Which Module to Start With?

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  • April 19, 2011 at 2:00 am
    KrisC
    Member

    Hello,

    We began homeschooling in the fall. We are using My Father’s World, Exploring Countries and Cultures. We also did some ancient history in Sept – Dec, but not a whole lot.

    For next fall, I’d like to go more CM, and perhaps not even purchase the MFW curriculum.

    My question though is, which “Year” or “Module” should I start with?

    In September, my children will be 6, 9 3/4 and 11 (1st grade, 4th grade and 6th grade). My oldest (6th grader) is a slower learner, and my 4th grader is the one who catches on quicker. So I think of them as about at the same level, except in math. They’ve always done public school, and didn’t get much real history there.

    So aaaanyyywaay. 🙂 Any ideas on what Module to start with? I was thinking of starting later, like with the most modern module, then cycling back to the ancients the year after that.

    All thoughts appreciated!

    Kris

    April 19, 2011 at 2:16 am
    LindseyD
    Participant

    Hi Kris,

    If I were you, I’d start in Module 1. That will give your 6th grader 1 year in each of the 6 modules, and your 1st grader will get the entire history rotation twice. Your 9yo is stuck in the middle, but that’s what happens with all middle children. Since you only covered ancient history for three months last year, you could pick up with that and go more in-depth by incorporating Ancient Egypt, a great study of the first 5 books of the Bible, and some good reading. We just started Term 3 in Module 1 and have loved it all so far!

    HTH,

    Lindsey

    April 19, 2011 at 2:52 am
    KrisC
    Member

    Thanks, Lindsey,

    So does a Module cover one whole year, so three terms?

    April 19, 2011 at 1:21 pm
    sheraz
    Participant

    A module covers an entire year, and is already broken into three terms.  Very helpful.  I agree with Lindsey, start with module one.  Then your sixth grader will “graduate” with American and World History freshest in his mind if he chooses to go on into college or something similiar.  We are really liking the easy format of the Modules and adding in others books as we see fit,  It is a great stress-relief to me to not have to make a total plan for every tiny detail.  =)  If you are already doing readers about American history, the kids can easily keep them seperate in their minds, imo.

    April 19, 2011 at 6:23 pm
    LindseyD
    Participant

    sheraz gave you the same answer I was going to give. You just have to decide how you want to break up your terms, and you’ll be all set. A term is usually 12 weeks, but you can break it up however you like. We have school three weeks on, one week off yearround, then take off the whole month of July. Others do 12 weeks on, 6 weeks off yearround. And others take the 9 months on, 3 months off approach. It’s really what works best for you and your family.

    So for us, we have 9 weeks of school and 3 break weeks in each term. It works very nicely for us. We tried the 12 weeks on, 6 weeks off last year, and it was too hard. By the time we got to the end of the break, my kids had forgotten so much that we spent the first two weeks of the next term re-learning material from the previous term.

    I also like how conveniently the modules are broken up. They even give you 3-4 days per term for “exams” or catching up. It’s nice to have that flexibility if I get a couple of days behind. I actually checked our calendar with a report this morning, and we are perfectly on schedule! I gave myself a big smile and a pat on the back for that one! We just began Term 3 today!

    Let us know if we can help more,

    Lindsey

    September 26, 2011 at 6:53 pm
    sbkrjulie
    Participant

    Okay…same question but with different ages Laughing 

    We will be starting SCM style next year as we are currently involved with MFW ECC. My children are currently 3rd and 6th grade so when we start with the SCM modules, I will have a 4th and 7th grader.

    What module to you recommend I start with given I have a 7th grader?

    I wonder if it would be too much work to start a module now and just work it in with MFW…any thoughts on that?

     

    You are all such a big help….God bless!!

    Julie

    September 26, 2011 at 9:39 pm
    WendyB
    Member

    Hi Julie!

    I have also been doing MFW ECC. I reached week 13 before burning out. I’ve been hsing since 1994, and this is only the second time that I experienced this degree of fatigue with hsing so I knew it was time to shake things up!

    For my kids I went with a modern/American History slant to finish out this year. I did this because it was appropriate for my younger kids AND I had an abundance of resources to pull from to create a CM style year. Of course, you have different ages and different needs. What have your children studied in the past? What do you want your oldest child to study before graduation? Are you enjoying ECC and want to continue it for this year?

    If you decide to start a SCM module this year instead of waiting until next, I think that it would be a bit much to add it into an already full day of ECC.

    I’m not starting a SCM module but I needed a complete change so I have created my own plan for  the remainder of this year. I actually like many of the ECC books and therefore will continue to use some of them. I am not doing ECC and trying to add in CM style history program. I am doing a CM style history and using the ECC resources to round out our studies. Just going through the ECC booklist/grid….

    Window of the World- we read this on Sundays as part of our family worship/prayer time.

    Hero Tales- We enjoy this resource so it will remain on our weekly reading schedule.

    I am still using the Bible verse of the week as copywork/dictation.

    Geography resources. I plan on using the game as part of our weekly map drill. Since we are studying American History, I will focus on the US/Canada/Mexico map. We will also use the various atlas to review sections of the US as we read. On my weekly schedule, I have “geography” schedule 1x per week. Each week I will use one of the ECC resources to “fill up” this time slot.

    Science. POE wasn’t a big hit around here so we will skip it for the time being. Living World is a hit so it stays on our weekly reading schedule. I have added in a Natural History selection to read weekly and will continue doing a Nature Study day. My 9yo is a science lover so I also scheduled a science experiment day each week.

    Music/art. This were a big disappointment for us. Wee Sing will go into the car to be pulled out on occassion, and global art will stay in my younger child’s afternoon box of activities. Mostly it is going to be skipped. Instead we are doing music and picture study. I also am scheduling in a weekly drawing lesson.

    Read alouds. We will read these on our schedule.

    In your case, it seems natural to say “start with module 1” next year. A 7th grader should have 6 more years of school and there are 6 modules.

    However, my older kids were transitioning away from “homeschooling with mom” to ” doing other things” by their senior year. In fact, I graduated my  oldest daughter in August of her senior year. I spent the summer working on her transcript and realized that it was just a little silly to keep homeschooling her. She had more than enough credits to graduate ( 6 English credits!),  we had covered the span of history, and she was ready for college level work. So instead of homeschooling her senior year, she was able to enroll as a fulltime college student at our local CC. When planning a tentative long term schedule for my younger kids, I plan on a “cushion” in our history studies to  allow for this transition.

    HTH

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