Schedule - Can we begin the MFW cycle mid-year?

[Cyndi (AZ)]

Since we didn't find MFW until this past March, if we continue as is, our new cycles / programs will start mid-year and break up the flow of the material in the middle of each program if we take a summer break each year, which I am wanting to do. Since we live in the Pacific NW I like the idea of being on a more traditional school schedule so we can take advantage of our few months without rain.

Is anyone else having their programs take a break in the middle and finding it to work out? I am concerned that it might interrupt the flow each year. Does it? Would it be better to try and stretch our current program out through next school year? Or would it be better to try and do more this summer and finish a second program by next June? (The second idea sounds like a lot right now)

This is actually our first 'school year' using curriculums so we are coming up on our first summer break. So all of this is very new to us. Additional questions would be: Do you find summer breaks helpful? Do they lose too much? Am I over thinking this?

Julie in MN starts her new MFW curriculum in January and follows her local school calendar with a break in the summer - so it can definitely be done successfully. It helped me to know how she ran her school year when I got hit with scheduling problems.

I ended up doing something similar one year. Life goes on. We evened out after that.

Having grown up in the Pacific NW, I say Take The Summer Off! Field trips count as summer school, after all.

[Julie in MN]

Aw, Cyndi has made me famous

We got off-schedule back during RTR, and so from there on, we never finished our MFW year in the spring. I did try to stop at around the middle of each program, especially during RTR and EX1850 where there was a different science each semester.

During the history years, my son had no idea where an "MFW year" started or ended. He just saw the flow of history. (ECC would be a little different, but probably you would break between continents.) On my end, I realized MFW had scheduled some light & fun things at the beginning of each year, and we got to do those in the middle of the year instead -- a nice refresher or a chance to catch up on some other things.

I have changed up the language arts each fall according to "grade level," and somewhat the math, too. So there are still "new things" to begin in the fall.

Now that my son is heading into high school, we just had time to do one semester of ECC this spring. I've probably had the hardest time wanting to "just do the fun stuff" of ECC, and instead tend to push him through as much of the learning in ECC as I can, so probably it would have been better if I had just followed the teacher's manual until our year was finished. That would be my biggest suggestion -- don't try to squish. Do each week as written, as much as possible anyways. Stop when you need to stop. Don't risk squeezing out the really fun ways of learning or reviewing

Julie

[Wendy B.]

I am seriously considering purchasing ECC and starting it with dd in January. (She's in 4th.) We would do half the program, then finish it next year, and keep going that way. I think this would put her at finishing all but the last half of 1850-Mod before high school. (I'm not worried about her not finishing the history cycle; she does a lot of reading, and I think we can fill in any gaps if we really need to before hs.)

Can anyone tell me any reason NOT to start a program mid-year? I also have a son doing MFWK currently, so the way I figure it, he'll be joining dd for the first time for the 2nd half of CTG. I'm not really worried about him starting mid-stream, since he's going to have some exposure to the material just by living here. He already listens in sometimes to our history readings or colors maps, etc.

Am I wrong to think this wouldn't be that big of a deal? Would it be better just to wait until fall? (Financial considerations may have us doing that anyway.) Or would it be better to just do half of ECC and then start CTG in the fall, and finish up ECC...summers? I don't know. Part of me thinks Jan might be a nice time to start something new, since by then we are starting to feel some winter doldrums. But I don't want to mess up the kids, kwim?

Melissa

I've done this twice when a curriculum just wasn't working out as planned. Once with my olders when they were 9 and 10 due to a major change of circumstances. The older kids stayed on a schedule that had them start the new school year in January. It wasn't a big deal. They have since graduated and moved on to their adult lives and our unconventional school schedule did not have a negative impact on them.

I did it a couple of years ago when I found MFW for my younger son. Right now he starts a new MFW curriculum in March and a new math/la curriculum in the summer. For him it made much more sense to make a change for a curriculum that worked for him then to stick with something that wasn't. Why wait?

Best of luck with your decision!

