Do we keep trying?

[myhandsrfull]

We have been doing MFW-ECC for 12 weeks now with 4th and 2nd grade boys and other than where countries are located and how poor and what to pray for the kids aren't really getting much from the program. They aren't remembering anything about the country. The science has been disappointing to them. They are great kids and never complain, they just keep asking if there is anymore. I will admit we haven't really found our groove yet. This is our second year with MFW so I was expecting a smooth year. I did check into TOG during the summer and I think we will go in that direction next year.

I have SOTW 1 and Ag on the shelf and wonder if we aren't better off going with that for now? We were going to use it but then our girls were born and I went with MFW since it was already planed out. I know most use SOTW with younger students, how will this be for a 4th grader? If we do use SOTW 1 can we go into TOG Y2 easily. Or do we just keep trying ECC? Ok, and now that I've written a book I'm still confused. Help?

 

Carey

 

2 boys 9 and 7

2 girls 2 and 1

Edited October 17, 2008 by myhandsrfull

[PeterPan]

You could go either way, either continuing or jumping ship for SOTW, but to continue ECC you're obviously going to need to add quite a bit. Do you have time for that? Have you seen the stuff Geomatters sells? The Trail Guide to World Geography would be any easy way to up the ante, and there is also a cookbook for world geo, isn't there? Your 4th grader can read a book each week focusing on the country of the week and write a book summary. Your 2nd grader can read a book each week and give a narration, with the goal of easing him into writing his own narrations by the end of the year. You can cook once a week and have an art project. Galloping the Globe has lots of rabbit trail ideas, and I think Trail Guide does too (haven't looked at mine lately). See you need 3 or 4 rabbit trails for the week that they can pursue and do things with. It could be art in the country, scientists or inventions from the country, architecture in the country, geography, sports, anything. My dd is 4th grade, and I find she really enjoys these rabbit trails and freedom to pursue them. To kick them up, you then add a bit of a written requirement, like making a notebook page or something out of it. So they research, do something with it (build it, model in, make a play of it, cook it, whatever), then make a notebook page. If you want them to retain more actual facts, the Trail Guide will get you there.

 

I don't think it's a right or wrong answer thing, just a matter of what you have time for, whether you have time to make a game plan and up the ante.

[myhandsrfull]

the geography games and the projects. They absolutely love the geo. games. They feel foolish (their word, not mine) pretending to fly. We did the fiesta. We have added extra crafts and we always get cook books for the country and try a recipe. They don't like coloring, but will do it. Thank you for the suggestions it has given me much to think about. We did galloping the globe in K and had a great time with it.

 

carey

[Sue G in PA]

Are you a member of any of the MFW Yahoo groups? They have been very helpful to me this year. ECC is going slowly for us as well and after the first 2 weeks (yes, I did say 2!), we took a break to do our Election lapbook. I'm trying to figure out myself how to make ECC more doable and fun. My dd11 doesn't mind it at all. My boys (10, 8 and 7) all grumble and complain when I say it's time to do Geography. On the MFW ECC Yahoo forum, most people say that the 1st 2 weeks are time-intensive and tedious. But, from there, it gets better. I sure hope so. I had such high hopes for ECC. Part of it is me, though. I haven't been as organized as I wanted in preparing ahead. Some ideas that people have given me:

 

Make a running list of any activities that you don't get to in a certain cycle and do them on a Saturday or another light day or take a Friday "off" and just do the fun stuff (Science Exp., art activities, music, etc.). After we get back to ECC next week I'm going to see how it goes but I might just save activities like suggested.

 

I've been using some of the GeoMatters notebooking pages. I bought the set during their big sale a few months back and instead of those Vocab index cards, I use the pre-printed Geo terms notebook pages. The definitions are already on there (not all are there, though) so my kids just draw a picture of the term and perhaps write a sentence or 2 about it.

 

I know how you are feeling, though, b/c ECC has been a disappointment to me, as well. Others RAVE about it, but for us...it's just so-so. My advice? Give it a few more weeks and see how it goes. But, if you just did GtG...it might be rather redundant. So....you could jump-ship and just do SOTW and do some of the science or art from ECC. Hope you find your "groove"!

[Lori in MS]

Have you been getting the book basket books? There are some really good ones and that was our favorite part of the program. We checked out lots of books on the country being studied, audio books, fiction, and lots of science books for the animals for that particular biome. I read out loud to them for at least an hour using the book basket books. We also read additional read alouds. Some of our favorites were Letters from Rifka and The Endless Steppe for Russia, King of the Wind and Ali and the Golden Eagle etc.

 

I can remember when we studied Asia we checked out a lot of books on MT Everest which my boys loved.We also watched several Dvd dramas from NetFlicks.

 

My son listened to Anne of Green Gables on tape when we did Canada. I didn't think he'd like it but he did. He said she talked a lot. THese are some examples of how to flesh out the program if they want more.

 

Also for the geography game, did you know that there are cards you can print out on cardstock in the files of the MFW yahoo group? This helped out tremendously. Also there are great geography games at http://www.sheppardsoftware.com

 

HTH

Edited October 17, 2008 by Lori in MS

[Omma]

I was going to say the same thing that a few others have said. If you have done GtG in K, then I would quit ECC for now and go on to something else. Perhaps you could look ahead and figure out a good stopping point... even going until your Christmas break, if you prefer. Then you could start fresh with something else in January. Or you could just try adding in your SOTW in addition to your geography studies for the rest of the year.

 

I have an 8.5 ds and an almost 7 dd. We did six months of GtG following my ds's K year (mostly in the summer). I stopped GtG early, but it was enough to prepare us for SL's Core 1 study (which we combined with MOH, BTW). Anyway, I have ECC on hand but someone has loaned us TOG Classic Year 4 (which I am doing with WP AS 2 right now). To end a long story, I have decided to go with TOG this year and see if I can manage to do it without getting too overwhelmed. If I can, then I will keep going with TOG and use the ECC materials as needed when we come to the appropriate geography study in TOG. Maybe that's what we'll do... haven't fully decided yet! :tongue_smilie:

 

I think the main point I want to make is that you have probably already given your dc a great intro to geography by using GtG and it is likely overkill to do it again so soon. Since you have little ones, you should have no problem revisiting GtG and/or ECC again later, if you wanted to go on to something else. And if you do decide to try TOG, give yourself LOTS and LOTS of time to push through the initial brain fog and ramp-up time that is required to do this. I am thinking of sending my family away for a couple of days so that I can do all the preparation work that I need to do to 'ramp-up' to using TOG to its fullest this year. I do like it though, as I can already see ways it is helping my dc to do more writing, and I like that! :D

 

Best wishes on your decision! Since you have such little ones, it would probably be a good idea to wait until you have lots of time (as in the summer) to study TOG if you decided to go that way. Just a thought!

 

Brenda