Posted in How we are using My Father's World Curriculum
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Wow! It's the first week of June, and we have 3 days of school to finish up our study of Creation to the Greeks from My Father's World. As I promised in my last post I'm going to tell you what I liked about our MFW study this year, and I'll also tell you a couple of things that we didn't enjoy. If I were to rate on a scale of 1 - 10 (1=greatly disliked - 10=greatly enjoyed) how much we enjoyed this year with MFW I would have to say it would be a 9. Overall this curriculum is well laid out, very well organized, and has a good mix of writing, notebooking, and reading. The things that were not enjoyable to our family didn't take away from the excellence of the curriculum at all. So, let's jump in and see what our family liked and dis-liked about Creation to the Greeks (CTG). What we liked about CTG: 1. It is Biblically based In this study we begin studying history where it began - at Creation! As we travel through time we study history from God's Word and from records of cultures from that time. Throughout the study there are times when a culture being studied may not have a lot of references in scripture, but others will have many such as Ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Persia. Almost daily there are Scriptures to read, and each week there is Scripture memory work. As we encounter other cultures there is always a reminder to understand that certain practices of those cultures are in direct disobedience to God (such as idol worship). I believe that seeing these cultures and their beliefs/practices in light of God's Word helps us to understand that we all choose how we live - we either choose to live in obedience to God's Word or in disobedience; and we can learn lessons from those cultures who chose to live in disobedience to God's Word. 2. "Real" books I love that we are using "real" books that tell stories of life in an ancient time and place. Several of these books have wonderful illustrations to go with the text, which makes the information seem more real to a visual learner (like myself). I have found that text books are often dry and a bit boring (although not all text books would fall into this category). I think MFW made very good book selections for this study by mixing a history text book with some "real" books. 3. Book Basket I love that there is time set aside for the students to read some books on their own about what is being studied that week. MFW has provided an organized list (organized by week) in the back of the Teacher's Manual of additional books that you can find at the library to supplement what is being studied that week. We didn't find many of the books in our library (small town, small library), but we were able to find many similar books that provided very good information on the subject. MFW lists a range of books from picture books to books for older students, so there is a good variety to choose from depending on the age/level of your student(s). 4. Short Lessons The actual teaching time involved in this study is minimal. In the mornings we would read all of that days' scheduled reading...Bible passages, history, and science. After reading aloud was done, and anything discussed that we wanted to discuss about the readings, we moved on to individual work such as copywork, narration, dictation, math, grammar, etc. I found that when I could keep my students focused on the task at hand we could finish our school day in 4 hours or less (actual "school" time not counting breaks for snack/lunch). My 2nd grader would finish her work in a shorter amount of time, but my two 5th graders would take more time due to math and grammar. 5. Great Teacher's Manual The TM provides a whole host of great information. It contains the above mentioned week by week resource list, daily notes for activities and things to review, a weekly materials list, reproducibles for the timeline and student sheets/activities to be done throughout the year, a suggested reading list by grade level, a suggested daily schedule, and tips and instructions for preparing and using the curriculum. Each week a 5 day lesson plan is provided in the TM which lays out which pages to read from various books being used that day, and tells which days to do copywork, dictation, vocabulary testing, memory verse testing, etc. They have even provided space for you to pencil in math and language arts assignments. 6. Flexible This program doesn't have busywork! If you fall behind due to illness, Dentist appointment, etc. it is much easier to catch up the work that was missed than with a textbook/workbook style curriculum. I also have learned that if everything doesn't fit you don't have to do it. For example, this year we didn't memorize all of the scripture assigned in the lessons. We did read the scriptures assigned for memory work on a regular basis, but I didn't require them to memorize all the verses. We are very active in the AWANA program in our church, and they were working hard on memory verses in their AWANA books (all 3 children completed 2 books in AWANA's this year  ). In addition, I had one child that would find a verse that spoke to her during her quiet times, and purpose to memorize that verse as well. I realized that they were hiding God's Word in their hearts already, and so it wasn't necessary to force them to learn more in school. That was my personal choice, and others may choose to approach it differently, which is the point I want to make. MFW has done an excellent job putting together this curriculum, but please make it your own and make it work to the benefit of your family.7. Charlotte Mason Methods We do not use only Charlotte Mason methods of teaching/learning in our homeschool, but I do like Charlotte Mason's ideas. I was pleased that MFW incorporates many of her methods in their curriculum such as copywork, dictation, and narration. What didn't enjoy about CTG: 1. Participating in the Jewish Feast's was not at the top of our list of fun things to do this year  . After trying a couple of them we decided to drop that aspect of the study (there were not many scheduled that year). We did read and talk about them and how they related to the scriptures, but did not participate in the activities related to them.2. We would have enjoyed more hands on activities through out the year. I began to add some additional things such as some lapbook activities and some additional notebook pages which we enjoyed. Next time I'll give an overview of the books used with CTG, along with my thoughts on their quality and usefulness. Blessings! |
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