melissamomof5
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Posts posted by melissamomof5
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joyfulhomeschooler - Thank you for your thoughtful reply!!! I like what you have to say. :) I plan to do Beyond with my 7 yodd. I have almost always ran two guides at once, so I'm not scared by doing that with HOD. :) My 5 yodd will be doing LHFHG half speed. I am very very very excited!
I think if I go with Bigger for oldest dd, I will help her do some things independently. I am sure she will love that! :D
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I'm finishing Bigger this year with my 4th grader / 10 year old. We're doing the extensions with the follow-up assignments, and it's certainly enough for him. He's really enjoying the year, particularly the great historical fiction books (extensions).
I own Preparing and have looked through it extensively, but haven't used it yet. (It looks great!) I wouldn't use it unless your certain that your daughter is really ready for all it requires. In my opinion, it's better to choose a curriculum that's maybe a tad less rigorous than what a child could do and have a peaceful year, rather than stretch a child a little too far and be stressed the whole time.
Thank you for sharing. :) I really appreciate your input. Looks like our children are very similar ages! Except I don't have another blessing on the way :( .
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Katrina, thank you :). I will definitely send you a message if we decide to go with Bigger w/ extensions. It took me so many months to finally decide to switch to HOD, now to decide between Bigger or Preparing. :ack2: :001_smile:
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We are just finishing up Bigger and using it with ds8 and dd6. I would recommend doing Bigger , especially if you have had a not-so-fun year this year:( We are actually starting MFW next year instead of HOD because I wanted to keep both children in the same guide and I kept reading how Preparing was much more advanced than Bigger. I was able to adjust some things for dd6 to join in this year, but just wasn't sure how next year would work. Hope that helps:)
Thank you for your input. :)
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Sue, thank you so much for your quick response! That's kind of what I was thinking, but I just wasn't sure. I am so excited! I really cannot wait! It is so hard to finish up ECC! We are cramming each 2 weeks worth of country into one just to get through the rest of it quickly! :crying: We have really not enjoyed it this year at all! :( I know so many do and I really thought we would, but we haven't meshed well with it.
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We will be starting with it this August or September. I am all set for my two younger daughters, but just cannot decide which to use for my oldest. She will be coming from MFW ECC this year.
She will be 4th, 9 1/2 turning 10 during the winter. Will be doing at least Singapore 3A if not further along. Ready for R&S English 3. Can write sentences and has been working through Spelling Power this year. She is a very good reader. She is working through a cursive book.
I know that Preparing may really stretch her. I know she is capable but I'm not sure she will be willing! I think it's going to be so much more involved than what she is used to.
I also know that Bigger is an amazing year and I don't know if I want her to miss it.
Any advice from those have used these two programs? I have Bigger already and will have Preparing sometime next month. So I have only been able to go through the Bigger manual so far.
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In case it helps any with your decision, the new MFW K program samples and information are up on the website here. We used 1st, Adventures, and part of ECC and are heading back to MFW for Exp-1850 :)
Wish they had all that done my first 3 times through this! It looks nice. :)
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Melissa, may I ask why you feel HOD will be better? I'm exploring all options, so I'd love to hear your thoughts since I've looked at HOD as well.
Well, I've been considering and praying about this for at least a year now. :tongue_smilie: I finally feel certain God is leading us to HOD. Every year with MFW I have felt we were missing something. I know it a sweet program and works for many, but for me and my personality and my style, it's not meshing well. Every year I kept telling myself, just one more year, because in these early years...K-ECC I think every year is just so different than the one before it. But, I think it's finally time for us to try a different approach. I'm sure people who love MFW could have a way to try and tweak every little issue I have with it to make it work better for us, but honestly, I don't want to try anymore. I want to try something else.
I am hesitant to post my reasons since I'm not good with words and at the moment I am so tired I can't think straight! My ds was up from midnight to about 4 last night. :001_huh:
So, for us, we liked the 1st but it was very black & white and plain. However, It definitely got the job done! I did love the Bible Notebook and we have two children who've done that and it will be a treasure to keep forever.
Adventures wasn't the big hit here like I hoped it would be either. My daughter tired quickly of the state sheets. We did however love all the read-alouds and science books.
ECC has not gone over too well this year either. I have not been a fan of the POE at all. We have basically ditched that book. We are loving Hero Tales and the Living World Encyclopedia. Combining isn't working well for us like I had thought it would...at this time...for us. We have also ditched almost all of the student sheets. They love the John 3:16 pages and the flag page but none of the other workbook pages (they are basically over their heads). We have not really enjoyed Global Art because I haven't been able to find all of the resources needed.
I am also finding I think the weekly grid format is choking to me. I like the daily layout in the HOD guides...totally a personality issue. :D
I think ECC can be a great program and very successful with the right amount of preparation by mom...but I just can't do that right now.
