MFW Adventures

[Guest]

I have been thinking a lot about what curriculum we are going to be using in the fall. I have pretty much narrowed it down to Tapestry of Grace, or My Father's World; possibly even WinterPromise again. I used Tapestry of Grace for nine weeks this year and I really love it so if we go with it we will just pick up where we left off and complete year 1. But I am really drawn to My Father's World because bible is included and I like the looks of Adventures. If I use MFW I plan to buy several of the book basket books because our library is horrible...and they only let you check out three books at a time:001_huh:.

 

Can anyone who used MFW Adventures tell me how you liked the program? I would love to hear the good and bad. I hear so many people talk about what a wonderful rich year MFW K is...is Adventures similar?

 

Thanks!

[Allison TX]

We used Adventures a couple years ago when my dc were in 1st and 2nd grade. It was a great year, we really enjoyed it. We still have the poster my kids made of all the names of Jesus hanging in our schoolroom. :001_smile: I didn't care for the CLP Exploring American History book. I thought it was too much for them at that time, but it was easy enough to skip or summarize the info for them. We also got a little tired of the state sheets by the end of the year. Overall, it was a great program. My boys learned a lot and had fun. :001_smile: You might also want to take a look at Heart of Dakota. They have two American history programs for similar ages as Adventures.

[ClassicMom]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but do have a question.

 

My son is coming out of PS K (special needs) but I was told during his IEP yesterday that he is ready for regular 1st grade next year with the help of a tutor.

We are planning on bringing him home and using MFW 1st. But the way that they taught reading in K, I'm thinking that he probably should go through MFW K 1st.

 

Does anyone have a schedule for covering this during the summer? I'm not really worried about covering the math since he is pretty advanced there.

He likes the Bible stories and we would keep those in, but my main focus would be the phonics and reading.

 

Thank you.

[Guest]

We used Adventures a couple years ago when my dc were in 1st and 2nd grade. It was a great year, we really enjoyed it. We still have the poster my kids made of all the names of Jesus hanging in our schoolroom. :001_smile: I didn't care for the CLP Exploring American History book. I thought it was too much for them at that time, but it was easy enough to skip or summarize the info for them. We also got a little tired of the state sheets by the end of the year. Overall, it was a great program. My boys learned a lot and had fun. :001_smile: You might also want to take a look at Heart of Dakota. They have two American history programs for similar ages as Adventures.

 

 

Thank you Allison for sharing. I keep hearing the American History book is dry...that is kind of making me question if I want to use Adventures. I really want to have a fun program next year.

 

No one else has used MFW Adventures:confused:?

[cbollin]

I didn't think the history text in Adventures was always dry. There were some sections that were a little dull when teaching facts and getting the information. But then there were parts with biographies that were fun. It's a text book so I treated it that way.

 

With book basket books, you get a lot of fun reading material after you get the "just the facts ma'am" approach. And the read alouds too... don't forget those.

 

ADV has a lot of fun activities. I think they can be helpful for visual and hands on learners and blending school and play time together. We like the recipes in the ADV program (some were repeated in EX1850).

 

When my 2nd grader did her state sheets, she didn't mind them. She liked to color the flower and bird and label the state. We didn't sweat it trying to learn everything on the history page with the sheets. She liked to find the states on a map. I can see how it could become overwhelming if you over did the sheets.

 

crafts and activities are fun and easy and they learn from them.

 

The summer before we did EX1850 (which the history content from ADV will show up again) we enjoyed the Bible and Science portion of ADV. I still remember our names of Jesus poster and the salt covered candle we made. I still have some of the crafts hanging on windows. We liked the Science books and used the internet links for more stuff. We had fun making bread together while learning He is the bread of life.

 

I know there are plenty of people using and liking ADV.

 

 

-crystal

[Lori in MS]

I haven't used Adventures but I did the supplement of Ex1850, which has a lot of the books/state sheets etc of Adventures. Exploring American History isn't the only book used. My kids loved Pioneers and Patriots and all of the other books. They also enjoyed the states and Presidents sheets. There are so many wonderful books in the book basket, you could read some of those on the same topics as the EAH book.

