Using MFW RTR: Would Activity Bk for Story of World help w/ notebooking?

[Mommy7]

In WTM, it says it has prompts for narration, etc. Would this be overkill or helpful? Narration, notebooks, etc. is all new to us. We have been homeschooling for a long time, but are new to the classical element.

 

I would love to hear the thoughts and ideas of everyone: especially users of MFW RTR. Thanks! :)

[dhudson]

We never had a problem with narration but I haven't seen the activity book either.

 

I always just had them think about the main points in what we read and summarize them into a clear, concise format. It took me helping mine a few times but they are quite good at it now. The summarize everything - movies, books, shows.

 

Maybe someone else will jump in who used MFW and the activity book.

[Mommy7]

:)

[Chris in VA]

From what I can see of the package that comes with MFW RtR, I'd say the AG would be a great idea. I'm not sure why they don't use it, to be honest. (Perhaps they are not so hands-on and kids using MFW don't do a lot of activities?)

The AG contains questions for every chapter section, with answers, and also contains a sample narration for every chapter section so you can compare your child's narration and see that they have included the pertinent ideas of the passage. Remembering it's a summary of the main points, not an "include every detail you can think of" type of narration, it's helpful to me to have that sample.

On top of all that, the AG also lists the page numbers in the various Kingfisher/Usborne encyclopedias that correspond with the passages in SOTW, right there with each chapter. It's very well organized. The activities are good, too, and there's a map for each chapter, too, plus coloring pages to help you notebook (we put the map and occasionally the coloring page in our notebook, along with our narrations and a picture on the top of the narration page that we get from yahoo images).

 

Soooo--the AG is a goldmine, imo, and your experience with SOTW will be richer for using it. Oh, and it also lists more books for each chapter and tells you what reading level and such for them (but I know there are plenty of books listed in MFW).

[Dawn E]

I asked this same question and was told that MFW provides an ample supply of their own activities and they also have a book basket with lists of extra reading books. Consequently, the activity guide might be handy for extras, but it is not necessary. I found it at a good price used, so I went ahead and purchased it. We plan to use this program in the next year or two.