my fathers world MFW 1st grade with two kids

[joyfulhomeschooler]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has ever used MFW 1st grade for an advanced K student and a 2nd grader (with his own grade appropriate LA & Math)? I am wanting to combine it to make it easier but don't know if this is the best way to go about it. I am worried about it holding back my 2nd grader in the science, bible & history areas. If anyone has ever done this successfully could you let me know.

Thanks

Micah

[Lovedtodeath]

I think that with an advanced Kr in MFW 1 you are likely to need to slow down and take your time. I don't know how that would work out with combining them. I have used MFW K and only looked at 1 though. Maybe someone else will have some thoughts.

[Amy in KS]

You might be better off doing MFW Adventures together (a k'er can get plenty out of it) and doing phonics/math separately. Your k'er could do Phonics Pathways/OPGTR/Primary Phonics or whatever you prefer.

[Donna A.]

MFW user here... No, what you'd want to do instead would be to combine them in the Adventures program, which is written for families where the oldest child is 2nd or 3rd grade. That would be perfect for combining for your two. Then you could use just the phonics/Bible/reading (and possibly math, depending on your Ker's math skills) portion of the 1st grade program for your advanced K'er. You'd need to remember that he/she may get "stuck" somewhere in the phonics progression, as there's a lot of review in the beginning, but then it begins to move pretty quickly about 1/3 of the way into it. If your child does get stuck, you might need to pause for a while to review and practice until it "clicks" and you're able to move on again.

 

Meanwhile, the younger child would be tagging along with the older one in history, science, and Bible of Adventures. Each child does their own level of math and LA. You'd just be using MFW 1st for the younger child's LA (and possibly math).

 

I do think trying to combine in the 1st grade program would hold back the 2nd grader, though. Only if your 2nd grader is way behind on reading and writing skills would you want to do the 1st grade program with that child.

[joyfulhomeschooler]

Donna,

The second grader would be doing Level 2A singapore or RS Level C and LLATL 3rd grade program so that would be handled for him elsewhere. The only thing he would be using in MFW 1st would be bible and science. My K'r would be using all of MFW 1st subjects.

I worry about doing Adventures with the 2nd grader and 1st with K'r because then that would be two years I would have to teach them seperatly in all subjects... right???

[joyfulhomeschooler]

If we did combine them in adventures. What would we do to combine them the next year? They would then be 1st and 3rd graders?

[Donna A.]

I worry about doing Adventures with the 2nd grader and 1st with K'r because then that would be two years I would have to teach them seperatly in all subjects... right???

 

No. The K'er would do history, science and Bible from Adventures with older sibling. You would just simplify the assignments. When we did Adventures, I had a 3yo joining us. She listened to some of the read-alouds, colored maps, sang songs, did some of the hands-on and science activities (with help), ate food that we prepared, and I even got her a 1" 3-ring binder so that she could have her own notebook, too (like her sisters). She didn't have any writing in her notebook, but did use alot of stickers and coloring pages. But she was only 3 and not advanced at all, due to speech and LD's. Your K'er would be able to do even more than my then-3yo did. I wouldn't require the same level of work from the K'er, of course, but there's plenty for him/her to do.

 

If you do Adventures with the oldest as a 2nd grader, then you'd do ECC in 3rd, the 4 years of history in 4th thru 7th, and then ECC again with the junior high supplement package (deeper reading and more research) in 8th grade.

 

My middle girl was 7 when we did Adventures, and it was *perfect* for her in every subject. I added more reading, writing, and notebooking assignments for my then-10yo. MFW didn't have Expl-1850 out yet, so this was the only American history course they had to choose from at the time. Otherwise, we would've done Expl-1850 because it's more age-appropriate for a 10yo than Adventures. See the pattern there... teach to the oldest. Younger kids will get it all again at a deeper level when they go back through the cycle later. That's kind of how the trivium works.

 

I hope this is somewhat helpful! :001_smile:

[cbollin]

Agreeing with the others that you would probably want to use Adventures as your base program to teach to your family not just the oldest. MFW tries to write its programs to be written to the family and takes into account the family's needs so, younger sibs can be invited into many activities in the older sib's program especially since they'll grow together and get more in later years with that whole cycles of history thing that's common in classical styles of teaching.

anyway... I'm rambling.. don't know why.

 

then, you would do language arts and math separately for each kiddo. You can use MFW 1st grade for the language arts and math with advanced K'er -- or do other things that you already have for language arts/math. MFW 1st is great for it, but if you have other stuff for that and it works, that's good too.

