I saw an email from a homeschool curriculum I use called The Good and the Beautiful.  It had a video and I decided to click.  NEVER do this unless you want to go chasing around in a rabbit hole!  Seriously… don’t feel like you need to watch these videos!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3aVVklWq_o&feature=youtu.be

Background: The person in the video (above) is Jenny Phillips.  She was so defensive, I wondered what was going one which led me to this video

which made me understand Jenny’s defensiveness.  There must have been a lot of backlash from this. Somehow, I decided to click on one more video that was a comparison of two curricula that we use.

I THEN proceed to read the comments to that video.

…Rabbit hole going deeper…

Most comments talked about what a biased review it was.  For some reason, I decide I need to write a “truly” unbiased review. 

Is there such a thing?  Being unbiased?

You can go look for my comment under the video and see if people have commented on my comment.  I’m not sure I want to know.

Before I submitted it, I thought for a while.  Why am I doing this?  Could it be helpful to someone?  I guess I decided it might be.  Here we go.  Storytime.  My response to the video review of Language Lessons for a Living Education vs. The Good and the Beautiful (A Comparison Review)

As it turns out, I use both of these curricula. This is an unbiased review of both. For real. Hang with me. Let’s start with full disclosure that I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. (Yep, I know it’s longer than the nickname that others give us, but we are passionate about Jesus and don’t mind saying the whole thing.)

I really never post comments on public forums, so enjoy this one.

I found The Good and the Beautiful (TGATB) when it was in the beta stage. That first year I actually printed out the downloads. NOT worth it! Believe me! The next year I was grateful they were beginning to offer a pre-printed version. Pricey, yes, but not more so than printing my own. My older son (11 or 12 at that point) was happy to work though TGATB. But my younger daughter (9-10 at that time) really dreaded doing the printed out TGATB pages. I wanted her to like it, but there is no point in buying something she won’t happily work in.

As the next school year began I didn’t know what to shift to.

(A side note… I’m OLD so kinda experienced… these are the last of 5 kids with my oldest in college now and second to oldest about to return from his mission in Utah! Ha! Our friends snicker that we need missionaries in Utah.)

So back to my quandary for my 10-year-old. I did what I always do when I have a question. I prayed. I did not want to spend a ton of time searching. (Don’t ask why I found this YouTube review…. we will chalk it up to the need for an unbiased review that God led me to.) So, I prayed to know what to do for my daughter. I heard “go search _____” . I have no idea what I was told to search.

Back before the turn of the millennium, I found CM and knew, though she was dead, I was not alone in my educational philosophy. I am always happy to find CM inspired stuff. Montessori too (that’s another story). I also like John Holt and Stephen Covey. (You have to go read the book I wrote about all that… this is already getting too long.) I’m pretty sure my google search had something to do with CM. That’s how I found *Language Lessons For A Living Education (LLFALE). (*Wow! More really long names!)

When I looked at the website and a few reviews I basically thought it might work (I was still cheering for Jenny Phillip’s team, but my daughter could not be dissuaded.) The feeling was actually stronger than “I thought it would work”… I felt I had been led to what would work without going through hours of research. I was grateful. My daughter agreed to use it. (If I buy it, they have to do the whole thing because, I mean, money!)

I thought I would get her an “easier than her level” book so she could feel encouraged that she could really do this on her own. She finished the book in January or February. I intended to have her work faster than one lesson a day since it was a little low level for her. As she approached the end of the book I asked if she wanted the next one or to go back to Jenny Phillilps. Remember, she has done both now. She wanted to have the next LLFALE book. Which I ordered and then would not let her start it until she did all those extra pages in the back of the book and all the stuff she accidentally skipped in the middle.

About two weeks later I was satisfied she had actually done everything and she was so excited to get to start the next level. (We all know that kids ALWAYS love a new curriculum. For about 2 days.)

She is now 11 and gets her work done. My 13-year-old boy works hard at the Jenny Phillip’s one. They are both happy. They both work. God could lead you to either one.

A little warning for my friends in Utah (I grew up there but have live in Missouri for 24 year)… there is a story line in the LLFALE about kids in a Sunday School class and the adult teacher leads them along in some Biblical studies. It is not Primary. It would not feel familiar to your kids. But I really like my daughter getting a feel for what her other Christian friends may experience. I think it’s cool to get to peak in on what it might be like in another denomination. You are warned.

If you want any more of my unbiased stuff, don’t look on comments for YouTube.   

Carol Webster… homeschool mom, author, yoga teacher

http://www.principlebasedlearning.com/  https://holdingspacepractice.com/https://www.amazon.com/Homeschooling-Those-Think-They-Cant-ebook/dp/B00FNI0E64