I’m Rachel, a second-generation homeschool mama to 5, passionate about my faith, healthy living, and teaching my kids to see the wonder of God’s creation. As a Christ-following homeschool mom, my desire is to encourage and equip other mamas on the journey of homeschooling that God has called you to.
If you want to reach out or collaborate, shoot me an email at reclaimingwonder7@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you!
My issue with this curriculum is that they claim to be a christian curriculum but besides the owner being a member of the LDS church there are people working for her who are Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist. None of these believe what orthodox christianity teaches. They have their own doctrines that are not biblical. Mormons believe that their God (Heavenly Father) was once a man who lived on another planet and worshipped a different God. The goal of mormonism is to become a God of your own planet, have a goddess wife, and give birth to many spirit children. Mormons also believe that Satan is Jesus' spirit brother. I could go on and on. After studying mormonism and the LDS church I found out that their beliefs are not even close to what Christians believe. They are not another denomination. I cannot support a curriculum that claims to be christians but uses people as reviewers that don't believe what christians ought to believe. Please do your own research.
@@mylifeintheusa4720 I’ve spoken to different members of the LDS church and assure you they don’t all believe the things you mentioned. I’m not an expert on denominations and religions, nor is it my place to make claims or accusations of what others may or may not believe. I do know that the curriculum includes nothing that goes against Gods word and is filled with Godly values. I wouldn’t use a Bible curriculum from a company filled with so many different denominations but I personally think it’s really cool that so many different people of varying denominations are able to come together within this company and work peaceably together. The things you mention are certainly far from my belief system that’s grounded in scripture, but I don’t have any worries about those things being in this curriculum. But I continue to pray for guidance on what I use in my family (not just curriculum but other media we consume) and trust the Holy Spirit to lead me. Thanks for sharing your perspective, I’d be curious to hear how members of the LDS church would respond to these claims. I know there are a lot of religions that have crazy beliefs steeped deep within them, but most members of that church/religion haven’t even heard of them nor believe them. Curious if there’s any of that within the Mormon church!
i’m a member of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and I love Jesus! thank you for your heartfelt video. Lovely to see someone not hating it immediately out of hand because of “mormonism”. (as other christian’s like to label us). also would encourage you to not try and guess if someone is going to be saved. That is for Jesus to decide. much love! thanks again.
@@michelleellingson8130 I love this! And I agree - it’s not our place to judge others salvation. We should love others with the same Christ-like love whether we believe them saved or not, we’re to be at peace with all men. I think those of different Christian denominations especially need to be better about appreciating our common ground instead of arguing over our differences ♥️
Mormons are not Christian. They have their own book (not the Bible) and their beliefs are way different from Christians. This has to be understood, because it brings the difference between denominations of the same religion to actually two different religions. They are fundamentally different and you cannot ignore that. So, even if the curriculum does not contain anything Mormon, it’s definitely not Christian either. You cannot label it Christian when the founder is LDS and definitely not in line with the Word of God.
@@trainthemintruth9414 from what I understand, Mormons believe in and use the Bible and also believe in Jesus Christ - which is why they are considered Christians. They have additional things they believe, including the Book of Mormon, that don’t line up with my beliefs but I’m not convinced that those are salvation issues. God is the judge of that, not us. The Good and the Beautiful contains many truths from scripture and nothing that goes against Gods word, it is written from a Biblical world view, which is what makes it a Christian company. I’m not an expert on denominations and religions, but even if I was that wouldn’t mean I know what’s in someone’s heart. I am very strict however on the media my family consumes and what I use to teach my children, and I have had no qualms or uneasiness about using this company. Thanks for sharing your perspective in a respectful way!
I agree full heartedly.❤ We started usimg tgtb last year and I am of non denominational faith. The curriculum hasnt said anything about mormonism in any of the lessons. I am a mom who really pays attention to every lesson and ai have a very sensitive spirit and I can pick up on a lot others may not see. ❤God will show me its not good if its not. So far we love it and will continue usong tgtb for language arts. We use Faithipedia for Bible and we attend church. I talk with my kids about our beliefs and I dont depend on their language arts to teach them about our faith. ❤
Dissenting opinion- 1. Supporting them is not the same as drinking Pepsi or staying at a Marriott. This is the education of your children, and when they grow up and a Mormon missionary visits their home, they will be aware that the LDS is just another friendly Christian denomination and that it’s somewhat benign. If they join the cult, you will have been a part of conditioning your own children that being taught by a Mormon company is harmless. Pepsi isn’t teaching your kids. We wouldn’t let Target teach our kids either, if they started pushing something out to bring in book revenue. 2. You are speaking to things you don’t know about. You say you don’t THINK you’re supporting the Mormon church but then you go on to say they are starting schools in Africa. You are literally supporting Mormon missions, and yet you deny this in the same video. 3. The truth will eventually come out and all you will be able to say is, “we were just doing the best we could. How was I supposed to know?” Etc.
