* We're having fun in CtG!

[Julie in MN]

We're having fun in Creation to the Greeks! Ds is enjoying the hands-on in CTG. We've done tons of drawing & painting (including while listening to Vivaldi), science projects with everything from egg cartons to rubber boots to clay, making centerpieces & building a booth, building our timeline, making the 10 commandments poster, games with index cards for books of the Bible and Greek words, and more I'm sure I'm forgetting.


Reid is so proud of his Moses costume he created. Maybe because he has a mom who NEVER does stuff like this with him :o) We cut & stapled newspaper until he made a pattern that he liked, and then we cut up a bedsheet. After dh's great effort, we got my old sewing machine to work. Here's the result -- a happy camper acting out the 10 plagues! He even asked if he could share his own message (see below)!




Reid's point of view: i'd say the creation of the greeks could be one of thy funnest things in homeschooling. i may not like it later but i sure like it now! i really, truely am proud of my creation and the plauges we are acting out. i'd say alot of people should do it and make it as fun as possible! CtG IS thy best thing....ever.

(Sorry -- he doesn't think grammar is important on the computer -- he really even knows how to capitalize :o)

[kellybell]

Julie,

Great costume. We were doing this over a year ago, and we still have our pharoah's hats in the dress up box. We made the red and the white separately to go together. My memory is poor (is it the north is red and the south is white) but my kids all remember!

Also, I have to smile when I find a paper frog somewhere. Yes, over a year later and they are still popping up. I made about three sheets of frogs (that would be about 15 or 18 of them) but my middle daughter, unbeknownst to me, too some frogs and copies oodles of them. She got together with the oldest one and we are STILL "suffering" from that plague. For a while, I had a frog that was a trusty bookmark. We toss out the frogs when we find them, for the most part, but they are still around. I figure I should get them all thrown away before I do CTG with the next two kids!

Thanks for sharing your picture.

[kellybell]

Hi Kellybell,
I really enjoy all of your posts and neat ideas on the ECC idea forum! Just wondering if you got a chance if you could share some of your ideas that you used in CTG?
Thanks!

We really liked the science. It was fun. And, the pyramid study was neat. We started seeing pyramids (usually little squat ones) in architecture across town (usually on roof tops of companies).

When I first got the TM I was intimidated and overwhelmed since it seemed like a lot more than ECC. I was so tempted to skip the Jewish holidays. I am so glad I didn't because they were the highlights of our year. The kids developed a real love for the Jewish people. In fact today at the library, my 10 yo dd found a fiction chapter book on a family that hid Jews in WWII. We are blessed to live just three miles from a Messianic Jewish Temple (ie. Jews that believe in Jesus as Messiah as well as some Christians without Jewish roots that like that style of worship). We have attended a few services there and have been enriched with that.

And, we really enjoyed the Bible. We made a big poster (for MY benefit) of the kings and prophets so that we can figure out who lived when. We hung on to that one.

Oh, when we read Esther we made up and put on (for friends) an Esther play. That was really fun.

I don't really know what else to add. It was simply a good year.

[LynnD]

Posted Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:20 am by LynnD
I've been reading all the great posts on this message board and decided to finally put my oar in the water and say, "Hi".

This is my second year with MFW. We did ECC last year and are currently in week 12 of CTG and week 8 of MFW A-Z. We are enjoying it so much! I want to include the story of how we began using MFW because it was such a "God thing".

We began last year studying Ancient History with another curriculum and I was very frustrated with the lack of His story in it. After a couple months of trying to plug the Biblical history into the right places (and lots of frustration and tears), I lay the whole thing before the Lord. I had recently discovered My Father's World and really wanted to try it, but I couldn't justify (or afford) buying a new curriculum in October. The day after my prayerful tearfest, I was looking through a used curriculum site. There it was... ECC complete, never been used!

I'm so glad God provided the curriculum at just the right time. I've never been one to just scrap something and change flow mid-stream, but it was the best curriculum decision I ever made! We have such great memories of all the countries we studied last year and the insight my boys are gaining into the Old Testament is awesome. We are learning so much and really studying His story!

Blessings,
Lynn

[Mercy]

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:58 pm by Mercy
I LOVE My Fathers World too!!