Posted Sat Jan 08, 2011 10:55 pm by Wendy B.
I found MFW mid year as well during my son's 1st grade year. We will start ECC sometime in Feb or March. I decided to just keep working through and keep our midyear switch. I feel like we are ahead and if circumstances arise that we need to take an extended break then we will be able to do so guilt free. It has been my experience that eventually something comes up and having that little leeway and the ability to drop something will be beneficial. In the years past, that something was an unexpected 9 week bedrest during a difficult pregnancy or an unexpected mid year move across the state. Being able to drop our core program and focus on the 3rs during those times was a blessing. I vote "get ahead and stay ahead".

So enjoy it and work at a pace that works for her without feeling any pressure to finish or start a curriculum in the Fall.

That's easy for me to say....I've been following our own personal schedule for so many years that I forget that we are "supposed" to start a new year in Aug/Sept. For the record, my dd in college has adapted to a typical school schedule without any difficulty.

HTH

[Julie in MN]

Hi Melissa,
When my son was in 5th grade and doing RTR, my dh was pretty sick and we didn't finish RTR. I decided to just pick it up again the next year. So in 6th, he did RTR/EX1850, in 7th he did EX1850/1850MOD, and in 8th he did 1850MOD/ECC. After doing the first semester of ECC at the end of 8th, we went back to starting a new MFW year for high school.

It worked out well for us. My son still had some new subjects each fall, in math and English and such. Then we had another change at the semester break (usually the end of January), when our other subjects would be new. So that was actually nice. There would be kind of a new feel to history.

For science, the years RTR and EX1850 have a natural break in the middle of the year. In those years, I did try to make sure I finished the first science at the end of the year, even if it meant doing more or less than assigned, and we started the second science at the beginning of the following school year. Once he got to 7th-8th grade science, we started that at the beginning of the new year, anyways.

During the history cycle, my ds didn't really know whether a "MFW year" was on track or not. He was just learning the next piece of history. And during the ECC change, I think it was kinda nice to have a fresh start at the end of January.

I predict you'll be fine
Julie

[Cyndi (AZ)]

I was doing that, then actually got behind enough to catch up! I received lots of input on this board from others that roll their curriculum in January, too. It works out just fine. Having the new stuff in January can be a fun way to kick off the new year. I would just go for it and not worry about it!

I read this and only later caught on. Too funny

[MelissaM]

Thank you all for validating me.

I am going to try to get the money together to get ECC to begin in January. If we are able to begin it then, fantastic! If the finances don't work out, then we will keep on with what we have and proceed with our plan to start ECC in the fall.

In the meantime, I think I need to spend more time praying and less time on forums. I am making myself crazy with planning, thinking, comparing, and second-guessing myself. I feel like my mind is always racing with school "stuff." (Maybe I should be teaching this, or maybe I should focus on that, or I bet we need to be doing this....blah. I'm sick of myself.) I'm really, really ready for Christmas break - and yes, I realize we haven't even made it to Thanksgiving yet.

Okay, sorry, went off-topic there. Going to go to bed, and hopefully wake up with a refreshed mind and attitude.

Thank you all for your thoughts, I greatly appreciate them!
Melissa

[kcmyworld]

We started ECC at January of this year. And we've also had yet another crazy year - seem to have more of these than the "normal" years. So, though I had planned to finish ECC by Christmas, it will probably be late January before we finish it. I then plan to just begin with CtG right after ECC. I too think I may eventually be behind far enough that I catch up to beginning a new history period in Sept. If I were to stay on track my DS should finish the 5 year cycle 1/2 way through 8th grade. Knowing that we seem to take longer than anticipated, that gives me an additional semester to catch up before beginning the high school cycle.

Robin (a frequent lurker on the board!)
ECC DS 4th, DD 2nd and a 4 month old!

[gratitude]

I am making myself crazy with planning, thinking, comparing, and second-guessing myself. I feel like my mind is always racing with school "stuff."

I have a tendency towards doing the same thing!

My only solution that has worked so far was a prayer last January that brought us to starting mid-year with MFW Grade 1. At the time it was exactly what my ds needed, and it worked beautifully. He will be finishing it here in the next few weeks.

My second only solution that has worked was my lesson this fall to not buy ahead again (I bought last summer without prayer), and God tugged on my heart 3 weeks ago that my ds needs a slightly different direction for where he is at today. So I have put a lot of things to prayer again, and once again God is leading me exactly where he needs to be.

