My Father's World?

[for-the-win]

Is my father's world high school curriculum challenging? Asking for a friend :)

[Julie in MN]

I've read posts by folks who felt it was too much, and posts by folks who felt it was too little. Guess that means it's the perfect amount?!

 

For my youngest son, who is very much a youngest, I am not expecting him to be completely independent in 9th grade, but am expecting he will reach there by 12th. Right now, we're reading Bulfinch's Mythology and really learning a huge amount of detail about mythology, but it's too dense for him to read on his own. He's not a reader (he's a talker). I've read other kids who found Bulfinch's to be their favorite part.

 

My ds's favorite is reading the entire Old Testament this year. He's using an audiobook, but he's enjoying it and getting more out of it than I had dared to hope. He's also doing well in the writing and the history readings, the mapping and timelining, really almost everything except some of the lit where he needs to hear and talk about it. But he reads lots of other lit in his book club, so he's reading and advancing there. I think each child will have their own "most challenging" portions of high school.

 

Does that convoluted answer help at all?

Julie

[cbollin]

I think as written it is challenging and college prep. I agree with Julie, that it is adjustable for individual student.

 

If it is not challenging enough, MFW suggests extra great books reading through using an SAT prep book written by Jim Stobaugh.

 

If it is "too challenging" as written, use of audio books, or more parent interaction is encouraged to help the student. Nothing wrong with that.

 

I'm seeing good stuff with my oldest.

 

-crystal

[Donna A.]

Ditto Julie and Crystal. When my dd started MFW AHL (9th grade), I had her doing it exactly as written and it just totally overwhelmed her. She hung in there for probably 8 or 9 weeks, no wait, maybe longer, before I decided we had to back off and tweak some parts because I saw her getting stressed trying to complete everything before each week ended so that she wouldn't get off track. (This was as much her as it was me, as she was very driven to do it "right" and stay on schedule.) But once we tweaked the parts that were causing the most stress and relaxed a bit, she began to enjoy it more.

 

Some kids can do MFW high school totally independently and as-written; others cannot. I think it also depends partly on what you've been doing for elementary and are used to.

[Debbie in IL]

We did AHL last year, and are doing year 2 this year. We are enjoying it as well. Dd does all of the work on her own, unless she has questions, in which case we talk through it together. Each Friday, we get together for a "weekly chat", and discuss all of the work that was assigned each week. I'm seeing great growth in her, especially in her ability to work independently. :) Definitely a learning curve! I would also agree that it is college prep as written - definitely a challenge.

[4wildberrys]

My son is doing AHL also and it is definitely challenging! Not too much though. He is also doing the reading from SL Core 200 alongside, as my dd has used SL all the way through, but I got tired of ZERO guidance from SL with anything but a reading schedule, and I find that MFW is just the right amount of everything scheduled, with detailed instructions and lessons so far for the writing and mapping and timelineing. It truly is complete and all of my elaborate plans for adding this and that to 'beef' up the high school programs are getting dumped because the MFW is perfect for us.

[songbirdie]

Ditto Julie and Crystal. When my dd started MFW AHL (9th grade), I had her doing it exactly as written and it just totally overwhelmed her. She hung in there for probably 8 or 9 weeks, no wait, maybe longer, before I decided we had to back off and tweak some parts because I saw her getting stressed trying to complete everything before each week ended so that she wouldn't get off track. (This was as much her as it was me, as she was very driven to do it "right" and stay on schedule.) But once we tweaked the parts that were causing the most stress and relaxed a bit, she began to enjoy it more.

 

 

Would you have time to post the things you "tweaked"? I'd love to know!:)

[Excelsior! Academy]

:iagree:

 

Would you have time to post the things you "tweaked"? I'd love to know!:)

[cbollin]

I realize the tweak question was to Donna.

 

The one thing we tweaked for my oldest was the Notgrass writing assignments. We gave ourselves permission (LOL) to not have to make all of those assignments be 2-3 pages in essay format. We had fun with those assignments and turned some into first person journaling, a newspaper report (pretending to be a 21st Century talk radio host but set in the time of Hammurabi to discuss these new codes)

 

So, we tweaked that. We're "tweaked" by using audio books for Iliad. not a real tweak is it?