It is very sad for me to think about stepping away from MFW, but I need to do it. I need to try something else. It may be a kick in the pants showing me I need to do more or it may be just what we need in that another program just plain works better for us.
I wish you the best in your search! I know how frustrating it can be trying to figure out which program to use!
I hope my ramblings made some sense.
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I'm really trying to make my life easier. I will have a 4th grader and a K'er in the fall. I want to try to combine the boys as much as possible, while still realizing that my K'er will need to do a K-level program for reading & math.
We've never used MFW before, but I do like what I'm seeing online, and many here seem to enjoy it. I think it may be what I need since I'm tired of planning all of the subjects. We've been following TWTM pretty closely for the past 3 years. I would still maintain WWE, AAS, and R&S for Language Arts as well as Singapore for math. It looks like MFW would cover everything else for me.
I'm thinking I would do ECC with the boys (focusing more on my 4th grader) and possibly do their K program with my youngest. Should I skip the MFW K program and just do something like Phonics Pathways and Singapore Essentials instead of a whole K program since my youngest could join us for ECC? Again, I want as easy and streamlined as possible.
Why do you like MFW? Has it made your life easier? Why do your kids love it?
I'm worried about falling behind due to a bad day, etc. Is it easy to pick up where you left off since everything is planned weekly?
If you used MFW in the past, but have left it, why?
I'm looking for all pros and cons.
We are on our 4th year with MFW. We do plan to switch to HOD this fall. MFW is an awesome program, but I need to switch for our family at this time. If HOD doesn't work for us (which I think it will perfectly), we'll be back to MFW though. :)
I think the K has been my favorite so far. It is a very gentle program but very very effective. I would totally advise you not to skip it! It doesn't take that long plus it's sweet time together on the couch with your little sweetie. Really, ECC won't take all that long with your one 4th grader either. What I do is start my 2 olders on school and once they get to independent work, I do work with my K'er.
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I am using it with my 3rd child now. My first and second did it together, not on purpose, but my 2nd daughter really wanted to participate. So, my oldest daughter was 5 1/2 and my 2nd was barely 4 when they started K together. Then I waited a year with my 2nd before doing 1st with her.
My 3rd daughter is just 5 this year doing K.
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We are going through exactly what you described here with ECC we are in week 14 and it is feeling more like a chore than the joy of learning we had with adventures last year. We loved loved loved adventures. ECC we are not enjoying in the least :(
We too are struggling through ECC this year. I was exactly like you and Sue who you quoted. I was SO EXCITED to use it and thought it was going to be perfect for us. We are on week 20 or 21 now. I am going to double up and do each country in one week to get through it as quickly as possible then take as much time as we need to finish up math, english, spelling, etc.
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I don't have channels either. Hopefully someone will put the clip on youtube. :)
Their show is the one show I miss most about not having TV.
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I like to have an answer for when people ask, plus for Sunday School placement. But, I try to use materials that are skill-appropriate for where each child is at.
Plus, so far, two of my children's birthdays are really close to our state cut-off. So, my 2nd daughter's birthday is Nov 4, here in MI she could either be considered 1st of 2nd this year. My 3rd daughter's birthday is Oct 12, so she could be considered Pre-K or K this year. Our cut-off is Dec 1 here.
For me, and my personality type and the fact I was raised in the private and public school system, it has been hard to detach myself from the standard grade levels and making my child do work at the "level" they should be at. I am trying hard though! :tongue_smilie:
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Daisy - totally off topic, but I absolutely love the words next to your children in your signature. I can see those same descriptions applying to two of my own. :)
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We have always done 4 days a week. We use our 5th day to do co-op or grocery shopping or field trips.
Our curriculum is set up so that there are really 5 days worth of work but we condense it to 4.
This fall when I switch to HOD we will still just do 4 days a week but I will either have to condense the 5 days or just have the "year" be an extra month long.
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Yikes, I try to always get insurance on something I cannot afford to refund.
But, I have heard arguments as to whether that is the buyer or the seller's responsibility to buy.
So, in your situation, maybe a half refund if she can still use the ones that made it and then she could still buy the missing parts with the refunded amount. If it's all totally useless, I'd probably have her send back what made it to her and refund in full.
Plus, I've had several media mail packages delivered lately where it was a huge miracle everything was still in there! One had about 5 big rips in it. The USPS isn't being careful with packages!
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I really liked how MFW used the Bible in 1st grade. You could try something like they do...read a story from whichever Bible you'd like then have the child illustrate the story. Until they are able to write a sentence or two on their own, they could narrate to you a sentence or two and you could write it at the bottom of the page and have a beautiful Bible Notebook.
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It would be hard to answer this without knowing what your child has worked on before HOD. With Bigger you are beginning oral narrations as well as science notebooking with an experiment weekly. You also do vocabulary weekly and are beginning cursive. However, it is still very teacher intensive and the teacher is reading everything aloud to the student.