Not only are we learning more than we have in the past (because I could never "get it together" enough), but we are also enjoying each other more. We are actually getting to the fun stuff!!!

I'm so thankful that God led me here.

And, I love it that others feel the same way. :-)

Thanks for sharing with us.
~Mercy~

[GoodCat]

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:45 pm

We are just finishing up week 5 of CtG. We just are loving this year. We keep saying over and over how this is the best year of homeschooling for us (we've homeschooled for 7yrs). We just love studying history from the beginning and we are learning about Egypt right now. The kiddos love it. I was wondering if they would like the read-a-louds. Well we started with The Tanglewood's Secret, and they loved it so much, they would beg me to read just one more chapter. I ended up reading 3-4 chapters every day. So we finished it early and now they want another one. These are my 10 and 11 year olds :)
So we are continuing and loving CtG.

Cathy

[Paula J]

We had our Sabbath Feast last night from CtG. It probably wasn't perfect as dh and dd were not home but the boys and I enjoyed it. Ds 13 filled in for dad with part of the blessings. Dinner was very nice, we ended up having Spaghetti which went really well with the bread. The tablecloth, china, and candles looked lovely. We all drank from wine goblets too. Ds 22 seemed to enjoy it the most and had to make a toast since we were drinking from wine glasses:-) I was very proud of ds 13 though, I was afraid that being a teenager he might blow the whole thing off but he was very respectful and fully participated. I think my baby is growing into a very polite young man.

[Amy in NC]

Paula,
Your Feast sounds wonderful. We did ours last weekend and enjoyed it a lot. I hope you are going out tonight to watch for the first 3 stars. The kids really enjoyed that. "Look, there's a star." "No, that's an airplane." "Ooh, over there" "No, airplane" "How about there" "Why I think that IS one" hehehe.

Shalom Shabbat!

[niki]

We finished up our first week of CTG with the Sabbath, Friday evening through Saturday evening. At first I thougth it looked like so much to do and prepare that I would skip it (mostly because I work once a week, Friday night shift, 7pm-7am and cooking is not something I enjoy).

Our Friday evening dinner was so much fun to prepare, the kids loved making, kneeding and braiding the challah. Dinner was so touching as dad went around and prayed for each of his kids laying his hands on their heads (there were a few giggles throughout that time). The food was delicious, we used authentic recipes. Oh, there was so much more...

Do not miss this. If you're thinking about skipping (as I thought) DONT!

My son did make a joke as I left for work after dinner...I laughed, but he was on the right track that's for sure!

Anyway..."Shabbat Shalom!" to you as you celebrate with your family!!

Niki

[Lainie]

I know there have been a few posts about the feasts. But I just had to throw one more vote in there for anyone on the fence about doing it and "was it really worth the trouble?"

Yes! My dh's day off is Wednesday so we had our Sabbath celebration last night. Wow has been the only word that comes to my mind.

It wasn't "perfect" in that it wasn't exactly like the book instructed but boy we were blessed by it and could feel the peace settle over our home and hearts.

Even if it's a very simplified version, please, I encourage you, don't miss out on the richness of this celebration.

[Toni@homezcool4us]

Ours is tonight. Glad to see someone else has an unoffical Sabbath night.
I gave dh his "homework", telling him to consider the blessing he will pray over each of the kids. We didn't make a centerpiece, but the kids did work together as group to make the challah covering (and they enjoyed attempting to pronounce "challah" the right way, lol).


Postby Toni@homezcool4us » Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:39 pm

Whoa! All I can say is this. Celebrating Sabbath (instead of just hearing the term or knowing some facts about it) is an AMAZING experience. I do believe we'll want to celebrate it again sometime this year. I highly encourage others not to skip this very enriching opportunity. I was raised in Catholicism as a child and my dad and I celebrated Passover (not in great depth) in my PSR class one year. I have never forgotten it and really connect with the Passover in scripture when I read it. How much more might my children be impacted by the celebration we had this evening? Can't wait until we complete our observation of Sabbath tomorrow. Btw, I asked each of our kids (except the 1yo) what their father had prayed for them after he went around the table. Each child totally remembered their special prayer and blessing. Wow!