1. My children have no idea what Mormonism is or that our curriculum company was created by a Mormon - at some point we will learn more about different religions and denominations so that they know how to discern truth from false teaching. They do know that salvation comes from accepting Jesus Christ as our savior, and that the greatest commandments are to love God and love others; and that we’re called to be peacemakers. There is no false teaching from TGTB because nothing stated it in goes against Gods word. 2. Honestly I can’t remember if it’s specifically schools they helped start or not, I thought I had heard something about that a while back but I didn’t double check it - but I do know they’ve done good in Africa, including building wells for underprivileged communities. I have no problem with giving money to Mormons that are willing and able to go to Africa and to other people in need and provide them with clean water. 3. I’m not really sure what truth coming out you’re talking about… I put a lot of time and intention into teaching my kids Gods word through devotions, Bible studies, and other apologetics resources. I don’t foresee them being confused by it, because like I said TGTB doesn’t go against any of that.
I appreciate you sharing your perspective as I genuinely believe that hearing others’ perspectives is helpful and being challenged in our own convictions either helps us see when we’re wrong or be more firm in what we believe. Thanks for sharing your stance!
I'm so grateful for Christians like you. Even those who don't like my church, i love them. Anyone who honestly professes the name of Christ is someone I celebrate in my heart. But you seem particularly centered on Christ. You have a lovely light. I've actually not used the curriculum. Nothing against it, just haven't gotten around to trying it yet. I might give it a chance this year.
@@salemthorup9536 thank you so much for your kind words! I agree - the Bible talks about believing in your heart and professing with your mouth that Jesus is our savior - other things aren’t very important as they aren’t salvation issues. We love the curriculum so much, hope you decide to give it a try to see if it’s a good fit for your family ♥️
If other Christians had any idea how much we love all of you ("Mormon" here), you'd realize that maybe we're not such a threat. We love supporting other Christians. We consider ourselves Christian because we worship, love and devote our lives to Jesus Christ. We believe in being truly good and upholding all that is good and very much the same things other Christians uphold. Yes, there are doctrinal differences between us and you, but I'm not convinced they are as big or profound as the differences between the many non-LDS Christian sects. TGTB tends to go more general Christian because there's already a very plentiful amount of homeschooling curriculums within our church community that are very much more centered specifically on our doctrine, history, etc.
I figured I'd make a comment instead of just a reply but Mormon here. To anybody who is worried about using this program because they don't want to contribute money to an organization that they don't agree with, the only money that the church would receive from this curriculum would be the money that its creator pays in tithing (if she is deciding to pay tithing on it which isn't necessarily a given for members of the church). In fact, in almost all cases, if a company or product is created by a Mormon that is all the involvement that the church will have. The only companies and organizations that earn profit directly for the church are those that have been created directly by the church by the direction of church leadership (Deseret Book, City Creek Mall in Salt Lake City, KSL Broadcasting, etc...) If a business venture is pursued by the lay membership of the church, it ought not to be associated with or even considered to be approved by the church. It is merely an individual venture by someone who happens to be a Mormon. That being said, of the idea of any portion (10% to be exact) of your money going to the church is hard to stomach, but you still want to use the curriculum, think about it (at risk of perpetuating a stereotype) like buying something from a gas station. You take the commodity, pay the guy behind the counter, and leave feeling satisfied with the snack you got. You don't know if the guy behind the counter will give part of his paycheck to a homeless guy or to his drug dealer, but at that point it is up to him to decide...
I agree there are times where you can try to take your money away. We should try to support companies that support our values. I do use TGATB. I feel it is based on good values and it works for us. As LDS requires a mandatory tithe. The owner of TGATB is profiting from her company and a portion of that income is supporting LDS. Again if this is a problem then don't use it.
