Lots more questions about MFW K.

[Tabrett]

I am looking at the sample k lesson for MFW k. It looks like this for the first day:

 

Introduce Letter Sound

Materials: Textured Letters

Introduce Flashcard

Materials: Alphabet Flashcards

A-a-apple Song

Materials: Alphabet Flashcards

Picture Cards Page (Sample)

Materials: Textured Letters; Workbook

Tactile Letter Activities

Materials: Various,depending on chosen activity

-------------------------------

I’m a little confused? What are you supposed to do in the lessons? Are there instructions in the lesson book? Does every letter day one look like this? If so, does you dc get bored doing the same activities over and over? I’m afraid my dc will!

Also, what if you can’t find a book from the recommended reading list? I printed the recommended reading list off their website and lots of books are out of print. My biggest concern is the book Baby Animals for the Horse Unit and the Penguin books. My library doesn’t have them and they are out of print. Has MFW come up with some other books with activities like in the sample lesson? Or, are you just out of luck for those units and have to make you own activities up for what ever book you can find?

Is the dinosaur book, Cuisenaire Rods and Alphabet book and Intro to Classical music scheduled or do you just do them on your own?

I don’t have a World Book Encyclopedia. Can you just look up the animal on the internet? Is the encyclopedia extremely necessary?

[Donna T.]

Well, it's been awhile, but I'll try to help...:001_smile:.

 

The lessons are easy to teach and all laid out for you in the lesson book. There really is no guessing, it's all very clear. Marie Hazell's lesson plans are detailed enough and well-thought out. Alot of new users find the lesson book to be laid out in a very confusing manner, but after you use it a week or so, it gets better. The lay out is a little cumbersome but the lessons themselves are simple.

 

There is some variety in the lesson presentation, but generally, you will follow the same format.

 

As far as the boredom factor, I think it just depends on the child, the mother's teaching style, and where the child is at developmentally/skill-wise. I don't think boredom would result from the format of the lessons though it could result if the child is already beyond the CVC (cat, dog) reading level. If the child places into MFW K and needs to cover those skills and enjoys a very "schoolish" type of experience, it is a great program and should not be boring at all. If on the other hand, the child has covered the info. elsewhere or if he/she doesn't particularly like "school", then, yes, boredom may result.

 

I tried MFW K twice - once each with both of my boys. It is a very sweet program. I loved the character lessons and particularly loved the way that MFW teaches phonics. (I highly recommend the phonics in First Grade. In my opinion, they are the best phonics lessons available.) I also liked the math lessons very much. However, both of my children ended up being bored, were not very engaged, and I ended up dropping it both times. My youngest son made it through most of it, my oldest... about half I think. They didn't need a whole year to cover the material. I think if I had condensed it a bit, if I had had more experience as a teacher, it would have gone better.

 

To be honest... my five year old boys would have rather done anything in the world than school. Period. So, our dropping out is probably no reflection on the curriculum at all. I switched both boys over to various things that engaged them more and we plugged along. For us, it worked better to pull from various sources rather than have a complete program. I hope that makes sense.

 

I think if you have a child that really enjoys schoolish-type activities, you may love MFW K.

 

As for the books, I wouldn't sweat it or let that stop me from trying it if I was (overall) drawn to the program. You can make replacements with no fuss. After awhile with it, you'll be thinking of all kinds of fun things to do on your own and won't feel so dependent on the lesson plans.

 

 

With the exception of the dinosaur book, the items that you listed from the deluxe package are not scheduled in the lesson plans. It's no big deal.

 

I often used enchantedlearning.com when my boys were K age. I used it with MFW K and with other things, too. You may want to check that out. Other than that, I just used picture books or short chapter books from the library or whatever I already had on my shelf.

[LauraJ]

:lurk5:

[Julie in MN]

You might find more info over on the MFW boards, but I'll try.

 

K is set up so you have 26 "unit studies," each 6 days long & centered around one letter of the alphabet. For instance, when you study "I" then the science theme will be insect (including the optional ant farm) and the Bible concept will be "I am a wise child, so I work hard."

