MFW High school curriculum

[mlbuchina]

How has your year gone? How was the work load? Were your dc able to pursue outside interests, or specialize in their favorite/best subject? Was there time for colledge courses?

How did you like the lesson plans being written to the student?

 

I really like MFW, have been planning to use it through high school, and am just really curious about it.

 

Thanks!

[Brindee]

There are quite a few threads on MFW AHL where I have sung it's praises! We (dd and I) loved it!

 

In our area you can't take CC classes until the Junior year of high school. But dd had time for some electives and outside interests. The work load was a step up from 7th/8th grade work, and what I would consider rigorous. DD loves to read, so really didn't have many problems with the amount of reading. I loved how they have it all laid out and weave the subjects together in a logical way. It all makes sense!

 

We did our own Science and Math and electives. Next year we may do Health through MFW. We were planning on going with MFW WHL next year. I couldn't imagine NOT using it since it worked so well. Then I found out some teachers the our oldest ds had had in Jr. high were teaching high school classes. They have a rigorous schedule, expect the kids to stay on top of things, and are the best teachers ever! They make things come alive, and the kids REALLY learn! I am really excited about dd taking English/Lit., History and Science from these teachers! I don't think I could have been drawn away from MFW by ANYONE else! I'm excited about the English/Lit. class, cuz dd will learn writing skills and polishing things up etc. from a VERY good teacher, and I'm excited about the lab science too!

 

Anyway, depending on what's offered by these teachers the next year, we may head on back to MFW WHL after this coming school year.

 

DD loved the lesson plans! She liked checking off the boxes and adding in the other things she was doing. She said it helped her be for consistent in getting things done, and made things more clear for her.

 

So, ALL positives here! :thumbup:

[cbollin]

How has your year gone? How was the work load? Were your dc able to pursue outside interests, or specialize in their favorite/best subject? Was there time for colledge courses?

How did you like the lesson plans being written to the student?

 

I really like MFW, have been planning to use it through high school, and am just really curious about it.

 

Thanks!

 

My oldest just finished AHL as a 9th grader a couple of weeks ago.

Work Load was not miserable. I had these nightmares that it would be all day all night.. but my kiddo is a strong reader and it wasn't like that. She needed adjustment time in the first of the year. Then, hit a bad slump after Christmas... but when she realized that summer was coming and mom was serious that some summer activities might not happen if she's sitting in the school area getting it done. She buckled down and hit it hard and did block scheduling at that point and finished everything except one essay that was assigned. I decided that in lieu of the last schedule essay, we did a different assignment from the lit/comp book for those points. She needed motivation to finish the grammar lessons -- so I made it worth an essay.

 

She had plenty of time to still be in ballet one afternoon a week, and archery during non hunting season - even earning her letter in archery!

For service project time, she was on student leadership group at church (2 nights a month plus a few odds and ends)

 

and too much goof off time :)

 

We're not at dual enrollment time yet. However, she did take an online non-credit computer programming class via a local university.

 

loved the lesson plans geared to the student. It's just spelled out each day what to do, check boxes, you get plans for math, science too. It's all on one planner, and room to put in extra stuff they might do outside of school.

 

She's a strong book smart kid, so she had time for it.

 

overall.... I'm glad we did it. I know toward the end, I was having burn out from school and ready for a break, and all of that.

 

-crystal

[Julie in MN]

How has your year gone? How was the work load? Were your dc able to pursue outside interests, or specialize in their favorite/best subject? Was there time for colledge courses?

How did you like the lesson plans being written to the student?

 

I really like MFW, have been planning to use it through high school, and am just really curious about it.

 

Thanks!

 

Hi Michele,

Good question. I need to sum up the year in my own mind, too. As you will see, my mind has a lot of thoughts in it!

 

My 9th grader didn't do college yet, either. But he was usually in 3 afternoon activities a week, and that was do-able. He was in a YMCA gym class, a boys book club, and a math team. So yes, MFW was do-able with outside activities at our house, plus doing the math team assignments and read the book club books. This is really helped by the lighter Friday schedule & the free reading segment of English.

 

However, although the whole student grid thing was great for him, it did affect his willingness to do extras, so we virtually stopped doing field trips to the orchestra or museum or such. He realized that he'd still have the same amount of schoolwork, so he didn't want any more -- so this was a student decision not to do a lot of extras. I'm going to think on that this summer. I mean, he doesn't need to do as many field trips in high school, and he *was* already doing 3 outside things a week, so I need to think thru whether I should let these things go (we can go to the museum on weekends, after all), or whether I should mark some things on the schedule that I might be willing to sub out, or what. My boys tend to be on the go all waking hours, so I only have his attention during school hours, and only for 3 more years, and I want to be sure I make this decision carefully.

