Encouragement - Being content when the grass starts to look greener :)

[gratitude]

((Hugs)) Vicki.
This isn't my first curriculum, and it looks like it may have been for you. I wanted to share that realizing a curriculum isn't right for ones family is difficult.

So here are the questions I tend to ask about our home school curriculum:
1. Is it working? Are my children learning what I want them to learn? Are they retaining information? Are they reaching their potential?
2. Is it encouraging their faith? A growth in their faith? Is it bringing them closer to Jesus? Or, is it hindering their growth in any way?
3. Am I actually using the curriculum? If I am not doing all of the program, do I think I am doing enough of the program to make it worth the purchase?
4. Is it helping me be a better teacher? Or, is it bringing stress into my life? Does part of the curriculum bring stress that I can easily eliminate, or does it all bring stress?
5. What part of the curriculum is working? What part isn't working? What can I do to make the curriculum a joy for our family?
6. What will help me the most in achieving our families home school goals? What are those goals? Where is God leading us as a family?

If you saw my curriculum note book that I write in about once a month at a coffee shop, you would notice endless ideas and evaluation. The process though has been helpful in these early stages of identifying what I am really trying to achieve as mom, clarify where the Lord is leading me as mom, and identify what is working and what doesn't work in our home school. After my own process through these type of questions, I usually talk with my DH about where we are headed. At this point he is actually pretty involved in our curriculum choices.

For us MFW has been the curriculum I have used the 'most' of. Yet, I will admit I don't tend to use every part of it.

P.S. On the side track of this thread: our family Loved Farmer Boy and the Laura Ingalls Books. Farmer Boy was my DH and boys favorites of the series. So what did we like? My DH and I are very attracted to the structure and hard work of farm life; which we know nothing about. We also like reading about how people lived 100+ years ago. I am from the city, so I have always loved the opposite I get to read about in Laura Ingalls and Grandma Attic. Mostly though I think we really like the relationships portrayed in these books. My ds7 absolutely loved all of them, with Farmer Boy being his favorite. He begged for more chapters when we read all of Ingalls last spring/ summer, and for more chapter when we did the sequels to Grandmas Attic this fall. Great books. I love the children's obedience in those books, which is something we have had to work on a lot with our strong willed boys; we are trying to train them to use those strong wills for the Lord and choose right. Those books have had some great character examples.

[IdahoGrown]

Hi there,
This is my 7th year of 'official' homeschooling. Counting preschool stuff, it is the 9th.

We started out with basic preschool stuff...fun workbooks, playdoh, a weather chart etc...then we started Sonlight in K. We stuck with Sonlight through Core 4. This year we switched to MFW and it is our first year with it.

I have never, I repeat never, completed everything! Not one.single.year that we have been hs'ing! Not with Sonlight, preschool stuff, OR MFW. (not to mention all the math, LA, science, and whatnot that has been skipped over the years)

There are days when we skip art and music, I often do two days of history in one (to get our year to end earlier), science with the younger is lucky to get done...it is what it is. Oh, and we are lacking in the timeline department. Lol! Honestly, I think if I TRIED to 'do it all', I would burn out and burn out fast!

So before giving up ANY curriculum, please realize that no matter what, something is bound to be left undone. Us hs'ing moms ARE Superwomen! But we simply can't do it all!

[gratitude]

So before giving up ANY curriculum, please realize that no matter what, something is bound to be left undone. Us hs'ing moms ARE Superwomen! But we simply can't do it all!

I am not the original post. I must say though Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Our 'official' homeschool is somewhere between 1 1/2 & 3 1/2 years old. I have felt 'guilt' as a scheduled, box checker, type A personality for not finishing a single curriculum completely that we have ever started. You are correct, the different curriculum changes did not change that fact.

Hooray! You just made my day.

I hope it helped Vicki too!

Blessings.

