Comparison of Bible in HOD and MFW?

[TeacherMom]

I am hoping someone here will have used both HOD and MFW and can offer me a comparison/contrast of the two curriculum's approach to Bible instruction. I have used three years of MFW (K, first, and Adventures) and have mixed feelings about the Bible portions in each of those programs, particularly first and Adventures.

Thanks so much!

[eazbnsmom]

Hello Again!


I know that there are ladies here that can give you more specifics of the Bible part of the question....but you might find what you are looking for in one of the following links (or you can just type MFW into the search engine)
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1412

viewtopic.php?t=1331&highlight=mfw

[annaz]

We're only in Beyond, so I can say that we love this portion much better than MFW. And I think because for us it is more age appropriate. I shelved Adventures because of it. I like MFW's activities with the bible portion, but the readings were very long and straightforward. Basically it's just reading bible verses. For us, my dd needed something to discuss and apply and the bible verses in HOD were short and effective and gave us lots of discussion, because she could apply it to the other portions of the program and every day life. It also contains a lot of character training.

I know MFW loosely ties it to the program. It's just two completely different ways of doing it. Neither better or worse. HOD is just more effective for us.

[water2wine]

I have used K, and seen (meaning bought looked over thoroughly and sold other MFW) but I have not used all the levels you have. My biggest frustration with MFW was the way they linked spiritual issues to unrelated thing (meaning things that really have nothing to do with what you are studying) or to things that seem related but the way they linked them really had no connections. And there was such a missionary spin on everything. I am all for mission and want my children to have a heart for missions but I want it to come from a call from God and a deep understanding of His word and most important out of a deep love for Him. And I guess I want to be able to be more focused on knowing God intimately and finding their call. My kids are growing up with a ministry focus. I have four that came from an orphanage so ministry and missions are important but all are not called in the same way. I want to help them find their unique call from The Lord. I felt like the focus was more to one call in MFW. Anyway the Bible frustrated me in MFW because it felt to me that the focus was not so clear and the message had too many things that felt unrelated tagged onto it. It's hard to explain but the way they connected things to other things just did not relate well to me. So just saying that so you can know where I am coming from on that because our reasons for not liking it may be completely different. That could all just be just the way of what I saw and used though and perhaps the reason for that is HOD is where we are called to be. And I will say that to me the way and the focus of HOD is much different than MFW.

As far as HOD goes. The Bible is much different. You are always using either a story Bible (choice of a couple to use) or a Bible of your choice depending on the age of your child. There is a a short verse to read. To me it seems to kind of go in three parts after the section is read. There is a focus on getting what the verse (or story but even the little kids have verses directly from the Bible) really means in and of itself. Then the focus is geared toward directly having them apply the verse to their life or to see how it applies to a character issue. Then it focuses on having them see how it is connected to what they are studying. To me it is always those three points clearly laid out and guided. It always gives the Key Idea section on how it relates to the History being studied so that you really see the connection intended to be made that will be built upon. There is verse memory that usually involves some helps to have them gently memorize verses that are very fun for the kids and I have to admit really work. As the kids get older in the programs it has them applying things on a deeper level and has them praying more to help them apply what they have learned. The Bible is short but it always causes lengthy discussion with my kids. I have had many times where my children have takes the lessons and applied them to our real life to things very accurately and to things that a lot of adults would miss. Bible is really important to us. We read through the Bible with our kids as part of what we just do in our family. I was thinking that I could kind of skip the HOD Bible at first until we did it and there is no way we would skip it. She has done such a wonderful job of getting the Word to stick in their heart and teach them to apply it to their life while teaching them more of Who He is and even why we need Him. Very solid, simple yet deep and meaningful at the same time. And of course within the program there is always a leading them to see God in it and His hand. So it is not just the Bible where they get that, it is throughout the entire program the whole thing has seeing, knowing and finding God all over it. And the connection is always very real, meaningful and scriptural and always connected to what they are learning in a meaningful way. To me the goal of studying Bible is not just for knowledge (although that is great) but to teach them to rightly divide the Word and apply it to their life. That is what I feel HOD really helps us with in our kids.

I know some other ladies have more experience with MFW you might want to read this post to get a better feel for how the programs differ. viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1446 this is more of the over all rather than Bible. But you might find it helpful. I know there are a few ladies here who have really used MFW in depth and I know they will chime in as well. Wishing you find peace in your decision.