Tithing is not actually mandatory. It's a shockingly small percentage of our members who don't tithe. In fact, it's a majority percentage of our members who don't actually pay tithing. Among those who do, there's a very wide range of how much of their income they actually pay. Yes, we're supposed to pay tithing to get a temple recommend, but the way they determine if we "pay a full tithe" is just by asking us. There's no scrutiny beyond that.
Im stuck in the same boat. I want to use this curriculum. Not only because it's free! But also because it is simple, and i think it will work for my child. My family will jump on me for it, so trying to defend that decision among them would be difficult. I appreciate your kind words amd thoughts about this curriculum. I have been using Masterbooks for about 4 years now. If you dont know about them, look them up. It is a life changing christian curriculum.
I’m so sorry, that sounds like a tough place to be in. Maybe if you download it and can actually have your family really look through it, that might help? Praying for discernment in this for you ❤ I have used a few things from masterbooks and they’re awesome! I’ll probably use more of them in the future!
Honestly they'd be better off labeling it just the good and beautiful, not Christian. The good and the beautiful is a wolf in sheeps clothing. It is not focused on Christ dying for our sins and rising on the 3rd day, which is the cornerstone of the Christian faith.
@@Mannfamdhb03 honestly I can’t say I agree, but I respect your opinion. Just because something is missing, doesn’t mean it leads you astray - if it mentioned Jesus as simply a good man or some other such lies then I would agree about the danger of that. However it doesn’t state anything that goes against the truth of Gods word. Hope you’ve found a curriculum that you do love though and works well for your family ♥️
Do you think it's worth using, just for the math and language? Obviously, I can supplement with the Bible and things, but just for the sole purpose of math, and spelling and Grammer, letters, and sounds, etc. Is it worth it?
@@GoforGod1705 personally I find it so worth it - the math and LA are open-and-go, making my job so much easier, and my kids really love it! The math especially hardly has anything religious at all (I would love if it had a more about God in it, but I love the Godly values woven in here and there), but we do a lot of devotions and apologetics so my kids are being very exposed to scripture from so many different resources! You can download math and LA for free from TGTB website - I would suggest starting with that and looking through it to see if it’d be a good fit before buying physical copies (and you can always print the free downloads too)!
@@GoforGod1705there are better programs out there. If it works for a family that's great, but it's not Christian... Without Jesus it can't be. If you want a Christian curriculum check out BJU, Generations, Apologia, Abeka, Gather Round Homeschool, Campfire Curriculum, Notgrass, Berean Builders If secular is okay with you All About Reading/Spelling and Math with Confidence are much better phonics, reading, and math companies.
I think you made very good points and I completely agree. When I first became a Christian, I unintentionally became very legalistic, and I know I would never have used a curriculum that was produced by someone who didn't believe the same as me. Thankfully, 10 years later, God has opened my eyes to so many things and allowed me to see so many things in a different light. We are using The Good and the Beautiful's Language Arts with my 3 oldest, and I'm using their Math with my kindergartener. It is such a beautiful, fun, and simple curriculum and I am so glad to be giving it a chance. Also, Jenny Philips has an incredible video on RU-vid sharing all the time, money, and struggles that have come with making this curriculum high quality while also keeping it free for those who need it. So amazing and eye-opening. Thanks for sharing this!!! ❤❤
@@joidavis5210 I don’t think I’ve seen that video - I’ll have to go watch it! I’ve seen enough of her videos to know that she really seems to be such a caring and loving woman, striving to serve God and serve others. Anything else really isn’t for me to judge. I’ve also had times in the past of struggling with being too legalistic but God had continued to remind me of how I need to extend the grace to others, that I do desperately need for myself! I love that you love the curriculum as much as we do - it truly makes homeschooling easier and more enjoyable ♥️
Hey @reclaimingwonder we were just wondering if you would be interested in reading the world atlas we wrote? (If not yeah I get it, I might not respond to a random comment in my comment section either ) Our atlas is called "The World A Comprehensive Guide to Geopolitics" It has breakdowns for over 1,400 geographic regions covered. Every continent, every UN member, every partially recognized nation (Taiwan, Kosovo, Palestine etc.), every autonomous region, every external territory. We even included breakdowns for every known base camp in Antarctica, by both summer and winter populations. It has over 440 colorized maps. And over 490 colorized flags. And we even included a geography section full of facts such as the largest rivers, lakes, deserts, the lowest elevations, highest altitudes, longest mountain ranges, most northerly and southerly nations just to name a few. It took us almost 2 years to make. I'm proud of it. We finally published on June 12, 2024. Almost 2 and a half months ago.
