2012-2013 School Year - Picking Curriculum {and blog hop}

This is big!

I am just as surprised as the little guy above!

This will be my THIRD year using My Father's World!!!! I am still in shock myself!
All of those years I spent wandering through the wilderness of homeschool curriculum choices. The countless times that UPS man came up my driveway. The thrill that eventually gave way to a sale on eBay. For three years I have been done with that routine!

Did I say yet that I love My Father's World? Okay, I did? Just checking. :)


Let's start with Jessie, my upcoming high school junior. (That is equally as shocking to me)

MFW US History to 1877 (photo from MFW website)

Her core is the US History to 1877. Yes, the price is a little much to us homeschool moms. But really, is it? Considering what this education would cost at a private, Christian school I think it is a great investment. I have 3 others to come up through this program.

What will be new this year? This:

Don't get me wrong, I can really appreciate Dr. Wile's love for science and his Apologia Science books, but I just can't go there again with this child. Ah, the beauty of homeschooling! This is Biology 101. A DVD series that the entire family can and will want to watch and learn together. With the included Course Accreditation Program and Guide book ( you print these yourself) then it is a full years credit for high school Biology. I am beyond excited!  I purchased mine here: Biology 101 @ Rainbow Resource

Jessie will continue with her Viola lessons in the Suzuki method. She will also use Artistic Pursuits. She is my artsy child and I love to see her create. She has spent the last year beginning to take photographs for people and make money! She also taught herself Photoshop and by the looks of that program that is quite an accomplishment!

For the dreaded math we will continue and finish with Math-U-See. Bless her heart! :)

For ACT prep we are using this book

She will continue on through French although we are not sold on Rosetta Stone. (Any advice here is appreciated, please, leave a comment!)

To round it out she will complete the Logic course detailed on the MFW site for one semester and then this: One semester of Health. 



Whew! She is going to be a busy young lady!


Now, onto Josh (7th) and Jenna (2nd)

Exploration to 1850

MFW Exp to 1850 (MFW image)

The core for Josh and Jenna is Exploration to 1850. Awesome!

Josh is using Teaching Textbooks math and I could not be more happy about that!

For Science we will use Apologia General Science, and he will watch the Biology 101 DVD's. 

I found this awesome stack of papers lapbook to accompany this course. I chose to purchase it already printed. I also picked up the lesson plans for this level. 

L@@k at that stack...in a 3 inch binder.....what was I thinking??? Okay, I was thinking that it made this textbook look a little more fun and a little less intimidating! I will let you know how it all works out. 

For Jenna she will use the 2nd grade supplement that goes with this plan. I added these finds for her: Emma Serl's Primary Language Lessons Teacher's guide...I never knew...and I am glad I do know now!

Primary Language Lessons, Teacher's Guide

Also, I care not for Drawing With Children, I am sorry! I tried it twice! So above is a shot of the art I have added.

Beginning Drawing
I have purchased for Jenna Artistic Pursuits, but I don't understand why any art curriculum would start by asking the child to draw without showing them how to draw first.  So, that is why I added that DVD. Thanks to Tara for sharing the knowledge!

Jenna will continue with Singapore Math.  with plans to move into Teaching Textbooks.

On the topic of Jenna, I am still amazed at how she learned to read so well. I am in love with the fact that she learned to read not with only "Mat sat on Pat", but with starting at Genesis and reading through the MFW First Grade Bible Reader.


I am sure that there is more, but this post is long enough and gives a good idea about our year. Not to leave out little Janie, she will just tag along and will watch a lot of Leap Frog Letter Factory. I greatly attribute that DVD to Jenna being so ready to start MFW K.

Have a wonderful time planning your homeschool!
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Week 1 Rome to the Reformation & Beginning 1st

So the happy day! The day finally arrived when we got to start our new books! So, here is a little re-cap of how the week went.

As you can see the girls had their picture made with the subject of our first couple of history lessons. We live near Rome (not Italy) and our Rome has a little statue of Romulus and Remus. My son, the one who is studying RtR, would not have his picture made with that "gross" statue! (his words) :)

Really, I don't have a lot to share about our first week. We just picked up the books and went with it. I did add in the "Story of the World" on CD where I could. I love the format of MFW and they just make it easy to pick up and go.

Now, on to 1st grade!

Little Jenna is just the most excited little girl about her new books and she thought we were never going to start. Finally we did and although I had kind of got freaky about not having a grid (I did wind up with a very nice grid, btw) It is going well and I am WRITING IN THE TEACHER'S MANUAL! *GASP*
Yes, I am making myself notes about read-aloud books and other things that I am afraid I will forget. I use the grid and make notes. I am most afraid of forgetting something to do with math. I ran across a site just full of ideas Mama Jenn (if you have not been there and you are using MFW check it out!) I LOVED the Calendar Notebook idea and quickly made one for Jenna. I put our Number of the day sheets and 100 chart in it also.Very cool!

