simplysusan Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 I've been looking at My Father's World for my 2nd grader and would love to hear from others who use it. Pros? Cons? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-2-7 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Which one? Adventures or ECC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplysusan Posted July 28, 2011 Author Share Posted July 28, 2011 Adventures I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 We used MFW last year and loved it. It's a very good program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 We did Adventures and loved it...until... the states. I just got so burned out. The kids got burned out. State bird. State story. Sticker.... It just got really dry. I was a newish homeschooler so I didn't have the wisdom to revise it. I wish I had done an overview - New England one week. Mid Atlantaic one week. That would hav help led us tremendously. (and actually, I think I'm going to email MFW about it :)). so, I was burned out enough that I started ECC with a bad attitude. It stuck and we dropped ECC. After that year we did SOTW, MOH, and a short trip with TOG.... Well, I'm back with MFW Explorers. I am thrilled. I hate that I was turned off so strongly, and while we enjoyed what we did in the interim, I think we missed a lot. I am LOVING being back with MFW and I really think they put out a great product. Please don't be like me - be flexible and make it work for your family! It's a really awesome product and the bible integration can't be beat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dedossett Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 I will be using MFW for the 3rd year this coming fall. I am however using the Unit study. My oldest is 11,9, and then 7 yrs. old. I have tried Abeka and BJU PRESS and it was boring and mundane. :crying: I started using MFW and school is fun again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-2-7 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 We loved Adventures. But, like the pp said, the states were boring. We dropped that part very early into the states. Instead, we: read books about each state learned 1 interesting thing about each Sometimes colored pictures of the bird or flower or landmark Put together a map/puzzle of the US Anything to add a little variety. At the 1st/2nd grade age, I wouldn't expect them to remember everything that is on the state pages. My goal was to have the kids familiar enough with the states so that if someone mentioned Montana, they would know that it was in the United States! Check out the forum on MFW site. There is a wealth of information there about each of the levels and the way folks have tweaked them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
campmom Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 We have used MFW k and 1st and are fixing to start Adventures in a couple weeks. My boys are so excited they have enjoyed MFW so far. They have already been attacking the bookbasket books I've been collecting. If I need to I will make adjustments because for me at this age school and learning should be enjoyable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*lifeoftheparty* Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 We are doing Adventures this year and I'm so stinkin' excited!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 We are doing Adventures this year and I'm so stinkin' excited!!! EEeee! Me too!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmschooling Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 We did up to ECC....the states weren't all that we found boring or repetitious. We disliked MFW greatly but didn't know of any other literature based type programs so I stuck with it, and about gave up homeschooling b/c we were so. so. insanely. bored. I eventually found my way to Heart of Dakota and WOW! There's life to schooling and a love of learning again!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicMom Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 We will be starting in a couples of weeks and are very excited! I've added a couple of hands-on history items as well as experiments but otherwise it looks pretty good the way it is. I get what many have said about the state study but this can be tweaked slightly. It's just meant to be a gentle introduction to the 50 states but you could do it any way that you like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma H Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I did this too when I started MFW. I just got confused with Kindergarten and gave it up and did not look at it for like 4 years. I am SO glad I went back (some friends were doing ECC and it looked like so much fun I had to try it). I now look back and realize I didn't know what I had before. (cue the song YOU DON"T KNOW WHAT YOU GOT TILL IT'S GONE) It is a great program. I loved the state study personally! Now, we did the state study in Exp-1850 and 1850-Modern so my kids were older. Maybe it is too much for a little guy. We did not do Adventures (although I am going to in a yeat). The thing I remember and I learned this with ECC. There are a lot of states. I personally want my kids to learn them. There really is no super fun, never gets repetitive way to learn about 50 same but different things. They all have the same criteria of what we learn about as states so it is going to be repetitive (especially if you can't spend a ton of money or materials to keep it exciting and magical--I also like to learn things like that in a more methodical fashion because if we learn different information about some states and different