heartofdakota.com

Hello,

I am currently using My Father's World K for my 6.5 yr old son and my almost 5 yr old daughter. They have really enjoyed this year and so have I. My only concern is that this year has been a little too easy for my son, but I wanted to be able to teach them together. I ended up doing extra for him in math and reading. My daughter has done amazing with the K stuff- learning letter sounds, math, and now simple reading. I also have a 2 yr old boy and a baby due soon.

I *thought* that I was happy with what we were using but now I'm just not certain. I have heard some really good things about HOD. I am looking for a Christ centered curriculum (which I found in MFW), which allows me to combine ages (this comes in about 2nd grade in MFW - but the older 2 are combined for now), and something strong academically.

Looking at HOD, I'm not sure if I could get the older 2 into the same level. I DON'T want my son to do a K level again!!!! But I'm thinking the next will be too much for my 5yr old? Where would you place them?

Has anyone used MFW? What would you say are the pros AND cons of HOD compared?

Thanks for any info you can share!

Blesssings,
Shawna

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1446&p=11109&hilit=+MFW#p11109

This is a post that was bumped up recently and i found it very helpful.
if i didn't post it right, it was by Julie, my3sons. If you search her post for MFW and HOD comparison you should find it, if i linked the above wrong.

I have kids your age minus the baby coming.
My son would have been bored if i sent him to Kindergarten this year. We did LHFHG for K and we are in the middle of Emerging readers and 1/3 way thru 1st grade math. We have to tailor the reading and math to his level and everything else in the guide is pretty much on level. He turned 6 this past October.

My daughter turned 5 in March. i was going to combine, but looking closely at MY children i think i would have to wait to do that til they are a little farther along.
my daughter is perfect for LHFHG this year.

some people have combined those two ages in Beyond and just used the LHFHG basics side for the younger.

Hope this helps.
Oh! and MFW would have been my 2nd pick for curriculum . had i used that i believe for this coming year (1st) we would have had to skip to the 2nd grade level and not the 1st because my son is too far ahead with all the reading stuff. i want him to be challenged. i can add to HOD easily, if i need to challenge him more.
Glad to hear you are considering HOD. I think you would be well pleased.

Jenn D.

LHFHG can be either a K or 1st program. I used it for 1st grade for my twins who were 6 years 3 months when we started. I was afraid it would be too young for them going into it, but it turned out to be wonderful. We were already past the LA and math though so I used the LA and math from Beyond. This year for 2nd we did Beyond, used Singapore 2A&B utilizing some of the math explorations in Bigger, used the second spelling list in Beyond, and did R&S2 at half-speed. Next year we'll be solidly in Bigger finishing R&S2 and moving into Singapore 3A&3B. At this point (level 3) there really aren't math explorations to go with the math lessons so we won't be a guide ahead in math and we'll be on target with the LA now too. It's worked out well for us. You might want to use the emerging readers list from Beyond for your ds. If he is already beyond those, you might want to consider starting DITHOR with him. You will still be able to do the whole left-side of the plans (Learning through History) and the storytime with both your ds and dd then use the right side of the plans for your dd. Then for your son, you could continue your own math and LA or use the ones from Beyond. I think as they get older, it will get easier and easier to combine them especially since the older guides add the extensions for older children. I haven't done MFW so I can't help you there, but do know that HOD is very flexible, God-centered, and academically sound. HTH!

What a great comparison Julie did! We used MFW before coming to HOD. While I think MFW is a very good curriculum, HOD has just been a much better fit for us, for many of the reasons Julie cited.

I just wanted to add that I have found the hands-on activities to be much more "do-able" with HOD. I always have the needed items on hand or can make easy substitutions. We have 5 more weeks to go with LHFHG and CTC, and are still going strong with the hands-on activities, (which says ALOT in this house! )

Also, MFW relies more on library use. For me, when times got busy, I just didn't get around to getting the "Book Basket" books and felt like we were missing something.

Hope this helps!

