The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts courses for Levels 4 and 5, now in their fourth editions, have undergone major changes from previous editions in both format and content. The next editions of Levels 6 and 7, published in a similar format, should also become available in 2026, with Level 8 to follow. The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts courses are available as free downloads, but printed books can be purchased.
Two course books for each course present both instructional information and student activities, as in previous editions. However, their layout is much different, and other course components have changed.
Course Components
Each course has course books, three novels for Level 4 and five novels for Level 5 (published by The Good and the Beautiful), and an answer key. The Simply Good and Beautiful App includes a Simply Spelling tab that provides essential online spelling lessons. Other course content is also presented through the free app for vocabulary and reading skills practice, audio narrations, work with geography and grammar flashcards, grammar songs and videos, and art videos. The grammar songs and videos, and the art videos, are usually optional, but they expand on lesson material within the course book and will be helpful to some students. Note that the app is most compatible with computers and doesn't work as well on smaller screens.
Optional course items are a spelling workbook, a handwriting workbook, and the Quick Reference Guide.
How The Courses Work
The courses are presented in 120 lessons, divided into six units. The new course books make it easier to see what’s happening in each unit and each lesson, especially through the two unit-overview pages that preface each unit. Unit overview pages identify the unit’s theme, the main message (attitude or virtue), correlated novel, flashcards to study, supplies needed, and detailed lists of skills and concepts to be learned under the lesson headings (i.e., Grammar & Usage, Reading Comprehension, etc.).
While these revised courses have lots of variety in the lesson activities, there’s more uniformity in the lesson activities than in previous editions. This allows students to more quickly recognize what to do on each page.
Sections of each lesson are identified under headings for Grammar, Literature, Reading & Writing, Spelling, Vocabulary Review, Vocabulary & Reading Skills (only in Level 5), The Power of Poetry, Gratitude Journal, Geography, and Art.
The course books direct students when to use the app for part of a lesson.
Reading and Literature
Course books present one or two reading comprehension questions for each reading assignment from the novels. Whisper Creek for Level 4 is an exception as it identifies alternating sections for students and parents to read and includes discussion questions and vocabulary study within the novel. Students will sometimes write paragraphs in response to questions regarding content in the novels, and some sentences from the novels are used within grammar exercises. Interestingly, reading comprehension skills are often taught within sections of lessons about art or geography, such as Level 5’s Art lesson about an artist named Hector Moncayo, which is used to teach students how to identify the main idea of a paragraph.
As with the art lesson, sections under particular headings (e.g., Grammar, Reading & Writing) almost always involve more than one aspect of language arts. For instance, page 187 in Part 1 of the coursebook for Level 4 has a literature lesson that assigns reading from Leo and the Lighthouse. Students are asked to write a sentence in response to a question regarding the story. A checklist above the writing lines lists two items for students to check: capitalized character names and proper spacing between letters and words. So this literature lesson includes reading comprehension and composition, plus elements of grammar and handwriting.
Besides the assigned books and reading material within the course books, students are reminded at the end of each lesson: “At any time during the day, read a book from The Good and the Beautiful Book List for 20+ minutes” (Level 4 Course Book, Part 1, p. 101).
Composition
Level 4 covers skills such as basic sentence structure, punctuation, writing summaries, creative writing, writing dialogue, dressing up writing with adjectives and adverbs, various types of paragraphs (informative, how-to, comparison, and opinion), letter writing, essay structure, and poetry writing.
Level 5 continues to develop essay writing skills with persuasive, comparative, opinion, and informative essays. Students also practice writing a hymn and a poem. More attention is given to word choice and literary techniques used in writing, such as the use of similes and personification.
Grammar and Usage
Lessons include extensive practice with grammar and the correct usage of punctuation, capitalization, sentence structures, and grammatical elements. Sentence diagramming exercises are used to reinforce grammar. Students also learn to use editing markups in exercises within the lessons.
Handwriting and Typing
Handwriting is practiced in the Gratitude Journal, in the Reading & Writing subsections titled Sentences that Shine, in short answers to questions, and in lengthier compositions. Occasional notes in the course books tell parents that students need to learn to type as they work through Levels 4 and 5, if they haven’t already done so, since Level 6 will require typed essays.
Art (and Cooking)
Each unit designates two lessons as Project Lessons. Usually, one project involves painting (usually with watercolors), and the other cooking or a craft. Detailed instructions teach students how to work with watercolors. Some art appreciation is also developed indirectly through occasional lessons where an artwork is discussed as students read about the artist (reading comprehension) or artistic techniques (vocabulary), or as the artwork is used in conjunction with a grammar lesson.
Cooking activities include recipes and instructions.
Geography
Geography lessons are more significant than you would expect. For instance, a two-page lesson in Level 5 teaches the geography of South America and includes several questions that require both reading comprehension and map reading. Most geography lessons focus on narrower topics, such as the Amazon River Basin.
The set of Grammar and Geography Cards teaches basic land formations and other geographic terms. The cards can also be studied online through the app. In addition to activities on the Good and Beautiful app, some lessons in Level 4 teach students how to use Google Maps.
Geography is also sometimes integrated with sections of lessons, such as the Vocab & Reading Skills section on page 5 of Level 5 that introduces vocabulary words within a short article on the Andes Mountains.
Lessons in Level 4 teach about Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Hawaii, Hispaniola, islands of the world, lighthouses, the Mediterranean Sea, Monhegan Island, and the Strait of Gibraltar, while lessons in Level 5 are about Africa, California, Canada, Germany, national parks, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and South America.
Do You Need Spelling Workbooks?
Spelling lessons are on their own app and are not tied to the lessons, so students can proceed at their own pace.
The optional spelling workbooks have exercises that are not tied to word lists. Instead, they can be used with whatever words students are studying in the app. For instance, an exercise that appears frequently in the workbooks asks students to write words “in chunks as seen in the app.” Students with good handwriting and spelling skills might be able to skip the spelling workbooks. See my review of the spelling app for more about the spelling workbooks.
Quick Reference Guide
The Language Arts & Literature Quick Reference Guide: Levels 4-8 is a 154-page handbook that can be used across grades four through eight. The largest section covers grammar, but it also covers usage (capitalization, punctuation, sentence structures, etc.), literary terms, diagramming, Greek and Latin roots, lists of vivid verbs and other such lists to improve writing, lists of homophones and commonly confused words, and lists of vocabulary words and definitions that are divided into sections for levels 4 through 8.
Parental Input
Students should be able to complete most of their lessons on their own, aside from read-aloud with a parent in Level 4. Parents can continue to read aloud with older students, or they can have them listen to audiobooks that are above their reading level. Most lessons can be used by students in an open-and-go fashion without any advance prep except for projects. Students are directed on when to use the app. Parents need to check student work using answer keys, either printed or downloaded. Parents can supervise art and cooking projects as needed. Note that the Good and Beautiful app includes a teacher dashboard where you can add a student and change settings.
Religious Content
The courses are written from a non-denominational Christian point of view. For example, page 11 in Level 5 teaches about cardinal directions in a geography lesson, and it concludes with a paragraph about the light of Jesus being unchanging and constant, and that “We can rely on His light to find direction in our lives.” It adds a quote from John 8:12, then asks students to complete a sentence about how Christ’s light guides them.
Summary
The newest editions of Language Arts courses for Levels 4 and 5 are easier for both parents and students to use. The integration of topics across skill areas, as well as the inclusion of art, geography, and cooking, makes the courses more interesting than many others.
It's hard to believe these are still free courses when so much work has obviously been devoted to their development. Even if you purchase the printed version of the courses, they are a terrific value.