information about other it will be disjointed). (I am a very parenthetical writer!) Anyway, that is my experience. MFW ROCKS! I love it. My kids love it. This lady loves it!! Just know you may want to shorten the state study for a little guy if it is too much. We did Adventures and loved it...until... the states. I just got so burned out. The kids got burned out. State bird. State story. Sticker.... It just got really dry. I was a newish homeschooler so I didn't have the wisdom to revise it. I wish I had done an overview - New England one week. Mid Atlantaic one week. That would hav help led us tremendously. (and actually, I think I'm going to email MFW about it :)). so, I was burned out enough that I started ECC with a bad attitude. It stuck and we dropped ECC. After that year we did SOTW, MOH, and a short trip with TOG.... Well, I'm back with MFW Explorers. I am thrilled. I hate that I was turned off so strongly, and while we enjoyed what we did in the interim, I think we missed a lot. I am LOVING being back with MFW and I really think they put out a great product. Please don't be like me - be flexible and make it work for your family! It's a really awesome product and the bible integration can't be beat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyeska Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 We've been using Adventures for 2 weeks. My ds loves it! I added in lots of books from the bookbasket list and scheduled them in during our break. WE haven't gotten to the state study part yet, but ds is excited about it. He sees all the postcard pieces and wants to do that part 'right now'. Lol! Oh, a downside...I realize that it is meant to be an overview of American history, but I had to add in a good number of books to make it more of a full program. I'd be happy to share what books I added during which weeks if you are interested...just let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruthie in MS Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 We will be starting MFW Adventures in a couple of weeks. I am so excited to be starting such an interesting curriculum. I've considered everyone's input on the states. Since my 7-year-old already knows all her states and where they belong we will start with a states geography game to refresh her memory. http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm Then from there I will let her choose a state from each region and do a week-long lapbook on her chosen state. Currclick has interesting options on that like this one: http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=49621&it=1 and the other titles in this series. Or we will just spend a week studying that state with something like this: http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=44320&it=1 Either way, I don't want to get burned out like other Adventures users. You have to inject some fun variety to make it interesting and to make learning stick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamijoy Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 We're starting our fourth year with My Father's World. We love it! We used Adventures our first year and my kids (and I) really enjoyed it. We used a lot of the book basket books and we have several of our own states books as well. The state worksheets don't take very long to complete, maybe five minutes if I remember correctly. I'm surprised those would burn anyone out. I guess it just depends on the child though. We had an illustrated book that had one page per state with lots of "state _______" pictures on it (bird, flower, food, flag, fish, animal, etc). That was our main info for the actual state info rather than the state sheets, but we still did those. Remember that this year is an intro to United States history. If you stick with MFW, you'll cover U.S. history more in depth in years four and five of the cycle. Adventures is for 2nd and 3rd graders so it doesn't take a large portion of the day to complete, as 2nd and 3rd graders do not need to do school for very long at that age. My kids liked the read aloud books that are included in the deluxe package and have read them on their own since then. Have a fun year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Love MFW. We did Adventures last year and it was awesome. MFW is really well balanced. We had fun, we learned, all good stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samiam Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 We finished Adventures last year, with DS7 and loved it!! I have used many other curriculums over the years, with older DS, and don't remember ever having as fun of a year as I had with DS7. Fun, AND he learned! Now, I can not believe I got the MFW catalog every year, browsed through it and then promptly put it aside without further thought!! Why, oh why!! This year we are doing ECC, with all three boys. We started on Monday, and still, I feel excited for our upcoming year. When I look at all of the fun activities we will be doing, woohoo!