 

The K manual is quite consolidated so things don't repeat & your manual is a very manageable size. Here are the sections:

 

1. White pages

- prep for the year

- 10 day creation unit to start the year

- general explanation of math activities, including monthly focus

 

2. Yellow pages

- reading plan for each of the 6 days of each unit study, which will include some of the things you mentioned such as flashcard, textured letter, workbook pages, song, etc

- handwriting instruction

 

3. White pages

- each unit study, outlined day by day, for the whole year

- book list, including alternate ideas & nonfiction ideas. If you can't find these, you might check the "ideas" board at MFW for books other folks have had success with:

http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewforum.php?f=10

 

Hope that helps until someone teaching little ones chimes in,

Julie

[blessedx5]

We did MFWK and my ds loved it. I plan on doing it with my dd this fall as well. I plan on adding in lapbooks for her that go along with the units that she likes (b-butterflies, k-kangaroo, etc.....)

 

Debbie

[dhudson]

I did MFWK with all of my kids so I can honestly say that they did not get bored. The TM will tell you exactly what to do and how to do each activity. They have options for several of the lessons so you can choose which activity you want to do although my kids have certain favorites that we went back to over and over again. (I may have gotten bored with these but they did not) Mine REALLY liked writing their letters in the sandbox, making letter cookies and making clay letters. They thought that school was a blast, which was part of my goal. School is fun! :D

 

There is a structure to each week which is the same but because you change the topic each week none of mine seem to dislike that. In fact mine loved the structure because they knew what was coming next. Two of mine are structure lovers but my dd is NOT and even she didn't get bored with the patterned days.

 

Even if you can't find the library book there are other suggested books you can use. I did end up buying several of the books to keep in our home library and we have thoroughly enjoyed them. If you look ahead in the TM then you can also use inter-library loan for the books yoru library does not have. If you can't find any suggested books just find a book on the same topic and it will still work. The book is the icing on the end of the week not the main part.

 

I only used the internet and the library for the research just be sure you pre-view the sites before you show them to your kids. I didn't once and it was a mistake.:glare:

 

Ummm, I think the dinosaur book and the classical music is scheduled but I couldn't say for sure as it's been 4 years since I did it.

 

Hope that helps! We loved those years in K and I am almost sad that I don't have any more kids to go through it again!:001_smile:

[Guest sarathan]

Okay, I'm gonna try to answer your questions as straightforward as I can. We just finished MFW K last month. :)

 

I am looking at the sample k lesson for MFW k. It looks like this for the first day:

 

Introduce Letter Sound

Materials: Textured Letters

Introduce Flashcard

Materials: Alphabet Flashcards

A-a-apple Song

Materials: Alphabet Flashcards

Picture Cards Page (Sample)

Materials: Textured Letters; Workbook

Tactile Letter Activities

Materials: Various,depending on chosen activity

-------------------------------

I’m a little confused? What are you supposed to do in the lessons? There are student worksheets included that are not shown in the samples. Once you get the entire package, it will all make sense.

 

Are there instructions in the lesson book? Yes!

 

Does every letter day one look like this? Yes.

 

If so, does you dc get bored doing the same activities over and over? I’m afraid my dc will! Yes! My ds got extremely bored with the same activities every week. I started modifying and skipping things so we could finish early.

 

Also, what if you can’t find a book from the recommended reading list? I printed the recommended reading list off their website and lots of books are out of print. My biggest concern is the book Baby Animals for the Horse Unit and the Penguin books. My library doesn’t have them and they are out of print. Well, my library had pretty much all of the books we needed. If you're library doens't have the exact books on the book list, you can use any book you can find (on penguins, for example). I wouldn't worry too much about that, really. :)

 

Has MFW come up with some other books with activities like in the sample lesson? Or, are you just out of luck for those units and have to make you own activities up for what ever book you can find? I'm not sure what you're referring to exactly here. The book list are just the books used for reading aloud. You can use any book you want really. The acitivities are easy and fun, I don't see why you would need to substitute. There are different activities for every unit. All instructions are in the teacher's manual. The science activities are the best part of the curriculum, IMO. :)

 

Is the dinosaur book, Cuisenaire Rods and Alphabet book and Intro to Classical music scheduled or do you just do them on your own? Hmmm...the dino book is scheduled (you just read it when you do the D- dinosaur unit), but everything else you schedule on your own. Although from what I remember, I think the TM suggests to do one letter per week for the Cuisenaire Rods Alphabet book.

 

I don’t have a World Book Encyclopedia. Can you just look up the animal on the internet? Is the encyclopedia extremely necessary? Nope not necessary. We don't have a World Book Encyclopedia either. You can get the information however you want....internet, library books, whatever. :)

 

HTH! :)