baileymom
Member
There is a thoughtful discussion going on over in the comments section of my post: http://6arrows.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-simply-charlotte-mason.html
...If anyone else is struggling with these 2 curriculums, needs encouragement, or wants to join in.
Thanks, kathi
baileymom
Member
Just wondering if " Mrs. C Munroe " is from this message board?
Hi, Kathi ;-)
What an interesting discussion this has become ;-)
I have come to realize that:
I <3 LOVE <3 the "idea" of MFW in theory;
But not in actuality.
Mrs. C.
pollysoup
Member
Mrs. C I was just telling a good friend of mine that same thing this past week. I love everything about MFW except their choice of literature, except the Bible. We've hit week 11 with CtG (tweaking some as I had time) but I finally dropped it. For now, we just aren't doing anything (dh deployed this last week and I am having health issues) until I can regroup. My kids after 2 weeks of studying ancient Egypt said they were very bored and wanted to stop studying it. When doing the Ancients before with my oldest, it was by far our favorite!! It would be easy for MFW to change their literature to living books. Oh how I wish they would. However, I have really liked SCM. I am so thankful for the resources they provide!
cminalaska
Member
it is good to see that i am not alone. :-)
thank you Kathi for writing the thoughts that have been swirling through my mind. we have basically left ECC after five weeks and that was a HARD decision for me as MFW has been a part of our home for four years now and we have really enjoyed it. i will use it again when the 3.5yo gets to preK, so all is not lost. but working on new scheduling now. am very grateful for SCM and AO! blessings! <>< Michelle
baileymom
Member
Mrs. C - it's nice to meet you. I had no idea answering your email on my blog would stir so many homeschooling mommas' hearts. I'm glad I did. I plan to answer a few more comments today, so be sure to check back and share any thoughts with us.
pollysoup - I understand completely about the 'Bible' portion of MFW. We were OK with CtG and RtR (although in RtR, I felt there could have been a lot more study on Jesus' Ministry/Life). I still believe we loved CtG so much, because it was our first exposure to biblically-integrated history. Looking back, I agree with the fact that their Literature/Reading choices could easily switch to better CM, living books. (The Read Alouds for CtG are Patricia St. John's books...which we absolutely *love* ... but what about all those great books like on SCM's Mod 1 History Book list??? We're so excited to read those this time around!)
cminalaska - You're welcome. Like I mentioned to Mrs. C...I had no idea it would bring out so many concerns for so many families. We skipped ECC, so I can't comment on it's content, but DH and I never thought it was a good idea to spend an entire school year on just Geography. (Even though we do understand the 'Missions' emphasis it is supposed to bring about) MFW has also been a part of our home for 4 years now, and the decision to write my thoughts down about our leaving it behind was very hard. I was nervous, scared to step on toes. I wanted to truly explain our choice, but without beating up MFW (I was so glad Tina mentioned the ministry of the company in my comments section). We have sold all the years, except K...but I am seriously considering using Delightful Reading and Handwriting with Wesley for K...maybe using MFW K now, for preschool/letter of the week/activities for my Littles. (and I decided not to spend the $$$ on FIAR, realizing that the Literature selections for K are truly treasures, and to use them much in the way FIAR would).
Erin Kate - I know you are frequently on this board, so I just wanted to mention how much I appreciate your thoughts and encouragement. It's so good to know we are not alone in trying to find the best materials to use to educate our precious families. <3
~ Kathi
erin.kate
Member
Kathi ~ I'd love to put our heads together and FIAR-ize the MFW K lit selections. I am in the very same boat. Ah, what to do, what to do. The whole lovely MFW K literature is sitting here but I am always beckoned for my littles back to FIAR. :)
The beauty of homeschooling is the friendships we make along the way and I am so very grateful for all of you (and for the poise and safety of this board).
Warmly, Erin
Okay, ladies. I need some help, then. Much to my dismay (and my children's misfortune), I have been all over the map with regards to homeschooling. My journey began (as anyone who was raised in the public school system and didn't yet even know other methods existed) with "school at home" (Abeka). I knew within the first week that it was NOT what I wanted. I then discovered Waldorf education and I was drawn to the beauty and gentleness of it and the aspects that involved nature. Then, I discovered Charlotte Mason and I fell in love. CM education embodies most everything that I find important in education. But, I have still gone back and forth between CM and Waldorf and have yet to SETTLE IN. I currently have 1st and 3rd graders and we are making our way through the year, but I am really focusing on figuring out NEXT year, so that FOR ONCE I can have a solid plan and we can have a wonderful year.
We have not done structured History yet, as I agree a bit with some of the Waldorf philosophies in regards to that. This year, we are focusing on the Old Testament for Bible and thus hearing stories and doing activities surrounding the Israelites as well as their neighbors. I will also be bringing in some Native American stories.
I have been around and around (in my head, of course) and ultimately decided I'd like to do a year of US geography and basic/gentle history before doing Ancient History. I thought it might be boring to do Old Testament right after doing Old Testament, kwim?
I want excellent living books. I want them to narrate and only my older daughter (who will be in 4th grade) to START written narrations. I want hands on activities to go along with the studies ~ cooking, crafts, etc.
I already knew that I did not want to go on with MFW later, but I was considering (actually, I thought I'd sort of finally settled) using MFW Adventures and adding extra reading selections for my 4th grader, to beef it up for her. I love perusing the Sonlight catalog, too, but had come to the conclusion (on this forum, I believe) that Sonlight does too much too fast rather than the slow and steady Charlotte Mason approach.