If your child has already had some independent work and can write well or has done notebooking, then I would think the skills would be there for Preparing. For me Preparing begins the independent work, so I find it a little less taxing (for me) than Bigger. If my child had exposure to notebooking, oral narrations, and reading independently, then I would try Preparing. What skills are questionable for Preparing? If you aren't starting until June, there is a likelihood that by June those skills would be there.
I guess my main questions would be-
1. What have you used before?
2. Has your child had exposure to notebooking, narrations, and reading their own texts?
3. What skills are questionable right now for Preparing?
This is also a question I've had. We aren't starting until the summer but we are switching from MFW. I've been pondering the Bigger or Preparing question for my oldest daughter. One minute I"ll be set on Bigger then the next Preparing. lol I already have Bigger and I think I'm actually going to buy Preparing and after looking over it closely then decide which to go with.
But Openminded, thank you very much for your answer to the OP's question! It helps me keep my mind going in the right direction. :D
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We are in Michigan and this has been the strangest winter I've ever spent here.
We had one great snowfall where we got 15" in one day, but other than that we've hardly had any snow. It's been mid 30's to lower 40's almost the whole winter. The lakes haven't even really had a good chance to freeze around here...putting a real damper on ice fishing. :(
I'm losing hope we're going to get much more winter this year.
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We are on year 5 MFW. I think HOD has the things in it that I am missing in MFW, and I wasn't fond of some of the spines in MFW. THe only thing I'll miss is the hymns. I think we will keep doing them.
I kept sticking with MFW because as much as I didn't like things about the K or 1, it did teach them to read very well. Then I wasn't overly fond of Adventures, but everybody said ECC was so much different. I stuck with it to try it out. Now I still feel that as everybody says CTG is so much different than ECC I should stick it out "just one more year", but I am going to take a break after this year's ECC.
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This is me! I am on year 4 with MFW and in need of a little change. Not sure if we will fall in love with HOD or enjoy the needed break and return to MFW.
I have Little Hands, Little Hearts, Beyond, and Bigger here. I am having a hard time deciding on whether my oldest should use Bigger or Preparing next year though.
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... you keep sitting down reading through your manuals over a cup of tea like their a novel or something :D
Yup! This is what I do!!!
We haven't actually started using it yet, but I have LHFHG, BLHFHG, and BHFHG in my possession and I keep going through days of them in the eveing on the couch so I can get a better feel for how it'll be. I am so anxious to use them. :) I hope it's everything I think it will be for us.
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I have to join the coffee conversation. My DH is home due to another day of snow (we never get snow) :). So my oldest and I walked a 1/2 mile or so to the closest bakery. Oh, did that dark roasted coffee taste good... love my cities coffee... :)
On a serious note. Melissa I am sorry that ECC hasn't worked out for you. May I take a moment to share my experience with it this fall. My oldest, ds8/2nd grade, wasn't ready for it. We too have done MFWK, 1, and parts of ADV (guilt.. guilt). Seriously ECC was over my 2nd grades head. He has my dads IQ too (extremely high.. top whatever %), but it was honestly too much for his brain in 2nd grade. Are you sure it didn't work due to the program, or was it due to the ages? Please take that gently.. I care. He did LOVE reading Windows of the World and David Hazel's book on his own. I think it could work someday, but not now...
Now, on HOD. I am only a few weeks in to Bigger so I don't have a lot of experience. I am dearly missing MFW Bible though. But a few weeks isn't enough to 'truly be in the know' of the differences, which is why I asked the Bible question. I do agree with Crystal though that MFW is both inward and outward.
God Bless all of you.
Carin
I totally feel the warmth of your words and appreciate them. :) I really am not sure and I think the only way I will know for sure is to try HOD. But, I am very open to using MFW if HOD doesn't work for us or feel right. Nothing else even interests me...just these two.
That is exactly what I have been feeling in our first 3 weeks of Bigger. Bible has felt like an add on. Thank you for putting it into words. It is so early I have not wanted to judge the program after 3 weeks.This kind of makes me wonder...only way I'll know for sure is to try---but one of the things that has drawn me to HOD is the way they use the Bible. :001_huh: So, maybe I'll feel the same way as you both once I get into it...I am anxious to see!
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and to clarify on my coffee flavors... yesterday I had one with a touch more chocolate.. this one today is a different roast. I really was talking coffee and no hidden message in it. :lol: it was an analogy on how difficult it is to describe these 2 programs. both are really good!
our local grocery store had a fancy brand on sale (Gevalia) and I bought several flavors to try. so that's why I was talking coffee flavors.
-crystal
I share your fondness of coffee. I also brewed a different blend today---michigan cherry!
In all seriousness though, I really wish I shared the enthusiasm you have for MFW right now. I wonder if I'll come back around to it...I just may. :D
But really, your excitement about it really is infectious.
My Walking Miracle
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Congratulations to him and your daughter! What an amazing family you must have! In tears here also. Such a beautiful picture!