There is nothing more lacking in our modern society than a working understanding of healthy emotions.  The negative ramifications of neglected mental health is being witnessed publicly on a far too regular basis.  The need for a resource like The Emotional Advantage: An Emotional Regulation and Intelligence Complete Nine Month Curriculum, by Cynthia Tosh, is more significant than ever. 

This curriculum is one textbook, digital $49.99 or print $135.00, consisting of 146 pages that includes a table of contents, author information, scope and trajectory of the program, the program itself, glossary of emotions, and a nature reflection section.  There are suggested and supplemental books, works of art and music that are mostly if not all available free through a library or online.

The design of the nine-month program is to spend the first six months introducing six basic emotions and their four levels of expression.  Accompanying each emotion is the emotion definition, a story example, illustration and questions, self-exploration and journal activity, recommended book, art, poem and song.  In exploring the emotion through these avenues, the student learns to be a feelings meteorologist, assessing and understanding their own and others’ emotions.  The following six weeks revisit the basic emotions and includes a thought processing tool with each.  Once the base emotions have been processed with this extra tool, a new set of emotions are introduced and processed in a similar fashion.  The nature reflection section consists of twelve photos and reflections to consider, one for each month of the year.

The intended age group is elementary age through adolescence, but this program can easily adapt to any age group in any educational setting.  If you choose to leave out a section or replace a book with one of your choice, the flow to the program seems unchanged.  Whether a small or large group, the spirit of the curriculum still remains. 

Using this program with my elementary age children was simple and enjoyable.  The initial discussion of a designated emotion would spread into the rest of the day, making it very effective in the homeschool environment.  It was very easy to incorporate into our other studies and the subject matter’s usefulness showed itself clearly.  At the tender ages of 5 and 7, my children benefited from the few weeks we had to use The Emotional Advantage.  It gave them more words to describe their emotional experiences and contributed to conflict resolution between the two of them.  Even further, they have begun to identify a little deeper with others that they might not have otherwise.  I highly recommend this program as a powerful and effective tool for building emotional vocabulary.

The subject of emotional regulation and intelligence is something so important that I see value in every group or organization investing in at least an adapted version of this for children or adults.  We need to be able to understand feelings in order to know how to healthily process them.  In addition to each individual’s benefit, our families, congregations, and communities as a whole will benefit more and more from this type of language circulating in our general knowledge.

-Product review by Amy Butler, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, September, 2018