 

Anyways, yes, he loved having his own grid and also his own lesson plans for French and Geometry. I think those things made him work harder, because he's very much a lackadaisical youngest who is going to figure out the easy way if he can. And one easy way is to just stretch one topic out until school hours are over. So the grid and the lesson plans helped him transition into high school, where spending 6 hours discussing history is fun but doesn't mean the school day is over yet :) It was a good year of transition into more accountability and self-driven work for my fun but not hard-working youngest. Not too much pressure, but definitely some progress.

 

The lesson plans are also, of course, a help to me. We spent 2 months this winter training to do my dh's dialysis at home. I was available very little during those months. My ds continued his education in ways I didn't think could happen with this particular child. I credit that to using a well planned out curriculum that has already figured out how much time each activity should take, and has allowed for that time on the schedule.

 

We didn't finish the year at the end of the 172 days on our calendar; my son is doing his service hours right now at VBS (instead of on Fridays during the school year) and then he'll have some more academics to finish. There are various reasons for the different things that didn't get done (French lessons kept getting interrupted by his breaking his headset or losing something; Greek alphabet wasn't learned because he was lackadaisical on that during those months we were doing dialysis training; science he kept skipping; oh, and the MFW calendar is 180 days so I had to squish a bit), but most of all it was because he spent 3.5 weeks out of town and didn't do any of the work I sent. I debated long and hard about what to let go of, and I decided that this particular child needs to learn a lesson here. I won't make it too hard for him, and will probably sub out the science for reading a biography, etc. But I will make him do *something* for each lesson missed, just because I think this kind of accountability will benefit him in life. I did push him to finish things that would be a headache for me to continue into the summer (geometry, most of English and History), so a lot is done. There are things I thought would be okay to skip, but usually I end up wanting to sub something in there instead. And again, I just decided this child needed to learn a small lesson. He knows full well what he does to get out of schoolwork. He told me that if his math team doesn't feel like working, then all the kids get together and start asking the teacher about politics :) I'm trying to steer him back to accountability -- just a little bit in 9th grade and hopefully a lot by 12th. I think MFW is really helping us with this.

 

Oh, and he's learned lots :) I've done high school before (both 1 in ps and 1 in hs), so every time I'd think I wanted to be sure to cover something, I'd realize that it was in there, just not in the expected place. Maybe in a piece of literature or in the Usborne encyclopedia or somewhere unexpected. And maybe because I've done high school before, I felt comfortable making a decision to sub on occasion for my particular child (mostly in the area of the English credit). But I was very happy not to have to plan it all like I did the first time, and instead to have more time with my family and maybe more depth (vs. breadth) in how I did spend any planning time?

 

Julie

[blessed2five]

Hi Michele,

Good question. I need to sum up the year in my own mind, too. As you will see, my mind has a lot of thoughts in it!

 

My 9th grader didn't do college yet, either. But he was usually in 3 afternoon activities a week, and that was do-able. He was in a YMCA gym class, a boys book club, and a math team. So yes, MFW was do-able with outside activities at our house, plus doing the math team assignments and read the book club books. This is really helped by the lighter Friday schedule & the free reading segment of English.

 

However, although the whole student grid thing was great for him, it did affect his willingness to do extras, so we virtually stopped doing field trips to the orchestra or museum or such. He realized that he'd still have the same amount of schoolwork, so he didn't want any more -- so this was a student decision not to do a lot of extras. I'm going to think on that this summer. I mean, he doesn't need to do as many field trips in high school, and he *was* already doing 3 outside things a week, so I need to think thru whether I should let these things go (we can go to the museum on weekends, after all), or whether I should mark some things on the schedule that I might be willing to sub out, or what. My boys tend to be on the go all waking hours, so I only have his attention during school hours, and only for 3 more years, and I want to be sure I make this decision carefully.

 

Anyways, yes, he loved having his own grid and also his own lesson plans for French and Geometry. I think those things made him work harder, because he's very much a lackadaisical youngest who is going to figure out the easy way if he can. And one easy way is to just stretch one topic out until school hours are over. So the grid and the lesson plans helped him transition into high school, where spending 6 hours discussing history is fun but doesn't mean the school day is over yet :) It was a good year of transition into more accountability and self-driven work for my fun but not hard-working youngest. Not too much pressure, but definitely some progress.

 

The lesson plans are also, of course, a help to me. We spent 2 months this winter training to do my dh's dialysis at home. I was available very little during those months. My ds continued his education in ways I didn't think could happen with this particular child. I credit that to using a well planned out curriculum that has already figured out how much time each activity should take, and has allowed for that time on the schedule.

