Help Please! New homeschooler deciding on curriculum!

[mesiegler]

My name is Mary Ellen. I will be homeschooling my 3 children in the fall. We are new homeschoolers and are so excited, but a bit overwhelmed! We have decided on a Charlotte Mason education but am having trouble nailing down a curriculum. I'm between Heart of Dakota and My Father's World right now. Any advice on how the two compare? I want something that is easy to use and well-planned out for me. I'm trying to keep things simple for the first year and ease into this. Any help or advice is appreciated!

 

Thanks...blessings, Mary Ellen :001_smile:

[King Alfred Academy]

I can't give you any advice or opinions on those curriculums as I have not used them myself, but I just wanted to welcome you to the boards and to homeschooling! It is an adventure!:D

[mesiegler]

Hi Brittney - Thanks for the welcome! This is the first time I've ever used a message board, believe it or not!? Maybe you can answer another question for me instead...what does "ds" or "dd" stand for? I'm not familiar with some of the abbreviations used in messages. :) Mary Ellen

[King Alfred Academy]

Hey...dd is dear daughter and ds is dear son.

 

There is a sticky up at the top of the board/screen that lists the abb. There are a lot and it can get to be pretty overwhelming but the more you are on it, it does get easier!

 

You picked a great board to be involved with. Lots of great wisdom!:D

[mesiegler]

Thanks!

[Ferdie]

Hi Mary Ellen,

 

Welcome! What are the ages of your children and which MFW are you considering?

[mesiegler]

Thanks! My children are 8, 5, and 4. I was considering using Adventures in My Father's World and My Father's World from A to Z.

[Karen in CO]

I don't use Heart of Dakota material, but I would not recommend starting homescholing with two levels of a program. I would gently suggest that you start with the one you choose for your oldest, include the youngers with blocks and maybe some letter and number activities then let them listen in on the stories for the older. Once you have that going well, then reevaluate if you need a program for the youngers and how you would work it in.

 

It is much easier to start off slowly then add to it than to start with too much and burn out.

[chaik76]

I like MFW much better than Heart of Dakota. If you're really interested you should go to the MFW boards...they have some great archived threads that compare different curricula, including the ones you are mentioning:

http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?t=4098

This is a whole list of threads regarding various differences/similarities in curricula...there's tons of reading!

(and if I'm not allowed to post a link to this, could someone please tell me, and I'll just take it out and pm it to the OP? Thanks!)

[Annie Laurie]

We're using MFW Adventures and it's a very well rounded program. It seems like it would be a great choice for a new hser since everything is scheduled and planned out for you- right down to narrating, notebooking, art, and composer study. The only drawback in my opinion, is the book basket, I'm having a hard time with keeping up with the library already. But if you have a good library system and can keep up with holds and due dates, it would work fine. Or if the budget allows, you could purchase some additional books to flesh it out.

[Sue G in PA]

I would agree with the poster who warned not to do 2 programs your first year homeschooling. It can get very overwhelming. I'm doing MFW K and MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures next year and am already feeling overwhelmed. That being said, I think Adventures would be a great program to do with all your dc. The Ker and PreKer could come along for the ride, so to speak, listening in on any read-alouds, etc. With the Ker and PreKer, they could do some Explode the Code Primers, use Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching REAding or some other reading book, some simple everyday math, learning numbers, etc. Another program that would be good for ALL your dc (dear children) would be Five In A Row. But, first year homeschooling, my vote would be MFW Adventures w/ the Ker and Preker along for the ride. Welcome to the board! You'll love it here. :D

[mesiegler]

Thank you all for your input...much appreciated! Blessings...Mary Ellen

[Allison TX]

We have used MFW Adventures and K (we tried ECC as well, but it wasn't a good fit for us at the time), and are currently using HOD Bigger Hearts and Little Hearts. They are both great programs and I don't think you can go wrong with either.

I don't think you would have any trouble using 2 levels with the ages of your dc, but it might be simpler to just use one.

MFW K is laid out differently than their other levels and it took me a few weeks to get used to it. I also had difficulty with handwriting being tied to the phonics study.