[cbollin]

Does anyone have a schedule for covering this during the summer? I'm not really worried about covering the math since he is pretty advanced there.

He likes the Bible stories and we would keep those in, but my main focus would be the phonics and reading.

 

Thank you.

 

In theory....

each unit has 6 days of material. So...

Do about 2-3 lesson days in one school day and omit some of the easier activities.

 

That would reduce it in half and bring it to about 3-4 months work. That's what's suggested in the K manual for children who using the program as first trimester first grade.

 

-crystal

[bethben]

We used Adventures 2 years ago and are now finishing up unit 1 of year 1 in TOG. I used Adventures when ds was an older 1st grader. We did like our year overall. The thing that really made it interesting was all the book basket books. Yes, you can do the program without the book basket books, but the frosting on the cake is really the book basket. Ds learned a lot and we did have a good year that was easy on me. It really is a program for no older than 3rd grade though. I think a strong 2nd grader would be just right for it.

 

We have now switch to TOG. I just wanted a program that was easier to do for multiple ages and had more variety. I like to pick and choose what we do and have options that I don't have to research. The thing with MFW is that there are fewer options in activities and "spines". If you don't like the activity or spine, it's up to you to find a new one or just not do it that week. It works great for open and go, but not so much with curriculum tweekers like me. We are really liking TOG because I can move through different levels with literature and history projects and it's no big deal. But, if you are looking for an easy program to do, MFW would be your best bet.

 

Beth

[anewday]

I have been thinking a lot about what curriculum we are going to be using in the fall. I have pretty much narrowed it down to Tapestry of Grace, or My Father's World; possibly even WinterPromise again. I used Tapestry of Grace for nine weeks this year and I really love it so if we go with it we will just pick up where we left off and complete year 1. But I am really drawn to My Father's World because bible is included and I like the looks of Adventures. If I use MFW I plan to buy several of the book basket books because our library is horrible...and they only let you check out three books at a time:001_huh:.

 

Can anyone who used MFW Adventures tell me how you liked the program? I would love to hear the good and bad. I hear so many people talk about what a wonderful rich year MFW K is...is Adventures similar?

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

We LOVED MFW Adventures. My girls were 7 and 5. They loved the Pioneers and Patriots book and learning about the states and birds. It was perfect for them and we enjoyed it thoroughly!

 

And JFTR, we did ECC the next year and I didn't care for it. So I'm not biased one way or the other. lol

[anewday]

I don't recall reading very often from the CLP Exploring book, but what we did read didn't stand out to me as dry (but then again, I have a thread going about Famous Men books being dry so go figure hehe)....

[Guest]

Thank you all for sharing! Yes, I am still torn between using Tapestry of Grace or another program. My son really loved Tapestry; and we read Story of the World which was scheduled and they all loved it as well. But I am also very drawn to My Father's World. My ds(8) is going to be in second grade; and my dd(6) is going to be an advanced 1st grader in reading/writing. My dd(9) has autism so right now she is functioning on an early first grade level so Adventures would be just fine for her.

 

One thing that leans me more towards using Tapestry of Grace is that my dd(9)'s academic progress may not move at the same pace as a typical child. So she may not be ready for some of MFW's upper programs in the traditional one year sequence. Whereas with Tapestry I can keep her in Lower Grammar as long as necessary, and not worry about having to teach two different programs.

[Guest]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but do have a question.

 

My son is coming out of PS K (special needs) but I was told during his IEP yesterday that he is ready for regular 1st grade next year with the help of a tutor.

We are planning on bringing him home and using MFW 1st. But the way that they taught reading in K, I'm thinking that he probably should go through MFW K 1st.

 

Does anyone have a schedule for covering this during the summer? I'm not really worried about covering the math since he is pretty advanced there.

He likes the Bible stories and we would keep those in, but my main focus would be the phonics and reading.

 

Thank you.

