Hello!!! And welcome to the MFW message board! I have not been checking in as often here lately because we have been busy, but I am happy to jump in on this thread. The message that Julie linked to was from 2009 (
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php ... 912#p49912), so let me bring you up to speed on our experiences.
We have been homeschooling for almost 5 full years now and this is our 5th year with MFW! We officially began this journey when our oldest child (son) began Kindergarten - at home! (He did attend a Christian pre-school before that.) We chose MFW for many reasons, but a lot of those reasons have still made it a great fit for our family. We have used MFW Kindergarten twice and MFW 1st grade twice (once for each child) and Adventures, ECC, and we are nearing the completion of Creation to the Greeks! It does take time each day, but I am glad that we can enjoy most subjects together and both of my children can work together in most areas of study. I still read aloud our Bible, history, science, vocabulary, literature/read alouds, and music and art history information. We do a lot of oral narration and discussion about whatever we are reading. This really helps my dyslexic child soak up all of the information, even though he could not read it all for himself, yet. In all of his testing, my son always scored "off the charts" in his verbal expression! Talking and discussing things is one area where he excels! I appreciate the way that we can bring in our Bible lessons to other subject areas and the thought that Marie has put into choosing all of the materials. The simple-hands on activities add variety to our lessons.
We have used Math U See (MUS) since we began homeschooling and we have just stuck with it. We did also use the hands-on math activities suggested in MFW Kindergarten and MFW 1st grade and the Complete Book of Math. MUS has worked very well though for both children (and their teacher).
My younger child (daughter) has done very well with the MFW recommendations for language arts that we have used. B is now in 2nd grade, but is working above her grade level in most subjects, especially reading, writing, spelling, and art. She usually is a breeze to teach! She uses PLL (Primary Language Lessons) and Spelling Power and she enjoys them both! (The total opposite of her brother!) She is also reading lots of chapter books.
J was not officially diagnosed with learning disabilities until 2nd semester of 2nd grade and he is now almost done with 4th grade. He is dyslexic, dysgraphic, and has "inattentive" ADHD (not hyperactive). We have almost always tried MFW recommendations first, but have definitely had to change things for this special learner! He is bright, but I am challenged as a teacher to find what works best for him, at times! He cannot always do what is suggested, but I can modify the lessons or assignments to make them "do-able" for him. That is the trickiest thing about teaching any student with learning challenges! As I mentioned above, we can do many of the MFW lessons together. Below are the subjects where I have had to especially make modifications:
Typing - I realized that he needed to learn to type early on and we used Typing Instructor for Kids Deluxe. J is more comfortable typing most written work now and is a fairly quick and accurate typist. This takes the dsygraphia issues (handwriting) out of the equation for assignments where he is concentrating on the process of writing or spelling.
Handwriting - He has really needed Handwriting Without Tears for very specific handwriting instruction in letter formation. He also went to Occupational Therapy for a year. I tried to just do the MFW 1st gr. copywork, but he was frustrated and we went back to HWT and have used it ever since. I also have the children work do MFW copywork, but on HWT double lined paper. My daughter is writing in beautiful, fluent cursive now, but my son still cannot remember how to form each letter, even though we have been working on it for a year. So, he is reviewing all of the letters in his HWT book right now.
Reading/Spelling - I am a happy Barton tutor, too! I am so thankful that we found the Barton Reading and Spelling System around the time that my son was diagnosed with his learning challenges. We are about halfway through Level 5 now and he is reading and spelling so many more things. We still have a few levels to go, but I am convinced that this is the very best way for him to learn to read and spell (even though he complains about it each day). Part of it's success is that it has movable letter tiles and color coding and logical rules that he can remember. Again - very specific and multi-sensory and designed for his learning style. We also have several of their stand-alone readers for controlled reading practice.
Language Arts - Although Mrs. Barton does not recommend LA and composition work until after Level 4 is completed, we went ahead and worked through PLL in 2nd and 3rd grades. A lot of it can be done orally and through discussion. ILL (Intermediate Language Lessons) has gotten more difficult for me to implement, at least with their writing lessons. They are not specific and are a jump in ability. So we do all of the oral lessons, and I modify or select the most important composition lessons. This semester, after completing Barton Level 4, we began working through Writing Strands 2. MFW recommends Writing Strands 3, but level 2 seemed more appropriate for J because it works more on sentences and their development before requiring paragraphs. To me, it seems that each assignment in WS is specific and it has worked pretty well. However, with all of this modifying, I am considering other options for Language Arts next year and I am also thinking about a multi-sensory and sequential grammar program to help teach more of how our written language is put together. I am not sure what direction we will go with these.
"Mamamary" or anyone else with more questions, please feel free to send me a private message! Overall, we love MFW, but we have to keep working with it and making it work for our own, unique students and then pull in other materials where we need to use a different approach. I am still "learning to teach" every day!
Re: Need help/advice/support
Postby RachelT » Fri May 27, 2011 7:27 am
Our insurance was able to cover testing because the ADHD diagnoses is considered a "medical" diagnoses, so that was really helpful. However, Susan Barton has students begin her program even if they haven't had testing if she thinks that they could benefit from her approach. There are cheaper programs, but I can say that Barton really works!
I will definately think about what you all have suggested. Thanks for your ideas. Talk to you later.
