lea_lpz Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Just curious! We have done mfw k, 1st, and are doing ADV now and I am trying to figure out if we want to do all or some years of the 5-year family cycle. Favorite year Least favorite year Best memories Etc.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 We have done Adv-CTG and are in RTR right now. I've already bought Exp.-1850. We have fond memories of all the years. Rebecca just said to me yesterday how much she loved ECC. I even love the looks of the HS curriculum and plan to do it the whole way through for both girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeAndTheBoys Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 We have done Adv, ECC, CtG and are in the middle of RtR right now. I was not impressed with ECC; we actually stopped in Week 14 and went into CtG. Not sure what I will do when my Little Guy hits that year of the cycle. I have all the Sonlight Core B and C materials, so I may cobble something together-- The fiction readaloud in ECC (Kingdom Tales) was abysmal, and there was way too much pretending to visit countries and crafty things. My boys love maps and geography, but somethind didn't click with us in the layout. The missionary biographies in ECC are very good though. I really liked CtG once we came to peace with the "Feasts"--we did not do them. And we didn't care for the read-alouds in CtG, so we substituted in for all but one of the Patricia St. John books--one was fine, three was not what we wanted. BUT the history material was good, and I LOVED going through history with the Bible as the spine--seeing how ancient history fit in around that. So far, we like RtR the best. i haven't substituted anything yet and it has been fascinating. We did years and years of SL before MFW, Core P 3/4 all the way through Core D, and MFW has been better for us than that. But I do tweak MFW some, as mentioned above--substituting read-alouds and not doing all of the reinacting of feasts, Bible stories, etc. and not all of the crafts. It's a good basic program for us-- B-- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 we're all so different in tastes, aren't we? what I like is horrible to someone else, etc..... with that disclaimer out of the way, are you ready for too long of an answer? I've done ECC twice and a half. first time when oldest was 2nd grade (ADV had not yet been written). 2nd time with 7th and 4th grader. half time: last year with modifications for special ed student. Least favorite memories: being bored in the Cam Townsend bio. Favorite memories: enjoying the extended metaphor in Kingdom Tales. crying with joy while reading Gladys Alyward out loud. enjoying hot chocolate for breakfast (making it in different styles with different breads as we "traveled" on 2nd time when did ECC... my treasured memory was when 7th and 4th grade were reciting memory verse from Mt 15... and my child with autism who was doign mfw kindy recognized the verse from her bible words in Kindy and ran over with her kindy memory verse badge and joining them. making the terrarium..... see here... http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=161&start=50#p65898 from 1st time of doing ECC (that was 2003-04 school year).... trips to zoos and botanical gardens as field trips to match science. CTG: did it twice. hated the feasts the first time. enjoyed them second time. first time the only one I really tried was making a tent in the basement... 2nd time.... these are my memories http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=4770#p52622 RTR: first time did it, when I hit week 6, that is what drove me to join forums to find help using MFW. meh.... RTR, take it or leave it.. meh.. I know it's a favorite of most people. it's just not one that I clicked with and have memories of. the only memory I have is when my dh dressed in his middle ages outfit and recited prologue of canterbury tales in old english...... ex1850: we liked it. trying to think of memories from either time but I'm begining to mix up memories of it and 1850MOD.... well, I'll write more later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 I got distracted a few minutes ago with the gutter contractor finishing up. :) As a teacher, my favorite memory from the Investigatge cycle (aka 5 year cycle) is that I felt like I got a solid week's worth of school in every year without starving or feeling over stuffed. Although this applies to the high school years as well as 5 year cycle time, I was able to meet my long term goal of providing homeschooling all the way through. My oldest is doing fine at college. I realize I'm a bit of an oddball in using a program all the way through. My way is not the only right way. just sharing my personal experiences. Not every book was liked. But not every book was disliked. Not every project done in a blog worthy manner, but for us, it was fun. Overall in mfw, my biggest dislike is how commonly Monday's assignments felt too top heavy compared to the week as a whole. That's a generalization of all of the years as a whole. I know it wasn't every week in every program. More specifics: ex1850: first time, my special memory is of my middle daughter dancing around the kitchen while learning her memory verse. Both daughters enjoying the end of year nature study and state reports. It gave us excuse to do field trips to state parks in spring. Second time: how much she liked doing the state study. And how it encouraged her sister with autism to sit and do a little bit of schoolwork with us. Dislikes: meh, city on a hill book. I get it why it's there. I don't need the mfw marketing lecture of “it's there for 10 weeks in the program to provide advanced material on the religious and political climate of the coloniesâ€. Meh.. I get the use. I just was indifferent toward it. Oh yeah RTR: I didn't really like the Augustus Caesar World book. But we liked making a pudding box arch the 2nd time. I didn't do it the first time.... 1850MOD: lots of good memories... but I wrote a lot of it when we did the program first time, so I'm lazy and linking http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=5509 Second time we did it... it was middle gal in 8th grade, and youngest tagging along. My memories are of helping my youngest learn to cook and enjoyed recipes in the cookbook in that program. All I'm realizing as I typed out all of that is that each program felt different from each program. And each time I did it, it had different memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrixieB Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 Loved ECC. My eldest was in 4th grade that year. My kids loved the map game and the book basket books. Oh, and the coloring pages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea_lpz Posted December 19, 2014 Author Share Posted December 19, 2014 I'm considering doing only ECC, CTG, and RTR and do more lit based / US history until grade 4 or 5. My idea right now is with oldest- 2-3: MFW Adventures over two year adding in POAG 4th: California History 5th: Prairie Primer 6th: ECC 7th: CTG 8th: RTR US history sequence could vary a bit but basically I would want to do about that. My younger child would get to do ex to 1850 and 1850 to Mod for 7th / 