I think we have to use our best judgment. I tried it a few years ago, but I’ll admit I felt uneasy using it. My thoughts were that when the original author refers to God in her writing she doesn’t mean the true God of the Bible. I also felt like the underlying message was “being good = salvation” vs faith brings good works into fruition. With that said, there wasn’t anything obviously LDS about it. 😅
@@OurInspiredHomeschool I can definitely understand you feeling that way, but I myself haven’t felt that - I love the emphasis on being kind, selfless, honest, and overall “good”. We do so many devotions/Bible studies/apologetics, that I’m not worried at all that my kids will be confused about where salvation comes from - our accepting Jesus as our savior because we are sinners in need of saving. I truly respect you for following that nudge you felt though ♥️
@@jerilyn-ourhomeschooltable that’s awesome! It’s such a fun and easy way to memorize things 😊 it’s been really exciting because I never cared or thought it important to learn about places around the world as a kid or young adult but in recent years have found such a passion for it!
I just found out about Generations curriculum this Summer. I’m intrigued. I was thinking of trying their Science curriculum, but the History looks really great too!😊
@@jerilyn-ourhomeschooltable it’s so good!! I’m really curious to see if I’ll love their science as much as the history! I haven’t quite decided which one I want to start with but I’m pretty sure we’ll finish all the science I have by December/January so I’ll have to figure it out and make an order in the next few months 😁
@@rebekahian I don’t know if people just take it upon themselves the importance of convincing others what they feel is right or wrong, or if they just enjoy the drama, but either way it is disheartening and hopefully will start to lessen ♥️
I agree. I have purchased stuff from Christian Light Education. According to them I’m going to hell (they are Mennonite & have some beliefs that are not very mainstream on some things). Not saying all their views off. But I have financially supported a company that I’m sure would tell me I’m going to hell, I sure hope they are wrong because I am a Christian who believes the Bible is completely correct.
As far as I believe, as the Bible says - the one way to salvation is believing in your heart and professing with your mouth that Jesus is your savior. I just don’t see other things as salvation issues and therefore aren’t worth arguing and judging other over. I wish different Christian denominations could do better at seeing and appreciating where our beliefs are aligned and less taking potshots at each other for where they differ.
Yes! It is so hard to know because even companies claiming to be Christian may not truly be. The truth is we will never know. We did TGTB two years and loved it. I never came across anything that would go against our family's Christian beliefs. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. 🙏☺️
@@seasonsofwonder exactly!! We can do what we can and use discernment, but at some point we also need to simply let it go and have trust in God because we just can’t know some things.
Love this especially the part about looking at all the other companies we buy from they arent all Christian and we have no clue where our money goes after!
@@Joy-filledHomemaking I think it’s important to do our best to not be supporting things that are against God, but at some point we can’t worry about it too much because, for one it’s not always possible to know, and 2, we aren’t responsible for someone else misusing money we’ve spent after it’s left our hands. It can definitely be a grey area and the line is definitely different places for different people and that’s perfectly fine! We’re all doing what we can with what we have ♥️
They don't go to the Mormon church. The creator probably tithes some of her earnings, though which would. I don't mind though because when I shop at places like Target or Walmart or really anywhere I don't know where my money is going after.
@@danahall1282 you know, I’ve never heard anything stating or hinting that they do, but honestly I don’t know for sure. The curriculum is so reasonably priced that I honestly can’t imagine there being that big of a profit in the first place, and I know they have given profits to mission work in Africa, so if they were giving any to the LDS church I couldn’t imagine it would be very much - all speculation as I really don’t know for sure! And honestly it wouldn’t surprise me if people that were anti-tgtb spread that even if they didn’t know it to be true :/
Mormon here, this is correct. The only money that the church would receive from this curriculum would be the money that its creator pays in tithing (if she is deciding to pay tithing on it which isn't necessarily a given for members of the church). In fact, in almost all cases, if a company or product is created by a Mormon that is all the involvement that the church will have. The only companies and organizations that earn profit for the church are those that have been created directly by the church by the direction of church leadership (Deseret Book, City Creek Mall in Salt Lake City, KSL Broadcasting, etc...) If a business venture is pursued by the lay membership of the church, it ought not to be associated with or even considered to be approved by the church. It is merely an individual venture by someone who happens to be a Mormon.
