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Hi, I have mentioned in other posts that we tried MFW Adventures last year and it was not a fit for us. We just put it all away and this year we are using Beyond.

My question is, since I already have the Adventures stuff, how hard would it be to take the state activities from the manual and use the state sheets as an add-on to Beyond. Is it just a separate activity in the grid or is it interwoven with other activities. I guess I'm just trying to see if there are any parts of it I could salvage to justify what I paid for it.

I'm very happy with Beyond, I just feel "guilty" for buying Adventures and now it sits in a box on a shelf.

What do you think?

I had Exp to 1850 and as much as I thought it would work for us honestly after I read through the manual I could tell it was not going to work for me. I sold the manual, kept the state sheets and the books I have. My kids do Trail guides and I am going to let them do the state sheets with that. We were will be starting US Trail Guides this Mon (at a good stopping point for World). Honestly I will let them color it while I am reading to them and they can quiz each other on the fact later on. My kids love to play games quizzing each other so I will just let them do that. But I kind of look at it as an informative coloring book at this point.

As far as the books go I had many of the books before I even bought MFW and had bought MFW because they picked the same ones I had on my shelf. I scheduled all those into Bigger. Some are in our DITHR, and some are in our story time. I went online and just searched for the reading level, figured out or found on HOD the genre and plugged them in. There are a couple that we will read together over within the program or else I will have my oldest read on her own because she really could use some extra American History and loves to read.

So just wanted to put that out in case it helps.

MFW is a very popular program now, and the resale prices are not that much less than the purchase prices. If it is causing you guilt, I would sell it. There is a yahoo group set up just for selling MFW products, so you would probably get a good price there.

(a mild disclaimer: I usually take my own advice but sometimes something looks intriquing enough that I keep it on the shelf. I had been keeping the DITHOR program on my bookshelf for two years. And now it looks like I will be using it. )

netpea wrote: I'm very happy with Beyond, I just feel "guilty" for buying Adventures and now it sits in a box on a shelf.

What do you think?

No advice, except, don't feel too bad. I have been homeschooling for 11 years and had to switch many times-if it isn't working for you, stop and change it! Since public/private school teachers spent loads of money to learn to teach in schools, think of the money you spent as your tuition to "Homeschool University" as you learn what works for your home and what doesn't (I can't take credit for that thought-I read it somewhere )

annaz wrote:
Hi Netpea: No help here, but I think I've seen you on the MFW boards.

That's why your name looked familiar to me. Yes I have been over on the MFW boards too.

I'll let you know what I figure out.

I would probably just sell the whole set, too. I also tried Adventures this year. But we didn't get near the part using the state stuff. I have read several people who said their children hated the state studies in Adventures. So I am going to sell my whole set, including the state stuff.

HTH!

Jacquelyn

Here is a great place for selling MFW! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mfwcurriculumswap/

water2wine wrote:Here is a great place for selling MFW! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mfwcurriculumswap/

ROFL I was about to suggest ebay or craigs list

I think I remember reading in one of Carrie's messages that there was going to be an opportunity to add state study in one of the up-coming curriculums??

I wounldn't worry to much about it at a young age....they have a hard time related to city, state, country, continent, etc...I don't think I studied states until about 4th grade or state history until maybe 7th grade? Here's a funny story to illustrate how a 7 yo thinks...

I did this big lesson on our state and country once in my previous life as a 1st grade teacher....I was pretty sure they had it....when asked if anyone had ever been to a foreign country a very bright young man raised his hand and said ,"I sure have....I've been to Iowa!" We live in MO...it's not that far! (I only had to check the box that I had taught that standard...not that anyone had mastered it! )

My theory when teaching anything is...better to teach it once, at a time when they can really "get" it.....Adventures has a great re-sale value.

Some people love it and they will buy it used. So selling is actually pretty easy. I'm hoping my stuff is blessing the families that bought it. And I have to say in all seriousness too it was like a wave of relief when I sold it. It is quality material and it does feel weird to have it, dread it, when other people like it. It's a weight. So selling really freed me. I felt like I have been carrying 10 lbs on my back forever and all of a sudden I realized it was gone.

Well, I'm not planning to sell it because:
1) we are using the read-alouds from Adventures in our Beyond program. Most of them carry over nicely

2) we're planning to use the science books over the summer

3) My son can't wait to get his hands on the magnet kit that came with it and for that matter, the pop bottle bird feeder thingie.

4) They love the Celebrate America CD. They play Yankee Doodle all the time...

and 5) about 1/2 of the MFW weeks correspond nicely with the HOD units in Beyond so I can still make use of the book basket list. I like the book basket concept, just not their program...

So I guess we are using enough of it that I don't feel bad. I may try adding one or two of the state sheets each week to Beyond and see if my kid likes them. If not, I'll just toss 'em.

We kept all the books from our program and will use them too. They do correlate well and the books are good selections. I even used some for my DITHR. The only thing I sold was the manual. But my thought on the state sheets is that they would be useful to use for read alouds to color while I read and as game cards for my kids to self learn. I have my kids doing Geography using Trail Guides so it works well for us. Just switched to US from World so I thought now would be the time to use. I appreciate you posting this actually because it reminds me.