MFW for high school?

[HollyDay]

I'm still planning high school for my youngest who will start earning high school credits next year. Anyone use and recommend MFW? pros/cons would be greatly appreciated!!

[Julie in MN]

There are quite a few folks here who have used MFW high school now. Obviously I'd be pro since I still use it :) But wow, how to be concise in such a general question, that's not my best skill. Maybe some of the pros for me:

 

1. Reading the entire Bible in high school is a priority for me, and MFW schedules it all out so I don't get waylaid in looking into neat things and never get my child to the end. And faith is just part of breathing with MFW, rather than a quarantined segment of learning.

 

2. Some things in high school history are important to me, such as using multiple sources, using multiple methods of learning (timelines, mapping, writing, discussing), studying history chronologically but not being too jumpy, and exploring and comparing various worldview concerns that start to emerge in the teen and young adult years. MFW is pretty spot on for my priorities, plus it lines these all up for me along one general time frame.

 

3. I like teaching some things in high school myself, because they might be important to me, or sometimes interesting or fun to me. However, I have learned that I can take way too much time away from my family by planning, and my kids can spend way too much time wondering if I'll ever be done teaching a simple lesson :tongue_smilie: I just work better with a preplanned outline, one that tells me how much is reasonably done by a typical student every day of the year. Then I only do my own planning on occasion.

 

 

Probably missed something important, but there's a start.

Julie

[cbollin]

I like Julie’s answers. Sounds like a lot of what I am experiencing as well.

 

My oldest has done AHL and is in week 16 of WHL. We plan to keep using it next year.

 

I like being able to help her take more responsibility for her work. MFW high school makes that easy.

 

I like that it isn’t “just notgrassâ€. Julie said it better than I did in that multiple resources is a good thing. There is also the part that I like that MFW adds in more literature analysis. I’ve been happy with the writing assignments I’m not a huge tweaker in terms of adding more. We’re using MFW as written.

 

 

I don’t think this person, who wrote the thread I’m about to link, is on this forum., So I wanted you to hear what she said. Here is an encouraging story about mfw high school in terms of helping a high school junior be well prepared for dual enrollment.

http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11745&p=80406#p80406

 

 

cons: there have been times this year that my oldest is convinced the Bible reading is too light compared to last year. Most of that is because last year she read the entire Old Testament, and this year it is only the NT. Ok… it is going to feel lighter with that in mind. (so that’s not really a con but had to say something negative, I guses?)

She’s ok with Church History in Plain Language, but does make comments about it. (do I have to? I just wanna go play computer or chat with my friends.)

 

My brain isn’t really coming up with tons of thoughts about the general question. I’ve used mfw for a long time, and kept with it in high school. And it’s not disappointing to me.

 

Does that bring up a specific question?

 

-crystal

[1Togo]

What they said. We are using MFW as well, though differently than Crystal and Julie. Our daughter isn't ready for some of the MFW writing, and we are using a progym writing curriculum for that, but even so, we are still able to use MFW. Dd works with Notgrass, reads the resources, answers the lit questions, uses the timeline, etc. We opt out of the essays. A two-year plan for World History was exactly what I wanted, and as Julie said, MFW keeps me from getting waylaid and spending to much time planning courses that never get completed. Next year, I expect to use MFW as it is written because dd's writing will be on track, and plan to use it for the remainder of high school. We enjoy all of the various components, and the price is excellent, imo.

Edited December 2, 2011 by 1Togo

[HollyDay]

is the workload very heavy? I need to keep a balance in high school. I can't have history/lit too work heavy along side "big guns" like science and math.

[1Togo]

I don't think the workload is too heavy. You should plan for about 6 to 7 hours per day for MFW, science, math and foreign language. Of course, there are days when the workload is lighter and the student is breezing through everything, but I think that amount of time is reasonable for 6 credits.

Edited December 2, 2011 by 1Togo

[Katiebug_1976]

What they said. We are using MFW as well, though differently than Crystal and Julie. Our daughter isn't ready for some of the MFW writing, and we are using a progym writing curriculum for that, but even so, we are still able to use MFW. Dd works with Notgrass, reads the resources, answers the lit questions, uses the timeline, etc. We opt out of the essays. A two-year plan for World History was exactly what I wanted, and as Julie said, MFW keeps me from getting waylaid and spending to much time planning courses that never get completed. Next year, I expect to use MFW as it is written because dd's writing will be on track, and plan to use it for the remainder of high school. We enjoy all of the various components, and the price is excellent, imo.

 

 

May I ask what you are using for writing? My dd14 is also using AHL, but she is just not ready for their writing assignments. I'm thinking of going back to Write Shop for awhile, but would love to hear what you are using & how its going. Thanks...:001_smile:

[1Togo]

Writing is going beautifully in our home, and beginning in the second semester of 8th grade, this is what we did, where we are now, and where we are headed. Feel free to pm if you have questions.

 

Classical Composition Fable - 1/2 of the lessons; i.e. 9 lessons, one week per lesson.

 

Classical Composition Narrative - 1/2 of the lessons; i.e. 9 lessons, two weeks per lesson.

 

Classical Writing Aesop/Homer-in-a-Month - The writing in A/H is a review for dd since she can now write beautiful narratives, thanks to CC. However, we are reviewing the grammar, even though she is also working through Analytical Grammar, and she is doing all of the CW narrative analysis work since she has never done anything like it. We will finish the bulk of the A/H by the first of the year and will begin CW Maxim either in January or February, using the student workbook.

 

I was concerned about MFW for 9th grade because of dd's writing skills, but it's working out. Sometimes I have to tweak the MFW schedule and/or skip assignments because of dd's composition and grammar work with CW and AG, but she is able to do the bulk of the MFW work. CW Maxim takes the student into modern 5-paragraph essays, so dd will be ready for MFW 10th grade. However, since I plan to continue with the progym, we will probably pick and choose MFW composition assignments.

Edited December 2, 2011 by 1Togo

[cbollin]

I don't think the workload is too heavy. You should plan for about 6 to 7 hours per day for MFW, science, math and foreign language. Of course, there are days when the workload is lighter and the student is breezing through everything, but I think that amount of time is reasonable for 6 credits.

 

:iagree:

 

-crystal

[Katiebug_1976]

Writing is going beautifully in our home, and beginning in the second semester of 8th grade, this is what we did, where we are now, and where we are headed. Feel free to pm if you have questions.

 

Classical Composition Fable - 1/2 of the lessons; i.e. 9 lessons, one week per lesson.

 

Classical Composition Narrative - 1/2 of the lessons; i.e. 9 lessons, two weeks per lesson.

 

Classical Writing Aesop/Homer-in-a-Month - The writing in A/H is a review for dd since she can now write beautiful narratives, thanks to CC. However, we are reviewing the grammar, even though she is also working through Analytical Grammar, and she is doing all of the CW narrative analysis work since she has never done anything like it. We will finish the bulk of the A/H by the first of the year and will begin CW Maxim either in January or February, using the student workbook.

 

I was concerned about MFW for 9th grade because of dd's writing skills, but it's working out. Sometimes I have to tweak the MFW schedule and/or skip assignments because of dd's composition and grammar work with CW and AG, but she is able to do the bulk of the MFW work. CW Maxim takes the student into modern 5-paragraph essays, so dd will be ready for MFW 10th grade. However, since I plan to continue with the progym, we will probably pick and choose MFW composition assignments.

 

Great, thank you for sharing.