Unsure if I should stay with MFW RtR for 8th grader....

[bcbbmom]

This will be our 4th year homeschooling, and I'm struggling with knowing what direction to take for my 8th grader.  His first year homeschooling he was a 5th grader, and we did MFW ECC.  Then, we moved on to CtG, but took 2 years to complete that.  So....here we are, getting ready to start 8th grade, and I'm guessing the logical thing to do would be to go on to RtR.  But here are the things that bother me:  I hate the idea that he hasn't had any U.S. History, and if we stayed with MFW for high school, it would be pushed back even further.  Last year I became increasingly tired of the constant flipping around in books with CtG.  It just seemed so disjointed to me.  I've thought of moving to a different company, but which one would pick up where CtG left off?  As it is, we will only be doing Bible and History with MFW this year, anyway, so should we just pick our own History and Bible program?  I know the lure of MFW is that everything goes together, but I just didn't get that feeling the past 2 years.  

 

Any ideas, words of wisdom?

 

Thank you!

[jjeepa]

We have a similar homeschooling history  :001_smile:  We started when my ds was in 6th grade and my dd in 1st.  We used MFW ECC for that year, CtG for 7th, and RtR for 8th.  By the end of 8th, I knew I needed to make a change and I regret not making it after the CtG year.  I too grew frustrated with the disjointed feeling of the curriculum.   I ended up making so many changes to the program in an attempt to add cohesiveness that it just wasn't worth it to buy the curriculum.  

 

If you plan to use their high school curriculum, which will delay a year of modern history for 3 more years, I think it's a great idea to do a year of US history on your own.  I'm creating a course for my dd, who is moving into 8th grade this year too, and will be using Joy Hakim's US history books and other materials.  I've put it together using booklists from the Sonlight 100 core and many threads from this forum.  

 

HTH!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited July 31, 2016 by jjeepa

[bcbbmom]

Thank you!  It's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels that way about the disjointedness.  The thing is, I'm not sure if I want to stay with MFW through high school.  I wish I had a clear plan, but my nature is to doubt myself.  Do most high school programs do the history like MFW (Ancient, World, U.S. History)?  I should know this, as I've graduated one, and will have a senior next year.  With my senior, however, we've gone a pretty eclectic route.  

Good for you for putting together your own course!  I would love to have the confidence to do that!  

 

 

We have a similar homeschooling history  :001_smile:  We started when my ds was in 6th grade and my dd in 1st.  We used MFW ECC for that year, CtG for 7th, and RtR for 8th.  By the end of 8th, I knew I needed to make a change and I regret not making it after the CtG year.  I too grew frustrated with the disjointed feeling of the curriculum.   I ended up making so many changes to the program in an attempt to add cohesiveness that it just wasn't worth it to buy the curriculum.  

 

If you plan to use their high school curriculum, which will delay a year of modern history for 3 more years, I think it's a great idea to do a year of US history on your own.  I'm creating a course for my dd, who is moving into 8th grade this year too, and will be using Joy Hakim's US history books and other materials.  I've put it together using booklists from the Sonlight 100 core and many threads from this forum.  

 

HTH!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SaveSave

 

[IfIOnly]

A suggestion: Story of the World plus Critical Thinking Company's  U.S. and World History Detective books to add some depth and critical thinking. Easy peasy. That's what I'm doing for my 8th grader this year.

 

http://www.criticalthinking.com/us-history-detective-book-1.html

Edited August 1, 2016 by ifIonlyhadabrain

[bcbbmom]

Thank you!  I so appreciate these ideas, and am going to look into this today.  Are you doing something separate for Bible?  

A suggestion: Story of the World plus Critical Thinking Company's  U.S. and World History Detective books to add some depth and critical thinking. Easy peasy. That's what I'm doing for my 8th grader this year.

 

http://www.criticalthinking.com/us-history-detective-book-1.html

 

[cbollin]

mfw clicked for me so take this with grain of salt.   (worked fine in high school too).  RTR was my least favorite year in the "investigate" cycle (as they call it these days).   What would really be the worst thing to happen if you used mfw's 1850 to modern times next year?  Answer: might maybe affect decision on what to do with younger kids the next year. 

 

The 1850mod program has an optional review of early american history built into it with enc. of children's history.  If that's the first time the 8th grader has had any early US history, it would be ok to just know it's a quicker pace to catch some highlights. But most of us have probably done something in grades 1-4 and they'll remember that stuff.  Then you have SOTW volume 4 for rest of year along with other stuff.

 

but if you decide to keep moving forward, I'll give you permission to jump to year 5 even if the super fans say otherwise :)   (believe me.. i'm in mfw super fan category.  used it over a decade and still using it. )

 

If you go with other companies:  don't worry about picking up where ctg left off, or overlapping or missing a few topics here and there,  you'll find way to get a quick overview with some workbook out there or something.  Maybe I just have a weird perspective knowing that I missed things when I was a student and it was ok. 

[IfIOnly]

Thank you! I so appreciate these ideas, and am going to look into this today. Are you doing something separate for Bible?

After CTG we just continued with Journey Through the Bible on our own.

 

The best things we've used are in the links below. So much richer than MFW.

 

http://www.ntmbookstore.com/chronological-bible-study-christian-education-edition-s/2194.htm

 

http://www.ntmbookstore.com/childrens-chronological-bible-study-s/2034.htm -- We just read these with the kids. I didn't try to teach them in my own words. The best homeschooling purchase hands down.