The prayer brings peace, when I jump in the front seat we tend towards chaos! How is that for honesty in public?

Mid-year though is turning out to be a GREAT thing for my personality. It takes the pressure off, and I don't notice when we are a week behind or ahead. I love it. I wish all my curriculum was on mid-year.

Blessings.
Carin

[gratitude]

I see that I won't be alone starting the school year in Jan (or in my case, in Dec.).

If you do that, do you take your summer break in the middle of a curriculum? How does this affect the continuity of it and the retention? Thanks for answering all the questions of a mom who has no clue what she is doing, but feels called to do it anyway.

I Feel The Same Way!

Last year I did take a summer break in the middle of the curriculum. It was very easy to come back to in the fall. All of us seemed to remember what we were doing and were able to jump right back into the material very easily. We came back to both MFW K and Grade 1 in September and they have both gone well this fall. In fact the material was easier for both of my boys when we returned to. The break had given them natural progress during their rest period. A Bonus to mid-year starts!

Blessings!

[4Truth]

If you're a mom who's called to do something that she doesn't know how to do but you're doing it anyway, then you're doing the right thing and He will equip you.

We don't take a "full" summer break like the public schools do. We do take some time off, but no more than we do any other time of year. We take off for special events and sickness, weather (first good snowfall of the year, everyone wants to be out in it!), and then what we call "Birthday Season" at our house because all 3 of the girls have birthdays near each other in the fall.

But we never take more than about a month off at one time. Getting too much off routine at our house doesn't work well because boredom sets in, along with bad habits and a more difficult time starting up routine again. (And I'm talking for Mom as much as for the kids! ) Plus the weather's just too hot and stifly out during the summer, and we prefer to spend that time in our nice, cool basement. Our community center pool is indoors as well, so going to the pool isn't anymore refreshing for us during the summer than it is during the winter. (We do go, of course. I just mean that we don't have the incentive to take summers off so that we can "go to the pool" because it's indoors.) We tend to go outdoors more during the spring and fall for yardwork, gorgeous weather, and field trips.

And it's very doable to take off when you need to, no matter what time of year you start the "curriculum", because MFW, like most other homeschool curriculums, schedules approximately the same # of weeks that a public school schedules. If you think about it, 36 weeks or 180 days is approximately 6 months of *actual school days*. That's only HALF A YEAR! That leaves you PLENTY of time to take off the summer if you want to, and still finish the curriculum before Christmas.

[Julie in MN]

In our school district, the semester break is around the very end of January. So somewhere in early January, I started to look at what would be a good breaking point. I might go a little further in science than in history or something, but with a half year under my belt, it usually just started to make sense where we would break.

And if review is needed, it only makes the learning stick better!
Julie

[gratitude]

Is MFW seasonal in scheduling? My ds4 doesn't turn 5 until September so I may be on a "normal" schedule with him starting in August with K. It is just my oldest two grade 7 and grade 4 that are starting first of the year because we got off schedule one year. We will be starting C&G sometime in late January.
Thanks,
Julie L.

I am a mid-year starter, and I haven't had any seasonal problems with MFW K or MFW Grade 1.

Perhaps someone else can answer for the other programs.

Enjoy!

[tangomoon]

There are a few of the topics in MFW K that fit well with a standard school year schedule ~ apples & leaves in the fall, goats & cows right around Christmas (tie-ins to the stable), vegetables & frogs in the spring ~ but these could easily be done at a different time of year without losing anything major.

[cbollin]

For CTG, the "fall feasts" are scheduled early in the year, but you can study and do them whenever. I started CTG in July one year with no problems. I wasn't uptight if we studied and did Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Feats of booths in July and August. In fact, it doesn't matter on those if you don't do them on the day they hit on the calendar. So don't worry on it.

Same with spring feasts in CTG. You can do those Spring Feasts when they hit on the calendar. In CTG they aren't rigidly scheduled. The notes for them are near week 27ish in slightly different colored paper.

