After many years (15) of using other curriculums we have come back to My Fathers World. We found MFW when I was trying to teach, my now 16 year old, to read.
I’d tried several programs, it wasn’t sticking and I was feeling like a total failure. I’d always wanted to homeschool my children but even at the very beginning of that journey, there I was proving to myself I was in no way qualified for the task.
Lots of online research led me to MFW. At the time the K level was around $99 and I took the plunge. I think they played a big part in teaching me to teach. I learned lots of extras to help reinforce letter shapes and sounds, to have fun with learning and take some pressure off both me and my son! I couldn’t afford the curriculum the following year so ended up doing some other things. Why it took me 15 years to come back to, I’ll never know. We are LOVING IT!!
We did several unit studies prior and the kids enjoyed them but they also got bored with covering so much of the same topic. They love the variety with MFW! It’s themed which helps with teaching but they do a phenomenal job of keeping it exciting and engaging.
Our days look something like this:
- 8:15 – kids up, breakfast, read aloud
- 8:30 – morning chores, fowl, garden, get dressed, clean rooms, etc
- 9:00 – Spelling
- 9:15 – Language Lessons for each child individually- others finish chores or do independent work between.
- 10:00 – Break
- 10:15 – Group Studies – Bible, Geography, Science
- 11:00 Math done individually. I start with the oldest and work my way down getting them going. Book Basket time for those waiting
- 12:00 Lunch. (We’re usually done by this point but sometimes we pick up after lunch for a bit)
- 2:00 art or music if we have it. (I like doing this in the afternoon after everyone has had some free time. It let’s us regroup as a family for a bit and do something fun together.)
- 6:00 evening chores
- 6:30-8 dinner together and a devotional/read aloud.
We’re also wrapping up our first tiny term this week. Our schedule this year is 3 weeks on and 1 week off. I really liked the flow for the first round. Three weeks is long enough to have some intense focus but also short enough that we can see the light at the end of tunnel. The kids (and mom) stayed committed fairly easily knowing that a week off was right around the corner.
Often times we would get behind on other life tasks and take a day off sporadically. Knowing we will be able tend to whatever soon takes some pressure off as well. The downside is, this week off FLEW by!
Our favorite thing this past few weeks has been the read aloud “Kingdom Tales”. We began reading them with the entire family around dinner time. I read through one of them in a puddle of tears. Haha. Very powerful stories and beautifully done. I’ve been impressed with how well the questions have been understood and answered by the kids as well.
I’ve read through some Facebook groups and many families didn’t care for the first few weeks of ECC but say it gets really good after that. We already love it so I’m excited to see what the rest brings! A little bummed we waited so long to try it again. Next year will be Danica’s last year to do the family cycle style with us since she’ll be starting highschool the following year. As the years to sow into my babies before they take on the world shorten, I’m very thankful this year is becomimg full of expectation, sweet memories and times together.
Anna Marcella's 