Transitioning my children from MFW to CM and needing some help.

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  • Hi Homeschooling Parents!

    I need help or I should say hand holding. I have been looking through this site on and off for some time and I have been afraid to implement CM methods. 

    I have 5 children and 4 of them are doing MFW. I have found MFW is what I call Light CM and I have a 13 year old who from a homeschool in a box curriculum did not learn much of anything and that is why I went to MFW. Now that we are on our 2nd year of MFW, I am noticing major gaps and I am having to reteach teach my son most subjects. I have to hold my son back, he is supposed to be in 7th grade and I just don’t see him able to do eight grade work. 

    My highschooler wants to be a part of the family school time again, she is doing MFW’s highschool and is enjoying it but she misses being a part of the family. I have been implemting “spreading the feast” so that she can be apasraf the family again. 

    My pre-k & k really like the MFW curriculum, I just don’t think it is necessary to “separate” them from their older siblings. Since, I am working part-time now (husband is in bible college and wants me to quit at the end of the semester), I just do the bare bones of the work load and the hands on activities we do on Fridays

    I am needing help. I really want to do CM for all my children but I don’t how the how to. Also, how can I teach my high school and her have all the credits that she needs to graduate and go to college.

    Thanks,

    Sarai

    Jackie Betancourt
    Participant

    Welcome, Sarai! We came from MFW as well, but are still in the process of changing to more CM. I would love to hear what others share with you!

    Blessings, Jackie ☺

    Jackie,

    Thank you for the warm welcome. I look forward in learning more from everyone here.

     

    Sarai

    petitemom
    Participant

    I would strongly recommend the SCM All day seminar. It goes through each subject and explains clearly how to teach each one.

    I have been doing MFW for K and 1st grade w/my 3rd child and plan to use for my 4th child to but that will be it for us. Beyond that I prefere to stick w/SCM schedule.

    MelissaB
    Participant

    Welcome to the board! I agree that the All Day Seminar would really be beneficial. I too used MFW, tho only for one year. I really loved K and, for the most part, my three olders like ECC. I was really turned off by sending the high schooler off by herself, so I turned to SCM the following year (she was going into 8th grade at the time). I really love CM principles and each year things are getting easier and better for us. I’m still trying to rid myself of my public school ways since that is all I knew being a public school child myself and then my oldest was in public school through her 6th grade year.

    I’m very happy we turned to homeschooling and especially to SCM. I’ve gleened a lot from this board and the blog posts and articles Sonya has written. I have also learned a lot from both of Catherine Levison’s books and then parts of The Charlotte Mason Companion and For the Children’s Sake (both are really great, but my reading quite time is often very slim).

    ServingwithJoy
    Participant

    Hi there – ditto the “All Day Seminar”! Also, SCM have a conference titled,”Homeschooling through High School” that would be helpful for your high-schooler, if you ever get to catch it.

    The big differences, to me, between what we used to do with MFW and what we do now with CM method, including SCM resources:

    Pros of CM method vs. MFW:

    1. More use of ‘living’ books for instruction and pleasure reading

    2. Narration (or re-telling) as the primary means to ascertain the child’s comprehension of the subject

    3. Getting out of the way of the student so that they have access to great minds, through great books, and can learn more directly from them.

    4. A broader view of history and the world including more picture study, composer study, poetry, nature study, foreign language study, and regular Shakespeare reading.

    5. Charlotte’s excellent teaching methods, including:

    Map Drill

    Oral and Written Narration

    Prepared Dictation

    Recitation

    One thing that I miss about MFW is the constant pointers toward God’s word – but I have found that without it, we have become much more dependent on the Word itself, rather than on another person’s opinion of it.

    As far as high school credits go, I think you would do better to look at your state standards and the qualifications you need her to meet. Then, I would work backwards from there to discover or design a program to ensure that she is meeting those standards.

    Thank you all for the wonderful advise. Smile Where can I find Homeschooling through High School? I was looking for it and did not find it. 

     

    Sarai

    MelissaB
    Participant

    Sarai, it’s a workshop Sonya has done at some conferences. I understand the SCM team is working to get it available to all through the website via DVD, but it has not yet been released.

    MelissaB,

     

    Thanks for letting me know.

     

     

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