So, you can do those feasts when they hit in the TM and life is good. Or you can shuffle around a tiny bit for Passover, counting the omer (50 days), and then pentecost thing. Anyway. if you do the feasts as stand alone, I think this will help...
Passover in 2011 will start on Tuesday, the 19th of April and will continue for 7 days until Monday, the 25th of April. Note that in the Jewish calender, a holiday begins on the sunset of the previous day, so observing Jews will celebrate Passover on the sunset of Monday, the 18th of April

But that's the only thing in CTG to have a heads up on that I can think of. The first time I did CTG I didn't have any heads up warning on the feasts -- I opened the manual in June that year and just did stuff when I came to it. 2nd time: started in July, moved to a new state.... did stuff when we came to it and planned to do passover when it hit on the calendar. it still worked.

-crystal

[cbollin]

Is it at all feasible to do two wks in one on each area with ECC? We would possibly not do some of the advanced reading and would read through the summer with the Read Alouds. There are several of the activities that we won't be doing as they are outside and it is to cold and icy here.

I would really like to be able to start CtG in the fall but this is the only way to do it. Ideas?

some weeks it can be easier to do double time than other weeks. But I probably wouldn't try it with the first two weeks of ECC and maybe not until Mexico weeks start. I think the first two weeks are a bit fuller than other weeks and then US weeks. try it and adjust as needed?

There might be some differences in how to approach it based on whether you are doing 1st or 2nd edition of ECC.

another stray thought over here.... why do you want to start CTG in the fall? (just to start "on time", or is it about the fall feasts? or thinking long term for where to be at end of 8th grade) Part of me almost wonders if CTG would be easier to condense in some parts to help with your goals. hmmm

-crystal

[jasntas]

Agreeing with Crystal on the first month or so.

I think if you went through the TM and took out half the activities you may still get a pretty good taste of ECC. I would try to leave in at least one craft activity per country if you can.

I think the science may be the most difficult to 'squish'. (At least for me). Maybe not for others.

You would have to double up on the book of Matthew reading as well to finish it and you might end up dropping Hero Tales. We have really enjoyed that book but unless you could/would fit it in elsewhere such as bed time reading it might get shelved. You would also have twice the number of memory verses to memorize. I think it could possibly be done but you would have to be careful not to overdo it or leave too much out. It would be difficult to determine what I would want to leave out and I would probably lean toward overdoing it.

I'm just a mom thinking about how I might do it if I were in your situation. You could also call the MFW office and find out what they think may be best to leave in, take out or squish. I have e-mailed them in the past but sometimes it takes them a bit to be able to get back to you and it's usually easier just to explain your situation over the phone.

Praying you are able to work out what will work best for your family situation.

[Julie in MN]

Hi Sandy,
I've done two unusual schedules that might apply. I'd be glad to share about either of them.

(1) I've started MFW years in the middle of the year and finished in the middle of the next year. We just did things as planned and enjoyed them fully. I always figured that I had paid for a full program, and it was all good stuff, so why not use it all?

(2) I've done ECC in one semester, only because then my son then started high school. Rather than just doing the first semester as written, as I usually would, instead I decided to just focus on certain countries that we were weaker in. That was easy for me, since we had done ECC fully in the past.

Julie

[lynut]

we did ECC in a semester and didn't miss a thing.
Lyne

[momsflowergarden]

Thanks everyone. I am thinking I will simply double up where it is feasible and not where it is not and be finished when we hit the last lesson. We do a 4 day week right now and try to get all running in that 5th day but I might look at using that 5th day when possible to get another day done. I might also look at going into June with it. We do Math and LA through June so could add a bit of ECC in there also.

I want them to enjoy it but also want to be able to move on as soon as feasible.
I looked at CtG and there looks like a lot in it. I don't think doubling up in it would be very easy. I also really do want to give them that solid foundation of the OT also. I guess that is where I really am torn as I also want to give them the solid foundation of our world as God sees it. HMM, maybe I just need to forget that my dd is going to be in hs in 3 1/2 yrs and go with the flow.

[Julie - Staff]

More threads on this topic:

http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=7759 (Adventures)

http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4661 (ECC)

http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=8515 (RTR)

http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2933 (EX1850)

[Mexmarr]

I've noticed that there are several of us who have recently began a MFW Curriculum year. How are you scheduling your school year and/or breaks? We are currently on week 5. Yesterday, my kids said, "Mom, when does summer break begin?" I teased and told them we weren't going to have a break! But honestly . . . I don't know what our school schedule will bring!! I had anticipated beginning Exp. 1850 in October, which would have given us time to complete within the "traditional school year" boundaries.

