HOD vs MFW w/newborn

[mommyoftwinboys]

I was totally sold on MFW ECC for the fall for my rising 4th grade twins, when my friend talked about how great HOD was when we were at the park today. Which would you choose if you had a newborn as well? We are switching from Sonlight(loved the reading but we need more activities-however I need it to be EASY for me to implement with a newborn). I'm tired of switching around and want to find something to stick with but I need something that lays it all out for me and will allow them to become more independant as we hopefully will expand our family more in the future...:001_smile:

[Abbeygurl4]

For me, HOD is easier to use. I used MFW ECC for a few weeks and sold it. I just started using HOD's Preparing with my 8 yo dd and she can do some of it on her own. I put a Post-it flag by the boxes in the guide that she can do independently and have her do that portion when I'm busy with my ds. I like the layout of the HOD guides because everything you need to know are in the boxes and it's open and go. Some people don't like the layout of the guides, so you should print out a 1 week sample and really look it over.

[hmschooling]

For me, HOD is easier to use. I used MFW ECC for a few weeks and sold it. I just started using HOD's Preparing with my 8 yo dd and she can do some of it on her own. I put a Post-it flag by the boxes in the guide that she can do independently and have her do that portion when I'm busy with my ds. I like the layout of the HOD guides because everything you need to know are in the boxes and it's open and go. Some people don't like the layout of the guides, so you should print out a 1 week sample and really look it over.

 

I agree.

 

I used MFWK up to ECC and then found HOD. HOD will be far easier to implement, follow, and stick to with a newborn. Here are no library runs, no odd items to get or search for, no need to even look ahead. I never read ahead for HOD and always had to for MFW. There's no planning or anything needed. Open n go 100%. We've even started the day it came in the mail! I've used HOD from LHTH up to PHFHG now and love it so much. The projects are also more manageable then in MFW but aren't overly simple or without meaning/purpose. No busy work or worksheets (other than math) and no copies to make! And HOD gently and methodically leads them to independence more each year and solidly teaches them skills that build year by year.

Edited July 2, 2011 by hmschooling

[LindaOz]

I was going to switch to MFW ECC next year too as I thought that I wanted to combine my younger kids.

 

 

AND THEN

 

 

I found out I am expecting #8. Well, I thought I'd definitely need to do MFW now just to keep things easier and manageable.

 

 

BUT THEN

 

 

I picked up a 2nd hand copy of Bigger Hearts and thought I'd try it out for a week with two kiddos combined. And, weeks later, we are still using it. We were using SL too (actually, most of my kids still are) but the addition of activities in the HOD guide is great and I love the CM approach. I also have been reading a lot of info on the HOD message board about meeting children where they are at, and it really rang true with me. I don't want my 6yo struggling to try to keep up with my 11 and 13yos. I want to meet him where he is at. What the previous poster said about HOD is true - it works towards independence. You can mark which boxes each child can do independently for when you are busy with baby, and have story time etc when nursing the baby or baby is asleep. That's what I'd plan on doing anyway..... :-)

 

All the best.

Edited July 2, 2011 by LindaOz

[ElizabethB]

I actually find MFW easier to use than HOD.

 

With HOD, it had a 5 day week and we had co-op once a week, it was hard to adjust and you couldn't see everything on one page.

 

With MFW, I like how everything is on one page, it makes it easy to see everything for the week and prioritize and check things off. If you are having a tough week, it is easy to move things around and see what you can skip. With HOD, not so much.

 

Last year, I used HOD for 2 or 3 months and then switched to MFW. I have purchased MFW ECC for next year.

[mommyoftwinboys]

I thought HOD was 4 days and MFW was 5 days..do I have that wrong?

[Leimarie]

I thought HOD was 4 days and MFW was 5 days..do I have that wrong?

 

I'm not familiar with the scheduling of MFW, but for the HoD guides from Preparing and up are 4 days a week, the younger guides (LHTH-Bigger) are 5 day plans.

[mothergooseof4]

I switched from HOD to MFW....no baby here though. The lower levels of HOD are 5 day, but they do become 4 day.

 

I find MFW to be much easier to get done than multiple guides of HOD which are what we were facing. We quit about a third of the way into HOD CtC. The work load just got to be too much for ds. Much had become independent, but there was still a lot that needed to be done with me. We left out crafts because he didn't like them and poetry just because. Otherwise, I think the only thing we could have done would be to leave off one of the packages. We did the Basic Package and all of the add-ons except the Ext. Package. It didn't occur to me at the time to omit something.