[jasntas]

I don't know that it would be possible for any one curriculum to fit every family perfectly or for it to be able to be completed in it's entirety. There are many factors. Certain activities might not fit every family, other outside activities might not allow for every scheduled activity to be carried out and there are also those life happens moments when family members are sick or you have unexpected visitors, etc.

I think if your dc are learning and they are enjoying it, you are a successful hs family with a curriculum that works. Just my opinion FWIW.

[gratitude]

I think if your dc are learning and they are enjoying it, you are a successful hs family with a curriculum that works. Just my opinion FWIW.

With my oldest at age 7 I am only beginning to figure out the truth of this statement above. I am posting because I wonder how many other moms with young children, besides me, are looking for the curriculum that fits their family entirety. I didn't start off looking for the curriculum that fits best, but I quickly arrived to that place once my oldest reached K. I am only now backing down and remembering why I started home schooling, and how much I want to decide where we are headed in home schooling, and then fit our curriculum to our home school rather than the other way around. I have found every curriculum that we have used has so much to offer, it can actually be overwhelming. I have also found in them though that some part or another doesn't fit.

Thank you for your insights Tammie.

I hope some of this is helping Vicki, whose children are similar ages to mine.

[Metairie]

I hope some of this is helping Vicki, whose children are similar ages to mine.

Well, my oldest is 7 as well. We have searched and searched, bought and sold numerous times (SL, WP, HOD, OM) then pieced things together, always leaving something out.

MFW is exactly what we needed this year after not being able to really accomplish much other than the 3Rs. I am really enjoying not planning anything and the open and go is what I needed desperately. We are not home every day (I work part time) and having a plan waiting for us has taken so much stress off me.

I know we will tweak to fit us, but the bones are there and we can personalize every thing else.

[dhudson]

Do you have goals for your homeschool and for your kids? Have you and your husband thought about who and what you want your children to be and what you want them to know at the end of your home schooling journey? Those are the questions that I would ask to see if MFW is right for you. No curriculum fits everyone 100% of the time. We all will tweak or not do this art experiment or listen to all of the music (my kids beg not to listen to the music in ECC - 6 years of piano and they are music snobs) but in the end, who MFW is and what they teach my kids in Bible and the way they manage to put books together that convict the whole family is something I've never found in any other curriculum. The fact that we may talk about what we learned in science is the same concept we learned in Bible is priceless to me. The fact that I can open and go if I have not had time to lesson plan is worth it's weight in gold. It keeps me on task and helps me keep my kids on task.

In the end, is the curriculum helping you meet the goals you have for your family? Is it helping you train and disciple your children? Does it help you meet your academic goals? These are the questions I would ask. No one will like all the books all the time or do all the projects all the time but I don't think that would happen in another curriculum either.

[jasntas]

Dawn made some excellent points.

At what level does science start to be the same concept as Bible? I can see why it is priceless to you. We have not found that yet in the curriculum. We are in the very early part of ADV.

K, 1st and ADV are the only years I know of that directly tie in the Bible with the science as far as I know. I was just reminiscing today, thinking of when we did the resurrection cookies last year in ADV. It was a sweet memory.

Even ECC has tied in the Bible from time to time with POE. It just seems to be woven throughout. Sometimes you may not even realize it.

Not science related but just today my dd asked, after re-reading about the Tower of Babel, "What happened with the children if their language was confused and everyone was scattered? What happened to them if the people who spoke the same language didn't take them in?" Wow! This was from a 6 year old.

[dhudson]

ADV has many Bible and Science correlations. They aren't with everything but you will be surprised through out the curriculum. At times it's history and Bible and sometimes it's Bible and science.

CTG has many tie ins as does RTR. They aren't all the time but they are deliberate and thought provoking.

[Julie in MN]

At what level does science start to be the same concept as Bible? I can see why it is priceless to you. We have not found that yet in the curriculum. We are in the very early part of ADV.