Just curious about how any of you plan your year . . . do you do traditional school years? School year round?

I am relatively new, as my oldest is only 7. But, I was homeschooled myself, and plan to do what my family did. We school year round. Summer doesn't affect anything. That allows us to take breaks, as needed, completely guiltlessly. A month off for a new baby is fine, or a week for a trip, or a day here and there, whatever. For me, it reduces the stress of "having to do school." We just switched grades when we completed the work for the previous grade.

When I was little, people would ask us what grade we were in. I remember answering, "well in Math I am xxx and English I am inxx and in....." Haha! My mom put a stop to that, and we were instructed to give a simple answer of whatever grade we would have been in, had we been in public school. That worked better, lol. That was for strangers, who didn't need the extra info. She did let us explain to friends and such.

[Metairie]

Well, we school year round for several reasons. It's too hard to get the kids back into a daily routine if we take too much time off. My flight schedule dictates quite a bit; the months of April, August and December are minimal school months. June and July are way too hot to be outside between 10am and 5pm, so we get quite a bit done then. We currently live in a non-report state, so unless Texas laws change, I'm not really concerned about what "grade" they're in.

I didn't really plan on starting in January, but I didn't find MFW until December. We are going to start with K as soon as our student sheets arrive.

[baileymom]

Misty's words about what grade her and her siblings were in reminded me of a quote from Understood Betsy (too long to post here, but I quoted it on my blog, if you'd like to read it): http://6arrows.blogspot.com/2011/01/you ... -this.html

We 'do school' year round for a few reasons. The biggest being that we agree with the 'hebraic/discipleship' method, in that we do not separate our children's education into spiritual, emotional, mental, physical. We view education as a whole...so that all those things can work together. Which is similar to the Charlotte Mason quote, "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life." I don't even really like the term, 'school.' Learning is just a part of our home. It's living. A few things happen when we take the day off 'school': the kids read, they want to tell me about the book their reading (narration), they draw pictures (art), they write letters or copy baseball cards (english) or cook or play outside (finding a bird egg or dead rodent our doggish-cat has found) (science) or play games on the computer (math)...they 'do school' anyway. Also, the Army doesn't give my husband the summer off, I don't stop homemaking during the summer...

Another reason is that my kids THRIVE on routine. If we took 3 months off in the summer, we'd all be losing our minds. They get plenty of down time to play in the snow, swim, do Christmas-y things, this spring we'll be taking a few weeks off so that they can watch their Dad get his college dipoma in Virginia. Which leads into:

...we just take breaks as we need to. With DH being Army, he gets a lot of 4 and 5 day weekends and days off...we don't even attempt to do school on those days...DADDY'S HOME!...who wants to do anything but hang out with him?!?! That also means he works a lot of weekends, in that case...we 'do school' on that Saturday. It also means we have a lot of out-of-town guests. Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles...they want to spend time with the kids when they come down, not hang out until they are finished with their assignments.

So, schooling year round just works for us. Like I said yesterday in a post (what's up with me posting so much? and them being so long?) it also takes the stress off me to 'get the work complete in this many (34) weeks).

P.S. You would think that schooling year round would mean that we are waaay ahead, that is not the case...with taking our breaks when we need them, we are pretty much at the same place a traditional school year calendar would have brought us.

[MelissaM]

We're going to take a summer break - we always do. I always think we'll do school in the summer, but it's just too hard. There's so much other stuff going on - vbs, family visiting, church camp, etc., etc. So, we will do ECC through Week 17 (which will be week 36 of our school year), then break for the summer. In the fall, we'll pick up and finish ECC, then start CtG in Jan., and just continue that way. I like changing the curriculum in Jan, it's helpful to get through the winter blahs.

[mothergooseofthree]

I plan to do some school during the summer. It will be a light schedule, but it is so much easier to keep going with a week off here and there. When I take months off, the kids seem to lose a lot. And, re-establishing the school habit it hard as well.

We just started with MFW and are on week 5 of CtG. I plan to finish in December and start RtR next January. I liked starting something new after Christmas this year. It gave me a new spark of interest during that time of year where it seems to be hard to find motivation.