We really enjoyed Adventures, although we did tire of the state sheets by the end of the year. We also supplemented with a lot of books. Overall I thought it was a great introduction to American history and my kids still remember a lot of what we learned:)

So far we have also really enjoyed HOD. It has been a better fit for our family this year. Let me know if you have any specific questions.:)

 

 

 

Allison

[Lovedtodeath]

I think that MFW A to Z is so basic that you would have no problem at all using both programs. You might not do the additional reading in A to Z and just stick to the book basket for Adventures. That said, the integrated science and bible lessons are wonderful, and the additional reading is science related. You could do the science from the K program with all 3 children and just not do the science from the older's program (you can buy the program components separately). A to Z teaches a child to read from the very beginning of recognizing the letters to CVC words and sight words at the end. Your happiness with the program would depend on the needs of your 5 year old. If they are already reading CVC words and recognizing numbers and counting you will need more for reading and math than what the K program provides and IMO it is a little too pricey if that is the case.

 

I have not looked at Heart of Dakota. I think that Sonlight Pre-K and Winter Promise Animal Worlds or Hideaways in History could work with all 3 children rather seamlessly. Both of these companies are known for folding in multiple ages into one program and they do a very good job of it, your 8 year old would be learning plenty.

[Annie Laurie]

That being said, I think Adventures would be a great program to do with all your dc. The Ker and PreKer could come along for the ride, so to speak, listening in on any read-alouds, etc.

 

This is working well with my three youngest- my 7 yr old and 6 yr old are doing Adventures and my 4 yr old is tagging along quite well. I asked my middle two a narration question and my 4 yr old piped up with the answer! It's fun to see how much they end up soaking in. :001_smile:

[TN Mama]

Hi Mary Ellen & welcome :) My name is Laura and I will start hsing my 7 year old this year. I don't have experience with the two programs you listed, although I looked into using MWF. There are some wonderfully wise women (and men!) here who are always willing to help, so when you have questions - ask away! Good luck on making your decision.

[at the beach]

Mary Ellen, Since you mention that you are interested in CM, I wanted to suggest that you look at amblesideonline.org and simplycharlottemason.com. There is also a Catholic CM curriculum, materamabilis.org. These are all free. Ambleside has lots of online support. The website is a wealth of information. With your children's ages, I think you could do Year 1 with your 8 year old (very manageable) and Year 0 with your 5 year old, which is also very manageable.

 

Anita

[rafiki]

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[Donna T.]

Hi, Mary Ellen! Welcome to the board!

I used Adventures in MFW when my sons were four and seven. My four year old was coming and going but he did participate in a good bit of the program and he still remembers alot of the content. He loved all the read alouds that we did that year. MFW is very easy to use. I haven't used HOD but it looks good, too. I don't think you would have a problem using a separate program for your 4 and 5 year olds alongside a program for your older child. MFW is designed to be used in that way. However, I would suggest you start with one program, wait a couple of months, and then start the other. It may be less overwhelming that way. MFW K is a light program. The lessons can be done is less than an hour (my experience) a day though you could certainly make more out of it if you wanted to. But, if you decided not to do two programs at all, I think your younger children would enjoy listening in on Adventures. You wouldn't require that of course, but it is a fun program with the music, some crafts, and relaxed science.

If you have any specific questions, I'd be glad to try to help.

I'll be using two levels of MFW next year. We're really looking forward to it.

Blessings!

[muffinmom]

Just wanted to say welcome, Mary Ellen. I haven't use the 2 programs you're looking into, but I've heard good things about both!

 

I have a ds 6 and a dd 2.5. I love homeschooling, and I've only done K so far!

 

Good luck as you make your decisions. (BTW, you'll figure out the abbrev. before long--it took me a while, too!) :)

[yvonnemommy]

Hi! I’m homeschooling my daughter now. I know well that how excited you are now because I have the same starting. Now I’m using beestar.org to homeschool my daughter. There are many interesting and excellent exercises about math, reading, science, and so on. These exercises are very suitable for kids in primary school. Besides, every week I can receive a email from beestar letting me know how my daughter is going on comparing with other kids doing exercises on beestar. I recommend it to you and hope that will help you.:)

 

Lisa