Wednesday, September 24, 2008

M.o.M. Review : My Father's World

A little late this week... but here we go!

I mentioned a while back finally taking the plunge and buying curriculum. We have been using My Father's World for 1st grade and Kindergarten for our two oldest. It has been going great. Let me just say that I love this curriculum. It's so well planned out, easy to use and takes a huge workload out of scheduling. Instead of having to spend the time making school plans, etc, we've been able to make more trips to the library and be involved in more sports/gym activities.

The kindergarten is perfect for our 4 1/2 year old. She knew a lot of her letters and numbers already, but didn't have everything mastered. So it's been great for her. Not to mention our kids have memorized some scripture, learned about Creation in depth, and have been excited every morning for school to start.

I love that while everything is planned already, I can still tailor it to our needs - not do some activities, or do things on a different schedule than suggested.

Isaac has been doing very well in first grade while being challenged in some areas. A lot of his weaknesses are being targeted this year and he's improving quite a bit. We started early this year, in mid-August, so we could go at a little more relaxed pace. I can't wait to see where Isaac is in a month from now given how well he's done so far!

I highly recommend buying the deluxe packages from MFW which I went back and forth over doing for a long time. I feel like it's been so much simpler to have everything we need that's suggested for the curriculum - although I'm sure that just using their Basic would be fine too, you'd have to do more work to pull your whole year together.

I bought an extra Kindergarten workbook for Nora. I knew she'd be completely unsatisfied doing something different from both big kids - and I was right. She doesn't retain the information as well as Giovanna but she enjoys the worksheets and projects just as much. She does quite well and even if I have to buy the same thing again for her next year I'm sure that she will do quite well next year.

I like that for both the Kindergarten and 1st grade they do a 100 chart, so that's something I can have our 3 kids sit down and do all together in the morning. We also all go over the Proverbs verse Isaac is working on memorizing.

We start our morning with Proverbs, then Math. After that I give Isaac his different workbook pages to do while I tackle different reading skills for the girls or their own worksheets. Then we go from there with the planned things for the day. I really like that I can do some of the same things with all the kids together.

All in all I highly recommend this curriculum for anyone who : Doesn't have the time for in depth scheduling or doesn't like or isn't good at the in depth planning, has more than one child, if you want a curriculum that is not just by a Christian publisher but everything is Biblically based, want something that incorporates a lot of fun hands on projects for all subjects, need something with lots of new creative suggestions for you.

6 comments:

michelle said...

I also bought the K curriculm this year although I'm not really starting until next fall. I wanted to really look it over and have time to get everything together. From what I've looked at I love it. It's good to hear such a good review since you've actually been using it and I've only looked the material over. Thanks for taking the time to do a review. It's definetly encouraging.

Precision Quality Laser said...

Thanks for the review! I have a friend from church who is using this and she raves about it :) It's nice to hear another opinion too.

Jackie | One Redeemed Mom said...

I'm with you on this one! We're using Adventures in MFW which is a 2nd or 3rd grade program and I absolutely love it. Alyssa joins us for history, science and Bible lessons. It is the easiest thing I have ever taught.

Can I recommend to anyone who is interested in continuing MFW to not only buy the deluxe packages if you're able, but also buy the math and language programs the recommend. Singapore Math is fantastic also - clear, easy to teach and not overwhelming. Lael loves it. Primary Language Lessons is SO fun. And after trying (and hating) a traditional phonics curriculum, we're switching to the Rod and Staff spelling MFW recommends.

Whew - this turned into a really long comment. But I completely agree with you. We love My Father's World.

Unknown said...

Its definitely a blessing when you find a curriculum that works for you family. Glad to hear that your school year is going well.

Unknown said...

I just bought curriculum too... and it was difficult for me to find exactly what I want since we're borderline unschoolers (so much I agree and disagree with when it comes to unschooling, so it's not an exact label).. but mostly, we believe in discipling and being very hands-on/active/close to our children..

Anyway, we are using Sonlight.. and I'm can't wait to get my shipment! :)

Jennifer said...

Thanks so much for posting that. I am going to consider purchasing that for when my daughter turns four.