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 We've been using Adventures for 2 weeks. My ds loves it! I added in lots of books from the bookbasket list and scheduled them in during our break. WE haven't gotten to the state study part yet, but ds is excited about it. He sees all the postcard pieces and wants to do that part 'right now'. Lol! Oh, a downside...I realize that it is meant to be an overview of American history, but I had to add in a good number of books to make it more of a full program. I'd be happy to share what books I added during which weeks if you are interested...just let me know. I'd love to see what you added in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyeska Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I'd love to see what you added in! Sure! :) I used a printout from Donna Young's site to make a grid for the books, and divided page total by 5 to give us number of pages per day. And some of these books won't take all 5 days either. When we read, my ds keeps a globe nearby and we do little book related geography tidbits as we go along. He just loves that. And the weeks where nothing extra is scheduled, we will probably just look at one of the extra American history/geography books I have on the shelf. Or we might do History Pockets...not sure yet. Week 1: Eric the Red 2: Discovery of the Americas--we only read the last half 3: If you Lived in Colonial Times 4: Colonial Times continued, also The True Story of Pocahontas (this is a level 3 easy reader) 5 and 6: nothing extra 7: Ben and Me 8: Ben and Me continued and Benjamin Franklin video (Animated Hero Classics) 9: Getting to Know George Washington 10: A More Perfect Union 11: Owl at Home 12: nothing 13: Canada Geese Quilt 14-19: nothing because we were supposed to read Farmer Boy...but we are already near the end of it so I will add in the next Little House book from the series. 20: How We Crossed the West 21: Log Cabin in the Woods 22: Carolina's Courage 23: Keep the Lights Burning Abby and Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express 24-25: nothing 26 and 27: If you Travelled West in a Covered Wagon 28: Escape North! The Harriet Tubman story 29: Wagon Wheels and Long Way to a New Land 30: The Long Way Westward and Golly Sisters Go West 31: Mailing May 32: Clara and the Bookwagon 33: Lost on a Mountain in Maine 34: nothing It looks like a lot considering this list doesn't include what the TM already has scheduled, but my ds just LOVES read aloud time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarenM Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 We just finished Adventures and it was excellent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Sure! :) I used a printout from Donna Young's site to make a grid for the books, and divided page total by 5 to give us number of pages per day. And some of these books won't take all 5 days either. When we read, my ds keeps a globe nearby and we do little book related geography tidbits as we go along. He just loves that. And the weeks where nothing extra is scheduled, we will probably just look at one of the extra American history/geography books I have on the shelf. Or we might do History Pockets...not sure yet. Week 1: Eric the Red 2: Discovery of the Americas--we only read the last half 3: If you Lived in Colonial Times 4: Colonial Times continued, also The True Story of Pocahontas (this is a level 3 easy reader) 5 and 6: nothing extra 7: Ben and Me 8: Ben and Me continued and Benjamin Franklin video (Animated Hero Classics) 9: Getting to Know George Washington 10: A More Perfect Union 11: Owl at Home 12: nothing 13: Canada Geese Quilt 14-19: nothing because we were supposed to read Farmer Boy...but we are already near the end of it so I will add in the next Little House book from the series. 20: How We Crossed the West 21: Log Cabin in the Woods 22: Carolina's Courage 23: Keep the Lights Burning Abby and Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express 24-25: nothing 26 and 27: If you Travelled West in a Covered Wagon 28: Escape North! The Harriet Tubman story 29: Wagon Wheels and Long Way to a New Land 30: The Long Way Westward and Golly Sisters Go West 31: Mailing May 32: Clara and the Bookwagon 33: Lost on a Mountain in Maine 34: nothing It looks like a lot considering this list doesn't include what the TM already has scheduled, but my ds just LOVES read aloud time! And don't forget about Book Basket in the TM! There's a lot of extra reading choices there, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kentuckymommy Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 We have used ECC, K, and 1st...We love My Father's World and are planning to go back to it for American History...the older two using the third Unit and the younger two using Adventures...It is going to be FUN!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 We, too, thoroughly enjoy MFW Adventures. I have tried Sonlight, MFW, and HOD and I have to say that MFW always gets the preferred votes from my dc. They are all fine programs. I liked the idea of HOD, but it needed so much tweaking for us that it ended up not being HOD by the time we were done. I haven't had to do that with MFW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimsclan Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 MFW is awesome. I have been HS 3 years, and the year I used Adventures was my best year yet. Looking forward to doing it again in 2 weeks with my youngest. MFW really fits us. Just a great way to learn while having fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 We did up to ECC....the states weren't all that we found boring or repetitious. We disliked MFW greatly but didn't know of any other literature based type programs so I stuck with it, and about gave up homeschooling b/c we were so. so. insanely. bored. :svengo::svengo: We did MFW K with ds6 and he started to LOVE school and now cry over it. He will do MFW1st with his 5 1/2 year old brother doing a mix of K with MFW 1st, ECC read alouds, Horizons K and A Reason for Handwriting. We are going to do ECC as a family and I am so SO excited I can not wait. I keep reading through the TM and getting all giddy inside! I just can not wait. It is going to be SUCH a fun year!!!! :D:D:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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