 

I've heard of some people who use ADV and 1st together and alternate on the memory work and even let older student do memory work from both programs to get that benefit. Sometimes the older kids just want to sit in and listen and other times they don't. You wouldn't have to use both sciences unless the kids just really wanted to.

 

and agreeing with others who said after that , you use ECC for them both and still have language arts and math at their level.

 

hope my coffee is ready...

 

-crystal

[Amy in KS]

Keep in mind that the weekly bookbasket books include picture books through chapter books for the topic of the week. It's part of what makes the program easier to use with all ages.

[Donna A.]

Keep in mind that the weekly bookbasket books include picture books through chapter books for the topic of the week. It's part of what makes the program easier to use with all ages.

 

Ah yes.... wide variety there! Video titles, too. There's about 400 titles in Book Basket, and they're arranged by topic and week # so that makes it easy to find what you want. You can use the library for this, or purchase some of the titles to keep in your home library, or a mix of both. Marie has asterisked some titles that she recommends for purchase if you prefer to do it that way. Of course, your family will find some of your own favorites that Marie didn't asterisk, and that's always fun, too. New discoveries. :)

[joyfulhomeschooler]

My thought was that I could use first for both K'r & 2nd and then next year adventures with both when they are 1st & 3rd graders and then the year after doing ECC when they are 2nd and 4th graders. I am concerned about putting a first grader into ECC... I realize she will have her own LA & Math but wouldn't the other material be to advanced for her... I thought that ECC was for 2nd at earliest?

 

Also My thought was that the bible portion of MFW 1st is SO important and it would be good for them to get that foundation before moving onto Adventures. I know I am being kind of stubborn about it... sorry. I just love the first grade program and thought it would work well for us and save some money.

 

I really appreciate all of your advice and realize that you are more experienced with using MFW so that is why I am hesitant to do it the way I had planned maybe you are all right and I should take your advice... I guess that is why I am asking. Please know that I am not trying to be argumentative just wondering why this wouldn't work. It really seems like it would to me. Is that just because I haven't used the program?

Thank you all for your time and input on this.

[sassenach]

My thought was that I could use first for both K'r & 2nd and then next year adventures with both when they are 1st & 3rd graders and then the year after doing ECC when they are 2nd and 4th graders. I am concerned about putting a first grader into ECC... I realize she will have her own LA & Math but wouldn't the other material be to advanced for her... I thought that ECC was for 2nd at earliest?

 

Also My thought was that the bible portion of MFW 1st is SO important and it would be good for them to get that foundation before moving onto Adventures. I know I am being kind of stubborn about it... sorry. I just love the first grade program and thought it would work well for us and save some money.

 

I really appreciate all of your advice and realize that you are more experienced with using MFW so that is why I am hesitant to do it the way I had planned maybe you are all right and I should take your advice... I guess that is why I am asking. Please know that I am not trying to be argumentative just wondering why this wouldn't work. It really seems like it would to me. Is that just because I haven't used the program?

Thank you all for your time and input on this.

 

I'm doing MFW 1st with my 1st grader and Ker this year. I agree with everyone who says to plan for your oldest. However, if you really feel that 1st is the way to go for your kids, you need to be prepared to supplement for your oldest. Not just in math and LA, but also in history and science. MFW 1st spends most of its energy on getting kids reading. This means that the other elements are on the lighter side. That's awesome for a kid who is at that stage, but if a child is already past that MFW is going to take, at the most, 15 minutes a day. So what that means is that to make it interesting for your 2nd grader, you are probably going to need to add more books and activities.

 

Personally, I like planning for my oldest because it is easier for me to scale things back than it is for me to add things on. If you don't have a problem with adding things onto a program, then you'll probably be fine with 1st.

[Donna A.]

My thought was that I could use first for both K'r & 2nd and then next year adventures with both when they are 1st & 3rd graders and then the year after doing ECC when they are 2nd and 4th graders. I am concerned about putting a first grader into ECC... I realize she will have her own LA & Math but wouldn't the other material be to advanced for her... I thought that ECC was for 2nd at earliest?

 

Also My thought was that the bible portion of MFW 1st is SO important and it would be good for them to get that foundation before moving onto Adventures. I know I am being kind of stubborn about it... sorry. I just love the first grade program and thought it would work well for us and save some money.

 

I really appreciate all of your advice and realize that you are more experienced with using MFW so that is why I am hesitant to do it the way I had planned maybe you are all right and I should take your advice... I guess that is why I am asking. Please know that I am not trying to be argumentative just wondering why this wouldn't work. It really seems like it would to me. Is that just because I haven't used the program?

Thank you all for your time and input on this.

