The Good and the Beautiful
For Kindergarten…
If you haven’t already added The Good and the Beautiful to your homeschool curriculum line up, you are definitely missing out! Making the switch from online schooling to The Good and the Beautiful was hands down the best decision I have ever made for our homeschool. If you’re still on the fence about switching up curriculum, I highly encourage you to check out some of the articles below.
Online Schooling & Pros & Cons highlights our journey from strict online schooling through a local public school system, to homeschooling with hand picked curriculum at a pace I control.
The Best Language Curriculum for Preschoolers is an overview of The Good and the Beautiful level K Primer. This is a curriculum for older preschoolers that aren’t quite ready to make the plunge into into level K just yet!
Teaching History to Your Homeschooler walks through how we use The Good and the Beautiful History 1 as a family led learning time!
Just looking for The Good and the Beautiful Level K hacks? Scroll down!
Level K Hacks
If you’re anything like me, you are simply figuring out this homeschool mom thing as you go along. I wasn’t blessed with all sorts of homeschool knowledge the second I decided to keep my kids home with me. I had to figure out what worked and what didn’t, alongside my children. Thankfully, those moments of learning have always been followed by an incredible “AHA!” moment.
Figuring it out is seriously the best feeling in the world you guys!!
These simple hacks are things I have picked up and incorporated into our current homeschool year. The Good and the Beautiful language arts curriculum is already incredibly simple to use and level K is no exception. With that said, these hacks have made it even easier on me as a mom!
Hack #1
Binder clips
for holding your place…
Seriously though! If you aren’t already using binder clips for place holding, start now! Binder clips came into the picture last year when we first started using The Good and the Beautiful.
Looking for other hacks to use in your homeschool? Check out 5 Simple Homeschool Tips & Kid Hacks
Detailed Break Down
How I use binder clips for The Good and the Beautiful Level K
First and foremost, I leave pages 1-16 completely un-clipped!
I do this simply because that is the place where sight word ladders, spelling lists and poetry memorization all call home. It easily separates those things from the individual lesson plans and allows easy access to them whenever I decide to fit them into our lesson.
Second, I clip page 17 up to the page we are currently working on.
Obviously as time goes on, the amount of clipped pages increases. We are about half way through our book, so this method still works out just fine. However, I may add a second clip down the road if needed. For now though, one works great!
Lastly, I use my binder clip for what I like to call double duty!
This means holding additional things needed for the current lesson, like mini books for example! Something I absolutely love about The Good and the Beautiful curriculum is the little check boxes throughout each lesson. These check boxes help me keep track of what my children need to do next.
However, If you are familiar with level K, you know the mini books are typically a read for 3 days in a row activity. This can quickly become a forgotten task if you are already finished with the rest of the lesson. Binder clips to the rescue! I simply clip the book (or books) my little one is currently reading right to the current lesson we are working through. This is an easy reminder that we still have a little more reading to do from past lessons.
Hack #2
Boogie Board
for sentence dictation…
As you dive into The Good and the Beautiful level K, you will notice a lot of lessons call for word or sentence dictation. While I do think this is a great practice for young learners, it can also be a frustrating task for them. We started our school year off by simply using a regular notebook for all dictation work. It got the job done, but it wasn’t anything special.
Boogie boards work wonders for word and sentence dictation tasks.
A short while into our current homeschool year, we decided to take homeschool learning to our local library for the day. Teaching lessons at the library for an entire day was not only a learning experience for the kids, but for this homeschool mom as well! I quickly came to the conclusion that I needed to figure out a way to make this a simpler task… for me!
Want to try your own day of homeschooling at the library?
You can find my full list of tips right here Homeschool Ideas & Schooling at the Library.
One of those solutions was a boogie board! While I originally purchased it to eliminate the need for traveling with a dry erase board and markers, it also works wonders for sentence dictation! My daughter pretty much uses her boogie board for word and sentence dictation on a daily basis. Somehow this amazing product turned a mundane task into something goofy and fun, go figure!
