Kim in SouthGa Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 most of the threads I am reading are about AHL and WHL. Has anyone used either of the other two years? Looking into it for next year-we have used SWB's HoAW and HoMW w/other books and will be up to about the 1500s. I'm also a little intrigued with WP's Royal's and Revolutionaries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 I'm listening too.... getting ready to purchase US1 for this coming fall. and of course US2 was just released this academic year, so it's hard waiting for more online chat on it. -crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Kim, I got my box day for MFW's US1 yesterday. I have the stuff here.... what info might be helpful? I'm full of mixed emotions... the overwhelming box day feeling mixed with "wow! we get to do this!!?!? yes!" -crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in SouthGa Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Hi Crystal I guess my biggest question is about the worldview book. My friend did the same program at a coop, and it has been extremely time consuming. Usually she is having to write 6 essays over a two week period, plus other assignments. Not that I don't think worldview is important, but we are blessed with a wonderful church that goes over a lot of those issues during our Sunday night meeting and monthly teen youth meetings. Also, he is completing Hewitt's I Dare You! Bible study this year, which covers a lot of worldview issues. So, would it be possible to leave that out, and just get credit for history and English? I also seem to remember reading somewhere, probably here, that someone thought the history was light for the last two years (very vague, I know), probably because the Bible portion was so meaty. My son is a big history buff, so I want to make sure it is enough for him. Thanks so much!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Kim, I got my box day for MFW's US1 yesterday. I have the stuff here.... what info might be helpful? I'm full of mixed emotions... the overwhelming box day feeling mixed with "wow! we get to do this!!?!? yes!" -crystal What kind of mixed emotions?? Happy? Something you don't like?? :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 What kind of mixed emotions?? Happy? Something you don't like?? :bigear: on one side: happy. I'm liking what I'm seeing. the other side: eek! box day! all new stuff. anxiety attack! it's new but not new but new! That kind of thing. and Kim.. I'll answer a bit more on the history. One reason the history might look light in the last 2 years is that the BJU book is split over 2 years. But... that's because US1 stops around 1877, then they are encouraged to study from the REA CLEP study guide and CLEP it. So I don't think that sounds light. The sequence seems to be do history from BJU for several weeks. Get to the point in history where the US is no longer a colony but a country with a constitution. Then, start your government credit. Go back to history. Finish around 1877 and study for CLEP US 1. Then, the "standardish" high school US history is finished in 12th grade first semester, and economics is studied in 2nd semester. They encourage but don't seem to sell a study guide for the US history part 2 CLEP. But I thought the BJU text look normal level high school. plenty of tests and activities and reading. I'll look a bit more on the worldview. I know the lesson planner mentions 2 options for it. One involves the parent planning for a 45 minute a week teaching time. The other option does not involve that much. But for those doing the option 1 where parent teaches it... there's a "scripted" lesson plan guide to help reduce planning time. I know I would not want to do it open and go... but looks like weekly prep would be to read over the lesson and spend time praying. So, yes, there's some parent involvement in that. But with the mfw "exclusive" parent guide for Thinking Like A Christian, I'm not all that nervous. and I get nervous easily. It doesn't seem like a super restrictive kind of script, but more of grab these points and discuss it. have these handouts from the book ready.. stuff like that. So the planning aspect has been reduced by the TLAC guide that MFW has. There is also a character study. Character traits. Looks nice. I know we do a lot of worldview stuff at church too. and I've been wondering.. is it too much? I like the process on this one where it crosses over in 10 educational/occupational disciplines. time crunch... gotta run -crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryl B in VA Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 You can definitely do just the history and English portions. I am very impressed with these portions and ds is doing well with them. He has found Thinking Like a Christian challenging and time consuming. He is fighting it mainly because of the title - he doesn't want to be told how to think :tongue_smilie:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) Looking a bit more here at Thinking Like a Christian (TLAC) and the MFW parent plans. One of the time consuming things (but not really for me) will be collecting current event tie in. But we get a current events news magazine and they send me emails… so