This morning while I was reading some of my favorite blogs I came upon this post by Laine. Laine sets up the MFW blog roll each year where those of us who use MFW curriculum and blog can connect with each other. It has been great to read about how God is using this great curriculum in many families and to get good ideas from others on how they use it. I have met a few moms through blogging and now feel like they are friends.
Laine recently spent some time working at the MFW office. She was able to personally speak with the MFW author, Marie, who gave some insight on why she wrote ECC (Exploring Countries and Cultures) which we used in Daniel's 3rd grade year. Marie said, "When I wrote ECC, what I wanted the children to learn most of all was that God loves all people." I know using it gave me more love and understanding for these different people groups.
Another thing that I like about using MFW is that With MFW profits, God's Word For The Nations is able fund translation work. When I purchase my MFW package I am also helping fund Bible translation for people groups in their own language. While I could maybe save a little money going online finding used books I can rest in the knowledge that I can just buy everything in the package and help in this little way. Plus it is way more convenient and a lot less stressful.
This year we will be using Rome to the Reformation (RtR for short) for Daniel's 5th grade year. I will have to blog a bit more about this later as I am not ready or prepared to do that right now. As the title suggests it will be a history study of the Roman time period through the reformation. All the other major subjects will be mixed in as well. We have all our books and will be ready to start this week.
Leah started her 1st grade curriculum on Wednesday. It was suggested we only have two days of school the first week. Leah has always loved "doing school" and was happy to start. She already can read quite well so that part of school is easy for her. We spent some of her school time correctly writing the letters Aa- Ff which was a bit tedious for her but she did need the practice. It looks to be a good learning year for all of us.
I don't like to think of doing school while it is still summer. Summer is too short in the area that we live. But we are planning some major home renovations that are scheduled to begin in September which I feel will be a big distraction to one little boy. Tim and I felt we needed to get a few weeks of school in before that happens. I will share more on what we will be doing to our home when we are sure we will have the funds to pay for it.
In the next few posts I will try to blog on what we are doing school wise as I haven't done that for awhile.
5 comments:
We're also going to be using RtR and 1st grade this year. Following you as we journey together.
I don't know if you saw my post explaining that God (most unexpectedly!) called us to switch from MFW to other stuff this year - I'm still kinda freaked out by the whole thing, even though I have a peace about it, too! But I certainly hope you have a wonderful year with the cores you're using. :^)
This is a wonderful thing about homeschooling. We can emphasize God's global kingdom. MFW sounds amazing. Blessings on your school year, dear friend.
Hey Kim! I've been unable to comment lately because my Blogger account has been acting up. Not sure what was up with it. Anyway, I love this post!! And thank you for linking to Laine's post, as well. It's easy as a homeschool mom to get caught up in the academic hype, but it truly is the HEART of our curriculum and the HEART of our children that matters, isn't it?!! Have a blessed year! Looking forward to following your journey again! :)
Thanks so much for your supportive words on my most recent post, Kimberly! I do want to honestly share about our experiences with MFW - not to bash them, which would be totally unwarranted because they love the Lord (I know that from direct interaction with them) and are providing a very good curriculum - but just in case there are women whose educational philosophy is kind of like mine...because then MFW may not be a good fit for them. But I have also continued to recommend MFW even though we don't use it anymore (I always recommend their PK through Adventures materials and am happy to recommend the 5-year core when it seems from what someone says that it might be a good fit). The women who've criticized me...well, I can't presume on their motivations, but they strike me as being very insecure...as if the mere act of me saying I prefer other materials is tantamount to questioning their parental fitness. It's really sad, actually, and I've seen lots of this kind of bashing lately all over the web. In fact, I think I feel a blog post coming on about that very thing - so you can watch for that. :^)
Thanks again...and I really look forward to following your MFW journey this year!
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