children!
I 100% agree with your video. I do not use the good and the beautiful for math under grade 4. It's too much fluff. I do like their language arts but I do not like their spelling and writing at all! It's just not enough.
We used TGTB last year Level 1 and it was good, but this year with Level 2 math and LA is not really working well. I mean I see lots of gaps. We are switching back to Abeka.
My son and I hated TGTB level 4 LA. We dropped it after about half the level. A few years later we came back and he is doing the new LA 5 and I actually LOOOOVE IT. But, he won't continue after this level because it is back to the old, boring format. I am thinking either EIW and Lit units from Rainbow Resources (trying Novel-ties and Novel Units soon to see how they go) or IEW fix it and Structure and style. But my kids find SS so long and tedious :( for math my kiddos love CLE. It reminds me a lot of Saxon but a lot less expensive. My son did teaching textbooks for several years and got to a point where he couldn't advance because of so many gaps. He was in tt 7 and had to go all the way back to cle 4! He is now in level 7 cle math and doing fantastic, but still a year behind in math because of so much time wasted and knowledge gaps due to TT. SO, I dont ever recommend TT for math no matter how tempting those hands off computer lessons may be🤣
We tried teaching textbooks and I 100000% agree way to many gaps it was not a good curriculum
I’m leaving G&B for miacademy and Miaprep this year not because I didn’t enjoy G&B but because I need to switch to a digital curriculum this year. I’m thinking of supplementing here and there with G&B though because I’m sad not to use it.
We used Miacademy when we very first started homeschooling, I really liked it BUT did not feel like it was enough.
@@gatheredandgroundedhomeschool yep, not enough for some subjects but I like using unit studies and other resources that I can always add on. I just can’t do it that way full time anymore so miacademy keeps them working independently for a few hours then I jump in with supplements.
My sister has been using tgatb for my niece for the last 3 years and she’s had a great experience with it.I did a lot of the lessons it’s her the second year and i thought it was really good. I am pretty new to home schooling and My boys are starting first grade and I’m doing tgatb with them this year.
Thats awesome
Were done with the good and the beautiful as well. My 4th grader hated the fluff as well. We decided to go with iew and spelling u see for language arts and horizons and teaching textbooks. I wanted to do saxson but I couldn't do it.
We’re not new to homeschooling but use TGATB math and LA for my 4th grader. I was going to change the LA because I think the content is boring, but my son begged me to keep it. He’s really good at math, and is learning plenty with TGATB, though he thinks it’s easy. I don’t think it’s fair to say that people who use the curriculum don’t aspire for their kids to excel in math. It’s middle of the road as far as difficulty goes. We tried Abeka last year and my son was miserable because it was so boring and tedious, not difficult. It’s ok that it’s not working well for your family though.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I’ve decided I’m only using it for phonics PRE K, K, maybe grade 1 as a fun introduction and I love it for that but then switch to CLE for grade 2
I would like to see your planning for long term.
Search my channel I have those videos made ❤️
Oh my goodness. I feel the exact same way! Same reasons. We are still using TGTB but gah it's driving me crazy. Like I love it for some reasons but it's not working for my oldest