right now that magazine just sent an article about something that will fit it (Komen research center and a financial decision they made). Printing and putting in a file folder now. So as news feed come across when I login and out of email (which I’m addicted to), or cool stuff even from the general board of this forum, that will be ready made. Probably won’t bother with a printed newspaper though. In fact, that’s already part of my lifestyle, so that shouldn’t be a huge time for me. So I’m guessing here that I’m going to try to teach from TLAC during our weekly conference. I’ll have to plan a few minutes each day to think about it. But they have this guided script. A friend of mine (but he happens to be a rep at MFW but that shouldn’t matter) did TLAC as school time, and as a family they did The Truth Project because their church was doing it too. He commented once that the student journal in TLAC gave his daughter to reflect. If you leave out TLAC, how does that affect other parts of the program? It’s first semester only. Done in 16 weeks. The option 2 on that book is a “self teaching” option without the extra activities in the parent guide. But just the reading and journaling. in US1 Bible readings are not scheduled anything like they are in AHL or WHL. Instead the student is encouraged to come up with other reading plan for how they might approach it for life. Online readings, or what your church is doing. 2nd semester. Assumptions that Affect Our lives. From a quick and I mean quick, glance… this book will have a nice “history buff” tie in with worldview. Yeah. Yeah.. I think if you have a history lover in the house, this will be a nice tie in. oh wow. I must be in a weird mood. I think “ooh.. what classical educator wouldn’t do this one. “ LOL LOL. After that book, it’s on to a Christian Character study. Very introspective booklet. Nice for devotional time one on one. Based on 1980 book by Paul Anderson, Building Christian Character. Never heard of him. Oh wait a minute… looks like this book alternates with Growing Up Christian. That’s going to touch an older teen’s heart most likely. So if TLAC is the issue, yes you can leave it out if you’d want to. You might still want to think about the 2nd semester books though. But, yes, if you wanted to tweak and just do the history and English., that can work. But if the reason that you’re nervous about TLAC is time consumption for you, I think it’s going to be more doable with the parent guide. I think I will have to give up 30 minutes a week of computer time to read the lesson guide and skim the chapters and then use part of the weekly conference time for the teaching/interaction time. And knowing me, as the lessons go along, we’ll trim down or something. But, the lesson prep in that book looks like “spend a few minutes to look over it these pages” versus “here are 20 pages of plans to trim down and good luck. I have no idea if my daughter will have same reaction as Cheryl’s son or how her time will be on it. But I don’t like the title either. Oh, I just randomly opened this book, there’s a worldview section with history. I just keep getting excited as I thumb through this book – I like this style of connecting it to all kinds of academic disciplines. What a great time to also help my daughter think about what to study in college. She doesn’t have a clue yet. I can remember at this age wanting to study under business management style of thinking. -crystal Edited February 1, 2012 by cbollin confusing sentences...while talking out loud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Hi CrystalI guess my biggest question is about the worldview book. My friend did the same program at a coop, and it has been extremely time consuming. I don't think US1 schedules the essays in the same way. They might be scheduled as English credit? And I really doubt they would be as much as you describe with MFW. The expectations are there, but everything is tested with real families in MFW to be sure it is realistic. And I'm just not seeing 3 essays plus more per week in the samples online, anyways. Here's something that Bret wrote over on the MFW board back a while: My daughter is currently using this program as an 11th grader. The writing assignments in response to the literature are a wonderful way of reinforcing what is being learned in the Biblical worldview course, Thinking Like a Christian. We are reading literature from this time period and then writing an analysis of the author's worldview in light of a Biblical worldview. Each writing assignment is tied to one of the specific disciplines studied in Thinking Like a Christian: theology, philosophy, biology, psychology, ethics, sociology, law, politics, economics, and history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) I don't think US1 schedules the essays in the same way. They might be scheduled as English credit? No. Thinking Like a Christian is part of Bible credit. not English. I'm not sure what Bret means by essays with this book? clue me in? or maybe I'll call him tomorrow. (see next post... got that figured out... it wasn't the midterm or final exam essays) I picked a week.... week 2... . Student reads the chapter from the teaching text. then does the "student journal" book day 1 