[TeacherMom]

Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to post and to direct me to several very helpful links!

I am preparing to begin MFW ECC, and while I am confident it will be a good experience, there are several reasons why I find myself taking a close look at HOD.

While the Bible portion of MFW resulted in several great moments for us, as a whole I have come away from it without a feeling of satisfaction. The names of Jesus study in Adventures (I used it for a Ker and 2nd grader) had a number of dry spots and assigned Scripture passages that were just beyond my older child's level of understanding -- even though he is very bright. If I did it over again, I would condense the Bible study and leave out a third to a half of it, probably studying each name of Jesus in one week instead of two. My son enjoyed making the names of Jesus poster, but he really did not enjoy most of the actual Bible study.

As far as the first grade Bible program goes, my son enjoyed learning the books of the Bible, learning the geography of the Holy Land, and the Bible notebook. The actual study of the culture of the people of the Old Testament was lacking, and my son was constantly wanting more. I did not enjoy having the Bible stories printed in the TM. I want to read from a story Bible, not a teacher's guide. Period. That is nonnegotiable for me. I won't ever do that again. Yuck. (Can you tell we did not enjoy that?!)

My biggest concern, though, is that I am not seeing the Word of God impacting my oldest in the way my heart desires. His love for the Bible has decreased over the last two years, and I am extremely concerned about that. For kindergarten we read through Kenneth Taylor's Family Time Bible and the devotional book Right Choices, and it was fabulous, the absolute best year we had. First and second grade MFW Bible did not have the same impact nor elicit in my son the same enthusiasm and joy.

So....This year we are using ECC, and I am concerned about the study of Matthew. It may be fine, but I'll just have to see. I am also concerned about two of the missionary bios, specifically Cameron Townsend (dry read) and David Livingston (troubling content).

I haven't looked extensively at Creation to the Greeks yet, but I am concerned about several of the books used in it. They look dry.

Sigh.

Overall, I have liked MFW (more than SL), but, obviously, I do have some issues with it.

By the way, I added a lot of books to Adventures (both history and just-good-literatuare read alouds), and it was a bit stressful for me. Honestly, the books in HOD look more interesting.

Goodness, I didn't intend to write our homeschooling-life story! My hope, though, is that by letting you into my head a bit, you may be able to discern if the issues I have with MFW would be resolved with HOD.

Thanks so much!

[water2wine]

My biggest concern, though, is that I am not seeing the Word of God impacting my oldest in the way my heart desires. His love for the Bible has decreased over the last two years, and I am extremely concerned about that. For kindergarten we read through Kenneth Taylor's Family Time Bible and the devotional book Right Choices, and it was fabulous, the absolute best year we had. First and second grade MFW Bible did not have the same impact nor elicit in my son the same enthusiasm and joy.

Well to me a lot of what you are saying is a lot of what I had just put a different way. I did not like some of the books they used because the content concerned me content that just wasn't what I wanted for my kids and when I spoke to them about it the answer was basically the author knows what they are doing. I am sure that is true but I also know what I want for my family. HOD is the complete opposite on that end and that is huge for me. I found myself wanting to love it but also kind of fighting with the teacher manual over content and how things were done. It was not peaceful for us. I felt so guilty for giving it up until I did and then we went to HOD and I had total peace. I have never regretted that decision. There has not been one HOD moment for me not even one where I was thinking what have we done or why do they do things like that it just always works for us. So yes I think there is a good chance HOD could be for you. I think you would know after one day and maybe even before if you had it in front of you. It was instant for me and it seems that way for most people. Hoping you find peace. I know how agonizing it can be. I will tell you this my number one concern for my children is that they intimately know God not just now but for life. I do care about academics but if they learn everything perfectly and lose their faith it was for nothing. A huge part of using HOD for us is that I know the focus of the program is helping me deepen their faith in a real way and I see the fruit of that in their life. It's fun, they learn, I enjoy it but biggest number one thing is I feel I finally have a program that partners with me in fulfilling my call to God to teach them what I know He is most concerned with me teaching. Nothing brings you more peace in your homeschooling than that to me. So if that is why you are looking at HOD I would say there is a really good chance you have found it.

[Vicki]

Wow! I've printed this thread and I'm keeping it in my HOD notebook for the year. I'm going to refer to it when I need to be uplifted or for inspiration.

Thanks for the amazing post, w2w!

