 Hi you guys my name is Brittany and welcome back to my YouTube channel. You guys in today's video I'm going to share with you all of my curriculum fails for the year of 2021 to 2022. So I cannot wait to share with you guys all of my curriculum fails in today's video. So if any of you guys are new here to my channel again my name is Brittany. I am a homeschooling mom to three girls ages 10, 3, and 2. I'm in my second year of homeschooling. So you guys before I start today's video I want to give a huge disclaimer. If I mention any curriculum that is working well for you and your family please don't let my experiences and my opinions of this curriculum discourage you from using what you already have and are loving and is working in your household. I just want to make that big disclaimer because I do not want anyone to leave this video feeling like you have to change everything up in your homeschool based off of my experiences with these curriculums. So yeah. So you guys this video I'm not going to lie it's it's a really hard one for me to make. However I really feel like I need to make this video because if you guys have followed me along my second year of homeschooling you would have noticed that my major problem in my homeschool was really trying to find a curriculum that was going to work well with my daughter. I feel like every homeschooler has this year and that they go through this and this year my second year of homeschooling was the year that I had a lot of curriculum fails. However you guys I am really blessed and happy that I had those fails because if I didn't I wouldn't be at the place where we are in our homeschool today where things are just working and they're flowing and I feel so blessed that we are family at this point. So yeah. So you guys let's go ahead and get into the curriculum fails. Of course as you guys already know I have notes in my phone that's just how I roll here and I want to make sure I keep this video as short and concise and to the point as I possibly can for you. So you guys also too I don't have any physical copies of this curriculum to show you. I sold most of these curriculum pieces. I was able to get money back from the curriculum to be able to purchase a new curriculum. So I'm really happy that I wasn't out any finances or anything like that. So I don't have any like physical copies to show you. However I do have a lot of flip-throughs that I can put in the video today. So you guys will be able to get a little glance inside of how these curriculums do look on the inside if I do have some flip-throughs on my hard drive. So okay now let's go ahead and get into the video. So you guys my first curriculum fail of the year was a math curriculum fail and honestly I really feel like it wasn't really a fail once you hear everything. So we started off our year using Singapore Dimensions for A. The pros about Singapore Dimensions is that it is great in abstract mental and conceptual math. It is great for a mathematically inclined child. The lessons are colorful and engaging and the teacher's guide you guys in Singapore Dimensions is like laid out so beautifully. I mean if you need a math curriculum that's going to hold your hand that teacher guide is definitely holds your hand when it comes to teaching Singapore Dimensions. Singapore Dimensions math is a different way of math versus our regular traditional math that we have learned here in the United States. And with it being such a different type of math in a different way that math concepts is brought about I really love how they made that teacher's guide very thorough. For a parent who hasn't learned math concepts that way they're still able to teach their child which is beautiful. I like that they have the black line masters as far as like extra resources online for free that you can print off that goes along with the Singapore Dimensions math. Another thing that I liked about it is that Singapore Dimensions math is now introducing video lessons so you can buy the Singapore Dimensions also get the subscription for the video lessons if that's something that you are looking for. So you guys this is so sad my only con about Singapore Dimensions honestly is that it did not personally fit the season of life that I'm in. I have two very busy toddlers. I am busy all day long and this math was too teacher intensive for me. It took me about an hour to get through a lesson with my daughter because she did not start off Singapore Dimensions from the very beginning. We were coming in it at fourth grade so it was a lot of concepts that she's never seen before that I had to introduce to her. But I will say I did see fruit coming from Singapore Dimensions the time that we did spend with it. Some of the concepts she learned about place value in Singapore Dimensions she actually still uses to this day because it just was beautifully laid out. If I didn't have my two toddlers and I had more time to dedicate to math honestly you guys I really don't think that I would have stopped using Singapore Dimensions math. With that being said Singapore Dimensions math may be a math that I might go to when it comes to homeschooling my younger two kids just because I really loved and enjoyed the program. Before I gave a final quick to Singapore Dimensions math I did try the video lessons for my daughter. They do have the free samples to see if that might work out for her. However she told me she understood the concepts better when I taught them to her and I used a teacher guide. And at the end of the day you guys I really just couldn't commit that time to allow the Singapore Dimensions to really be used in its full effect. So that really was my only con about it. I was really sad to hang up that particular curriculum but I just had to for the season of life I'm in if I still was trying to hold on to it. I know we would not be as far along in math as we are now. So two other math curriculums that did not work for us. I recently made a video about it. I will go ahead and link it in the iCards and in the description box below. A Becca Arithmetic and the Good and the Beautiful Simply Math 4 did not work for us. I made a whole video about that and I went into further detail. However in this video I'm just going to read briefly my cons and my pros about it and yeah. So a Becca Arithmetic 4 my cons was that it advanced too quickly and I didn't like the teacher's lesson plan. I really felt like it didn't hold my hand as much as I would have liked it to when teaching harder