through day 5 over the next few days. Those are "fill in blank" and maybe some sentences to write here and there. Then, at the Friday conference, parent leads discussion time instead of any essays... Let me look at the discussion.... no essays to be written. discussion out loud. sometimes an occasional thing like "what would you bring up if you gave a speech on this?" I know the chapters aren't super short, but they aren't like the chapters in Church in Plain History in WHL. still looking where the DVD comes in.......? I'll find it. (edit to add... found it..... final weeks of that first semester as review.) -crystal Edited February 1, 2012 by cbollin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) wait a minute.... I'm re-reading Bret's quote. He is not talking about writing in TLAC in that paragraph. I get it..... He is saying that the writing assignments in the Literature Supplement have a section where you write down worldview of the literature you are reading. and that exercise is a helpful carry over cross over activity related to the similar things that are discussed in TLAC. In other words, TLAC has more/different definitions of worldview than just the way Stobaugh describes them. So it connects and reinforces each other across the curriculum. but I think Kim is talking about the parent prep with the discussion and hands on activities in TLAC. Without MFW's guide on that... I'd be in panic mode. and ETA: the only written essays I can find in TLAC are with the 2 exams in the book. those are "2 exam" days total vs. everyday. -crystal Edited February 1, 2012 by cbollin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Crystal, I know its early, but what are your overall thoughts on this as a whole? Is it sufficient for 11th grade? Do you like it? What are your thoughts on the economics portion? I really like the looks of Notgrasses Exploring Government and Exploring Economics and I was wondering if you thought it would be to much to add in Exploring Economics with what is already provided. I am so on the fence right now with what to do for high school. Traditional or MFW all the way through. I planned on MFW then I think cold feet have set in. <sigh> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Crystal, I know its early, but what are your overall thoughts on this as a whole? Is it sufficient for 11th grade? Do you like it? What are your thoughts on the economics portion? I really like the looks of Notgrasses Exploring Government and Exploring Economics and I was wondering if you thought it would be to much to add in Exploring Economics with what is already provided. I am so on the fence right now with what to do for high school. Traditional or MFW all the way through. I planned on MFW then I think cold feet have set in. <sigh> just to note... I fixed the typo in TLAC... thinking like a children should have been "christian".... oh well. glad it made others laugh I didn't order US2. The Economics is in US2 package, so I don't know about that. US1 - is it enough for 11th grade in Bible, History and English? Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Hi CrystalI guess my biggest question is about the worldview book. My friend did the same program at a coop, and it has been extremely time consuming. Usually she is having to write 6 essays over a two week period, plus other assignments. hopefully I won't make too many typos in this answer. having a hard time sleeping tonight.... so I'm typing while I should be sleeping. My guess is this: those essays in the co-op, are done as "parent/student" discussion in MFW. So they don't have to write all of that all the time like a co-op would have to. Think of it as old school "discussion group". and any teacher prep time -that's mostly done for you. You can read the chapter or at least the chapter summaries, and read over the discussion guide. not a lot on parent, but some. And there are some writing assignments in TLAC, but not the way the co-op has chosen to do it since in our homes we can do that through discussion. There are enough essays to write with daily work in English, so that's covered. I think the quote Julie had from Bret at MFW is talking about the Stobaugh essays and novel reviews which ask for worldview of material being written. There's reinforcement across the curriculum with unit study feel -- plenty of the Stobaugh literature is related to history study, and all of it can connect with the Bible theme in the year. His question was originally answering the question of "Hi everyone with experience with High School American Lit/History, Is the same handbook from WHL used with writing assignments relative to their reading?Thanks" So, he was answering that no, it's not the same handbook from WHL (Writer's Inc), but that yes, writing assignments are based on what they are reading, and that it connects with TLAC through various disciplines, not just history. Although I can see how his quickly written answer might be interpreted as there are other writing assignments. but with the US1 books in front of me... I see what he means. He's answering a different question than was asked over here. hopefully I can get back to sleep..... glad everyone was laughing at my tlac typo. -crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Crystal, I