roanna Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 I finally decided and purchased MFW Adventures for my soon to be 2nd grader. It is on it's way to arrive this week but I just wanted to know if it was not a winner with you after actually trying it , why was that? My only concern was how much it is, other than that I like everything but I want it to really be worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estelleblue Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 We used Adventures last year, and for the most part really enjoyed it. We did not get to much of the science. For whatever reason, that is the subject that falls through the cracks here. We also didn't get to all of the crafts. That is more because I am not a super crafty mom.We enjoyed the books and book basket, and my son LOVED the state sheets. I do feel like both of my children, even my dd, who was prek at the time, have retained a lot from our Adventures year. I hope you find what works for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roanna Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 That's encouraging. I also have a 3 yr old and bought the extra sheets for her. She wants to do school. I do like crafts so it will be interesting to see what doesn't get done withe me. I appreciate you taking the time to give me a mini review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QTMom Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 We are doing Adventures this year for my dd 3rd grade and my ds 2nd grade and it has been great, but I agree with the previous poster that the science is too light. We added some extra science to it and it has been fine. My kids and I are enjoying Adventures and they are learning a lot. I am too lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 The science is on the light side and I briefly supplemented before just stopping and sticking with Adv. science. We really loved it; it was our first year with MFW anything. The girls were in 1st and 3rd grades and did very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estelleblue Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 oh! I would also like to add, that sometimes I overwhelmed myself with trying to read every book basket book to them (we have a GREAT library), and so that is something I'm having to learn to really pick and choose. The book basket selections are excellent, and are often the same ones (and more) found in SL and TOG lists as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roanna Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 I'm glad science is the only issue that keeps popping up because we're not science people. We're into languages, art and geography. Of course as the kids get older I will have to force myself to get up to date on science more. I really appreciate your comments. I'm looking forward to getting it. They said Tuesday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 We loved Adventures. Consider the science fun. The two primary emphases of science that year are the bird study (along with the state birds) and tying science topics in with the names of Jesus (for example, for Jesus as the "Bread of Life", you do yeast experiments, bake bread, discuss what Communion is, take bread or cookies or something to a neighbor). Science at this level is more about exposure and fun -- learning to enjoy science -- than about documentation, terminology, or other details that you get into when they're older. *I* even learned to enjoy science that year. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joyfulhomeschooler Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 We loved everything about it except the state sheets. What finally helped us enjoy them more was to have the kids illustrate something they wanted to remember about that state onto the sheet and them sometimes I would let them print pictures from online to glue to the page. There is nothing wrong with them but doing the same thing over and over again got boring to us, so this helped to keep it interesting.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Adventures was enjoyable for the most part. As others said, very light on the science. Add a few Magic School Bus Kits or do an easy science such as Elemental Science to boost it. Again, as others said, the state color sheets were tedious, however...if I was to do this over again, I would have started the state sheets at the beginning of the curriculum, doing 2 a week, and spending a full week on my home state. THere were some weeks you did 4 color sheets and quickly learned about the states, not much processing going on during that. 2 days a week for each state is a good pace. other then those 2 things, Adventures was a fun year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 suggestions for those who need more science in ADV.... (we're science geek family. hubby holds phd in chemistry.. we love science)....... 1. before adding a whole other program... take the time to have the child write up the "lab report" in the format in the ADV manual each time. :) (yes, you can help as needed on the writing) 2. re do the experiment and ask the child to make variations. "take chances make mistakes" 2.5 Is the child reading the experiment, setting it up, doing it on his own without your help, and cleaning it up? in other words, increase responsibility before adding other program. 3. use the internet links in one of the main science books in ADV, 1st Enc. of Science. more reading there, and more experiments to do then, if you want to do more than 10-15 minutes of a time box for science in 2nd grade... and your library book basket books aren't helping.. then, add more to feed their interest. field trips. TV shows, do the nature walks that are loosely assigned in ADV. and then, after all of that... you can do more. make sure the ADV resources are used fully, and then if they love science that much... add stuff for that. get the robotics kit, or rock collection.. science in ADV is "light" in that it's helping to connect Bible study to science -- that they go together. It's scheduled for 2-3 days a week, plus the nature walk day. lessons are designed for 10-15 minutes ala Charlotte Mason. my kids liked the state sheets... what's wrong with my kids? 5 minutes to color the bird and flower and done. sniff. why are my kids not complaining about those? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 my kids liked the state sheets... what's wrong with my kids? 5 minutes to color the bird and flower and done. sniff. why are my kids not complaining about those? This was us, too. :001_cool: And my creative, artsy girl did outlining and shading and all that... made them "pretty", like she does everything. LOL. There are some absolutely GORGEOUS state books recommended in Book Basket for the state study. A lot of times the learning about states was just browsing those books, discussing, and remembering trips we'd been on to some of the places mentioned. And I remember one big thing in the news at the time I did Adventures with my two oldest was Hurricane Katrina. That gave us an opportunity to do a bit more research into that part of the country, talk about what those people were going through and how the climate and weather threats vary in different parts of the country, and to pray for them. You can also easily find videos that go along with them. IOW, so much of it just tends to work into our real world and lives.... it's not just the "sameness" of coloring one state sheet after another, but making it REAL to them. Ditto the countries of the world when you get to ECC. Show them that these are REAL places with REAL people to whom we can show compassion and the love of Christ in different ways. (This plays out in the Bible and science lessons, too... when you study Jesus as the Bread of Life and are doing yeast/bread experiments in science, Marie suggests you make bread and take it to a neighbor, and tell them why Jesus is the Bread of Life or include the week's memory verse - John 6:35 - on a note with the bread.) Someone mentioned adding in a study of their own state.... you certainly have the freedom to do that if you want to, but know that there's also a 6-week (I think it's 6 weeks?) state study scheduled later on in Expl-1850 or 1850-MOD, I can't remember which. The key to remember with Adventures is that it's only meant to be a fun, one-year overview of some of the highlights of our country for young children. It's not meant to be in-depth at this level. That comes later. So what some feel is "missing" from Adventures isn't really missing... it just comes later in the chronological history cycle. Ditto on science. ;) And yet at the same time, Adventures IS light enough that you CAN add more if you WANT to. Flexibility is one of the things I love so much about MFW. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 yep. confirming donna's 6 week state study in EX1850. now I'm all sentimental again...... remembering back when oldest was 2nd grade..... we did "more of our state" by traveling to state parks, and fun stuff... and cheering for state teams in sports, and vacations and field trips....... never felt like I was adding school on that.... and then... of course... we ended up moving to a new state...... never saw that coming. whaddya think Donna? have we just got to that point where we remember what it was like when they were that little and it was fun, and all of that? and we dont' want them to burn out with their oldest in 2nd.......is that why we encourage them to just enjoy it? isn't that what the veterans a decade ago told us and we didn't listen either? LOL LOL and now I'm pulling my hair out about college trig to supplement Saxon so she won't fail Calc 2 in college?!?!?! LOL giggle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 whaddya think Donna? have we just got to that point where we remember what it was like when they were that little and it was fun, and all of that? and we dont' want them to burn out with their oldest in 2nd.......is that why we encourage them to just enjoy it? isn't that what the veterans a decade ago told us and we didn't listen either? LOL LOL Yes, yes, and yes! :thumbup: That and the fact that over time, we've seen the cycles repeated so we know that they'll eventually cover what they didn't get when they were 6 or 7... and if a particular topic isn't purposely written into the script somewhere along the way, it'll come out one day when they want to know about something and look it up for themselves. (Teach them out to love learning, read for information, and do research!) Also, knowing that history is somewhat of an abstract subject, young children only remember parts of it, anyway. Six, seven, even eight years old is YOUNG. It doesn't seem like it when it's your firstborn, but really and truly, they really do "get" a whole lot more of it when they're older! and now I'm pulling my hair out about college trig to supplement Saxon so she won't fail Calc 2 in college?!?!?! LOL giggle. Yes, college. Here we are, almost at the jumpin' off point with those darling little firstborns already! :willy_nilly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy M Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 science in ADV is "light" in that it's helping to connect Bible study to science -- that they go together. It's scheduled for 2-3 days a week, plus the nature walk day. lessons are designed for 10-15 minutes ala Charlotte Mason. I wonder why science is considered "light" when you're doing it 2-3 days a week for 15 minutes, plus nature study and extra readers in the book basket list, kwim? That's about all I want to do with a 2nd-grader, lol! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 I wonder why science is considered "light" when you're doing it 2-3 days a week for 15 minutes, plus nature study and extra readers in the book basket list, kwim? That's about all I want to do with a 2nd-grader, lol! ;) because this is the Hive. If it doesn't take 1 hour and win the science olympiad, it is light. wink back. giggle.. giggle.giggle.. giggle.. a little less silly answer....I think because it uses books that aren't above 2nd/3rd grade level to learn the information, it feels light to some. I know when I was teaching my oldest in 2nd/3rd grade the veteran moms around me said I was doing fine. But I thought I needed oldest to read more, and have it "harder". I got better as a teacher and learned that wasn't the case. and then I followed MFW's path and she got a 32 on science ACT.. did something right I guess. (I know the science isn't content but reading, but my daughter said content in science was helpful nonetheless) when she was young.......We did more science than was scheduled - but it was out of interest and does as lifestyle... not add a program..... watching magic school bus, and playing at the local science museum. and staring out the window watching how seasons changed and moon, and sun, stars..... doing the same experiment over... getting same results.... messing up and not getting results... try it differently... going to daddy's work and seeing the lab, or going to daddy's work on the day everyone in the lab was watching the Mars rover landings... or the year we had a telescope and saw with our own eyes, the rings of Saturn...... or the days of watching the space shuttle shine bright in the dusk or dawn sky.... nasa use to have a chart when you could see it in your area.. or changing a recipe (chemistry) at home... we'd even grab some Janice VanCleve books at the library to do something fun on a rainy day...... It was lifestyle extras on science.... not curriculum added. I say all of that to show we like science in our family and didnt' feel that mfw was light in instruction on it. but I understand when people think it is because books are grammar stage in grammar stage and everyone has to go through a learning curve as a teacher.... I know I got older this week, but I'm starting to feel it now... in any case, hopefully someone reading all of that will know if ADV is right/wrong for their needs. we're all different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roanna Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 I received it a few days ago and while no program will be perfect, I think it's going to be a great fit for us. I appreciate a lot of the wisdom offered personally from the creator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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