concepts. If the Becca Arithmetic did not go so fast I could see myself still using that curriculum. I love the repetition that it allows and it gives the kids to actually master arithmetic. My pros is that it is a solid curriculum. My daughter you guys I never disclose this here on my channel but I'm going to let you guys know this here. After my daughter finished the Becca Arithmetic 3 I had to give her what is it a standardized test in our first year of homeschooling because that is the year that Georgia requires you to test your children. I was very nervous about giving her that standardized test. However I was very pleased with her math scores. After finishing a Becca Arithmetic 3 my daughter placed in sixth grade math on the CAT exam and I cannot believe she tested so well and I did not realize how strong and solid a Becca Arithmetic was. I feel like that was why it was so hard for me to let that math go because I seen the fruit of that math just by us using it consistently for our first year of homeschooling. However like it comes a season where you do have to put things down and they don't work for you and our season with a Becca that's just what happened. I really feel like the reason why it probably didn't work is that I do know that they did an update on the a Becca Arithmetic grades K through 3. However they are slowly making updates on the higher elementary level grades and since they didn't make that update I feel like if the update was made the Becca Arithmetic probably would be great because I really enjoyed a Becca Arithmetic 3. It was great. It was solid. It was thorough and I really love seeing the fruits from it. So yeah. Alright so as far as the Good and the Beautiful Simply Math my prose about it I feel like it's beautiful. I mean it's in its name. I feel like the lessons they seem to be very fun and engaging. They had a different interactive way to teach math which I enjoyed however my daughter didn't and I went further in that in my other video. The video lessons you guys they were awesome. I loved how they bought in real life math concepts. They were visually engaging and ultimately I loved it too because it allowed the kids to have a sense of independence when it comes to math for them to be able to watch their video lesson and get straight on into their lesson and mix practice. The cons I felt like the Good and the Beautiful it really lacked a good spiral practice in their lessons. I feel like their lessons was kind of bouncy and scattered. I feel like they would talk about fractions in one lesson. Two lessons they would do geometry and then they would come back to fractions and I really didn't see like a systematic way in which concepts were built upon in the Simply Good and Beautiful Math. Okay you guys if you made it this far then those were all of my math curriculum fails this year. So let's go ahead and get into language arts and my curriculum fails for language arts and just as I have some with math I have some with language arts too. Okay so you guys we started off our school year using the Good and Beautiful coursebook level four and the readers. The pros about the Good and Beautiful language arts I would say is that they're very strong in grammar and the diagramming of sentences. It exposes children to a variety of literary devices and elements in such a younger elementary age because for level four I really feel like they they incorporate a lot of literary devices that I haven't seen yet introduced in some of the curriculum that I have used. So I really feel like they were strong in that. The lessons again they were beautiful. They were fun. They were engaging. I really feel like it pulls the kids in. The Good and Beautiful language arts it incorporates so many subjects. I mean you have your art. You have your geography. Your spelling. Your grammar. Your reading. Your literature. So it's really just everything all in one course curriculum. So you're able to get a lot of subjects touched on at once. The cons I felt like the Good and Beautiful language arts I really feel like it lacks diversity. I feel like it lacks diversity in its geography and its readers and its art selection. I feel like the Good and Beautiful is not if you're looking for an inclusive curriculum I feel like you're not really going to find it there in the Good and Beautiful. I have noticed in some of their updates they are doing a lot better in adding in a little bit more of different types of arts and things as they're rolling in their updates but some of the curriculum that they still have out there I feel like it does lack diversity. I feel like the lessons can be very lengthy. When my daughter was doing the Good and Beautiful our first two weeks of homeschooling in our second year it was taking her a whole hour to complete the course book. The spelling and writing workshop. The reading. The sign reading that they had her doing. So it was very lengthy in the amount of time that it was taking her to finish her language arts. And my daughter she did not enjoy the readers. She felt like the readers was very boring. She felt like she couldn't relate to the characters and the readers. And I feel like that's something that's very important to me is to allow my daughter to be able to see herself through the lenses of the characters that she is written about especially when you want your kids to get introduced to a good literature. You want them to be enthusiastic about reading. I feel like it does come to a point especially as they get older where they are going to have to read pieces that they may not like. But at this young age and early elementary guys or upper elementary I still feel like they should be reading things that they enjoy and that they like. Ultimately I steered away from the Good and Beautiful because I felt like it took away my daughter's creativity. My daughter is very strong in writing and she automatically does writing throughout the day. Every afternoon I don't have to tell her to do it. She just wants to do creative writing. She wants to do story writing. She's very strong in that aspect. So with me giving her this all in Cummingson curriculum it really was taken away the time that my daughter would have spent on doing something that she naturally loves into this. When she was doing the Good and Beautiful course book she was just tired at the end of the day and she didn't want to think about writing. And it's just crazy because that's all I see her do all the time. So I really was looking for a language