4 Year Cycle, SOTW, MOH & MFW

[Slache]

I plan to use MFW for the middle grades, but I'm tempted to begin SOTW in elementary and I don't want to use it twice. Can I substitute MOH as the spine for MFW?

[Donna A.]

I plan to use MFW for the middle grades, but I'm tempted to begin SOTW in elementary and I don't want to use it twice. Can I substitute MOH as the spine for MFW?

 

MOH and SOTW really aren't "alike".  SOTW is used in MFW rather than MOH because MFW uses the Bible itself for the biblical content, so MOH would be redundant in that regard.  Except that using MOH would be the summary of one author's opinions (as is any spine), whereas by using the Bible as a spine for the biblical content, you're going straight to the source. 

 

Plus, the teacher notes in the MFW TMs align with the SOTW assignments, so if you replaced SOTW as a spine, you'd have to tweak the TM itself for all those years, too.  It wouldn't be worth it, IMO. 

 

You *could* use MOH as a Book Basket option during those years, or weave it into your lesson plans using the schedule on Paula's Archives.  But again, it would be redundant to what's already scheduled in MFW... and you'd basically be reinventing the wheel.

 

Are planning to begin MFW with Creation to the Greeks in 5th grade?  Why do you not want to use MFW prior to that?

[Slache]

MOH and SOTW really aren't "alike".  SOTW is used in MFW rather than MOH because MFW uses the Bible itself for the biblical content, so MOH would be redundant in that regard.  Except that using MOH would be the summary of one author's opinions (as is any spine), whereas by using the Bible as a spine for the biblical content, you're going straight to the source. 

 

Plus, the teacher notes in the MFW TMs align with the SOTW assignments, so if you replaced SOTW as a spine, you'd have to tweak the TM itself for all those years, too.  It wouldn't be worth it, IMO. 

 

You *could* use MOH as a Book Basket option during those years, or weave it into your lesson plans using the schedule on Paula's Archives.  But again, it would be redundant to what's already scheduled in MFW... and you'd basically be reinventing the wheel.

 

Are planning to begin MFW with Creation to the Greeks in 5th grade?  Why do you not want to use MFW prior to that?

Good points.

 

I plan to begin Adventures in 2nd which would put Creation to The Greeks in 4th. I didn't know SOTW well enough and others are telling me not to start it in Kindergarden so I don't think my idea would work anyway. I was thinking:

 

K SOTW I

1 SOTW II

2 SOTW III as a spine with Adventures fun stuff

3 SOTW IV as a read aloud only while we do ECC because I've heard ECC  is very light.

Then use MOH as the spine for the 4 year cycle in MFW. I think it looks neat and tidy on paper, but won't be in practice.

[mamiof5]

Good points.

 

I plan to begin Adventures in 2nd which would put Creation to The Greeks in 4th. I didn't know SOTW well enough and others are telling me not to start it in Kindergarden so I don't think my idea would work anyway. I was thinking:

 

K SOTW I

1 SOTW II

2 SOTW III as a spine with Adventures fun stuff

3 SOTW IV as a read aloud only while we do ECC because I've heard ECC is very light.

Then use MOH as the spine for the 4 year cycle in MFW. I think it looks neat and tidy on paper, but won't be in practice.

Don't exactly know about other programs other than MFW, but your last comment about ECC being light just caught my attention. I wouldn't necessarily call it light? We did it last year, and were not able to do all the work that was suggested. The kids wanted to do many of the worksheets and activities, but I had a baby and just couldn't cram it all in. If anyone asked me I'd say ECC is oriented mainly towards geography and science topics related to that (which it took a while for my kids to understand), yes, not much history in that cycle...but I'd be careful with the assumption that it's light. Maybe others had different experiences, for us it wasn't that light. If anything we had to chop a lot due to time constraints :(

[Slache]

Don't exactly know about other programs other than MFW, but your last comment about ECC being light just caught my attention. I wouldn't necessarily call it light? We did it last year, and were not able to do all the work that was suggested. The kids wanted to do many of the worksheets and activities, but I had a baby and just couldn't cram it all in. If anyone asked me I'd say ECC is oriented mainly towards geography and science topics related to that (which it took a while for my kids to understand), yes, not much history in that cycle...but I'd be careful with the assumption that it's light. Maybe others had different experiences, for us it wasn't that light. If anything we had to chop a lot due to time constraints :(

This is good to know. Thanks.

[Kristie in Florida]

My fifth grader thought ECC was light so we added history to it. However, if I had added the 7th and 8th grade modifications it would have been perfect.

 

What if you just had SOTW for fun? You could listen to the audio books in the car or use them as a read aloud over the summer. I've also heard of people adding volume 1 to first grade.

[My4arrows]

We are doing ctg this year and using MOH as our spine since we aren't fond of the spine MFW has scheduled. It goes along with it well and we are enjoying it. Because of that we've decided to go along with MOH as our spine next year rather than continue using MFW. When you take away the history portion, you are really only left with the science a read aloud and some projects here and there---all of which you can easily plan on your own. We are also changing up science next year which made our decisions to switch even more solid.

MFW is great and we enjoyed K and adventures' but IMO if you start adding things or taking too much away, it's not MFW and not worth buying the whole program. So if you want to do SOTW or MOH, I wouldn't do MFW along with it. I think you'd enjoy yourself more if you just use those as your core and it's more cost effective too.

[Slache]

We are doing ctg this year and using MOH as our spine since we aren't fond of the spine MFW has scheduled. It goes along with it well and we are enjoying it. Because of that we've decided to go along with MOH as our spine next year rather than continue using MFW. When you take away the history portion, you are really only left with the science a read aloud and some projects here and there---all of which you can easily plan on your own. We are also changing up science next year which made our decisions to switch even more solid.

MFW is great and we enjoyed K and adventures' but IMO if you start adding things or taking too much away, it's not MFW and not worth buying the whole program. So if you want to do SOTW or MOH, I wouldn't do MFW along with it. I think you'd enjoy yourself more if you just use those as your core and it's more cost effective too.

I've read several reviews that talk about great spiritual growth while using the program. I've never gotten a clear answer on why that is, but I'd like to figure it out and hang on to that if I can. So I would still use the program even if I switched spines.

[My4arrows]

I've read several reviews that talk about great spiritual growth while using the program. I've never gotten a clear answer on why that is, but I'd like to figure it out and hang on to that if I can. So I would still use the program even if I switched spines.

Interesting...we are just beginning the cycle, but beyond reading the Bible as you move along with history, there really isn't too much Bible (we are doing Biblical feast this year with ctg). Maybe there's something more in later years? My kids know the Bible stories since we have been reading the bible with them since infants on a daily basis so we have added in Apologias worldview series which is really good.

Now MFW is a GReAT program, so definitely not trying to sway you from using it at all. We've enjoyed it so far. Just as I said when you start changing spines, MFW isn't necessarily needed. I hope you're able to find what works best for your family!