8th, so we'd do them eventually in grades 4/5. Also we'll get plenty of state study / president studies offered in PP, POAG and ADV. Anyone do US history first for a bit in younger year before chronological history. I think we could read SOTW 3/4 as a read aloud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 I'm considering doing only ECC, CTG, and RTR and do more lit based / US history until grade 4 or 5. My idea right now is with oldest- 2-3: MFW Adventures over two year adding in POAG 4th: California History 5th: Prairie Primer 6th: ECC 7th: CTG 8th: RTR US history sequence could vary a bit but basically I would want to do about that. My younger child would get to do ex to 1850 and 1850 to Mod for 7th / 8th, so we'd do them eventually in grades 4/5. Also we'll get plenty of state study / president studies offered in PP, POAG and ADV. Anyone do US history first for a bit in younger year before chronological history. I think we could read SOTW 3/4 as a read aloud Okay, wait... Help me out here. LOL. Bear with me as I have some questions about your tentative plan.... just brainstorming here... You said you're doing Adventures now, but then you said you're considering ADV over two years + POAG.... and then you want to do another year of American in 5th grade with PP? I'm sure that's fine if you really, really, really want to do that much American history right in a row (because your year of CA history would add to that, as well, so that would be four years of it), but consider the following and let me know what you think: Finish ADV this year, then go ahead with ECC, CTG and RTR for 3rd, 4th & 5th (or even 4th, 5th & 6th if you really want or need a full year of CA history first). Then if you do EX1850 and 1850MOD in 7th & 8th, which will be more age-appropriate and includes a supplement for younger siblings, too, all of your children will get the states and presidents there, plus a 6-week focused state study (the state of your choosing, but generally folks like to do their home state for this since many states require it). So your daughter would get a bit of a "break" in American history between ADV and EX1850. EX1850 and 1850MOD are simultaneous with world history (since the world outside the U.S. borders didn't just stop when America was founded), and you would have a better connection between how the events of other nations impact what we do as a country today, and vice versa. Do you need to do a full year of CA history? Or does it have to be done at a certain age according to your state's homeschooling law? Or can you do it as a 6-week study in between EX1850 and 1850MOD? So is your 4-year plan for American history at the beginning based on really wanting to do that much American history at once, or is it more based on wanting to do some of the specific programs that you have listed for it? Or is it about content in the world history years and wanting to wait for later on that? All of the above? None of the above? Now after everything is said and done, if you're still firm on doing that 4-year American history plan prior to geography, missions, and world history, I do think your line-up for the last three years is perfect. And if you only had two years left to do world history, I would vote for CTG & RTR because they kind of go together... the whole Bible study (Old and New Testaments), and the "big picture" of the world, before going more in-depth in high school. (Though I'm not sure if you're thinking that far out yet.) But I would still recommend holding off on some of your American history stuff until the end of your oldest child's elementary cycle so that she can get that topic at Logic level before going into high school. Plus, it's going to be another 7 years of NO American history at all before she gets to it in high school. (Unless you were thinking of doing American in 9th & 10th?) (Okay, it's not actually NO American history -- you do touch on it, with a study of North America at the beginning of ECC, and then seeing the beginnings of it with the explorers in the second half of RTR. So your daughter will end up getting a study of the explorers like.... I don't know, a gazillion times over the life of her school career. :tongue_smilie: Anyway, those are the various thoughts that came to me when I read your plan. :001_unsure: Your thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 And here's something to consider re: the Bible part of the program (because honestly, you can use anything if it's just about the "history"... the integrated Bible is what makes MFW unique, IMO): http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4004#p66798 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea_lpz Posted December 27, 2014 Author Share Posted December 27, 2014 I think we might just keep to finishing Adv over 2 years and go into ECC or maybe even stick with ADV in one. I was thinking about it and the stuff I am looking at are not as full as MFW but fun supplements if we have time. I really love the Prairie Primer and Portraits of American Girlhood, but in all honesty the content isn't structured enough for me, and the programs are better suited for grades 4-5 then 2-3 which is why I went with ADV in the end. I think we'll maybe pull them out (POAG & PP) for fun to go along with ADV and maybe later down the road with Ex to 1850 and 1850 to Mod. In fact my youngest if we stick to going through the cycle will be the perfect age for doing these (POAG / PP) supplements alongside mfw family cycle years of US history at age 9/10, lol, so could use them yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 I think we might just keep to finishing Adv over 2 years and go into ECC or maybe even stick with ADV in one. I was thinking about it and the stuff I am looking at are not as full as MFW but fun supplements if we have time. I really love the Prairie Primer and Portraits of American Girlhood, but in all honesty the content isn't structured enough for me, and the programs are better suited for grades 4-5 then 2-3 which is why I went with ADV in the end. I think we'll maybe pull them out (POAG & PP) for fun to go along with ADV and maybe later down the road with Ex to 1850 and 1850 to Mod. In fact my youngest if we stick to going through the cycle will be the perfect age for doing these (POAG / PP) supplements alongside mfw family cycle years of US history at age 9/10, lol, so could use them yet! I think this sounds like a little bit wiser plan. ;) The reason I say that is because with MFW, it's very easy to add supplemental fun stuff due to its flexibility, the weekly grid layout, the optional Book Basket list in the back, the wide variety of books and resources that are scheduled for different ages, etc. I can look at that weekly grid and either mentally, or with pencil, move things around as needed for our family for the whole week ahead. And with the one day a week being lighter, you can do more fun activities with that day if you want to. OTOH, if life is hectic and it's too overwhelming for me to move things around or add in anything, I can literally just go right down the grid and "do the next thing", and we've still had a good day. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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