Has anyone tried Jenny Phillips the good and the beautiful curriculum? It is a free curriculum that I recently found. It looks really good. I was wondering if anyone has used it and what your thoughts are. I am thinking about trying the 4th grade when it comes out this summer.
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I have never used this, but I checked out her website & I like what I see. It’s hard to believe it’s free! We are going to look into it more when the upper elementary level comes out. Thanks for sharing about this. I had never heard of it until your post.
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I have been using this curriculum this year with my son for kindergarten and I absolutely love it! I’m planning on using the 1st grade version with him next year. It’s easy to follow. There is very little preparation I have to do and it not only teaches him grammar, phonics, etc but exposes him to art and poetry, all while teaching him character as well! Love it, love it, love it! I will plan on using this all the way through 6th grade as long as it continues to work for him! And it’s free! How much better can it get?
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Thank you so much for mentioning this! I decided to check it out, I have never heard of it before. I think you have saved our 1st graders year for Grammar. I want to take a relaxed approach and planned to use English Lessons through Literature and perhaps First Language Lessons if we sped through that, but I also wanted to do some writing and spelling, I was thinking of Growing with Grammar and Soaring with Spelling, but this program looks like it will save me some money! 
It looks pretty solid and FUN! I will most likely look into the Upper Elementary Grades myself. YAY!
Is this meant to be a consumable product that is reprinted for each child?
It looks like it. There are mini reading books for a few grades and printable flash cards which will be reused. Other than that I think it is fully consumable.
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It looks good. I watched the video on their website about this curriculum, also the sample books. very good idea and design. I see at the bottom of the website that the author is from LDS church. So is this a curriculum designed for children from mormon church?
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I noticed that too, but from some little things I saw her write it is a multi denominational/non denominational product which focuses on God and righteousness. I looked through the one I printed so far and it seems fine.
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Which level did you print and how many pages are there?
I printed Kindergarten so far- including the cover etc… it was 218 pages
there are also mini books to be printed and phonics cards. The mini books would be double sided and it was 44pages (single sided) including instructions, then there are phonics cards also 44pages including instructions which would also be double sided.
Grade 1 is 322 pages including the cover, mini books=32 pages incl instructions- to be printed double sided, phonics cards are 44 pages but seem to be the same as the kindergarten cards.
Grade 2 has a part 1 and part 2. Part 1= 233 pages. Prt 2= 230 pages.
Activity packet= 47 pages
Phonics cards= 44 (still same cards as k, and grade 1)
Grade 3 has part 1 and 2. Part 1= 256pages Part 2=236 pages
Grammar and Geography cards= 61 pages
Has anyone used her handwriting curriculum? That one costs money so I’m wondering what the quality is of that before I spend money on it.
You can check the samples. It looked good from the samples and I was thinking of buying those too.
From what I read it states that it is non-denominational curriculum. I think it even stated that in the video that I watched on her site.
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If you decide to purchase GWG & SWS - they are both great, my sons loved them!
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Thank you, how long would you say a lesson took?
I would say on average 20 min. I don’t remember much longer than that unless they were procrastinating. 
Right now my 8yo is who is in 3rd grade is using the 4th grade GWG. Each lesson is 2 pages, so on Mon. & Wed we go over the lesson and he does 1 page, on Tue.& Thu he does finishes the lesson independently and on Fridays he does Editor in Chief. He really likes this schedule, it works for both of us, AND his favorite subject is Grammar so that’s a bonus. Oh…and his lesson takes about 10-15min (sometimes less) each lesson.
Hope that helps.
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That’s wonderful. I didn’t want anything that would take too long each day like some of the other curriculum I have chosen in the past. I may look into SWS and GWG again.
I looked at the sample and if you want traditional ball and stick writing it looks fine, but honestly for that style of handwriting a cheep dollar store workbook will do. If you don’t like ball and stick, ProgressivePhonics.com has a free handwriting curriculum which is pretty good (the link straight to it is broken, but you can find here half way down the page: http://www.progressivephonics.com/phonics-books/beginner-phonics-books). It’s similar to Handwriting Without Tears except with traditional school lines (3 lines with dotted in center).
I purchased this and thought it looked great. I like how she weaves in other activities to develop hand muscles ( and interest!).
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