One more thing we did a little different was the base ten sticks. The idea of trying to glue beans on a stick just made me shiver with dread. My Jenna is a girly-girl and someone on the MFW boards had said they used stickers instead of beans ( I think it was Crystal). I knew for Jenna that stickers would be a lot more attractive than beans, then the idea of some bling instead of beans hit me!!! So , here is Jenna's base ten stick in the works.

I found these jewels in the craft section of Walmart.

She loves it already!

For the scroll, instead of making one I purchased one from Miller Pad and Paper. It is working out great!

So, we are off to a great start!

I have worked hard tweaking our schedule and it paid off this week. We were in revival meetings nightly with my husband preaching and we did all of our school, kept the house clean and had 3 healthy, home-cooked meals a day! Now I feel like I have accomplished something!!! What a great feeling! Thanks in no small part to the ease of use this curriculum offers. What a blessing from God!

A few more snap shots:

Little Janie is always by our side!

He did not want his picture made....shhh... don't tell him!

She works so hard!

Playing while we read :)

So what is missing??

She is! My Jessie! She is in high-school you know and that means that she is working in her own space for the biggest part of the day and I MISS HER being in the books with me. Always an eager one to learn, especially when it comes to history! So, I am still trying to adjust to this and she is beginning 10th grade!(doing WHL) I know that she has to have quiet to do all of that studying and writing, but sometimes I just want them all around the table. So, I may just start a family read-aloud and use an awesome Lamplighter book! You just never know what I will come up with!

Happy Homeschooling!

{this post is linked to Homeschool Highlights in MFW at 2 Ladybugs & a Lizard}

Jenna Reads!

I meant to do this sooner.....
You know how that goes. :)

Here is little Jenna reading the last couple of readers in the MFW K program. I have totally loved, loved, loved that reading program! We will begin 1st grade tomorrow, Lord willing.


Here is the reader "Sam & Ann"

Here she is reading "Jack"

I am praying that she continues to learn to read as easily and smoothly in the 1st grade as she as in K.

Happy Homeschooling!

2011-2012 Curriculum for our Homeschool

What is the MOST exciting time for me as a homeschooling mom? That is an easy question! PLANNING the new year. Getting new books makes for lots of excitement around here. I am pleased as puddin' to announce that we are still just as happy with My Father's World as we were this time last year! It is ABSOLUTELY what I have been looking for. It still amazes me that I passed the MFW booth for 10 years before I tried it!  I just know that was God's timing! He just had to take me through all that other stuff so I would know beyond any doubt where I needed to be.

This year we will be doing:

MFW   1st grade

Jenna is rip-roaring-ready. I have poured over the TM for a few weeks trying to decide if I need the grid like the one I did with the kindergarten program. You know, the more I look over it the more I am confident that I can do this without having to reinvent the wheel. I LOVE the grid layout, but I just do not have the time to do all of that typing right now. To help me come to that conclusion I just took a composition book and began listing each day on one page. I started with Math, then listed the LA and so on. Here is a shot.

I plan to use that format just so that I am not missing anything. I may switch to post-it notes in the TM......oh how I wish I could just make myself write all in it! :)) Do you write in your teachers manual?
Okay, so that notebook is a little low tech for this tech-y girl, but it helped me wrap my head around what all I wanted to cover. Had I the extra time, I would make my own beautifully organized grid.......maybe later. :)
As for the content of the program, I am just super excited! I have been spending some reading time on the MFW forums looking over all of the ideas there from those who have gone before me.

Next in the line is Rome to Reformation

Look at all of those cool books!! Yes, I know that we did ECC last year and that I have apparently skipped Creation, but we studied creation with another curriculum and so the decision was made to put my 6th grader in Rome to Ref so that he would be ready for the high school without having to skip any more of the MFW cycle.

And for high school!

 My second year of that! Oh boy, did my Jessie love her AHL!! She did the homeschool "box day" happy dance when her WHL arrived. The books are lovely!! I have totally loved having the lesson plan book. She absolutely loved it too. She loves check-off boxes. I love the grading helps. Ah, bliss!


So, last years MFW post "Getting Organized"  was wildly popular (for this blog anyway). It still receives several hits a day and I am so glad. I would like to say that all of the organizational things you saw in that post worked so well that we are continuing along those same lines. I still love the binders and will be going to Staples soon for more. We still love the map on the table.

For other subjects:
Math~my oldest two are using Math -U- See. I am trying to follow the MFW recommendations for 1st grade math. I say trying because I have been so tempted to buy her a math book!