Geography is my favorite!!! And I agree about social media stuff. It is nice to have a homeschool community online to help and encourage each other… but I’m wary of it too 😉
Thank you for sharing. I had never heard of that country adventure series. We also love learning about geography! I have so many resources it’s not even funny, lol. Some books that are fun are Passport to the World by Masterbooks, Hungry Planet, DK geography of the world, Window on the World, and some Evan-Moor resource map/country worksheet books. I also have a set of country flash cards from Memoria Press where one side has the flag that can be colored in and the other side shows where the country is. We love also the Professor Noggin games there is one for US geography and one for World geography. Something also that I have is a magnet map that has the different countries as a magnet and when you learn about the country you can add that magnet to the map. Hope you have fun with all the geography learning.
@@kiras7874 you have no idea how excited I am to look up all these resources 😅 I’ve heard of a few of them (passport to the world is on my wish list and I think I need to just get it!) but most of them are new to me - thanks so much!! The flag flash cards sound really cool, definitely gonna look into those!
@@Devotedtolittles that’s the best!! My 7 year old made Mac n cheese completely by himself start to finish for the first time the other day (we need a big pot to make enough lol and he had never been strong enough to drain the noodles before) and it was so wonderful 😅
I use the frozen broccoli to make cheesy broccoli soup in the instant pot and serve it with homemade breadsticks. I will use 2 lbs of broccoli so the costco bag only lasts for 2 dinners. It's a simple and delicious dinner! Also once the avocados get ripe, I put them in the fridge and they last for several days, so I don't have to use them all at once!
@@clarissahulet9150 ooh that sounds amazing!! I definitely need to try that, thanks for sharing! And I did recently start storing avocados in the fridge and that really does help a ton!
@@jerilyn-ourhomeschooltablehaha! well some video ideas I’ve had lately are a morning routine (my personal routine that is), Bible/Apologetics resources, homeschooling with babies and toddlers, and anything books/readalouds I could probably do anytime 😁
@@jerilyn-ourhomeschooltable honestly I don’t know what I was thinking earlier this summer when I didn’t think we needed any new supplies… I remember thinking I could probably use more colored pencils but I was pretty good other than that 🤣
I have been thinking about getting the answers books they look like they would be so fun to do with kids. Great haul 🙂 I always love seeing what others get.
@@Joy-filledHomemaking just looking through the books, they look great! Excited to go through them with the kids 😊 thanks so much! Agree, it’s really fun to see what everybody else is getting 😅
I love to throw frozen broccoli in with Mac n cheese or pasta, just cook them in the same pot with the pasta and then drain together and add your sauce afterwords! It’s always a hit in our house 😊 also, so many of your Costco finds are staples in our house too!🫶🏼
@@jerilyn-ourhomeschooltable it looks so good!! We’re currently living in southeast Georgia so I’m planning on doing a couple beach trips while we do it 🤗
We love hot wheels and magna tiles tok! We use them as part of our math. And I agree with the screen time.. I had to cut back on screen time once my youngest started crying for it. So probably a 30min to 1hr show every other day.
@@Whirlybirdhomeschool that’s awesome!! And yes, that’s such a big sign that a child is having too much screen time - unfortunately I think a lot of parents give in to the fussing and crying because it’s easier in the moment, but truly makes things so much harder in the long run!
I love how you do free time! I’ve never heard anyone describing doing it that way before and that makes so much sense and I love that it would be motivating to the kids! Thanks for sharing this 🥰
We used the Old Testament Faithipedia last year and we really like it. We’ll be finishing it through this next year on Fridays. 😊 Your schedule is so cute and colorful! I’ve been messing around in Canva to make mine cute too! ❤
@@reclaimingwonderHey Rachel! I forgot to tell you, but I noticed that “diligently” is spelled with two L’s in your intro. I just thought you would want to know.😊
@@jerilyn-ourhomeschooltable haha! My husbands the one that does everything digital and editing for me - I’ll have him fix it 😂 I definitely hadn’t looked close enough to notice!