One really great thing about LHFHG is the appendix in the back. There is a list of tons of books for each unit. This way, you can add to it for your older child while still having the appropriate level for the younger one. You can also do the appropriate k or 1st grade options as scheduled in the guide.

My DD #1 did Abeka K and then I did HOD LHFHG for K & 1st grade this year. It worked out wonderfully! We used the Emerging Readers from Beyond. I used Math u see this year but will probably switch to Singapore next year due to the great hands on projects in the guides. WE continued with Abeka cursive handwriting since she was use to that. My oldest would have fit well into Beyond this last year but she really enjoyed to LHFHG too and it was great to do them both together. We are moving on to Beyond for next year!

Sometimes it helps if you plot out the next few years. I think that Beyond looks great for second grade.

Are you me??? I have a 6 1/2 year old son, a 4 1/2 year old daughter, an almost 2 year old daughter, and a baby due in September. AND we too did MFWK this past year.

I completely relate to you that MFWK was too easy. My son got very bored with it after doing the same worksheets week in and week out. I'm not anti-worksheet completely, but it seemed like we focused on those more than anything else, and the first things to go if we were in a time crunch were the activities listed in the back of the book. It just didn't work for us, and looking ahead at their scope and sequence I was unhappy with the amount of whole books and literature that were recommended as part of the actual curriculum. Read-alouds and book suggestions are great, but (a) we had a terrible time finding the books in the library and (b) I wanted a curriculum that would incorporate the books into the actual study. Honestly I just love the Charlotte Mason method, and while they boast the best of Charlotte Mason, Classical Education and unit studies, I guess it just wasn't the right fit for us.

We abandoned the TM about 2 weeks ago with 5 units left so that we can just focus on math and phonics for the summer. I had already been using an alternative math (MUS) because it is one of DS' strong suits, but I'm really wishing we had begun some outside phonics several weeks ago too when I began to realize that he wasn't being challenged enough in that department either. Now my goal is to get him ready for the emerging readers offered by HOD by the end of the summer. I think he can do it! I am SO glad that a friend reminded me about HOD. I had seen the site a long time ago and forgotten all about it. I have already ordered and received about half of our materials for this Fall and I am just oozing with excitement to get started!

All that said, after looking at the placement chart and really meditating on it, I have felt led to place DS in BLHFHG with the emergent readers (again hopefully), and DD in LHTH. I had strongly considered putting them both in LHFHG and beefing it up for DS, but he has already covered so much of what is offered in the guide, and I don't want to risk him getting bored again. Plus, my heart tells me that DD (who will not yet be 5 this fall) is just not ready for that big of a leap yet. Depending on how DS does, I may do Beyond at half-speed, but I'm waiting to see how he responds to it before making a decision.

Carrie had actually responded to a post similar to yours just the other day and said that most of the time when you are (basically) beginning HOD with young kids, it's easier to place the oldest exactly where he or she belongs and try to combine younger children. Here is the link to that thread. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6155

mamapajama's post was encouraging to me. I highly rate her post.

Jenn D.

I feel like more experienced moms groan when I give my opinion, but I can't seem to hold it back. I would try LHFHG with both children and then change it if you feel you need to. Having used MFW, I feel that LHFHG looks to be between their K and 1st years.

lovedtodeath wrote:I feel like more experienced moms groan when I give my opinion, but I can't seem to hold it back. I would try LHTH with both children and then change it if you feel you need to. Having used MFW, I feel that LHTH looks to be between their K and 1st years.

Are you sure you don't mean LHFHG? LHTH is definitely not as advanced as MFWK.

OOPS! Yes, I mean LHFHG... I should just type it out, I got the acronyms mixed up.

lovedtodeath wrote:OOPS! Yes, I mean LHFHG... I should just type it out, I got the acronyms mixed up.

I figured!

Shawna,

If you scroll down to my3son's post on this thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6189

I think you'll find a plan that would also work for your situation.

Blessings,
Carrie