MFW World History vs. WP Quest for the Middle Ages?

[MerryAtHope]

I'm looking at both of these right now and would love to hear feedback from anyone who has done one or the other (what did you like, what did you not like), or from anyone who has compared the two programs and chose one over the other (what tipped the scale for you?).

 

I like some of the books from each, so I'm feeling torn! MFW looks like they have really good questions though, from what I can see in the samples, whereas WP looks like they may not be as strong in this area but are stronger in projects...is that an accurate perception?

 

Thanks! Merry :-)

[fischerl]

:bigear:

[Julie in MN]

I'm looking at both of these right now and would love to hear feedback from anyone who has done one or the other (what did you like, what did you not like), or from anyone who has compared the two programs and chose one over the other (what tipped the scale for you?).

 

I like some of the books from each, so I'm feeling torn! MFW looks like they have really good questions though, from what I can see in the samples, whereas WP looks like they may not be as strong in this area but are stronger in projects...is that an accurate perception?

 

Thanks! Merry :-)

 

Well, I'll join the conversation but I've never used WP. I tried a lot of things with my older dd, but WP didn't exist back then. By the time I got to my youngest, I knew I loved MFW.

 

Just as a general statement on differences that may be obvious but here goes:

 

1. WP costs more if you get the 3 credits (history, Bible, and English).

 

2. WP's textbook looks like it's MOH and MFW's textbook for high school is Notgrass.

 

3. WP's Bible study is not clear to me. MOH includes summaries of many Bible stories, but then WP has a New Testament study book. Not sure if the actual entire NT is read? The only thing I can see about that study book is that it is 542 pages. I would be afraid that the questions would overwhelm the actual Word speaking to my children?

 

4. It looks like WP assigns a ton of easy-reading type books. MFW suggests reading each day, and lists quite a few of those as ideas, but doesn't "require" or "assign" them.

 

5. MFW requires, and actually studies, some advanced literature and I don't see nearly as much of this type of literature included in WP?

 

6. The general range of study in MFW's WHL seems different than WP. WHL goes over Rome to modern times, and tries to touch on all of the world. WP seems to cover middle history only, and just in Europe and maybe Asia?

 

HTH,

Julie

[MerryAtHope]

Well, I'll join the conversation but I've never used WP. I tried a lot of things with my older dd, but WP didn't exist back then. By the time I got to my youngest, I knew I loved MFW.

 

Just as a general statement on differences that may be obvious but here goes:

 

1. WP costs more if you get the 3 credits (history, Bible, and English). I would probably still spend as much purchasing some of the "suggested" books, LOL!

 

2. WP's textbook looks like it's MOH and MFW's textbook for high school is Notgrass. We've been using MOH, so plus that it's familiar, but a drawback is that it would take 3 volumes to get from the middle ages to modern times--my oldest probably wouldn't get to the last volume in order to do US history, Econ & Govt.

 

3. WP's Bible study is not clear to me. MOH includes summaries of many Bible stories, but then WP has a New Testament study book. Not sure if the actual entire NT is read? The only thing I can see about that study book is that it is 542 pages. I would be afraid that the questions would overwhelm the actual Word speaking to my children? Good point on the study book being 542 pages. I'd have to look more closely at that. I actually prefer how MFW separates things so clearly--this is history, this is lit, this is Bible. I probably can figure it out if I look more at WP, but MFW makes it easy to see.

 

4. It looks like WP assigns a ton of easy-reading type books. MFW suggests reading each day, and lists quite a few of those as ideas, but doesn't "require" or "assign" them. My son is finishing up Vision therapy so the easy-reading is not a negative here. But I don't think it would be hard to add some in to MFW either, from what I hear there is some time built into the schedule for optional reading.

 

5. MFW requires, and actually studies, some advanced literature and I don't see nearly as much of this type of literature included in WP? Yes, the English major in me REALLY wants some more rigorous lit!

 

6. The general range of study in MFW's WHL seems different than WP. WHL goes over Rome to modern times, and tries to touch on all of the world. WP seems to cover middle history only, and just in Europe and maybe Asia? WP may focus more on Europe, but MOH does touch on all of the world as well. However, I didn't know that MFW did, that was one of my questions, so thanks, that's helpful to know!

 

HTH,

Julie

 

 

Thank you for your input, it was helpful to me as I think this through! Merry :-)

[momtotkbb]

Merry -

I haven't used either but will probably use the WP program. A couple things I've noted:

 

1) The MFW program includes your Engl/Lit credit but the WP program would need to have the Engl/Lit component added either through one of their LA programs w/ readers or another program. The Lit that WP has in the core program is more for adventure/read aloud enjoyment as a family - which I personally still like even in high school and my kids love. Even w/ the SL cores my kids wanted me to do RA's.

 

2) MFW covers a longer time period - WP is broken up into shorter periods so you would need to cover multiple WP programs to cover the same time period.

 

3) one thing that took getting accustomed to for me coming from SL was the narration idea behind WP rather than questions. However, WP has been working to re-format their guides to include some general discussion type questions that could either have brief answers or open up a topic for in-depth discussion.

 

4) The WP program does include Bible readings in addition to the NT survey text and the Church history resources.

 

We've used a few MFW programs and only 1 really worked for our family - we loved it, but the subsequent ones were a bust and we moved back to SL. We've also used WP and like the hands-on options, the suggestions for videos and websites. We've been able to do WP without feeling so history heavy but with the ability to add in books from SL (my kids really like both programs meshed together - but they all have different learning styles).

[Donna A.]

4. It looks like WP assigns a ton of easy-reading type books. MFW suggests reading each day, and lists quite a few of those as ideas, but doesn't "require" or "assign" them. My son is finishing up Vision therapy so the easy-reading is not a negative here. But I don't think it would be hard to add some in to MFW either, from what I hear there is some time built into the schedule for optional reading.

 

One thought about this, Merry, is that you could get some of the lit on audio if needed.