[donnagio]

One thing I have been learning with MFW is that life is a work in progress. We do not have to do everything, or everything perfectly! I think many times I was paralyzed by thinking I needed to do everything just as it was written, and so on. We have not celebrated the Sabbath yet, but I have noticed that it has put into perspective how busy my family is--too busy. I really think it is important, and am setting aside a day- probably will need to be Saturday- to focus on it and just start to do it and bring my family together around it. I want to thank everyone for sharing their experiences and willing to be honest and open, caring and supportive.. This list is one thing that really confirmed my choice of My Father's World. There really is so much there. Listening to David Hazell on the CD really has also helped to change how I see things too. It is not easy to explain, but it is a transforming of the mind and heart to align with the Word,not the world...I would say, keep at it! We learn so much homeschooling... We learn as much or more, I think than the children do in so many ways(:
In His love, Donna

[sonlitgables]

Hi Everyone,
We have been easing into our new school year over the past couple of weeks after taking some time off to "re-order" our home and housekeeping. (Yes, it was a mess!) We schooled into the summer and were thankful for a long break.

This is week two in CTG for us. Today, we were able to accomplish all subjects except for Art/Music. Our school days are finally smoothing out. My boys, 8 & 11, really enjoyed the story line of Genesis for Kids. DH is leading Family Bible Study with his Audio Bible on CD's. This has been a nice change from me reading aloud. We are moving right along with the Bible assignments and are about a week ahead in the TM.

I just cannot say enough about how well MFW is working for us. Having Bible integrated in with history, notebooking and science is one of the best parts! Dh and I are amazed at the depth of the conversations we are experiencing during Bible Study. Another thing I love is having all the daily subjects scheduled on the weekly grid! It's great to even have the blank spots for writing in Math and English. Everything is on one page and it is so much easier to keep track of this way. In other programs we've tried, there were separate pages for LA & Science. MFW makes record-keeping SO simple! :)

My children have time to play outside this year and follow some of their non-academic interests like rebuilding their old clubhouse. I'm SO thankful for this curriculum, the Hazell family and MFW staff. Looking forward to learning along with my children in My Father's World.

[niki]

We are enjoying CTG right along with you. We are finishing up week 11 and the light bulb is going off as they are now connecting Ancient Egypt with Joseph and Moses and it makes it even more interesting. I agree about the amazing conversations we have around our Bible study...God is at work in our home and the hearts of each of us.

Me too, thank you Hazell's!


Postby niki » Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:58 pm
This is just too fun not to share...my kids made the Egyptian costumes - as best as we could - and they acted out the story of Joseph to grandma, grandpa and some aunties...

[baileymom]

We are in week #14 of CTG, and when we read about how Amenhotep II's son never ruled over Egypt (Streams of Civ) because he was the firstborn and died in the 10th plague, my dd 11yrs just looked at me with this smile on her face and said "Yeah, that would be why, huh!?!"...she's been in public school until this point, and having bible/history together is really making things click for her.

We are also thankful for this curriculum, it's wonderful...and so is the Kindergarten, we're also gaining so much from that as well.

[meagabby]

We are enjoying CtoG with you. We just finished week 5 and visited the King Tut exhibit and I am amazed at how much my children remembered from the reading and understood at the exhibit. I too love having the history and bible all in the same program. My kids love MFW and I see no reason to change. :)

Dena

[lyntley]

Yep, finishing CTG week #7 here... it's a perfect fit. My kiddies say they "love school". They are dressing as Egyptians to our Church "Hallelujah Night" tomorrow.

[Paula J]

Posted Tue Aug 12, 2008 7:13 pm by Paula J

Hi everyone,

Today was our first day of MFW CtG and we had a great day! We were done by noon, with everything, even pre-algebra! Ds read his book he chose from book basket with no complaints. We even listened to Hadyn while doing our art project from God and the History of Art. We liked art by the way, we had to draw and color a butterfly holding the pencils only with our mouth like joni Erikson Tada. This is not an easy thing by the way, especially when you're laughing hysterically because ds is across the table from you trying to do the same thing:-)

[Amy in NC]

Posted Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:10 pm by Amy in NC

Paula,
We enjoyed that activity yesterday. Dd10 decided she could do it better with her toes instead of her mouth, lol. We had day 2 today and it flew by. I think we were done in 1.5 hrs. (w/o math or spelling) Have a great day tomorrow.