Hack #3
Spelling Box
for creative spelling…
When I first started teaching my daughter with The Good and the Beautiful level K, spelling seemed to be something we both dreaded. I immediately knew that simply practicing orally or writing them down multiple times a week wasn’t going to cut it!
My daughter is constantly on the go and ultimately thrives when creativity is involved! So after some much needed digging through curriculum aides we already had on hand, then purchasing 1 or 2 more… our spelling box came to life!
This box is great you guys! It literally keeps my daughter busy for 20 or 30 minutes at a time, and guess what?? She’s totally learning the entire time!! This is a HUGE win!
Want to Create Your own Spelling Box?
You can easily start with these simple staples…
Want a full break down of our personal spelling box?
You can find ours right here The Kindergarten Spelling Box. If you love the idea of a spelling box, but need more of out of the box ideas, check out Hands on Ways to Practice Kindergarten Spelling Words for even more fun ways to teach spelling to your level K kiddo!
Hack #4
Supplies needed list
for being prepared…
This! This totally saved my sanity you guys! While yes, The Good and the Beautiful curriculum is amazingly easy and has does have an open and go type approach, I’m a huge planner. I like to know what’s coming up and I thrive best with a plan in hand. A few weeks into our school year I quickly realized I needed yet another list for our homeschool.
Luckily, I can voice a simple concern to my husband and he can whip up a solution for my problem in a matter of minutes. While this list is incredibly simple, it’s also incredibly useful for this homeschool mom!
Want to know more about how I use advance prepping for our homeschool? You can find a detailed break down, plus a printable of our supplies needed list in 3 Homeschool Tips For a Smoother Week. These tips are seriously game changers you guys!
Our Supplies Needed List
a breakdown for level K…
- Look over all lessons or pages you plan to complete for the upcoming week.
- Jot down supplies such as mini book titles, boogie board, scissors, or other random items that are out of the ordinary.
- Simply glance over your supplies needed list before starting language arts with your kinder each day!.
This simple process allows me to prep for our entire lesson in a simple minute, maybe two. No more running around looking for supplies mid lesson!
Those of you that currently use The Good and the Beautiful level K, already know that sometimes lessons are best done split up over several days time. Having a supplies needed list works wonders for this type of curriculum! I sometimes use our supplies needed list for a reminder for how I want to break up the lesson over the next few days, which in turn allows me to jump back and forth however I need to without missing something!
Hack #5
Laminator
for reusing favorites…
For real though. If you don’t already own a laminator, are you even a homeschool mom? Haha!
In all seriousness, investing in a laminator is one of the smartest decisions I’ve made in our homeschool over the last 2 years. Since we started using The Good and the Beautiful curriculum, I have found that there are certain activities my young daughter wants to do over and over again. I knew right off the bat that if I wanted these activities to last so she could do them whenever she wanted, I needed to laminate.
Not all laminators are created equal though, if you want a good one I highly suggest doing a little research! When my first laminator bit the dust, I looked around, read reviews, and eventually settled on a new one. I was a little nervous about trying a new brand, (because my first laminator had issues from the get go) but I ended up being super happy with the one I got!
Interested in the laminator we use for our homeschool?
You can find ours right here.
Activities We Have Laminated
for future use…
From the level K language arts
- Rhyming Cupcakes (pg 56)
- Silent E Job #1 Chart (pg 132)
- Cloud Path (pg 133)
- Zoo Path (140)
My daughter still has quite a bit of learning to do, so I’m sure this list will grow!
I have also laminated countless activities from the K Primer as well as many, many bonus activies from the K Math book!
Best Tip of All
for The Good and the Beautiful Level K…
Ok guys, this is a good one! Remember that no 2 moms homeschool alike. These are your children, this is your homeschool and you get to decide what works or doesn’t work for your family! Take some time to look over your curriculum and find your own solutions as well! While I do think all these hacks make the task of teaching my kindergartner a little easier, they might need a little tweaking for your child.
Don’t be afraid to break lessons up the way you need to! Do things in order or do them completely out of order, your choice! Most importantly though, find what works best for your homeschool!
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