 

We didn't finish the year at the end of the 172 days on our calendar; my son is doing his service hours right now at VBS (instead of on Fridays during the school year) and then he'll have some more academics to finish. There are various reasons for the different things that didn't get done (French lessons kept getting interrupted by his breaking his headset or losing something; Greek alphabet wasn't learned because he was lackadaisical on that during those months we were doing dialysis training; science he kept skipping; oh, and the MFW calendar is 180 days so I had to squish a bit), but most of all it was because he spent 3.5 weeks out of town and didn't do any of the work I sent. I debated long and hard about what to let go of, and I decided that this particular child needs to learn a lesson here. I won't make it too hard for him, and will probably sub out the science for reading a biography, etc. But I will make him do *something* for each lesson missed, just because I think this kind of accountability will benefit him in life. I did push him to finish things that would be a headache for me to continue into the summer (geometry, most of English and History), so a lot is done. There are things I thought would be okay to skip, but usually I end up wanting to sub something in there instead. And again, I just decided this child needed to learn a small lesson. He knows full well what he does to get out of schoolwork. He told me that if his math team doesn't feel like working, then all the kids get together and start asking the teacher about politics :) I'm trying to steer him back to accountability -- just a little bit in 9th grade and hopefully a lot by 12th. I think MFW is really helping us with this.

 

Oh, and he's learned lots :) I've done high school before (both 1 in ps and 1 in hs), so every time I'd think I wanted to be sure to cover something, I'd realize that it was in there, just not in the expected place. Maybe in a piece of literature or in the Usborne encyclopedia or somewhere unexpected. And maybe because I've done high school before, I felt comfortable making a decision to sub on occasion for my particular child (mostly in the area of the English credit). But I was very happy not to have to plan it all like I did the first time, and instead to have more time with my family and maybe more depth (vs. breadth) in how I did spend any planning time?

 

Julie

 

Julie, I just wanted to say thank you for all your wonderful posts about your ds and MFW AHL. You really have been the deciding factor for us to go ahead with AHL despite my son's character issues which seem to be some of the same one's your ds portrays. I also am a firm believer in finishing what you have started and if you get off your schedule, you will be completing this in the summer when all your friends are finished with school. My two oldest are learning this lesson right now as they finish up the two last modules of Science and their math.

 

You really have given us some great ideas to tweak MFW if needed due to reading lengths etc. I really can't wait to get started just to show my ds and I he can do it!! For too many years he has been the type that can just get by with studying for 30 min before a test or just glancing at his spelling words and ace the tests. I know he is a bright boy and I think MFW will really challenge him and make him think and reason, instead of filling in blanks and memorizing facts. And reading through the OT is an answer to prayer. We will be doing this together!

 

I am praying for a great year and will probably be picking your brain for ways to make this curriculum work for us!

[Julie in MN]

Julie, I just wanted to say thank you for all your wonderful posts about your ds and MFW AHL. You really have been the deciding factor for us to go ahead with AHL despite my son's character issues which seem to be some of the same one's your ds portrays. I also am a firm believer in finishing what you have started and if you get off your schedule, you will be completing this in the summer when all your friends are finished with school. My two oldest are learning this lesson right now as they finish up the two last modules of Science and their math.

 

You really have given us some great ideas to tweak MFW if needed due to reading lengths etc. I really can't wait to get started just to show my ds and I he can do it!! For too many years he has been the type that can just get by with studying for 30 min before a test or just glancing at his spelling words and ace the tests. I know he is a bright boy and I think MFW will really challenge him and make him think and reason, instead of filling in blanks and memorizing facts. And reading through the OT is an answer to prayer. We will be doing this together!

 

I am praying for a great year and will probably be picking your brain for ways to make this curriculum work for us!

 

Aw, thanks for your kind words. And I'm glad my ramblings were heard by another mom of a wonderful but fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants young man :)

Julie

[mlbuchina]

Wow, thank you all for your thoughts. It is exactly what I was looking for. :D

[grace4me]

Julie, thanks for your posts. You have been such a help to me and countless others. We too are excited to have found MFW for HS and look forward to beginning in Aug. Is your son going to be continuing on with WHL?

[Julie in MN]

Julie, thanks for your posts. You have been such a help to me and countless others. We too are excited to have found MFW for HS and look forward to beginning in Aug. Is your son going to be continuing on with WHL?

 

Oh, yes, got my box here already :) I'm going to start copying those timeline figures soon; I don't like him to spend his time on that, because of his personal style. I'm also debating how we'll do the first lit book at our house -- Shakespeare's Julius Caesar -- because I did that one with dd in the past & made her read it aloud with me. Will I torture ds equally?! :tongue_smilie:

 

Julie

[SonshineLearner]

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