Yes, the science in ECC includes several things -- Properties of Ecosystems (POE), Living World Encyclopedia , activities in the ECC Teacher's Manual, Nature Walks, and Book Basket suggestions. Students create a Nature Notebook page once a week as well as their own notebook page on days when no othe...

Hi Jaime, This post looked lonely so I thought I'd just share a bit about the MFW 5-year family cycle, so you could compare that to other programs you might look at. Year 1 = ECC equips students not only to understand where history will take place but also to have God's heart for the people of the w...

Yes, you'll be happy to know that mapping is included in every program for grades 1-12. In Creation to the Greeks , children become familiar with a Bible lands map, where much of history is taking place, and by 1850 to Modern Times , students are identifying the 50 states on a tablet of blank maps. ...

Apologies, Five Animal Tales is in preschool, not pre-K. I'm going to edit my post so it doesn't confuse anyone else! And yes, the Book of Virtues is by Bennett. So I guess what I'm hearing you say is the purpose of Plutarch is to teach character through the lives of people of history and MFW does t...

As far as Plutarch stories about historical figures and events -- such as Sparta, Caesar, or Alexander the Great -- most of those will be covered in the history curriculum using a variety of books. For instance, the book Augustus Caesar's World tells a well-rounded story of the many stages of Caesar...

Hi Kim, I thought I'd chime in as you wait for busy families to give their input. I was thinking that in either case, your student will actually be just finishing up Rome to the Reformation before starting high school? RTR is not a historical period covered in depth in high school, so it won't feel ...

We are in the midst of transitioning to  World History from Ancient to Modern Times  in various packages.  This is simply a format change.  Usborne's  Ancient World   has gone out-of-print as an individual book.   World History From Ancient to Modern Times  includes the text from  Ancient World   an...

I agree with Dawn that we are blessed as homeschoolers to have flexibility, and that ECC is especially easy to flex. I wanted to add a few details in case they are helpful. First, ECC schedules just 34 weeks. You can skip the option to add two additional weeks on the country of your choice. Because ...

Hi Rachel, It's a busy time of year, so while you wait to see if any parents of 9yos have a chance to chime in, I thought I'd share a few ideas. (1) Have you checked the two appendices in your Teacher's Manual for good literature ideas? The Book Basket list and the General Reading list? (2) Have you...

Hi Jaime, Yes, your pre-K student can join in anything that looks fun in Adventures (and later ECC). Everyone can enjoy songs, games, stories, experiments, and recipes together. Then you will teach any 2-8th grade students individually in math and language arts, and you can use Voyage of Discovery f...

Hi Dani, Welcome to homeschooling! We do have families homeschooling in all 50 states, and there have been Message Board regulars from Colorado in the past. Also, in case you haven't looked ahead yet, some of the topics you mentioned will be taught in Exploration to 1850 , including 4-6 weeks set as...

Oh, what a fun update! Daily rhythms do change over the year, don't they?! I surely hope your missions travel will open up by January. What a fun way to reinforce ECC, with a connection to real people across the globe. You have probably seen this already, but it's Marie Hazell's favorite schedule: h...

Hello and welcome back! Sounds like a busy, exciting household! Rest assured that Marie Hazell, author of My Father's World, had six children and created curriculum that works in real families. It's possible to do all (or almost all) of both programs this year, since kindergarten takes about 90 minu...

Hi Anna, Each set of paints includes four 2-ounce bottles. Typically one set of paints is enough for up to three students, so an extra set might come in handy if all four might be painting -- especially when some are young. The art program is typically for ages 6+, so you might want to look through ...

Hello and welcome! While waiting for busy families to chime in, I thought I'd keep you company :) Preschool works especially well when you want to spread activities out, if that is what you're looking to do. Many little ones do have a short attention span :) All Aboard the Animal Train has an easy s...

Another thing I’ve encountered this year that was surprising is all the summaries. I’m used to the TM kinda walking me through what to do, but there wasn’t much explanation for how to do those, or why so many. We’ve found ways to work through them together, but it was very stressful for the first h...

Sarah, Hopefully you'll get some conversation from families with 2nd graders, but I'll join in first! My youngest son had siblings who were 8-11 years older than him, and he was more mature in many ways than typical kids his age. I suspect your 2nd grader is similar, and perhaps SOTW readings will b...

Hi Beth, Your post looks lonely, so I thought I'd chat even though I didn't use an alternative history spine. I do think that, as we get closer to modern history, there are many more details that we are aware of, so it can seem like a lot. Hopefully you have at least one child in 6th grade or older,...

Hi Lourdes, Fun to "see" you this weekend. Well, I'll start the conversation, and then hopefully other families will have time to chime in with their experiences soon! Since your daughter is in 2nd grade and Adventures works for grades 2 or 3, one option would be to stop at the end of this year and ...

Ah, I should have noticed your signature -- 4 boys, what fun!

I will have to promote diagramming as a puzzle from now on
Julie

Yes, your daughter will be happy to learn that there is a unit on sentence diagramming included in Applications of Grammar. The author of Applications calls it "Sentence Design" and includes five types of sentence design, plus compounds of those designs. Diagramming continues a bit into the next uni...

Hi Beth, Nice to "see" you on the Message Board this morning! You are correct, the website is being reorganized. The hope is that it will become more intuitive, but to those of us who knew where everything was, it's an adjustment. We appreciate your feedback about an area that might be hard to find....

Hello and welcome! If your student will be 7 at the start of the school year, then Adventures in U.S. History may be perfectly appropriate. Since he is a boy with a late summer birthday, some families do wait a year to begin kindergarten (as I did with my oldest son), but others feel the child has t...

Kimberly, BJU no longer includes those Federalist Papers in their Appendix, and when we first updated the assignments to match the 5th edition of the BJU textbook, we accidentally omitted that particular change. This assignment has now been removed from the MFW Lesson Plans, but you may have a copy ...

Hi Cathy, The included timeline pieces are scheduled in the Teacher's Manual in general chronological order. They are cut out of the Student Sheets pretty much in the order they are assigned. There isn't attempt in the elementary years to space them perfectly -- you can just add the next piece when ...