What did you think of MFW K?

[Guest sarathan]

I'm wondering about the phonics portion specifically. Right now I'm doing it with my ds (5) and it's just okay. I think it's the perfect level for him since he didnt' know all the letters and sounds when we started and he's learning A LOT! But he just doesn't seem to enjoy it at all. I think it's mostly because the activities are very repetitive each week, the only thing that changes is the letter. At this age I feel school should be fun, fun fun (or at least mostly fun :)). I've thought about trying something else (Language Lessons for Little Ones) or just bagging it altogether, but I don't know, I spent $$ on it and kinda want to stick it out.

 

Anyway, just wondering what you all thought of it.

[Lovedtodeath]

I love the way it is set up. Using the foam letters worked great for us. DD enjoyed bingo as well.

[cbollin]

I'm wondering about the phonics portion specifically. Right now I'm doing it with my ds (5) and it's just okay. I think it's the perfect level for him since he didnt' know all the letters and sounds when we started and he's learning A LOT! But he just doesn't seem to enjoy it at all. I think it's mostly because the activities are very repetitive each week, the only thing that changes is the letter. At this age I feel school should be fun, fun fun (or at least mostly fun :)). I've thought about trying something else (Language Lessons for Little Ones) or just bagging it altogether, but I don't know, I spent $$ on it and kinda want to stick it out.

 

Anyway, just wondering what you all thought of it.

 

We changed things up a little here and there with the phonics worksheet. For example, on the day with the blend ladder, my daughter uses the Lauri letters for the dictation and then writes the letter.

 

On the worksheet that is the sound discrimination work, we sometimes change it so she has to tell me what sound starts each word.

 

For the Picture Box -- we play alphabetical order with the pictures from different envelopes, or mix and match a bit. We even try to say the ending sound of a word from time to time.

 

We use stickers instead of drawing. Or a dot to dot ink stamper (like for bingo cards) to do the math sheets.

 

And sometimes instead of doing cut and paste, we just write the words in the box.

 

In any case, we're loving the phonics stuff with my youngest. She is reading already in spite of her language problems with autism. And I really like that the phonics section doesn't have to take long because she doesn't have the attention for it. So, then we can move to the more fun stuff.

 

So, we add some ideas here and there, don't always use pencil for everything so it can be fun. We play the games (bingo, matching, memory, concentration, and go-fish games) that are part of the phonics. And try to get in the fun stuff with the music CD (classical one). Play around with the critical thinking skills book.

 

In the activities section (science/Bible) that doesn't have the routine feel.

 

It's my second time teaching MFW K. Like Christina said, you might want to check out the MFW message board. There is a section on there for ideas for each Kindy unit to add other stuff or an extra craft or web site or book.

 

MFW K Ideas Forum

 

-crystal

 

 

-crystal

[Guest sarathan]

Thanks so much for the ideas Crystal! :)

[mommysweird]

We did MFW K and my DS seemed to enjoy it. I don't think he'll ever forget doing the matching games or singing "My Father's World." I did supplement the phonics with Explode the Code to solidify it in his brain, but he really did enjoy it. I was unsure about the "plain" design of the student materials for my visually driven DS, but he really didn't seem to mind. I would have enjoyed a larger book list for the K level and more read-aloud type activities, but overall I feel my son got a fair K level education.

 

HTH!

[skylark]

I plan on using this with my now 4yr old. I think it's a sweet, thorough program and can't wait for the right time to use it.

[Lovedtodeath]

One more thing: I own 5 phonics programs and I plan to use MFW K and 1 with DS, so it's the best out of those IMO!