Math is my son’s favorite subject but I think most of it has to do with the fact that his Math lessons are fun!
This is the second Math curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful that we’re doing (after finishing Level K,) and we are still having a great time with it! We’ve done around 1/4 of the Level 1 so, I think it’s a good time to do our review!
What is The Good and the Beautiful?
The Good and The Beautiful provides homeschool curricula for various subjects such as Language Arts, Math, Science and more. Learn more here.
TGATB is based in the U.S. So if you live elsewhere, like me, you’ll have to either have the items shipped OR you can download the pdf versions and print on your own. (Continue reading below for my personal recommendations regarding shipping and printing on your own!)
To give you a background, we have already completed their Math program before. You can check out my review for The Good and the Beautiful Level K Math here. And because of our great experience with the Level K, we decided to continue and get The Good and the Beautiful Level 1 Math.
The Good and the Beautiful Level 1 Math
The Good and the Beautiful Level 1 Math covers the following topics, and more:
- Addition and Subtraction
- Odd and Even Numbers
- Patterns
- Shapes: 2D and 3D
- Simple Fractions
- Graphing
- Measuring Length and Area
- Time
- Days, Weeks, Months
- Money (I change it to local currency when we study)
You can check out a sample preview here for a complete list of their table of contents.
What is something different that we loved in this Level 1 set as compared to the Level K one was how it included a set for games inside! It was complete with pawns, dice and a game instruction booklet. The games are incorporated in the lessons.
Luke started with the Level 1 Math at 5 years and 9 months. He finished Level K Math around 2 months prior but we were waiting for the materials to arrive. He is officially enrolled as a Kindergartener and I understand that Level 1 is meant to cover Grade 1 lessons, but that’s one of the great things about homeschooling is you can follow your child’s pace!
Prep Time and Effort Needed:
Lessons: One of the things I appreciate about TGATB Math is that the style has always been open-and-go. You don’t need to prepare for the lessons beforehand, as long as you have the entire math activity box with you! Everything is already in the textbook and box!
However, I suggest reading up on the games beforehand. The games are relatively simply but when they appeared on the lessons, I wasn’t prepared and we didn’t have time to “study” the rules so we did it another time. If you want a seamless lesson, it will be better to read up before!
Materials: I ordered the complete physical set from the website and if you plan on doing the same, there’s minor prepping involved upon receiving the set. Some of the manipulatives need to be popped out from the cardboard sheets and sorted. But other than that, there is hardly anything else you’ll have to do!
Math Activity Box: Manipulatives
One of the things I really love about The Good and the Beautiful Math curriculum sets is having the beautiful manipulatives that come with it!
Coming from printing the digital files on my own, I was even more pleasantly surprised to see how well done the actual manipulatives and printouts are. Most of the items were printed in thick, glossy, high quality cardboard paper. Definitely a step up from my DIY laminated boards before. Haha.
I also love how they made sure everything was organized. There were empty zip bags provided and they were all labelled (!) so it’s easy to sort all the little items. The only thing I added to organize it better was to put foldable pullback clips to separate the boards for the games from the other A4 sized materials.
Level 1 Lessons
The Good and the Beautiful Level 1 Math lessons are short and simple. If you’re familiar with their Level K Math, it follows the same format:
- Daily dose: simple exercises that the kids do daily like writing the date, crossing off the days in the calendar and answering simple questions
- Lesson: Involves teaching the concept for the day, sometimes it includes a Math-related story
- Student Worksheet: Usually just a page that’s fast and easy to complete
- Bonus Activity: Sometimes games, tangram activity, simple crafts
My son has always enjoyed the Tangram and block activities even from the Level K set. It’s nice that the curriculum offers a lot of hands-on learning opportunities and not just worksheets to answer. Never been a fan of pure worksheet-based curricula.
Physical Set vs. Printing On Your Own
If you’ve read my Level K review, you’ll know that we’ve tried printing on our own and sourcing the manipulatives myself. IT WAS HARD. It took a lot of my time and effort to print everything out, cut, laminate and arrange them.
If you’re not really into DIY and if you don’t have a lot of time in your hands, I would encourage you to just get the complete physical set instead.
However, if budget is an issue or maybe you don’t have a way to have the items shipped, printing on your own is okay. I would recommend getting a third party printer to print and sort everything out for you instead though, to save time and effort. But that’s just me!
Overall Take on TGATB Level 1
- Still in love with the whole way the lessons are presented. Love the manipulatives, beautifully designed pages and fun games. It’s easy to see why it’s my son’s favorite.
- Open-and-Go format is always a win for me. I don’t like to prep for each lesson (and frankly don’t have the time to do that!) so this is perfect!
- Games are a great addition: Just make sure to read up on them before the lessons.
- If your child gets Math concepts fast, he may find some of the lessons too easy, just as my son did. However, I believe it’s still important to go through each lesson systematically. Sometimes I skip some lesson read-alouds (example, parts where the concepts of adding and taking away 1 are being taught) but I still make him do the worksheets and activities. I trust in the process and believe that it’s still important to go through everything for mastery.
Disclaimer: The Good and the Beautiful provided me with a complimentary Level 1 Math set for review. However, all opinions are unbiased and completely my own. (I have been a fan of their Math curriculum since Level K, which I purchased on my own.)
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