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Ideas to make MFW more CM
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So this is my 7th year homeschooling and I have dabbled in CM but have been too afraid of the simplicity to dive in. We have mostly used My Fathers World, which claims CM but I dont think it is if you follow the lesson plans as is. Since this is what I have for this year I am determined to commit to the CM method and make it work. So any ideas to make it more CM friendly would be appreciated. So far here are my ideas:
cut back boring spine readings to one per day
only do the maps and written narrations, unless there is a worksheet my kids really want to do
add in the enrichment activities suggested on the SCM curriculum planner
read more books!
assign independent reading to my older kids
anything else you ladies can think of?
We also really, really need to work on oral narrations, this is one of those simple things I neglected. I didnt realize the disservice I was doing to my kids until I asked my kids to write about Romulus and Remas, my 7th grader has nothing to say. The physical act of writing has been difficult in the past so I asked if that was the problem. He said “no, I just dont know what to say.” That is when I realized I have been missing the most vital component of writing. I feel awful, but never to late to start right.
Yes. Oral narrations are so important! Start small with just a paragraph or a page. Aesop’ s Fables are good to start with. Also copywork and dictation teaches not only penmanship and spelling, but also mechanics, grammar, vocabulary, and can give them good thoughts to ponder. Bookworm is very encouraging about CM methods for language arts in this older post:
https://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/writing-advice/
You can use CM methods with any books. If you need to become more familiar with her methods, there are several good books available if you don’t want to read her original writings. The DVD set from here is great too.
How is it going now? I was in the same position you are at the end of last school year. We switched to Ambleside Online and it has made all the world of difference to my oldest child. We loved MFW and I still highly recommend it for certain people, but the CM method has served my kids will this school year, helping them to grow in ways that we didn’t with MFW due to the structure.
Thanks for asking mtnmama. It is going well. We started out in MFW Rome to the Reformation. I decided to slow way down and only plan to cover Rome this year and then switch to the SCM Middle Ages next year. For now I am following the MFW schedule, sort of. Reading Augustus Caesars World and The Bronze Bow, adding in Famous Men of Rome and some other read alouds. I peeked at the SCM Rome module to get an idea of what to read. We have been working on oral narrations. I have also added in artist, composer, poetry and geography, rotating daily and using the library for resources. Science has fallen off the schedule because I have been uncertain in that area. I am really torn between “college prep” and actual interesting reading. I finally decided to use Ambleside for science resources and ideas. I also purchased the SCM bird study to do with the kids. They love bird watching so that should be fun. Overall it is slow going but I think I am getting a feel for what this should look like. I am still uncertain how to make sure my oldest is reading enough to prepare him for college. I think if he can get through difficult books he will be capable of using a textbook when the time comes. So starting Jan my 7th graders schedule for term 2 looks like this
History, Geo, Bible with family
Math
Grammar
1 written narration/week
Spelling Wisdom 2x/week
Science – The Weather Book, Ordinary Genius (Thomas Edison Bio)
Bird Study/Nature Study with family
Character/Biography – David Livingstone
Literature – Bulfinch’s Age of Fable and Little Britches series (unless he hates the first book)
We are also reading through the Narnia series together.
My hope is to add a little more next year and really grow him in reading and oral narrations. Any input would be appreciated.
A quick question mtnmama, how did you transition to AO after MFW? Did you go all in? Or make some modifications? I have been eyeballing AO for some time, but it is a lot and I like to tweak. I really want to combine SCM and AO, but not sure how to do it. I was thinking of SCM for history, geo, Bible. AO for science, grammar, theology. And a mix of the two for Lit. I really like the literature lists on both sites! How are you doing it?
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