arts curriculum that was going to be more thorough and concise and less scattery when it comes to the grammar concepts. I really probably was just looking for just something that was separate just a good strong grammar and a composition English. So ultimately we did steer away from the Good and the Beautiful language arts pretty early in our homeschooling year in our second year. Okay you guys we then went to master books language lessons for a living education. I use master books language lessons for a living education in our first year of homeschooling and I really feel like if you're just starting off homeschooling from the beginning I really feel like master books is a good curriculum to just start off on. The lessons are very short sweet simple master books language lessons for a living education is very open and go curriculum. It incorporates if you are looking for something that's a Christian curriculum it is a Christian curriculum it incorporates the Bible in almost every lesson. I really feel like master books language lessons for a living education is a great curriculum for someone who does and likes unschooling where you're going to be doing other aspects like of your literature and your reading you just need something that's going to be short sweet concise language lessons. I feel like that's where master books is a strength for that Charlotte Mason type of flair homeschooler. My cons about master books is that I feel like the lessons are sometimes bouncy and they're kind of scattered when it comes to the grammar. I feel like it does lack the mastery for certain grammar concepts and things I feel like using master books is a good spine however you will find yourself having to grab other resources to supplement it and if that's something that you're okay with then master books is going to work perfectly fine for you. I was okay in our first year of homeschooling kind of gathering pieces to supplement master books as I was kind of getting used to curriculum and I'm going to tell you guys master books you know it did serve me very well in my first year of homeschooling. I feel like when the good and the beautiful language arts did not work for me I was so quick to go back to master books because it did work out for us however we ultimately found a better fit when it came to grammar and composition in our homeschool but you guys master books it still will have like a special place in my heart it was where I started off from and I feel like it gave me the confidence that I needed as a homeschooling mom and a parent starting off homeschooling and it's it's great I still love it and I definitely would recommend master books especially if you're a beginner. Okay you guys my last curriculum fail and I really don't know if this was a curriculum fail or a preference was the good and the beautiful science units. The pros about the good and the beautiful science units was that they are very beautiful they're engaging they're fun they have a lot of activities and experience they're very it's very experiment heavy I feel like the science units are very much Charlotte Mason type of flair where you're reading you're using your hands it's not any like writing or questions or comprehension checks or anything like that you're really presenting the information to your kids you're really learning science with your hands and yeah that is really the pros about the curriculum I really enjoy of the science units those little mini readers I think that's what they're called. I really enjoyed those mini readers because they were really jam-packed with good information when you are going over the science with the kids. My cons about the good and beautiful science units was that I was personally looking for something that was going to give like some type of quiz tests written comprehension I still was looking for that type of traditional approach when it came to science again I live in a state of Georgia and I have to test my daughter if I did not live in a state that requires standardized testing I think that I will be okay with this approach with science however I know she has to get tested so I have to be able to find a way for me to understand and see that she is gaining a true knowledge in these areas and I know I could have come up with you know written comprehension things on my own little quizzes and things like that on my own but I really feel like that takes away from a curriculum being open and go and ready for you and that is that was definitely one of my major cons about it. I felt very overwhelmed with the amount of activities and experiments in each lesson. Now if you have all school age kids I really would say you would be perfectly fine using this curriculum but if you're like me and you have like one school age kid and very younger kids or you know things like that I really feel like you may want to like break up the lessons into like maybe two or three days while doing them don't do a whole lesson at once because again it can be very lengthy it could be very time consuming and if you do use the science units I would definitely say get everything you need and that whole you know all the experiments all the every little thing that it says that you need in your supply list that master supply list at the beginning just get it at the beginning of the year prep the whole entire unit not just week by week prep the whole entire thing have everything ready and then I feel like you probably would be very successful in using those science units. However like I said before I was looking for a little bit more in science and that's what ultimately led me to make the decision to stop using the good and beautiful science units. So you guys I really hope today's video wasn't uh too long I really hope that um you were able to really gain a sense of all of my curriculum fails and why certain curriculums did not work in our household. You guys again like I said before all of these curriculums that I have mentioned in today's video I really feel like they all have pros again they all have cons too. I am learning in my homeschooling journey that no curriculum is perfect however you have to find the close to perfect fit for you and make that work in your homeschool. So you guys thank you so much for watching today's video I hope you enjoy these like curriculum review videos if you are enjoying them please give me a thumbs up please let me know in the comments down below if you would like to see more. I hope to see everybody in my next video. Bye!