Shanaudria Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Trying to decide between MFW ECC or Sonlight 5.....or just getting the book I like from each and just reading them to my dc. I've never used a prepared literature curriculum before. I have Rod and Staff math, English, and spelling. (and maybe science). We are a conservative Christian family if that makes a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iquilt Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 I think that mainly depends upon whether you are a "hands-on" projects kind of teacher or not. MFW has more projects included and you are finding more of your books for reading at the library. Sonlight is very heavy on literature and discussion, not as much hands-on. FWIW we plan on using Sonlight 5 and 2 this upcoming year and used Core 1 last year but we used MFW the year before. We love both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaneP Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 :bigear: How old are your dc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieH Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Hi! Can you tell me what MFW and ECC stand for? I'm so new to this and researching curriculum for my children for the fall. Thanks! Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samiam Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 MFW is My Father's World. ECC is their Exploring Countries and Culture curriculum. http://www.mfwbooks.com IQUILT pretty much hit the nail on the head with the "hands on" thing. MFW offers many little projects, etc, while I have heard Sonlight does not offer much of that. Also, isn't Sonlight really heavy on the read-alouds? Meaning Mom may be reading from several books each day? (Haven't used Sonlight but get their catalog each year!) MFW usually only has one main read aloud schedule at a time. Yes, you will use different book resources during the day, and the child may read different books from the book basket, but as far as actual read-alouds, there is just one book at a time, with 1-3 chapters scheduled. THIS I can handle, and my children can handle the sit and listen. But if I had to read chapters from several different books each day, I would become weary of all that reading aloud, and I am not sure my children would enjoy it much either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freesia Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 We did Core 5 this past year and loved it. The Eastern Hemisphere Explorer actually has a range of project that you can do. So, unlike other years, you can make it a very hands on year. Anne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieH Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 aaaaaahhh! Decisions decisions! I went to a huge homeschool conference in Florida with the intention of visiting all the different booths but was SO sick with a kidney infection I couldn't walk around so only spent time at the SL booth. Now I wish I had looked at the others. Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 I have not done either, but I would go ECC and add in books from the SL core. Then you get the best of both worlds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omma Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 MFW ECC involves cultures around the world. I believe that SL Core 5 basically centers on the Eastern Hemisphere. I've heard that SL Core 5 has quite a few books that should be preread by a parent first, just to see if you want to make any changes (or you could read some of the reviews and just be aware ahead of time to make adjustments on the fly if you need to). We are using MFW ECC combined with some of Winterpromise's Children Around the World (CATW). But I still am eyeing SL Core 5 as a possibility afterwards. I know the order for MFW ECC, and I am doing a co-op based on ECC. We will cover N.A. in Sept./Oct., S.A. in November, Europe in Dec./Jan., Africa in February, and Asia in Mar./Apr. and then Russia, Australia and Antarctica in May. What I had originally been thinking is to start with ECC and add in SL Core 5 once we got to Asia towards the end of the year. So it is possible that you could do both and I don't think they overlap all that much. It's just that you'd be covering geography for a very long time! The reason why I have contemplated this is that both of my dc were born in Korea and at some point we all want to really cover the Eastern Hemisphere. I have just heard, too, that SL Core 5 is better for ages 10 and up (even 12 and 13 year olds). Hope this helps! Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3peasinapod Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 MFW is My Father's World. ECC is their Exploring Countries and Culture curriculum. www.mfwbooks.com IQUILT pretty much hit the nail on the head with the "hands on" thing. MFW offers many little projects, etc, while I have heard Sonlight does not offer much of that. Also, isn't Sonlight really heavy on the read-alouds? Meaning Mom may be reading from several books each day? (Haven't used Sonlight but get their catalog each year!) MFW usually only has one main read aloud schedule at a time (as in chapter/story books). Yes, you will use different book resources during the day, and the child may read different books from the book basket, but as far as actual read-alouds, there is just one book at a time, with 1-3 chapters scheduled. THIS I can handle, and my children can handle the sit and listen. But if I had to read chapters from several different books each day, I would become weary of all that reading aloud, and I am not sure my children would enjoy it much either. I have not done core 5, but generally SL schedules 1 read aloud book at a time. There is also a poetry book going that is considered a read aloud. As far as I know, there is only 1 read aloud book going at a time. The student will be reading a reader at the same time as the read aloud book, though. Maybe that's what you are thinking of? You are also reading history books too. So that way, it would compare with MFW as in multiple books going at one time, not multiple stories (read by parent), though. Does that make sense? :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxing Hare Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 :iagree: We did Core 5 this past year and loved it. The Eastern Hemisphere Explorer actually has a range of project that you can do. So, unlike other years, you can make it a very hands on year. Anne Each country has projects to go along with it. We made food from China, a gurt from Mongolia, learned to hula dance, and a lot of other fun stuff. It had more projects than I could handle, but the kids loved it. I am very conservative and had only a minor problem with one of the books (a read aloud). SL gives a warning, and I just marked in the book to skip that section. I don't think the kids even noticed. It turned out to be one of our favorite books. There was another book that had a really gross/graphic chapter that I skipped. But again, SL gave a warning so we just skipped the reading for that day. For the most part, I only read the read aloud to them. I had them read the history books themselves. There were one or two history books I did read to them. I did this while my kids were in 4th and 5th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.