 

I guess I haven't changed too much in the program to be honest. I'm not sure why I chimed in.

 

-crystal

[Donna A.]

Would you have time to post the things you "tweaked"? I'd love to know!:)

 

:seeya:

 

 

My oldest is almost finished with 9th grade... started at the end of February. I know that's a long time to complete a 36-week course, but we took time off in the spring for flooding issues, time off in the summer, and time off in October for family "birthday season". Hey wait, it's only been a little over 9 months since we started... that's not as bad as I thought! :tongue_smilie:

 

Anyway, she pretty much did AHL "as written" for 7 weeks. That included Gilgamesh, which she LOVED. Except I did have her doing Easy Grammar Plus because she needed the extra help/reinforcement with that, even though some grammar is included in AHL.

 

In week 8, where the Greek & Roman Mythology assignments begin, that's where we started tweaking. We knew from the get-go that we probably didn't want to do an in-depth study of this (or Homer), though I didn't make the decision to NOT do it until we got there. (We probably have some different convictions than many people on this board, so this was not a "curriculum" problem, but a personal choice. ;) ) But I substituted other literature from the time period to replace the Mythology book. She did elementary ancients, so she knows what the mythology is all about... we just didn't want to spend several weeks dissecting that or Homer.

 

I added extra literature for "Reading", which they do recommend doing. She'd already read several of the titles on the suggestion list at the front of the manual, so I picked most of her extra reading from elsewhere.

 

The PDL (Rick Warren) book begins at week 17. Skipped that. She read other devotional and "life purpose" type books in place of it.

 

The Iliad begins at week 20, and this is where we really strayed from the lesson plans for pretty much everything except Bible. The next 13 weeks or so are pretty centered around Homer, both in Lit and Composition, so my dd started doing BJU World History, Write With the Best Vol. 2, and again, other literature as assigned. Oh, she did continue doing the history assignments in AHL, too... that is, the Notgrass book, Unwrapping the Pharaohs, etc.

 

The timeline book is *really* nice.

 

Did we like our tweaks? Eh, some yes, some no. We like BJU (for a textbook), but.... it IS a textbook. Meaning, it's not nearly as thorough as something like MFW. DD immediately said when starting the BJU, "This is a LOT easier than MFW!" Which was good at first, as she was really needing the break, but then it was like.... is this all there is? Only the first 4 units of BJU WH cover the same time period as AHL, so while we liked what's there in BJU, it wasn't enough. There just isn't any comparison on that level. (I got in big trouble from some textbook lovers for saying that on another board one day. Oops. :001_huh: )

 

Overall it's a GREAT program, and the only regrets I have are:

 

a) Starting it in February instead of waiting til August. She needed more time to work on grammar and composition skills before jumping into MFW high school, but I gave in to her anxiousness to get started earlier. :tongue_smilie:

 

b) Not doing the Old Testament study along with her. I should've spent more time on this. I did for a while at first, but then dropped the ball as life got busy, so it's my own fault. And when I say "study along with her", I mean me following the reading schedule that's printed in the back of the manual for parents so that we'd be on the same page in reading and discussion material. That's what it's there for, and I didn't do it. Her dad and I were able to keep up with weekly (and spontaneous at other times) discussion about the material, though, and her "project" assignments got checked and evaluated.

 

c) I would've got her the BJU geography book to do after week 20 instead of World History because she didn't really get anything new out of the WH book, and she wants to do more geography and culture studies, anyway.

 

And in hindsight, I don't think the Homer study would've been as bad as I thought after all. (Someone around here tried to tell me that.... you know who you are! :lol: ) Marie does a great job of contrasting the Godly men and situations of the Bible with the ungodly of Homer, and showing how futile man's attempts to esteem himself without God really are. It would've been a good study. :D

[for-the-win]

but what is AHL?

[Julie in MN]

but what is AHL?

 

Sorry, abbreviation slip-up.

 

AHL is Ancient History & Literature, the MFW program that covers 3 credits: Bible, history, English.

 

WHL is usually done in 10th grade and stands for World History and Literature, also covering 3 credits.

 

Julie

[for-the-win]

:)