I think if you turn to the Table of Contents in Adventures, you'll see a list of topics and it will make more sense as to how they connect. It's also here, on page 3 of the sample: http://www.mfwbooks.com/pdf/advsample.pdf

[cbollin]

One of the things we've noticed over the years is how often God puts stuff together like this. We'll be studying whatever it is in Bible in MFW, and then "all of a sudden" it seems the sermons at church are about it, or that what we are reading in MFW will help a church sermon make sense. It happened too much over the years. I'm starting to think conspiracy theories. (I'm joking!).

Just a glimpse into that in our current situation...... our church is doing what we are calling a legacy campaign... and all of a sudden my oldest daughter's eyes are opening in the Old Testament about the whole generations theme in it and the legacies these Kings and prophets and people left. and the main speaker at the winter youth retreat was talking Generations...

maybe in our family's case it is just that having MFW schedule reading full books of the Bible (once you're past ADV) helps us to have to go wider.

-crystal

[RachelT]

I just have to jump in here and say that some other ladies have made some very good points.

In the end, is the curriculum helping you meet the goals you have for your family? Is it helping you train and disciple your children? Does it help you meet your academic goals? These are the questions I would ask. No one will like all the books all the time or do all the projects all the time but I don't think that would happen in another curriculum either.

I think what Dawn said is SO TRUE! I am a list-checker and I get really stressed if by Thursday we have 2 science experiments and an art lesson not done and we are behind in our read-aloud book, but that is what it's been like lately! Then I try to "catch up" on some of those things on Friday and if there are things that we don't get to, sometimes I have to tell myself that we will come back and do it all again in a few years when they are older. Or I realize that these science topics will be covered again at another point. Or I decided that this particular art project doesn't seem to reap as many benefits as the other art project that the kids really enjoyed and spent more time working on. In the end, we are learning SO much overall that I am very satisfied with MFW and I have to let go of any guilt that creeps in when I can't accomplish every single thing.

Another note, it looks like you have 5 little ones and so only your oldest is doing ECC and you have others doing PreK or K or 1st, right? Don't feel like they all have to do what the oldest is doing or that you have to do the same subject in both programs. In other words, for subjects that you can do together like art or music, just choose one. Don't worry about doing ECC art and K art in the same week, unless it really is "do-able". I think choosing one art program that works for your family would serve you well. When my children were in K and ADV or 1st and ECC I only used the music, art, science from the oldest ones curriculum because it was new and "fresh", we had not done it before. That worked well for us. Now both of my children are truly doing CtG together and that is nice!

We get the "middle of the year blahs" too. In ECC there are so many topics for you to expand upon in books. If you have a good library you might just look for fun story books or even videos about the animals and habitats in the science lessons and folk tales or stories from the various countries or regions of the world that you are studying. Some of the read alouds were too long for my children last year, but they did love the Kingdom Tales! We found lots of interesting library books to add in some variety.

[melissamomof3girls]

This is a question I've been pondering for a while now and I must say how thankful I am for these ladies on this board who have offered so much of their encouragement and time to help! I really needed to read this thread.

I have also found there are parts that I just don't enjoy doing. I never did enjoy science in school and I have struggled because while I don't want my children to miss out because I don't like doing experiments. I need to find a balance there. Also, we have found other things that we just either hit or miss depending. I am learning that IT'S OKAY. I think I felt like I had to do everything in there, but I don't.

You know, I really thought we'd love Farmer Boy too but I thought it was WAY TOO detailed and boring. Now the next one about Laura is a bit better. The chapters are shorter and the girls seem to be enjoying listening to it more...begging to read more than the day's chapter. lol.

[gratitude]

We are Back!

The grass is not greener on the other side of the mountains. At least it wasn't for us. Our trip to [another program] this fall gave us some nice history, but oh how I missed the focus of MFW: Bible and service and knowing God.. really knowing Him for who He is in the Gospels of Jesus Christ. This knowledge is not always comfortable, but it is real.

