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Anyone use HOD for the younger children...PREK and K..maybe 1st and use MFW for olders?

Debbie

Hi there! We did MFW for Pre K-1st grade. I really wanted to like this curriculum, but this year we are moving to HOD. Why? Well, one reason is because the "crafts" are pretty lame. Up until day 52 of first grade the bulk of "crafts" included writing a sentence, drawing a picture of the sentence written and making it into a book. By the third or fourth time doing that, my child was bored. All of the crafts are done on white sheets of paper (so far) no painting or doing much of anything fun!

That, however is not a big deal. MFW 1st grade is mostly phonics and a Bible notebook, which I thought would be great, well the book skips many important stories in the Bible that could have at least got a mention. I am flipping ahead to day 125 out of about 160 days of schoolwork. After day 125 there is no more phonics instruction and pretty much no other instructions in anything else either. A typical day after day 125 has you working on memorizing the bible verse for the week, reading a bible story (or NOT, I have found days that said NO BIBLE STORY FOR THE DAY?") and drawing a picture in your notebook. Thats it! For science days they say "Read page #____ and do the experiment." Why not just buy the Usborne books and read them for yourself? MFW doesn't give you much help or extra ideas. They encourage you to read with your child for 10 minutes each day. HMM, gee, I am GLAD that is in the parents guidebook because I never would have thought of that myself! Also the parents guidebook has many pages that are pretty much blank. Why am I spending $100 on a book that is only half filled with instruction. The blank spaces are not needed for writing notes either!

I am sure many people find MFW to be a great curriculum. Me? EH! I'm not impressed.

We are currently switching from MFW to HOD, and i have to say I have a tremendous amount of respect for both companies! They are solidly biblical, strong in academics, and fun
I think the personalities of the children to some degree, and the personality and goals of the parents to a large degree, determine what is the best fit. I am a box-checking, literature- loving, rule-following, Charlotte-Mason-leaning perfectionist . Though we enjoyed our MFW years I really struggled with the multi-age range of ECC, since my dc were on the younger end. It took awhile to realize we had to cut out certain assignments that they were not ready for, and then I didn't think to add other skill-building assignments that would have benefited them. I suspect that a mom who is a little more spontaneous might have done that automatically. HOD is like heaven to me, so rich and full of everything I always wanted to do in our homeschool but never could figure out how to add on.
My middle child ADORED MFW 1st and the Bible notebook. I realized that if we had done the same program with ds 6 this year he would have wilted, tantrumed, hated-school, stoped learning and ended up a juvenile delinquent...OK kind of exaggerating here but it was not going to be a good fit. He LOVES Little Hearts and begs me to teach even though we are on summer break
I know there are some great older threads over here comparing the philosophies of both companies...anyone know the link? I want to say one was from last summer. They really helped.
As for combining both (one for older, one for younger) I have no idea, but it would be good to weigh the differences and see if it is better to stick with one or the other. I pray you will find a great fit for your family!!

Here's the post from last summer that compares HOD and MFW.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1446&p=11109

HOD fits my family and our goals to a "T", so we're here to stay. But, I have a close friend that is really enjoying MFW with her kids. I know that God may lead your family a different way than He leads mine. Hopefully this comparison can help you and your husband see where you line up with your goals for your kids while you're teaching them.
Kathleen

Debbie - I'll be using HOD for as long as possible! Each HOD guide builds upon the previous one, and I am fully reaping those rewards right now - especially with my oldest who has done all of the HOD guides. The things I see growing in my dc that I love the most... their love of history, curiosity for science, faith in the Lord, passion for reading and learning the next things they need to in reading skillwise (rather than just reading), writing both creatively and for a purpose, and loving school and the independence they gain more and more of each year! That's tough to replace, so I'm staying right here.

In Christ,
Julie

thanks ladies. We do love MFW for the history cycle. HOD for the history cycle isn't an option for us because we are ahead of the HOD guides in our cycle

I did like MFWK when I used it for my youngest ds but I am not that crazy about MFW1st so I really doubt I will use it with my dd. Even though I do plan on using MFW for the history cycle for DD I am seriously looking at HOD for her K and 1st years.

Debbie

I like your idea of doing LHFHG for k/1st even if you plan to use MFW for the history cycle after that. I have heard MFW K is more pre-k than k and if you plan on doing it also then I would do it before doing LHFHG. I think LHFHG is more advanced than MFW K. I think substituting LHFHG for MFW 1st would work great for your dd.
Val

Agreeing that you could either do MFW K followed by LHFHG, or LHFHG followed by Beyond for K and 1st. MFW K does not prepare for Beyond (at least in our experience). Printing the sample weeks is always a great way to get a feel for the HOD programs

We did MFW K and it was a perfect fit when my oldest was around 4. (We didn't do all of their phonics as I didn't like it much and wasn't really ready to focus on phonics with her). I have to say, LHFHG was definitely more advanced, requires more advanced listening skills, but was still TONS of fun. I do think you could easily do LHFHG and Beyond for K and 1st and then go into MFW for their history cycle starting in 2nd. I don't think it'd hurt anything at all and they'd definitely be well prepared for what comes next in MFW. They'll have a good basic overview on world history and also on American history. You may find though that you love HOD so much that you don't want to quit!