Academics - Challenging a review suggesting K is light

[AES]

I did want to address the reviews of K being more of a preschool program. Perhaps, in comparison to some other programs, K may look like a preschool program; however it really is more than that.

It begins with a creation unit, and then goes into the phonics, Bible, math and science. With phonics, the child is learning the short vowels. The culmination of this, I guess, would be the story pages that the child would be reading (which can be colored, cut, and stapled into cute little booklets). Bible includes character training, and ties in with the letter being learned and the science. Math includes learning to group by tens, etc.

There is handwriting, as well as cutting and pasting. There are additional activities listed in most of the sections. There is a kindergarten archive which lists even more books and more activities. There is an exploration day (or nature walk day).

To me, the feel of the K program is more Charlotte Mason, and I used it with my dd when she was already reading. There have been discussions about what to do (while using K and your child is already reading) but a veteran poster will have to link you to that!

HTH,
Amy E.

[cbollin]

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 6:50 am

I used MFW K with my 2nd dd when she was 5 and she was already reading. If you have a 5 year old, do the K program instead of rushing them into 1st grade without that preparation. It’s a lot of fun for them. They never get to be 5 again.

If they are like my daughter and ahead of the curve in reading, then let them practice all of that lower case writing in the MFW K program. My daughter continued to learn how to read before we went into MFW 1st grade and continued to stay ahead of the curve on that. Also, she knew her numbers and could count. Still do the MFW K math with kids like that. It teaches a lot about place value, and patterns, and other things that are foundational to learning the rest of math when they are older. Also, my daughter got to listen in, if she wanted, to her older sister’s program that year (which was Creation to the Greeks). She didn’t really want to listen in so I was so glad to give her a K program on her own and then she could just go be 5 years old.

To help you out a bit about the question that seems to come up about the level of MFW K: I’ve seen those same internet opinions who say that the program is really a preschool program. I strongly disagree with their analysis. Here’s a brief description why I disagree.

The first few weeks of MFW K might resemble the end of a K4 or Preschool program, but the rest of the program doesn’t.

All children start K with different levels of learning. No need to rush them in the early weeks. It’s ok to build gradually. By the middle of MFW K your child is reading short stories. You work on a lot of handwriting skills beyond “just” letter formation. Many preschool programs don’t bother with lowercase letters for writing, MFW K teaches both upper case and lower case. The science/character lessons in K will use a lot of analogies. Those analogies are better suited for the language skills of a 5 year old. Just because MFW K teaches reading and blending of short vowels words, does not mean it is a preschool program.

Also, my youngest daughter for several years has attended 2 preschools as part of her therapies for special needs. One of those schools is a regular church preschool (which is for normal kids, not autistic kids, but they let my autistic daughter go there) does not deal with learning how to read short vowel words. There are some children in that school who can sight read, and read some books that they have heard over and over. There are some children who can write their names in all uppercase letters. A few who can use lowercase. All of my daughter’s class will go to K next year. Some of them will be ahead of the curve of their school for the first couple of days/week in things like letter and number recognition and knowing the weather. But no one is thinking about making them miss K in favor of a longer school day in 1st grade classroom.

All of the rest of the phonics are taught in 1st grade. But the pace is fast. They are expected to learn to write sentences and summaries of their Bible stories.

I think with a 5 year old is it better to thrive in K instead of struggle with 1st grade.
-crystal

[kellybell]

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:02 am

I've done K with two children, and 1st with the same two (about to wrap it up with the youngest, a few more days to go).

Yes, K appears to be a bit "babyish" perhaps due to the large number of hands-on activities and lack of a pile of workbooks (there are worksheets to do).

And, honestly, K could be done in a preschooly manner. Especially if you lightly skimmed over the Bible truths and skipped some of the extra ("Day 6") reading and discussion. I think it's the parent that sort of determines the level of the program by what she or he includes, discusses, reviews, etc. Someone skimming this program would probably get a preschool-level program while someone doing all the activities and taking time to discuss the lesson's Bible truth and review the creation days and previous letters would get a rich K program.

What makes it more than a preschool program is this:

1. The student learns lots of phonics and a little math. The student leaves K ready for the faster pace of 1st grade.

2. The student finishing K has a good understanding of some important Bible truths about creation, about God caring for him, about doing the right thing (obeying, persevering), etc. The little sayings stick with you (my children, even those that didn't do MFW K but were simply in the next room, can say "I obey right away" or "Big and small, God made them all.")

3. The student leaves with lots of fine motor skills as he had a year to practice cutting, gluing, etc. There are a few worksheets and some fun projects.

I would recommend doing K for a child that is kindergarten aged. It's just developmentally right. It has a lot of good and appropriate learning (and it's fine if some of it is review, kids like to feel successful and review often feels successful to the child). First grade could be done by a 5 year old but it is more work and it moves at a faster pace. It's asking a lot of a 5 year old.

[courthart246]

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:11 pm

Just wanted to agree with those who already posted. I'm coming from the perspective of having skipped K with my oldest child. He was reading very well, so I thought that I would just go on to the first grade. I have regretted it for several reasons:

1. The MFW K program looks so fun and I feel we missed something not taking the time to do it.

2. They are only in Kindergarten one time.

3. It has been difficult to have him a year ahead than his peers academically but not physically and emotionally.

I could probably think of other reasons, but these are the main ones in my eyes. Everyone has to determine what is best for each of their children. This has just been my experience. I am looking forward to doing MFW K with my next 5 year old ds in the fall!

[TammyB]

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 2:06 pm

I think with a 5 year old is it better to thrive in K instead of struggle with 1st grader.

I could not agree with this more. It is just so very, very true.

My five year old is in K, and even though her reading abilities surpass where she currently is in the program, both her reading and even spelling skills continue to grow. She is going to be so prepared to thrive in MFW first.

[amelasky]

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:45 pm

I have to agree that MOST kids at 5 should start with MFWK. We loved it. It was challenging enough for my daughter for her to realize she really was learning, enough of a review for her to realize how much she already knew, and so much fun that she loved it! By the time we reached the reading of the sentences, she was not worried about it and had no problems with it. It was the perfect fit for her, even with her being somewhat advanced.

We are on day 147 of MFW1 right now. I would venture to say that we would not have been able to do MFW1 without first doing MFWK. She needed the foundation that K provided.

Also, if you have another (younger) child, it helps to look at the cost as an investment instead of an expense. You are also investing in the second child's education too. So divide the cost of K by the number of children you have, and see how much it comes out to. (Make sure you factor in the cost of additional student packet.)
Annie