[RJ's Momma]

We are 3 weeks into CtG and I can't believe how much *I* am learning!!! It really has been this way every year, but even more so this year. DD is excited to learn more about the Bible and the history in 'Bible times', and wanted to start school as soon as I brought the box home from our hs convention.

So I'm thankful that it isn't just dd that is learning, but me too. And that dd is excited about what she is learning.

Shannon Meyer

[Joy5]

HI ~

A few years ago (2007/2008) we studied CTG. As I look back it was our most successful year to date in our homeschooling adventure.

Blessings ~
Trina

[Amy in NC]

For those of you who have used several different MFW studies, I would love to hear which you & your children enjoyed the most & why. I am mostly wondering about the 5 year cycle - ECC, CTG, RTR, Ex to 1850, 1850 to Mod.

We have used ECC & CTG so far & will use RTR this fall. Even though I have liked both programs, I think that I enjoyed ECC the most even though I wish I had been a little better prepared. Really looking forward to RTR in the fall!

We've done K twice, 1st, Adv, ECC, CTG, and we're finishing up RTR.

I have enjoyed all of them, but I think our most fun and productive year was CTG. It was the year we got almost everything in, including the art and science. The girls enjoyed lots of hands-on stuff with the pyramids. And all the Bible history straight from the Bible was awesome. It was just a wonderful year.

PS I also love K!!

[mamacastle2]

I'm just so happy with MFW. Every year is better than the last. I liked MFW 1st okay. Then I thought adventures was good. I thought ECC was great. And CTG is phenomenal!! I am so loving the feasts, loving the Patricia St. John books, loving God & the History of Art, and loving the other resources. What a fantastic program!! I'm so thankful for such a great homeschooling experience. And this year I switched to using MFW choices in math and language arts and it is just going so well. I really wish I wouldn't have pushed my oldest dd so hard in K-2 with math & language arts. What was I thinking??

Anyway, if I had time I'd totally be blogging about our school days and how much we learn. (Oh, and I love reading Streams of Civilization. I am learning so much. I read it myself and then tell my kids stories about what I've read. They think I'm really smart!)

A big thank you to the Hazells for such a great curriculum!

Blessings,
Jeanne

Re: New here and just finished week 3 of CtG

Postby mamacastle2 » Sun Jan 30, 2011 12:59 pm
We are in week 20 of CTG with grades 4, 2, pre-k, and and infant and toddler in the mix, and still love it!!

[mothergooseofthree]

Hi all,
I have been hsing for 10 years. I have tried 3 different curriculum providers. We started the year using two levels. I was not getting it done with the younger two because I was DONE after doing the parts of my older ds level that we were to do together. Especially after doing all of the skill subjects with my younger two. There just wasn't enough time. Plus, I didn't have time to do crafts or science experiments with two different levels.

So we started CtG a few weeks ago. My kids are in 5th, 2nd, and 1st. I know the 1st grader doesn't fit into the ranges listed for this, but I am already using something I am happy with for skill areas and am fine with her just gleaning what she can from the history, science, and Bible.

So far I am loving this. First of all, I love the guide. I just prefer a grid style schedule. I think it just fits the accountant in me. But, the guide is better [than others] because all of the notes are right there with the schedule. I also love that we are all studying the same thing. I have wanted that for a long time. It just unites us as a family and offers more chance of discussion and imaginative play. And, it gets done because I am not having to figure out how to fit in two history/science/Bible lessons. Therefore, I also take more time to discuss it and share my beliefs and insights on what is being studied. Before, I was just in a rush to get to the next thing. And lastly, we are actually doing the notebooking, maps, and some activities because it is not so overwhelming for me to try and do separate everything. I discovered this week that my 2nd grader absolutely LOVES doing the maps. I never bothered with anything like them before. We also enjoyed sharing about cuneiform with dh at dinner and then the whole family made our cookie tablets. And, as far as science experiments go, my oldest could completely oversee these with the youngers, but they have been getting dh to do them on the weekends.

I love how MFW is making my job easier, uniting our family in studies, and giving me more time to disciple will teaching!

[ follow-up here: http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php ... 820#p72820 ]

[rxmom]

Hi and Welcome!
So glad to hear you are enjoying MFW and CTG...we really enjoyed that last year and yes, we love how MFW is so cohesive and allows the entire family to do so much together regardless of age.
Delcey