I became impatient with our trip through ADV and tried ECC (without finishing ADV ). This led me on a wild goose chase since we weren't ready for ECC. So I am back to finish my original curriculum goals for this year: finishing ADV for ds8 and MFW1 for ds6. I have heard it said so many times on this board to not push our oldest children; yet I did it myself with an aborted attempt at ECC. God is Good, and is helping me so we can pick up the pieces and move forward once again. God started nudging me 3 - 4 weeks ago to come back to MFW, and I am so glad that He did.

Oh, how I missed the B-I-B-L-E Marie and David Hazel! The Bible is all over the place in MFW. It is used as the History spine. It is after all our focus for home schooling and parenting in the first place. We want our children first and foremost to have the opportunity to know Christ, to know God through His Holy Word, and to serve Him. Then the rest is up to them and Him.

So MFW I know will push me out of my comfort zone. It has on many occasions. I am back though to become more like Christ, and to learn to serve much better than I do so I can teach my children the same.

Like the other thread says, MFW is much more than just a curriculum. It is about growing spiritually and growing closer to God and His Word, and growing more like Christ each and every day.

When we started MFW1 again this week I once again found that breath of fresh air in my home school. Praise God. Life once again breathed into our little dining room/living room school.

Thank you MFW.

[abrightmom]

Hi Carin,

Awesome post. Boy, I understand your words, feelings, thoughts oh.so.well. We are finishing our year with [another program] for my oldest but my middlers are studying with MFW K. The Unit Studies ROCK and there is so much rich content there for them. I don't see our family continuing because I miss studying together and I don't want to lose touch with their learning (the independence is too much and too soon for me). MFW has such flexibility and I adore the simplicity. We love Book Basket, family learning, notebooking, and the grid. We love being able to add the lovely extras at our leisure (i.e. Ann Voskamp books or Diana Waring cds or a poetry study) without being tied to a schedule. My boys, bless their hearts, love Story of the World.

Welcome back to MFW. I have a foot in both camps right now.... I feel kind of like a "double agent".

Katrina

[Mom2theteam]

Thank you for sharing this! It actually almost made me cry. I am really struggling to decide what to do for next year. We are finishing up K this year. I'm still not totally sure what I want to do, but I think I've decided to stick with MFW for 1st. I think I'm feeling that "the grass is greener..." type pull rather than an actual need to change, but I just can't seem to decide. So, I really, really appreciated reading this.

[gratitude]

Thank you Ladies! I LOVED reading ALL of your posts. It is VERY GOOD to be back. I LOVED the Bible studies that we did this week. A Breath of fresh air...

[Joyhomeschool]

I've gone through the same struggles! This year we took a 3 week break from MFW and used a borrowed [program]. We all hated it! It helped us get through a rough time with a basement that flooded, but it wasn't MFW. Not at all. I've been content with MFW for 3 years now and what I have learned is just to stop looking and keep swimming. That and to remember the Hazells know what they are talking about.

[jhagberg]

We started MFW in 2010, and I have loved it completely, but 4 months ago I had a baby and I've been feeling overwhelmed with...everything! So a couple of weeks ago I told my husband I was thinking of trying something else for math and English, something more self-instructional. He quickly reminded me of why we switched to MFW and of how much I have loved it. "Stick with MFW and their recommendations," he said, "Don't get sidetracked by thinking the grass will be greener on the other side." Wow, I was blown away! He has been known to say, "Sure, whatever," to many of my ideas, but this time he spoke up and advised me to stay with MFW and their recommendations. I think that is a real testament to what kind of difference MFW has made for our family...even Dad likes it!

[blessedmomof3]

I just wanted to throw my two cents in. We have used MFW for 3 years now and have loved it. BUT back in May we had finished about 11 weeks of CtG and I started to feel the "pull" also. After taking a break, doing weeks upon weeks of research and prayer, my DH and I suddenly had a peace come over us to stay with MFW. The first day back was so uplifting. I was so grateful that we decided to stay with MFW. I think it's human nature to think that the grass is greener but I absolutely love MFW and the Bible/mission focus that I now know I will not stray again.

Kelli