know its early, but what are your overall thoughts on this as a whole? Is it sufficient for 11th grade? Do you like it? What are your thoughts on the economics portion? I really like the looks of Notgrasses Exploring Government and Exploring Economics and I was wondering if you thought it would be to much to add in Exploring Economics with what is already provided. I am so on the fence right now with what to do for high school. Traditional or MFW all the way through. I planned on MFW then I think cold feet have set in. <sigh> I got a little bit more sleep. :grouphug: I know that feeling of "eek!" with the MFW stuff. I do... I know I've used their stuff for years and it should be a no brainer for me to just keep using it. But it really took me getting US1 as box day to say "alright... I'm in". I don't know on Econ like I said earlier. but I have initial thoughts on the Gov't semester that is part of US1. I think you'll be happy with the "Under God" book to meeting those state requirements you have with US Constitution. The gov't credit is sandwiched between history weeks. So we do a lot of history. Get to the point in history where the Constitution exists and then study Gov't. then back to finish out history (and ready to take CLEP test on history). The first book in Gov't - Never Before in History - takes the reader on a journey to learn a lot about "colonial" government and laws. Lots of background information. Purpose of the book seems to be pointing out how much religion was part of the foundation and influences on documents. But, it doesn't have the "let's study the Constitution articles and bill of rights" aspect. That aspect is the Under God book. Takes reader through types of governments, then studies the Const. and all amendments. I get the idea from the publisher info page it is a classroom text for Christian schools. It's just not Abeka. But it is textbook. And, you'll like this... there are tests, even on the Constitution. I remember you had that question a while back. You'll still have to study WY gov't of course. still thumbing through the book - lots of gov't stuff in this book. I have to admit that with that Never Before in History book, I was thinking with sarcastic tone, oh joy... a book telling me how Christian it began and how it isn't now.. . that's nice, but there better be more than this. (normal tone here)Well, it is a nice subject and yes, learning the foundations of colony gov't is fun subject. I'm glad it is only half of the study. and to think in high school, I think all we did in Civics was sing the Preamble song to our teacher, and sing I'm Just a Bill... and we could pass the test. :) Under God - takes it the next step and it looks "high school gov't class". I think MFW's history and gov't are "traditional" here - big publishers of textbooks, real tests (some of those tests even ask the student to write 2 or 3 paragraphs. eek! that will freak out my daughter the first time.) LOL English credit - Stobaugh wrote his stuff to be very college prep. The other textbook is high school level "English reader" book. Several novels are studied (some with Stobaugh's questions, one with Progeny Press), some other readings from first hand accounts. Poetry study - my daughter at first turned her nose up, then I showed her "look.. this poet gets quoted on your favorite TV show". Easy Grammar for keeping those skills sharp. and they give us answer keys for all of these things. cool! what else is in this box? did I find the bottom yet? (25 pounds later - seriously) wow.. I don't think I was this happy camper about AHL or WHL. I'm really liking US1. I know I had box day jitters and all of that. But after falling asleep 2 nights in a row reading through stuff... I'm liking this. yes, it's plenty for 11th grader. It has the feel of level I remember in "college prep" and "honors" classes from my high school days. maybe even more? I don't remember taking a college literature class, but Stobaugh taught at some universities, so that seems to be reflected in his materials. It's definitely rhetoric level and later in that stage, not early in r. stage of learning. someone give me a sales hat or name badge, I'm happy camper... :lol: -crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 By the way, there is a Yahoo group for MFWHighSchool, where you might find a couple more users to pick their brains, and even a couple on the MFW message board? There's a big Facebook group, too, but I know nothing about whether high school comes up on there. Unfortunately, US2 only came out in its final version this year, but I do think there are some US1 folks on the web here & there. The rest of us will depend on Crystal to forge the path and share on the internet !! Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Unfortunately, US2 only came out in its final version this year, but I do think there are some US1 folks on the web here & there. The rest of us will depend on Crystal to forge the path and share on the internet !! Julie but but but...you're with me on this right? Your youngest and my oldest are in the same school year... right? we got to depend on Julie in MN too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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