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Mystery of History 4 or Notgrass or MFW for 4 kids grades 2-8?


redquilthorse
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I have used MOH 2 and 3, and I'm thinking ahead to next year. I've read that MOH 4 is too much for younger kids. I will have kids in grades 2, 4, 5 and 8 next year (plus a 10th grader, but he will be doing his own thing). It would be nice to keep the 4 of them together, but I can have the 8th grader do his history independently and combine the other 3. But even if my 8th grader does MOH 4, I have to figure out what to do with the younger 3. I was looking at Notgrass America the Beautiful as a possibility for all 4 of them. Or, I could let my 8th grader do either Notgrass or MOH 4, and have the younger 3 do MFW Explorers to 1850. It seems like the literature for Notgrass uses some of the same books as MFW. I also don't mind doing 2 years of American History with my younger 3 while my 8th grader does it in one year. But, I have to add that we tried MFW before and failed. I've tried both Rome to Reformation and ECC and just couldn't stick with it. We would get off the schedule and it got frustrating to try to stick with it. We had better luck with ECC than RtoR. We are a busy family and oftentimes prefer a quick "get it done" approach to subjects like history. I don't have the time or inclination to put together my own curriculum. I just won't stay with it beyond the excitement of September/October. :lol:

 

So I guess my question in all of this is: can either MOH 4 or Notgrass be done with younger kids? Would I end up having to read it all out loud to them so I can edit as needed? (This probably won't happen consistently in my house. My 3 kids who are solid readers often read MOH to themselves.) 

 

As an aside, hands on projects also tend not to get done in my house so they aren't a plus. I've been underwhelmed with the projects for MOH 3. But I like the book and my kids don't complain about reading it. 

 

I am open to suggestions for something completely different, too. I've looked at Sonlight and I just don't think we would get it all done. Did I mention we are busy?  :lol:

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 I talked with Notgrass yesterday and they said they have an elementary text for grades 1-4 coming out, that is American History! They are hoping it will be ready for fall. So the youngers could do that and the older do the one for Middle school. Notgrass is SUPER easy to implement. It was designed for frazzled homeschool moms and it shows. It's not the "perfect" history but it is the one that got done here, for my oldest who hated school work of all kinds. They don't know how long until the next one comes out though, so although it would work for next year I'm not sure that they'd have another elementary one out the following year. But hey, kicking the can down the road is always good, right?

 

We are going to try Memoria Press next year on a trial basis, but if it doesn't work out I'm keeping Notgrass in my back pocket so to speak. I'm a bleeding heart liberal and a Catholic, so their worldview (conservative and evangelical)  and mine don't exactly line up, but the ease of use more than made up for any differences in point of view. 

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I think I'd let the 8th grader do MOH 4, and use Notgrass for the 2, 4, and 5 grades. You could check the online samples for MOH 4, but it's hard for me to imagine the younger ones tracking well with it. I really liked it for junior high/high school ages. 

 

If MFW didn't work 2 other times...I probably wouldn't try it again! 

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MerryAtHope that’s a good point. I like the idea of MFW. But it just doesn’t work out for us. I thought maybe American history would be different since it’s a more familiar topic. But I think I need something like Notgrass with a spine and the literature as an add on rather than the literature being so integral to the learning.

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