 

I moved to MFW and everyone is together. It works better for us. I do history, science, Bible, geography, crafts, science experiments, memorization, etc. once and it applies to everyone. I have been amazed at what my youngest has retained. My younger two actually seem to have an easier time learning their memorization because they do it with their older brother. They weren't motivated before. They will absorb the material, just at their level of understanding. It's okay. Then, everyone is met on their level when it comes to skills. MFW schedules copywork/dictation. My oldest copies it the first time, then does dictation later in the week using the same material...usually our memory verse. Since the material is difficult, the younger two just copy it. Notebooking pages usually involve a short summary/narration. My oldest is to write a few sentences on his own. The younger two were dicatating a sentence to me, then copying it onto their page. They will progress in the next year. My oldest has assigned reading that I, I, I choose to go along with his studies. MFW has the book basket list that I can pull from or I can look elsewhere, but I schedule it and if we are too busy, just the schedule is enough. My younger two choose books from book basket and have really grown to love having a little say in what they read for school.

 

On the flip side, when I was using two guides in HOD, I had to read some things from each guide for history, Bible, geography, story time, etc. I had to work on mapping separately. I had to read science to the younger two and then still had to go over what my oldest had done....so I had to be familiar with his studies. If crafts were going to get done, I would need to have to keep up with two sets of needed supplies...same with science. They didn't get done because my oldest still needed help with them and I had to do them with the youngers. It was too much so none got done. All in all, you just end up doing everything twice or more if you need to use more guides.

 

HOD is a great program. If I only had one child, I would probably have never looked at anything else. But, we are a family and MFW helps us to learn as one. Everything is streamlined. It is less time consuming to add a little extra to help one dc go deeper in an area than to do multiply time periods/levels. It is easier for mom's brain to only have to focus on one time period/science topic at a time. Crafts and experiments get done for a change because they apply to all. We often do them after dinner for family time. And, the kids are enjoying learning about things together. It carries over into other areas such as playtime.

[hmschooling]

I thought HOD was 4 days and MFW was 5 days..do I have that wrong?

 

MFW K is 6 days. HOD K up to Bigger is 5 days. Preparing up is 4. MFW 1 and up have 4 full days and a "light" 5th day.

[hmschooling]

I switched from HOD to MFW....no baby here though. The lower levels of HOD are 5 day, but they do become 4 day.

 

I find MFW to be much easier to get done than multiple guides of HOD which are what we were facing. We quit about a third of the way into HOD CtC. The work load just got to be too much for ds. Much had become independent, but there was still a lot that needed to be done with me. We left out crafts because he didn't like them and poetry just because. Otherwise, I think the only thing we could have done would be to leave off one of the packages. We did the Basic Package and all of the add-ons except the Ext. Package. It didn't occur to me at the time to omit something.

 

I moved to MFW and everyone is together. It works better for us. I do history, science, Bible, geography, crafts, science experiments, memorization, etc. once and it applies to everyone. I have been amazed at what my youngest has retained. My younger two actually seem to have an easier time learning their memorization because they do it with their older brother. They weren't motivated before. They will absorb the material, just at their level of understanding. It's okay. Then, everyone is met on their level when it comes to skills. MFW schedules copywork/dictation. My oldest copies it the first time, then does dictation later in the week using the same material...usually our memory verse. Since the material is difficult, the younger two just copy it. Notebooking pages usually involve a short summary/narration. My oldest is to write a few sentences on his own. The younger two were dicatating a sentence to me, then copying it onto their page. They will progress in the next year. My oldest has assigned reading that I, I, I choose to go along with his studies. MFW has the book basket list that I can pull from or I can look elsewhere, but I schedule it and if we are too busy, just the schedule is enough. My younger two choose books from book basket and have really grown to love having a little say in what they read for school.

 

On the flip side, when I was using two guides in HOD, I had to read some things from each guide for history, Bible, geography, story time, etc. I had to work on mapping separately. I had to read science to the younger two and then still had to go over what my oldest had done....so I had to be familiar with his studies. If crafts were going to get done, I would need to have to keep up with two sets of needed supplies...same with science. They didn't get done because my oldest still needed help with them and I had to do them with the youngers. It was too much so none got done. All in all, you just end up doing everything twice or more if you need to use more guides.

 

HOD is a great program. If I only had one child, I would probably have never looked at anything else. But, we are a family and MFW helps us to learn as one. Everything is streamlined. It is less time consuming to add a little extra to help one dc go deeper in an area than to do multiply time periods/levels. It is easier for mom's brain to only have to focus on one time period/science topic at a time. Crafts and experiments get done for a change because they apply to all. We often do them after dinner for family time. And, the kids are enjoying learning about things together. It carries over into other areas such as playtime.

 

It sounds like your son was placed too high. Proper placement is key! I have 4 kids and have no trouble getting three levels of HOD done by about lunch time even with a distractible ADD child, a wild Preshooler, and a crazy wild nursing toddler that just started sleeping through the night instead of waking hourly (at 19m old!!)

Meeting them where they are, not tweaking for everyone, was much easier. And with MFW I felt like I was just teaching one kid but letting the others listen in.

[raceNzanesmom]

I prefer HOD, but I only have one plus a couple preschool age day care boys.