Progression of bible in SL and MFW

[jer2911mom]

If you've used SL and/or MFW most of the way through, can you please give me a feel for the progression of bible teaching in each? I've looked at the books for each, but I still don't have a sense of what each encompasses and how they progress/what their goal is, if that makes sense. I know they both seem to have a missions focus. Can someone give me their take on how they address the heart of the child and how they help in discipling the child to have a heart for God, to have a biblical worldview, and to discern God's will for their life? I'd like to know how each has impacted families specifically. Thank you!

[cbollin]

I'll a little lazy to type too much.... I haven't used SL, so this is NOT a comparison. I've used MFW since 2003. done Pre K-AHL so far.

 

let me start with a link where I wrote a while back:

http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3149

(I post as cbollin over there too)

 

wow. I seemed to have written that 3 years ago. doesn't seem that long ago. blush. but my brain was really working that day when I wrote all of that. did I really write all of that? ok.. I wasn't in my 40's back then. :lol:

 

what I've noticed over the years is that both character and missions are done. and of course it has to be as it's all connected. Much of the way it is done that I've seen has been with character study when missionaries and others faced problems. There's of course Bible study. Some years there is specific study (like 1st grade with Proverbs) and other years with other character study in literature read alouds.

 

I'm not making a lot of sense. supper was late and my brain just turned to mush. I'm noticing in high school that my oldest has to work through issues in literature books with issues such as Rage and Anger and then journaling about it and comparing to what scripture says.

 

there's inductive Bible study

 

Pre K: you're working on helping them to follow instructions with the preschool "toys" and activity books. Then, there's studying the Word through music. I include that over here because I apparently left it out on the other thread.

 

Service projects are part of high school and that's character developing. Can you tell my oldest is in high school and that's where my brain thinks first :) some of it comes in the health curriculum too.

 

younger years? not sure what else to say right now. But much of the character study comes from read alouds in deluxe, and church history, and scripture study. Some character traits are done as copywork in ECC.

 

not sure that helped much. I ate too much for supper. or too many cookies, or over worked it at exercise class today. so, I'm a little tired. but maybe that link will help with some of it, or if it brings up specific questions, holler out :)

 

-crystal

[jer2911mom]

Crystal, your link was AWESOME and just what I was looking for! Thank you! I hope others will chime in, too!

[Donna A.]

On my way out the door, but here's a post I wrote recently on this topic: http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9925&p=67283&hilit=charlotte+mason#p66798

 

One (of several) reasons I chose MFW over SL was because MFW has Bible training integrated with history. To me, as a Christian, I don't see Bible as a separate subject, but as part of our whole life. It seems only natural that it be integrated as part of our academics, too. MFW does this very well.... teaching how to incorporate the Bible into our whole lives.

[jer2911mom]

Thank you, Donna! That was another very helpful post! Thank you for the link!

[jer2911mom]

Are there any SL users who can comment? Thanks!

[Leonana]

One of the reasons I chose SL is that the Bible is separate from the history/lit. There are areas where I usually disagree with the interpretation of the curriculum author. I like to do my own Bible study.

[Julie in MN]

One of the reasons I chose SL is that the Bible is separate from the history/lit. There are areas where I usually disagree with the interpretation of the curriculum author. I like to do my own Bible study.

 

I basically agree with this. Even though I use MFW, which includes Bible, it's important to me that it schedules the actual reading of the Bible, itself, rather than a different person's summary or guided study. I mean, I like some of the different things MFW has added, especially hymns and copywork, but what we like at our house is just reading the Bible until we really know it (and I'm glad someone has scheduled it for me, since scheduling it on my own meant we never finished those last prophets -- it's long :) ).

 

Julie

[Donna A.]

I basically agree with this. Even though I use MFW, which includes Bible, it's important to me that it schedules the actual reading of the Bible, itself, rather than a different person's summary or guided study. I mean, I like some of the different things MFW has added, especially hymns and copywork, but what we like at our house is just reading the Bible until we really know it (and I'm glad someone has scheduled it for me, since scheduling it on my own meant we never finished those last prophets -- it's long :) ).

 

Julie

 

:iagree: One of the things I was looking for when I found MFW was non-denominational specific. Christian, yes. Bible- and Christ-focused, yes. One person or publisher's interpretation about certain doctrinal points? No. I love the fact that MFW schedules so much of the actual Bible in elementary, and then the FULL Bible cover-to-cover in high school, and Marie also makes it very clear in the TMs that specific denominational teaching is between you and your church. So you're getting a strong Bible foundation with all the basic tenets of Christianity in there, gradually building discipleship and a heart for service in an age-appropriate way (as described above), without telling me what to believe about things like baptism and eschatology.

 

Here's another thing, too.... I think that one thing MFW does is to prepare you/the student for the strong possibility of persecution. We don't know that there won't be a day that American Christians have to go into hiding like so many Christians already do in other countries, or that we won't be thrown into prison without a Bible or hymnbook available simply because we ARE Christians. Thus, the incorporation of the reading of lengthy passages (vs. just a verse here and there), memorization, hymns, and so much more that we need to understand WHY we're doing what we're doing.

 

I don't know whether or how SL prepares you for this, but that's a little bit of what MFW is doing.