Gearing up for 2008-2009

While we're taking a break from "school" mode, I'm taking the opportunity to prep when and if I feel like it. I enjoy the oppotunity to do it without pressure, and of course with MFW prep is at most getting supplies together for the year.

Our 2008-2009 year will be MFWK and MFW 1st so when I'm done with the supply lists, I'll post them as resources for future use. I plan on putting the supplies for each week in a labeled Ziploc bag so that when we get there, we just pull it out and do it. I also plan on making all copies and everything else needed for the entire year otherwise we'll jsut skip over those things!

To Do
1) Spend some time in prayer asking the Lord for guidance and leaving the next school year in His hands.
2) Make lists of supplies needed and copies to be made.
3) Schedule a shopping trip (without kids!) where I can buy everything needed.
4) Scheulde an appointment with hubby to enlist his help with the tweaks needed (e.g. cutting plywood to size etc).
5) Create a daily schedule.
6) Decide on extra curricular activities.

I'd love to hear how you get ready for the coming school year, so if you stop by, please be sure to mention your number one prep step!

Working MFW 1st and HOD LHFHG together

I've had numerous emails asking me how to make MFW and HOD work together, so I hope to try to answer that question here.

First of all, I need to mention that each program is complete on its own (i.e. implimented as scheduled) but I have chosen to combine different aspects for different reasons.

The first step to combining is to decide what you want for your children as far as what their day looks like. Before we added HOD, my kids were asking for things to do, and were always asking for more science, for example, "Can we study bugs?"

The second step is to assess which program is going to be used as your spine. You cannot use both programs in their entirety every day. Unless you're superwoman, of course. But I certainly am not, and I needed to decide which program was going to be the foundation, and then pull the deficit from the other program.

MFW 1st has a wonderful overview of the Bible, which is presented as the outline for history. You start a timeline, and work through from Creation to a quick survey of the NT. This leads up to the next year of Adventures (American History). I decided to use that as my core, and the HOD LHFHG compliments this nicely with the same theme for the year, with weekly units being broken down into an overview of history from Creation to recent history.

There is also daily devotions and memory work in both programs. MFW 1st does some Proverbs. HOD works through the book of Matthew. I chose to do the HOD Bible because I feel it's important to always be working on NT, and not to just be in the OT.

MFW 1st language arts move very quickly compared to the MFW K program. We struggled at the beginning and had to add in HOP and some Bob Books for practice. We weren't doing the MFW LA every day and it was driving me crazy flipping around from the current day to do the Bible, and then back to wherever we were to do LA. So we dropped MFW LA altogether. However, as happens with maturity over a few months at this young age, DD6 seems ready for the quicker pace in LA and we have picked it up again, and are still doing the HOP and Bob Books.

As far as I'm concerned, for a family who does well with formal teaching, worksheets etc, MFWK and 1st math does not work. The "conceptual math" based on games and daily life didn't translate to anything meaningful. We replaced it with Singapore Math (which is also the HOD and Sonlight recommendation) and it's going extremely well. I've ordered RightStart Math (used) and Horizons math to compare all three programs, since it's important to me to start with the program we plan on using for High School.

History is covered in MFW1st in conjunction with the Bible. It's good, but there's no world history integrated with it, which I feel helps to contextualize our world with the Bible. So we've added in HOD history with "History for Little Pilgrims" and "History Stories For Children".

Science in MFW1st is incredibly light for my kiddos. Why would they want to do the 3 R's every day and leave the "cool stuff" to only twice a week, one of those days being a reading assignment!? So I wrote down the themes from both programs and have combined them. Now they get to do science 4 times a week. Much better.

As far as the "fun" that they're looking for, is HOD all the way! There are fingerplays (we learned the continents in the first week with a little creation fingerplay) and fun activities. They love them all.

That, in a nutshell, is how to combine MFW1st with HOD LHFHG. Every day, make sure you do your vital subjects (the 3 R's - Reading, Writing and Arithmatic) and everything else is icing on the cake. Our icing on the cake includes French, Home Economics and Galloping the Globe but these are done if and when we feel like it at this point, since we are also doing LHTH and growing a 5 month old!

If you're combining programs, please let me know how it's going, or leave your blog address or web site - I'd love to take a peek!

Things are going well...

Some people's response to what we're doing is "You're crazy to do both programs!"

We, however, are done with school by 10:30 am every day, and continue with the "fun" activities. We are having a blast, and find the joy returning to our home school.

Full Circle with MFW 1st Grade

Some of you might remember that a few weeks ago I posted that we're "leaving MFW" because I had to do too many substitutions etc to make it work for us.

Well.

Yesterday we were in the learning room, and DD6 points up to the curriculum shelf and says "Do you remember the blue book with the whale on it?" I answered, "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssss?" (Also to be interpreted as "Don't even tell me you're going to say what I think you're going to say!") I continued, "It's your MFW 1st Grade Workbook". "I want to do it!" she replied.

Umm. Ok. What now!? We're doing HOD Little Hearts for His Glory. And LOVING it! They want more, more, more. But she really wants to do MFW 1st. So we're doing it!

I'm doing the LA and when she needs it we'll use HOP and/or Bob Books for review. Math is Singapore Math. Science is whatever we can add to the current theme to make it a daily thing.
And so we have gone full circle :) I'm going to keep this up for as long as I can, and we're doing all of HOD too (it's a fantastic program that adds a lot of activities that my kids love).

So I'm still praying for God's guidance and that He will lead us as a family.

Out of the mouths of babes :)

K & 1st Grade Math

We have tried every Math program under the sun, and I have settled on the first one I tried. Should have just stuck with it from the beginning ;)

Kindergarten Math

1st Grade Math

1st Grade Reading & Writing

Language Arts



Hooked On Phonics 1st Grade
Bob Books - I get the complete set in a nice "bigger" edition from my local Costco for $10!

Literature
To be determined

Handwriting

A new beginning...

We have been using My Father's World since day 1 of home schooling. I have fought and struggled to make it work for us because I have felt "safe" with it. We used MFW K and had to adapt and change so much that it didn't really look like the original program! Now, we're doing the same with MFW 1st.

I believe the Lord is guiding me to something different than what we've been doing. We are told in His Word to "Trust the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." I can honestly say that this has started as a heart thing, and my brain followed along after! I have taken the leap of faith and we're moving away from using "My Father's World".

I decided to use the following for DD6:

• LA - Hooked on Phonics
• Writing - A Reason for Writing
• Math - Singapore Earlybird
• Bible - I want to explore the NT with her so she can understand her Savior, while at the same time contextualizing it in history (or should I rather say, history with it!)
• History - I want to do an overview of history from Creation to now, from a Biblical perspective.
• Geography - Galopping the Globe looks like a blast!
• Home Economics - Home Economics for Home Schoolers
• Latin - I want to start Latin early, since that's when language comes easiest, however it's not a priority and I want to get the 3 R's prioritized for attempting "extras"
• Music is also considered a language and imperative. I want to get a piano and begin lessons ASAP. Praying for the Lord to provide this...

I had decided all this when I found Heart of Dakota's "Little Hearts for His Glory". The program allows me to select my own LA and Math, and schedules this along with an outline of history from a Biblical perspective :) Science is "God's World" which is just up our street!