kramnnej
- Reviewed on Wednesday, August 04, 2010
- Grades Used: Kindergarten
- Dates used: 2007-2008
Initially we were just going to homeschool my son for kindergarten and then have him join a charter school for 1st grade. He just needed a little more time maturing, but was bright enough to start school so we decided homeschool was the route for us. We selected MFW and this was our first year ever doing homeschool. I went to the convention and was enchanted with all of the projects. I love artsy creative stuff so that sold me right away.....I was still hesitant after looking at loads of other curriculum that this was considered a complete curriculum all wrapped into one. Others seemed so complex and contained so much materials and workbooks and supplements! But then I thought - hey Kinder is supposed to be fun! They're only 5 once right! So I used it exactly as they said to, without supplementing a thing. 1st grade rolled around and as planned my son started at a charter school. After the first day of school I picked up my son and the teacher asked me "Has he been to school....EVER?!" He was MILES behind every other student after using MFW. He had such little handwriting from MFW that his writing was deplorable. (MFW only has them trace a letter sheet a day and write a given number and that was it.) Virtually zero math. There is number recognition and very simple simple addition concepts. (Just look up Horizons K math to get a benchmark of what another K math program includes- shocking at how minimal this is) Needless to say we pulled him after 3 days and I feel like we've been playing catch up ever since. Once you're behind on a curriculum it's hard to gain that new knowledge + make up for lost time.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE.....
I feel this curriculum HEAVILY lacks any math or writing skills. I would use this curriculum as a phonics and science program ONLY. It is not nearly adequate enough in math or writing. Can I say it again...... I would NEVER consider this a comlete curriculum but a good phonics base and a great science introduction. Each letter is given a full week and the activities include identifying objects that start with that letter and it's most common sound (short vowel sounds only). The highest level of reading by the end of kinder was very simple rhyming sentences like "Ned and Ted go on the sled."
As far as bible goes....they have kids memorize little phrases and not scripture, which is completely fine..... but they aren't exactly phrases you memorize and can build on though. You could easily come up with your own verses and stick those in.
WHAT I LIKED......
So believe it or not I do have posotive things to say about the curriculum and I do think this still could be a good fit for certain families WITH supplements. Can I emphasize that enough :-)
If you have a child that needs to move at a slower pace with regards to phonics and reading, or they are a 4 year old Kinder and the possibility of doing Kinder again next year is there then YES this would be an excellent program. It has a very slow methodical approach to phonics. They learn the letters in order of importance not alphabetically so you can quickly build words off of your letters learned. It is very FUN. There are tons of hands on activities. For example when they introduced the letter S we made a sun out of spaghetti noodles, We made sun tea, we set out plates and turned grapes into raisings, we had S pancakes for breakfast, we visited the space center and painted paper plates to match the entire solar system. (I added in a lot of that on my own). It is a great building block for many many fun activities. He was my oldest so we had all the time dediated to having fun. It was a fun fun fun crafty year! Academically I think this should be a preschool program. I wish kindergarten was this fun and this very low level of academic expectations.....but unfortunately it's not! I've never seen another curriculum this minimal. Empowered with this knowledge and exposure to what's out there, my 2nd son is now entering kinder this month. Yes we decided to homeschool now because we love it. I didn't follow a preschool curriculum we just learned all of the letters and their sounds and numbers up to 30 on our own and I feel like he is academically farther along than my son was half way through kinder using MFW.
Live and learn but if I could prevent another family from finding out the hard way then I'd sure like to.
Again it has it's place...but supplement supplement supplement!!!
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narrow4life
- Reviewed on Sunday, July 25, 2010
- Grades Used: K-1st
- Dates used: 2007-2009
I used MFW's K and 1st grade curriculum with my son and daughter. I have to say that we all loved it and my children did very well. It can have the FEELING that somehow it is not enough since it isn't filled with worksheets and busy work as some programs. Since there are so many options out there for homeschool material, I decided to try something different last year and the whole year I kept wishing I was doing My Father's World again.
My kids are now begging me to do MFW again (which we are). We had so many great memories doing the fun, easy crafts and they really ENJOYED learning. If you talk to moms and dads who have used MFW since Kindergarten who now have highschoolers, you will find that it really does work and work WELL. They have so much to offer in getting the kids to love learning as well as spiritual value.