 

I have been thinking of using MFW K's bible and science portion over the summer as well. I have heard so many wonderful things about the bible/science portion of MFW K; I think it would make for a great summer. I also like all the character development built it; we really need to work on some character development here:tongue_smilie:. My children will be in 1st-2nd grade and that is the range MFW say's their K programs bible and science is great for.

 

We still are not done with our WinterPromise Animals and Their Worlds program. But I am actually tired of this program and ready to move on to something else. I love the books included in the science portion and the some of the literature; and the kids like learning about animals. But thats all we do...read about science. I really want a fun program with meaningful activities...and a broader range of topics. I have not enjoyed any of the craft activities in Animals and Their Worlds.

[Donna A.]

MFW is written for multiple ages even in the upper years, so there's something in every year for a younger or learning delayed child. That really shouldn't be an issue at all.

 

We LOVED Adventures. Please don't not use it just because of that one book! There's so much more to the program than that. First of all, only excerpts of the book are scheduled where appropriate when more details are needed here and there, not the entire thing. And I've known of some families who just dropped the Expl American History book altogether, but used the rest of the program as written. That kind of tweaking is something you'd likely do no matter what curriculum you're using. ;)

[Donna A.]

Whereas with Tapestry I can keep her in Lower Grammar as long as necessary, and not worry about having to teach two different programs.

 

This is true with MFW, as well.

[Guest]

MFW is written for multiple ages even in the upper years, so there's something in every year for a younger or learning delayed child. That really shouldn't be an issue at all.

 

We LOVED Adventures. Please don't not use it just because of that one book! There's so much more to the program than that. First of all, only excerpts of the book are scheduled where appropriate when more details are needed here and there, not the entire thing. And I've known of some families who just dropped the Expl American History book altogether, but used the rest of the program as written. That kind of tweaking is something you'd likely do no matter what curriculum you're using. ;)

 

Thanks Donna! I had no idea that MFW was written for multiple ages in the upper years. Now that I look closer on the website I do see that packages are available every year for younger students (delayed in my instance). I really appreciate you sharing this; this is making MFW look even more appealing to me.

 

 

And JFTR, we did ECC the next year and I didn't care for it. So I'm not biased one way or the other. lol

 

I keep hearing a lot of people saying that they didn't care much for ECC...this is one program I think looks really interesting! Can you share what you didn't like about it?

Edited May 6, 2009 by Guest

[LauraJ]

I am interested in knowing about ECC too since I plan on doing it in a year or two. It looks really good!

[Kisa in CA]

Boy, there are a lot of questions going on in this thread. I just want to add a wrench here. My boys LOVED the CL history book in Adventures! Just goes to show that likes and dislikes vary widely. I'm glad we did Adventures because I feel kids need a good overall understanding of American History before doing ECC and Ancients.

 

I think MFW is fantastic because it gets done, lays everything out for me, but gives me lots of additonal book options through the book basket. Sometimes we have a ton of books in our book basket, sometimes none. It just depends on my life at the time. Since then we have used ECC and now CTG. Our year with ECC was amazing. And the Bible integration in CTG is fabulous. Did I say I LOVE MFW yet? With all the decisions I make each year, this is one that is made for me. The 5 year cycle is perfect for the ages of my kids and it gives me a long term plan. With WP and SL I would have to decide each year what to use. I'm glad that is done for me with MFW,

 

I've always known that the planning of TOG would not work for me. WP was overkill, just too many options and crafts for me and expensive. Sonlight has intimidated me due to the heavy amount of reading. MFW is the perfect fit and my kids love it too.

 

HTH!

[Donna A.]

I keep hearing a lot of people saying that they didn't care much for ECC...this is one program I think looks really interesting! Can you share what you didn't like about it?

 

I've heard people complain that there was too much photocopying and busywork in ECC. However, ECC's recently been completely revamped, and the 2nd edition (due out the end of this month) will eliminate a lot of that photocopying and busywork. Also, the TM in 1st edition was laid out differently than the history years, but the new one looks more like the history TMs. It looked to me (at convention) like there's more titles in the ECC book basket than before, too.

 

They've also switched out a couple of the books that are included in the package, added to the junior high supplement, and scheduled the junior high assignments into the TM.