[Tiffini]

We did MFW ECC last year and we really enjoyed the experience. First, I just want to say that I think MFW is a really great company created by people who really love the Lord and they have created a fantastic curriculum. Having said that, I do find differences in the Bible portions of the two companies and for me personally, I really prefer HOD's Bible.

We read through the book of Matthew last year with MFW. I thought that was a valuable experience. You cannot go wrong with reading God's Word. What I did not like is that the TM just told us what verses to read in Matthew. That was that. There was not connections made with other things throughout the day. Now, I know that many parents prefer not to be told anything and they want to come up with their own applications and questions, etc. If that is what you prefer, then you would probably appreciate MFW's approach. They also include Window on the World and Hero Tales with the Bible portion which we really did enjoy very much. In contrast, HOD takes the Bible and helps you to focus on one aspect for that week. Carrie ties that idea into the other areas you are studying so that it goes deep into the mind and heart. It feels much more purposeful for me. I have seen my kids applying what we have learned in the Bible portion all through their day. It makes sense to them. When we read through Matthew, many of the passages, as you probably know, are quite difficult even for adults, let alone 7 and 9 yos. Does that mean we shouldn't read them? Absolutely not - however I found that the children were often frustrated rather than encouraged as they tried to make sense of what we had read. Oftentimes, Bible time ended with frustration and I really did not like that. I sometimes found myself dreading the reading because I knew that it was going to end with tears and confusion. It was very difficult for them to take that away and apply it during their day.

My kids also read the Bible on their own each morning before school and they will read through whole books little by little each morning, so they are getting that whole reading of the Bible just as part of their own personal quiet time. I do feel that is very important. However, as part of our school day, I really want them to be making connections with me that ties in to the other subjects so that we are talking about it all day.

HOD leaves room in the school day so that you can also add in Window on the World or Hero Tales or any other readings you might want to supplement with. I have been so impressed with how quickly we finish our school days and with so much less stress and frustration. It just feels so right for us.

The missionary bios - we really enjoyed those books. I was pleasantly surprised that my kids really got into even the dry ones like Townsend and have retained those stories. In a few of them, I did just skip over parts that I did not think the kids could handle yet. Again, you can always add in those bios if you want to read them to your kids - they are valuable.

Again, I want to qualify that it really does depend on the approach that you want for your own family. MFW may be the right approach for some. It just was not the best for us.

I hope this helps. I can very much identify with the confusion and concern you are feeling. It was a very difficult decision for me to switch to HOD this year as I really envisioned us sticking with MFW. At the time, MFW was the closest thing I could find for what I wanted for our family. HOD feels like it was written for me and I do not regret our decision.

[Mom25]

Hi--like the previous poster, we used MFW ECC last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. We are beginning Preparing tomorrow and I'm still not sure why I switched! I felt drawn to HOD, like you, and I decided to give it a try this year. I have no idea how it will go or if we will switch back, but I'm excited to try something new. We used MFW for K, Adv. and ECC.

As far as MFW Bible, I can't say enough good about Window on the World and the Hero Tales biographies. We didn't end up finishing Cameron Townsend because, like you said, it was too dry. But the other ones were amazing--faith building, inspiring, and my kids begged to read them at bedtime. There were a couple scenes we skipped over or edited if we felt our kids might get scared (like a lion attack in David Livingstone) and there was one scene in Gladys Aylward that made my son cry (when the village was bombed), but I'm so glad we read them. I had a hard time not crying while reading the books to them sometimes, because of the amazing ways God worked in these people's lives. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

As far as Matthew goes, I'm one who likes to be the teacher where Scripture is concerned, so I appreciated not having hand-holding as I taught Matthew. It also gave us the occasional opportunity to involve my husband when there were questions that kids had that I couldn't answer very well. You're right that each day's reading doesn't necessarily tie into what you're studying that day, but reading the story of Jesus is always an amazing and invaluable experience. The tie-in, of course, comes at the end when Jesus says "Go into all the world," which is so critically important, especially since it's the last thing Jesus said while on earth. We are all called to be missionaries, whether here or abroad, and my kids really got that last year. In fact, my son wrote a journal entry one day (all on his own) that said he wished he would never sin again so Jesus would be happy with him all his life. Clearly our study of Christ Jesus impacted him. How could it not?

Anyway, I can't comment on HOD's Bible, except to say I like the looks of it. I'll have to let you know in a few weeks...