My high-schooler is using Rosetta Stone French and loving it!

We like the Queen Language Lessons in place of Emma Serl Language Lesson books.

High school science is Apologia, we love the text-book on CD. We put it on the iPod classic. :) We buy supply kits from CBD. It is from Nature's Workshop There is just no way I'd try to pull all of that stuff together on my own!

I am sure I am forgetting something.


All we need now is just to dive in and get going. I really hope I can blog more of the journey of our homeschool this year. I would love to do weekly updates {I know, I am a big dreamer ;) } Many blessing to you all. I am looking forward to seeing who joins the Blogroll and getting to see how your school is going too! Click on the button below to go to Lainie's site and join up.

Jenna and the A A Apple Song

Here she is doing her favorite part of school....singing....:)

I did not edit this or make her do it over and over until perfection. (There was a day when I would have) I just love her little voice. :) The sound of X for fox still gets her a little confused. I'm 40 and have been homeschooling for 10 years and the sound of L still gets me, I even called a homeschool friend and asked her to tell me how she teaches the L sound. :) You know, us Southerners just have our own way of saying things anyway.

Homeschool Week in Review

Ok, I only have a few minutes to get this post done. But, I have really been wanting to update how we are doing in MFW.

Well, MFW K is going great. We just finished up with week 2, the lesson on M (Moon), and I really like how I feel that I am becoming familiar with the routine of the program. That is a big plus for me. I am also very happy with how I have it organized. I do find that I am not adding a lot of items to the folders to enhance the lesson. But, with 4 kiddos I have not made time to do that very much, but I don't feel that it is in any way compromising the program. Jenna loves it and she can already sing the entire A-A-Apple song. I am trying to get a good video of that because it is just too cute to hear her sing it. It is the favorite part of the lesson for her.

The big excitement was finally getting to start ECC this week. Although Josh is a 10 year old, all boy, let me outside to chop a tree  kind of kid he has loved this week. I mean really, he is so happy. He still loves time with his mom teaching him one on one and that makes me happy. The fact that My Fathers World has made it so easy for me to do this has just been the biggest blessing of all. After the initial set of of the notebooks I have found it to be one of the easiest programs to implement. When I say it is perfect for our homeschool I am not just saying it to be nice, truly it is a prayer answered. Now I can see why so many MFW users are long time users. I am so tired of the curriculum hunt anyway.

I think his favorite part of ECC was the passport application. He just cant wait to get that little book. He also loves the map work and science. We passed on the Wee Sing, because after 3 seconds of that first song, he very respectfully said "Mom, please don't ask me to sing that." I had to agree that perhaps Jenna would like it, but it is not something that I feel he will miss.

We have these Audio Memory Geography Songs and they are pretty catchy and I think we will just use them instead of Wee Sing for Josh.

I am so excited at how things are going. We had a busy week and I almost put off starting the ECC because of 2 homeschool outings, dentist trips and some church commitments. But I did start and I have to say that we checked off all of the boxes! WOW~ You really don't know how good that feels. I know by now that I am not a slave to the teachers manuals but it was things I wanted to accomplish and we did it!

So now I am praying that much grace will be given in a few weeks when my oldest starts high school. We are  using MFW Ancient History and Literature for her. She also is reading Lamplighter books, one a month (we actually fight over the book :)) Currently we are reading The White Gypsy.

The littlest one in my school is just as happy as can be if she has a crayon and a book.

Oh, and one last thing....I don't know what went wrong but we killed *gasp* our earthworms. :o

MFW K - Our First Week

After anticipating the start of little Jenna's formal school time for several weeks the morning finally came. She was so excited! The first day was so sweet. It had me thinking of the very first time I started out teaching my oldest kindergarten. With that thought came so many feelings but the greatest one was a feeling of gratitude for what I have learned about homeschooling in the last ten years. You see, my first experience with Jessie was NOTHING like the one with Jenna. To start with I had the program that everyone would mention to me when I was just thinking of homeschooling. It was Abeka and it was HORRIBLE!! I'm sorry, I am sure there are some of you that love it and I will say this Jenna could easily do it. I was just starting out and  THOUGHT that Jessie should just do it. What was wrong? Lots, here are some of my thoughts on that. One, Jessie had not been raised in a homeschool environment. I had not planned on homeschooling from the start. I did not do things on a daily basis that would prepare her to learn....I was leaving that for the professionals. :) Two, I did not know how to gauge her readiness....she was not ready for cursive writing at four years of age, but thinking like this: "If others can do it she can too" caused me and her much tears. We dumped Abeka and went to Sonlight. I learned all about models of education that were totally different from anything I had ever done. Educating the Wholehearted Child became my constant companion. Charlotte Mason became intriguing to me. Books became a passion. Mindless cartoons were replaced with Leap Frog dvd's. Then we got rid of the TV all together. (Now we do Netflix) I would not go back. I treasure what I have learned through the grace of God. I have always loved homeschooling, now it is a way of life. The hearts of my little ones are my first concern. Our relationship with each other, not worksheets, is priority.