 

Okay, let's see if I can help clarify any.... To do MFW 1st with both your children and get the full benefit of the Bible lessons for the 2nd grader (which is what I think you're really wanting, right?), then you'll need two sets of the Student Materials. The Student Materials pack is comprised of the Bible Notebook, Bible Reader, Student Workbook, and Student Sheets. Pull up the website here http://www.mfwbooks.com/1st.htm and look at the package with me... we'll walk through this together. :) You need to see that part of the Student Materials won't get used with the oldest, because the Student Workbook is all language arts, which your oldest doesn't need.

 

In the Student Sheets, your oldest would use some of those, but not all, as some of them are handwriting and phonics sheets. But 2nd grader can use the narration pages and few other things from there.

 

Both kids would need their own Bible Notebook, but you can't buy that separately. It's part of the whole Student Materials pack, so you'll end up with some components that won't get used. And that's okay, as long as you're aware up front.

 

Not sure if you'd want the 2nd grader to have his own Bible Reader or not. Youngest will color/personalize the pictures in her own Bible Reader, but they might be too "young" for the 2nd grader. You decide. Look at the picture shown there, and also take a good look through the Sample Lessons. Link for that is in the green box on the upper right hand side of the page.

 

From the lessons in the TM, a good chunk of the first 1/3 of the book (or so) won't apply to 2nd grader because that's all phonics and handwriting instruction, much of which is review from Kindergarten. There are *some* things in there for 2nd grader to do, though, such as making a Jewish calendar and science activities. So watch out for those. Just be prepared to have other stuff on hand for 2nd grader to do while you do the phonics and math portions with K'er.

 

But you're right, there's a lot of rich material in this program. I can see why you don't want your oldest to miss out. :) Memorizing verses from Proverbs, making a timeline, science and Bible projects, getting a whole overview of the Bible, art and music lessons.... these are all valuable learning activities. I don't know your son, so only you can decide if any of these would be too easy for him or if he'd be bored. Maybe not. It's good stuff. ;)

 

And if you get stuck, or get the program started and then realize it's not enough for 2nd grader, don't feel bad about it. Call the office or post on the board and ask for suggestions. You can always go ahead and get Adventures later if oldest starts to feel bored or whatever. Just realize going in that with the language arts being integrated into this program, a good deal of it may not apply to your oldest. Especially at the beginning.

 

And have fun! :D

[Donna A.]

And just a note to clarify about ECC.... Always, no matter which program you're using, oldest child in the family will do all the advanced assignments, and youngest child will do the more age-appropriate activities in the lessons. That's true whether it's Adventures or ECC or CTG or ..... Youngest doesn't do everything the oldest does. MFW is tailored to multi-level, family learning, so there's always something for everybody. :) Some examples:

 

- Length of written narrations

- Amount of detail included in oral narrations

- Amount of detail included in illustrations or coloring pages

- Variety of books and videos included in Book Basket

- Cooking and other hands-on activities

- Amount of help Mom or older siblings gives to younger children when doing projects

- Scheduled read-alouds (Mom can do all the reading, OR Dad can participate, OR all the readers in the family can take turns, OR you can have an assigned "reader of the week", OR .... )

- Bible time - see note about scheduled read-alouds. MFW suggests you do Bible lessons the night before it's on the schedule so that Dad can participate/lead the family, but this isn't possible in every family.

 

From ECC on up, there are "Advanced" assignments for older kids that younger ones may not participate in at all. Some assignments should be parent-led, and some can be led by an older child, and some should be done all together. You decide how that works out in your own family. You could say in a way that MFW "grows with the family" without having to do a completely separate program for every child. :001_smile:

[erikdeb]

I'm pretty sure I read on the mfw boards that you can purchase the separate parts of the 1st grade student packet separately if you want - it takes a phone call, and is worth it if you don't want 2 parts of the program (like the Bible reader that they can share, and the blue LA workbook).

[joyfulhomeschooler]

I just wanted to say THANK YOU! Donna, you were a huge help... you must have used MFW for most of homeschooling to know so much about it. I really appreciate your input.

 

All of you other ladies, thanks to you too... without all of your help I wouldn't have been able to make a decision that I felt comfortable with.

 

We have decided to go with adventures and use the first grade with the K'r for LA, Math & maybe bible.. we will try and stretch it out for two years with her so that she won't feel pressured... after all Kindergarten is supposed to be layed back and fun.

 

So, thanks to you you all :)

[Donna A.]

We have decided to go with adventures and use the first grade with the K'r for LA, Math & maybe bible.. we will try and stretch it out for two years with her so that she won't feel pressured... after all Kindergarten is supposed to be layed back and fun.

 

That sounds like a GREAT plan! :thumbup: