MFW ECC question

[mom2koh]

I am already in the process of looking at next year's curriculum choices. :D

 

I really love the look of MFW ECC. My only hang up is that I cannot find a list of the books on the book basket list. Why can't I find this? This has been my one hang-up in choosing MFW over HOD or WP. With HOD and WP I know in advanced the books my kids will be reading through the year.

 

Another reason I would like to find this information is for budgeting purposes. If I can put the cost of the books in my budget then we can plan for it and order them in a timely fashion (my library system here is HORRIBLE!!!).

 

Thanks for any and all help in this.

 

Amy

[abrightmom]

Amy,

 

The Book Basket list is proprietary :001_smile:. You won't find it before you purchase the instructor's guide. I'm soooo sad that your library is horrible. I am SO impressed with the book basket portion of Adventures in My Father's World. It has been fantastic and a HUGE draw to MFW for us. I had not planned to continue with MFW but our excellent experience with ADV has clinched it. We're definitely moving on to ECC . . .

 

If you can purchase your ECC package a few months in advance you'll have plenty of time to peruse the list and make some book purchase choices. I did purchase some books for Adventures and I decided to make the purchases in chunks (8 or 12 weeks worth at a time) so we could spread them out. The book descriptions are awesome and will help you in deciding what you might want to purchase. There are also starred choices which would be "highly recommended" and the first books you should look at purchasing. If you're using ECC with youngers this series has been highly recommended to me: http://www.ywampublishing.com/p-1265-heroes-for-young-readers-seriesbr25-books-20-heroes-for-young-readers5-heroes-of-history.aspx You can find these on Amazon as well. They are shorter, simpler versions of the missionary stories you'll be reading.

 

ETA: If you want your children reading through literature at their reading level you can still use HOD's suggestions. I plan to as I really appreciate how well laid out the lit. lists are in HOD. We're using their lists right now. My kids still have a "lit. list" in addition to their book basket time. The book basket is used to flesh out the history & science topics you're studying.

Edited December 15, 2010 by abrightmom

[amandajh]

I have a post on the "for sale" board selling many ECC books. (not the book basket ones)

 

Thought you might be interested :)

 

Amanda

[Angel]

The Book Basket is part of the MFW program but those books are not required reading for the program. You could never read ALL of the book basket books listed or buy them for that matter! It's too numerous.

 

The books that your children are required to read are the ones listed with the package on the MFW website. The book basket is just gravy or icing :D Kind of a smorgasboard of books to go with each week's topic. A lot of time and effort goes into that book basket list and as the previous poster said, there is a description of each book. I believe that is why the list isn't public. That's a lot of work to just hand out for free.

[AmyinMD]

I haven't done ECC but with Exp to 1850 we haven't used a ton of the book basket books. I have purchased the ones we have used though. Our library system is okay but I find it hard to get over there when they are open (they have drastically cut hours).

 

The book basket list is part of what you are paying for with the manual. I think MFW Manuals are pretty expensive compared to other manuals and the book basket list is part of what makes it worth the money to me.

[Samiam]

I agree with PP, the Book Basket is gravy or icing....not required, necessary, or detrimental.

 

Some weeks we use alot of Book Basket books, and other weeks, not so much.

 

Don't let the Book Basket be your deciding factor for MFW.

[bairnmama]

The Book Basket is part of the MFW program but those books are not required reading for the program. You could never read ALL of the book basket books listed or buy them for that matter! It's too numerous.

 

 

 

 

:iagree: I'm doing ECC this year and LOVING it! As an example for the above quote, the list for just weeks 5 & 6 on Mexico includes a list of 31 books and the list for Kenya (weeks 18-20) includes 35 books! Six of those on the Mexico list and 8 on Kenya's are starred as being especially recommended, but none of them are required. That's what I love about MFW... you get the required books with the package, and if your library doesn't have ANY of the other specific titles listed you're still ok. Just find a couple books on the topic of the week and keep moving.

[Donna A.]

Marie has pre-read every single title on that booklist, and you'll find anywhere from 300-400 books and related educational videos on it. Besides a description of the book/video, she's also noted a parent alert next to some of them with questionable or sensitive content, in order to help parents decide ahead of time if that's one that they want to get or not. This is such a blessing, as it saves me tons of time!

 

Some titles she recommends for purchase are asterisked, so that helps you put your purchase list together once you have the manual in your hands.

 

Realize that Book Basket isn't just a list of books. They've literally been hand-picked, pre-read, listed out in order by topic, and detailed descriptions/parent alerts written out. The Hazell family and staff have been known to come home with literally a CARLOAD books and videos from the library for this very purpose. That's why it's part of the copyrighted TM.

 

As others have said, none of them are necessary.... everything necessary to complete the program, and scheduled in the lesson plans, are what you see on the website. Then you have Book Basket to add more as time and interest allow. (You also have a scheduled "book Basket" time each day on the weekly grid for the children to browse from Book Basket with age-appropriate materials chosen just for them.) But the nice thing is that the list is broken down by topic and week # so you know right where to go when pulling your extras together for the coming couple of weeks.

 

Some MFW users who don't have good library access will buy titles of interest from either HOD or SL, and you'll find a crossover of many of those same titles in MFW Book Basket. But we've also discovered some brand new treasures in MFW that we'd never heard of before!

[mom4him]

You have to have the TG in hand to have the book basket list.

I totally understand your library situation. Ours isn't very good either and to order IL is impossible. They tell me it can take 1-3 wks to get the book, I can keep it for 1 wk., and there is a .40 charge per book.:ohmy: I simply do not use that.

I would simply start putting some money to side now to help with the extra books.

[mom2koh]

Thanks guys. All of you gave me some great insight.

 

ILL at my library is impossible from other systems. Within our own system it's possible but selection is extremely limited. Our system is in a rural area.

 

I have done MFW K and did not realize the book list was copyrighted. :001_huh: I was hoping to peruse the list and pick what I needed/wanted (i.e. what the library does not have and what I would need to purchase. Possibly one book for each country).

 

With two kiddos schooling next year I am getting my budget ready for the beginning fo the year so I can have everything by next fall. We budget for school at the start of each year so it's covered. Argh. All this and Christmas too. :lol:

 

Lots to consider.

[Honey Bee]

So is the Book Basket list more like the catalog of VP, SL, HOD, Biblioplan etc.?

 

*I'm* curious how the book list equates to VP or TOG?

[cbollin]

So is the Book Basket list more like the catalog of VP, SL, HOD, Biblioplan etc.?

 

*I'm* curious how the book list equates to VP or TOG?

 

not exactly.

 

Book Basket, not only is a list of titles and heads up and all of that.... it is scheduled week by week in an appendix of the manual so you know when the book fits best in the topic you are studying in history, science, music and art, etc. That way it isn't just a list, but a timing to use the books.

 

Each year, book basket list will be about 300-400 books over the year.

 

It is designed to be very flexible so that if you don't use the exact titles, you're just fine. There is no intention of having to read all of them. You get to let your child have some say in the matter to which books are of interest to that child. If they really don't like a specific book it is ok to set it down (like you were in a waiting room, or in a book store and said, "blah").

 

Many of the books that you'd find on SL or WP or HOD or VP or TOG or whatever, you'll also find on MFW's list, but MFW includes a lot more titles from what I can see between those catalogs and looking at my manual.

 

Then, there is a general reading list in the manual for "general reading" (not book basket) that is more along the lines of SL reader lists. By grade level/reading level and fun stuff to enjoy separate from history.

 

-crystal

[abrightmom]

The Book Basket list is, IMHO, a HUGE benefit to MFW. We have an excellent library system which has made using the Book Basket portion a fantastic experience for our family. I'll try to break it down simply. The Book Basket reading is designed to supplement and/or complement the history and science topics each week. It is done independently by the child as much as possible. I find that I can't resist reading some of the books aloud with all of the kids though . . . What you study in History and Science that week becomes the "theme" of the BB (book basket) lists which are broken down by week in the back of the teacher's manual. In addition to a variety of books (reference, biography, poetry, etc.) there are often recommendations for supporting videos. EVERY book in the list has been previewed by the Hazell family and is well described. She (Marie Hazell, the writer of MFW's curriculum) describes the content of the book, gives an age/grade recommendation, etc. There are also starred resources that are considered Highly Recommended. She doesn't want you to miss those resources if at all possible.

 

I do go through the Book Basket books and make sure that DS8 reads particular ones. I usually check in with him periodically and ask what books he's read. He tells me about what he's reading constantly. If he wasn't inclined to share with me I'd ask him about the books. :001_smile:

 

So, if you look at a weekly schedule grid sample (like this one http://www.mfwbooks.com/pdf/eccsample.pdf -- scroll down the page 7) you'll see Book Basket on the schedule. After your studies that day (or whenever it fits in your schedule) you assign Book Basket. This is my DS8's favorite time of day. They dig into the library basket and begin reading through all of the books we have gathered that pertain to our weekly studies. My strategy is to reserve about 3 weeks of books at once. My library is awesome and I can reserve everything on-line then pick it up all at once. The other night I checked out 40 books and they're in Book Heaven this week. If I can get BB books on cd I try to. Then they can listen during play time. I also plan to use some of the longer chapter books recommended in the BB lists as summer reading. For example, Justin Morgan Had a Horse was on a recent BB weekly list but we don't have time to read it aloud. I'll save that one for summer. But in the same week there is a variety of books suggested: early/easy readers, picture books, biographies of varying difficulty, poetry, a movie, etc. The variety is excellent.

 

The program is designed to be used/taught with the books you see in the packages (like here: http://www.mfwbooks.com/ecc_2nd.htm). These form the spine of your studies. If you NEVER used a Book Basket time you'd still have a nice study. BUT the Book Basket adds a LOT of content, excellent reading for the kids, and allows connections to be made continuously. My children make connections DAILY between Book Basket readings and what we're studying with the main curriculum. Even my DS6, who is an emerging reader, will say, "Mommy, We learned about this today in science!" We learned about the water cycle and in one of the book basket books he was reading about it! This happens so often and it REALLY spurs me on with MFW. We have been so pleased with the LOVE for reading being fostered in my children and the growth in learning.

 

In addition to the Book Basket reading I still ask my children to read "literature" along the lines of a "lit list" (think VP or MP or SL or HOD). I'll assign as much or as little as needed per child per year using those lists as my guides.

 

Can you tell that I am loving MFW? :lol::lol: It has become my saving grace and I hope it continues to be.

[abrightmom]

not exactly.

 

Book Basket, not only is a list of titles and heads up and all of that.... it is scheduled week by week in an appendix of the manual so you know when the book fits best in the topic you are studying in history, science, music and art, etc. That way it isn't just a list, but a timing to use the books.

 

Each year, book basket list will be about 300-400 books over the year.

 

It is designed to be very flexible so that if you don't use the exact titles, you're just fine. There is no intention of having to read all of them. You get to let your child have some say in the matter to which books are of interest to that child. If they really don't like a specific book it is ok to set it down (like you were in a waiting room, or in a book store and said, "blah").

 

Many of the books that you'd find on SL or WP or HOD or VP or TOG or whatever, you'll also find on MFW's list, but MFW includes a lot more titles from what I can see between those catalogs and looking at my manual.

 

Then, there is a general reading list in the manual for "general reading" (not book basket) that is more along the lines of SL reader lists. By grade level/reading level and fun stuff to enjoy separate from history.

 

-crystal

:001_smile: I am so long winded. Thanks for being so succinct Crystal! Sheesh. I really have to learn to summarize better. I need to do WWE!!!! :D

[cbollin]

:001_smile: I am so long winded. Thanks for being so succinct Crystal! Sheesh. I really have to learn to summarize better. I need to do WWE!!!! :D

 

 

But I enjoyed your long post. It makes book basket come alive. I wish I could write like that. Succinct can be soooooo boring.

 

-crystal