So saying all of that MFW K has been the sweetest blessing. Here is a little about what we did this week. As I said, Jenna could do the rigorous stuff so this week's work was completed quickly. I must confess that we finished all 10 days in the Creation Unit in 4. She was just that eager and I did not want to hold her back. I am looking forward to getting to the meat of the program with her, so we moved quickly. She loves reading her creation book to everyone. She tries to teach Janie what she has learned. She demands more school so she has been doing more coloring, cutting and pasting to keep her feeling as busy as the others. This child will not let mom be slack when it comes to doing school. :) (The Lord knows just what we need! I have been praying to get more done during the day) We also spent some time at the library picking up books for ECC and she got her very own library card!

What a fun week.

What has made the biggest difference for me? MFW and that wonderful set of lesson plans!

Now, I cant wait to start ECC!!!

Getting Organized.....oh, it's so much fun!

05-07-13- I am trying this link again. I have tested it and it should work. If not just let me know via email.
My Father's World K Grid






I have been working on getting ready to begin MFW, using 3 different levels. My little Jenna will be in Kindergarten and she is so excited that it makes me even more excited to teach her. However, the excitement can quickly turn to anxiety when I think of what needs to be accomplished. I know that I need to have my ducks in a row and be able to work as efficiently as possible. I don't have time to start a lesson then have to go traipsing off to find a worksheet or a book. I am as excited about my organized K program as I am actually teaching it. I can't take credit for the ideas, I can just be so thankful for the mothers who freely share them.

I have spent some time on the yahoo groups boards for MFW, there is a different loop for each level and one for MFW families. The one thing that has impressed me about the people using this curriculum is that a good many of them have been using it for years and that they so willingly help others who have questions.  It was there that I found the two main ideas I used to organize my K for Jenna.

Without further rambling I will do some show and tell.

I was impressed with the idea of putting all of the components in a binder. I found the best binder for the job at Staples. The Staples Better Binder is just perfect. Well worth the money! Inside I have it all, student sheets, teacher's manual and a place for other resources as well.

MFW recommends that you have 27 file folders, one for each lesson. I chose to have them in the binder. At first I was looking at using page protectors, but then I found these Avery pocket dividers. They just fit in the 2" binder. I separated each lesson in its appropriate week.

Its hard to see in the picture above, but the dividers came with labels that you can print on and then insert, beautiful! :)

As I go through the weeks I can easily tuck in material that will supplement that lesson.

Speaking of the lessons, the other wonderful idea was a file I found on the Yahoo Group page. Some wonderfully generous homeschool mom laid out every lesson on a grid format and shared it with the group. If you have looked at the MFW K teacher manual then you might understand why this is so helpful. It is a lovely program, but the teacher's manual had me a little confused. The layout in grid format made me feel like I would not overlook something. It really is a blessing. I have printed each week and put it in the divider for that week's lesson.

In the back of the binder I found these 1" Binder Pockets at my favorite place, Amazon, of course. I placed the Alphabet book in one and in the other I put the flash cards and the Teacher's Manual. (See that smiling face, she is so happy about her school stuff!)

There you have it, I also picked up a 1" binder for the student material. I am looking forward to filling it up!

One last thing, we will be doing Exploring Countries and Cultures also and I could not figure out where to put my map. I have had one on the wall and the youngins would pull it off of the wall. I knew it would cost a lot to have it laminated, done that with artwork and almost passed out when the man told me the price....after the work was done. I decided (after asking on the ECC board for suggestions) to put it on the school table and place a clear tablecloth on top. The kids already love it.

Oh, the places she wants to go....

Well, I am quickly organizing myself out of excuses for not getting the work done and that is my goal. I really want to make the most of these days and not live with regrets over what I did not get done. The children are growing so quickly, I mean I am starting high school with my Jessie and if you cant tell that is just really getting to me!

I hope this is a help to someone else.

Blessings!

UPDATE:  I know that a lot of moms who are about to begin K come here and read this post. I'd like to link to the end of our K year and the videos of Jenna actually reading the last K readers! Click HERE: Jenna Reads

A Final Word: August 9, 2014
Did you know that MFW has updated their K teachers manual? Please go to www.mfwbooks.com and check it out. Now it is in grid format and easier to navigate. I upgraded my own manual. Blessings!