Keep in mind that it is highly unlikely that one would love EVERYTHING about any curriculum because people and children are all different. But, in MFW it is easy to make changes as you desire. They have a Message Board (http://boards.mfwbooks.com) and their homeschool curriculum website (http://www.mfwbooks.com) where you can see gobs of ideas for tweaking things here and there as well as many more reviews on each program of theirs, from both MFW and many of their customers. Remember to let the curriculum be your tool and not your master and I think you will love My Father's World. My family can't wait to start Adventure's in MFW this year!
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iceprincess52
- Reviewed on Friday, June 04, 2010
- Grades Used: K
- Dates used: 2009
I really wanted to like the curriculum. I did a lot of research, and I really thought that this was the perfect fit for my little one. I have a son who is 4 and used the Kindergarten curriculum. The K curriculum starts off with teaching each letter of the alphabet, and not in order but in importance of building words later down the line. Each letter has a lot of activity ideas which I liked. However they have children memorize short sayings rather than scripture. I would prefer scripture memorization.
Another negative is the reading/phonics approach. It really seemed like it was all over the place, and I could not understand the system of approach. My son and I would be in tears at the end of the lesson, and I eventually just "gave up". Granted my son was ahead of his age group, he did grasp the concept of saying the letter sound when you see the letter and blending. But the approach was not in word family format. One day he is learning the word "sun", and "cat", and "fan", and "doll". It was confusing.
The letter study worksheets became boring as well. My son enjoyed them in the beginning, but half way through he master the idea and began to get bored with the same worksheets week after week.
We switched to Explode the Code Online for the phonics, and within a month my son was READING! Yes, I was in complete shock! Here a month prior we were fighting about it, and now he WANTED to do his phonics one ETC online and reading.
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mom25
- Reviewed on Monday, May 17, 2010
- Grades Used: K, Adv., ECC, CTG
- Dates used: 2005-2010
I have already posted reviews on K, Adv., and ECC, all of which were tremendously enjoyed in our home. Now that we are finishing CTG, wanted to share our experience. We used it with 2 fifth graders (boy and girl, age 10) and a second grade boy (age 8).
Creation to the Greeks uses the Bible as the spine, with enrichment from Victory Journey Through the Bible. This has been the meat of our journey this year, and we have loved it. We alternated between my reading the passages aloud, my kids reading aloud, and listening on audio Bible. Victor has added some rich information, wonderful pictures, and my kids always love when I pull it out to show them. We have all learned a lot about the OT this year and can clearly see Israel's place in world history.
The Greek Roots study has been fun, easy, and I can see that my kids are starting to make meaningful connections in their vocabulary study. There's something about pulling out an index card, getting your hands on it, coloring it and putting in a box that is, for some reason, enjoyable!
I had read mixed reviews on Genesis for Kids, the science book that goes with CTG. Well, science is BY FAR their favorite subject. They actually BEG for this book. There are two characters in the book, Dr. Page and Dr. Lenslo (a book and a magnifying glass) that walk you through the lessons. All I do is make a funny voice for each of them as I read, and voila, the kids are hooked! They literally chant "Lenslo! Lenslo!" when I pull out this book. It cracks me up! I don't find this book light at all, but just right. In fact, there were some areas that were a bit over my 8yo's head, but he loved it just the same and learned a ton. And the best part is that it clearly acknowledges God as Creator. We did only about half of the experiments, depending on what we had lying around and how much energy I had. The others we read through and just "imagined." I'm so thrilled my kids love science. I hated it at their age.
The Patricia St. John read-alouds were wonderful, and I have recommended them to many of my friends for giving the gospel message to their children. These don't really "go along" with the curriculum; they're just great books that could be read any time.
We used God and the History of Art, and I found it an excellent book. They learned the basics of drawing, shading, and the color wheel. I found it a good mix of easy assignments and challenging ones.
All-in-all, this has been a great year. I would highly recommend MFW CTG to any of my friends. I am not a planner, so having an open and go curriculum that is rich and covers so much is preferable to me than wondering if I'm missing anything and always feeling guilty that I'm not doing enough. Enjoy it!
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