Soooo, I'm wondering. Those of you who HAVE done MFW Adventures, was it more CM? I had no intention of making my children do worksheets (I would have them narrate orally and my older occasionally work on written narrations, I would have them draw pictures, I would do the hands-on activities). If not, what would you suggest for a good 2nd / 4th grade Intro to American History and US Geography before moving into Ancients?
I am at a loss. I love the books in the Beautiful Feet Early American, but there are no activities in there and it is more notebooky (I believe). I love the look of Sonlight, but it is too much to do the CM way. I don't know how I feel about MFW, but it appears I would probably not like it (based on the comments above, because I agree with everything you ladies are saying). So, now what? Do I just pick my own books and make up my own thing and hunt the internet for the activities???? UGH I was trying to avoid that. :)
Suggestions?
Many blessings,
Melissa
2flowerboys
Member
@ Melissa, I will PM you later! Don't panic!! :)
baileymom
Member
Melissa ~ I know absolutely nothing about Waldorf, so I cannot add to that. But, we did do almost all of ADV, and enjoyed it. It's definitely an overview, being very brief and a little too quick. There are plenty of crafts and recipes, etc. ... but they seem to be less frequent as the year goes on.
***The names of Jesus study is really neat too, and my kiddos loved it.
The book/literature selections still seem to be pretty CM compared to later years of MFW.
I do, however, know that there are some families that walked away from it, and as I mentioned, we stopped at about 1850 to use SCM's booklist. (but honestly, we are hardly doing any crafts/recipes anymore ... pertaining to school ... but many related to regular meal times, and seasonal fun:)
HTH, kathi
erin.kate
Member
I would suggest A Living History of Our World along with the BF Early American Lit books. Together they are wonderful! Or, ALHOW and TQ for a sort of CM-approach to living books. I found ADV to be very worksheet oriented once the state study begins ... and that is 2/3 of the program. I know that many love it dearly, but I would venture to guess (and I think I know you in the OM circles, too :) ) that you would be happier with something more CM than ADV might offer.
Feel free to PM if you have more questions. Early American History is such a fun period of history, especially for the younger children.
Thank you so much ladies. I'm searching and searching. What gets me befuddled is when I decide on something and then I go to Sonlight and MFW and Living Books Curriculum and Beautiful Feet and ... and ... Tanglewood and Charltotemasonhelp and SCM and ... and ... (you get the idea) JUST to try to make a good list of books, I get all caught up in each of them along the way. KWIM?
I appreciate your input (still waiting for that PM from 2flowerboys). I will look into ALHOW. I already know the BF books look lovely!
What do any of you know about the Betsy Maestro books? She has several American History books, too.
HMMMMM
So much to think about. I realize that this is far off, but I want to use tax money to buy whatever I need, so I'm sort of obsessed with decision making at the moment. And, unfortunately every time I think I'm settled, I find something else and change my mind again.
I will get the hang of this ONE OF THESE DAYS!
LOL
Blessings and smiles!
Melissa
MelissaB
Member
Just wanted to say that I'm enjoying reading this thread. Last year was our first year hs'ing. We used MFW ECC and K. I LOVED K, it was such a sweet year, and we liked ECC for the most part. I planned to use CTG, but once the materials arrived, I wasn't very jazzed about the year. I started searching for something else and spent the last six weeks of summer fretting about what I would do this school year. I decided to use SCM Module 1 and we really like it so far, but this is only our 17th day of school. They are having a little trouble getting excited about the Ancient Egypt history, but we've only had two or three days of that so far, mostly it's been bible history. Truth be told, I'm not that jazzed about Ancient Egypt either. I'm still trying to get the hang of my new schedule. That is what I loved about MFW was the weekly schedule all planned out for me. I did make something in Excel similar and it's working well for us.
walkermamaof4
Member
thanks for this thread ladies. i had posted on wtm forum to ask ladies to compare mfw and scm and then i found this. we used BF Early American last year and LOVED it. So we were really stuck on where to head this year. We decided with much hesitancy on MFW 1850-modern and it is ok but we don't love how advanced so many books are. We are using the grade 2-3 supplement as well and love those choices. But the regular selections aren't my favorites and I really dislike some of the choices in the years 1-4 programs. Have any of you used MFW for a whole year of the cycle and then done SCM for a year? How would they compare? We would love sweet living books. We used VP and SL in past years and they are too much for us. BF was just right but doesn't have the same level of book choices for all of the years of the history cycle. Thanks for any further input you have! (We have dd15 with special needs, dd11, ds8, and ds6.) So in 3 years we will have dd11 in highschool and I really want us all reading together and studying together as much as we can. Thanks!
erin.kate
Member
walkermamaof4 ~
We also love BF Early Amer Hist, especially with the new guide, which is just wonderful in every way. I so wish BF would have an actual stream to history from the early years through high school, but there are so many gaps. :(
We did MFWK and MFW1 and started Adv, and we're still dabbling in Adv, while also dabbling in SCM, and A Living History of Our World, and using BF as our spine mostly (I'm also trying to find my footing with history). I can't comment yet on the actual history cycle of MFW as we haven't entered that, and I don't know that we will, but I see no reason why you can't go from MFW to SCM. Or, if you like the structure of MFW, say the TM, you can always infuse the studies with the sweet living books you crave ... for instance, many of the BF books will go with the various years in MFW and you can enrich it there.
I think you'll find MFW and SCM to be very different animals. SCM is a purer CM while MFW is a blend of traditional, classical, with a CM sensibility, though I find that to be the weakest aspect of the curriculum. If I stayed with MFW for the history cycle, I'd find it absolutely necessary to replace some books and add living books that are lacking, though again, there is much overlap between BF and MFW book selections, so not all is lost. :)
Sorry I can't help more but my ramblings will bump you up. Blessings.
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