Choosing 1st "again" vs. join older sibling; making it fresh

[cbollin]

Did he get enough 1st watching sibling?

I have an almost 5 year old and also a 7 year old. Right now, we are using MFW K and MFW 1st. They are actually doing a lot of both programs together. My dilemma is what to do for next year. Now that the 5 yo has already done a lot of the first grade program, I don't really know if I should repeat it for her next year, or just jump her into adventurers with her older sister. She is an excellent reader, but still struggles a little with writing. The fine motor skills aren't quite there.

Thanks in advance for any advice. :)
Amy

Whew, it's not the first born --- it's the younger sibling. <grin>

ADV is designed for 2nd or3rd graders, but five and six year olds who are younger siblings may be invited to join in any of the activities. You will need to give them appropriate reading and writing instruction (language arts) and math. Even if she is already reading, you may find the workbooks in 1st and the notebooking to be helpful to build those writing skills. You don't have to repeat the science from 1st. Remember to adjust the length of school day to fit her needs because ADV is designed to take longer than K or 1st.

--crystal

[kellybell]

I've had younger kids tagging along for a few years now. That's fine but don't ask a lot of them; let them just have fun and enjoy the picture books and coloring pages and let them walk away when it gets to be "too much."

If you approach it with the attitude of "this little one will get all this material when s/he is older" then you will do just fine.

[LoveBaby]

Since you already have the MFW 1st TM, I'd go ahead and buy the 1st grade materials and teach just the reading and math to your 1st grader. Then I'd skip the other 1st things and have them join in where appropriate in the Adventures program. The phonics is so great and since you've done it once you won't have to learn another program, either.

At least that's what I'm going to do later this fall when we've finished up w/ K and 1st! I'm going to buy the state sheets/stickers and first grade materials for my 1st grader and plan on them joining in on everything in Adventures.

[Heidi]

I have done this very thing - I think there may be an old post of mine somewhere [ http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?t=2307 ].

Anyhow - my ds was 8 going on 9 doing Adventures (did MFW-1 the year before) and my dd was 5 going on 6 doing MFW-1st and Adventure with older brother (did MFW-K the year before).

My dd was not a strong reader. She needed the first grade phonics and wonderful Bible notebook for her language arts program. In fact, doing ECC, she still works on phonics and reading skills - but, reading at second grade level now after much work.

She is a strong writer and artist - so I adapted the history notebook portion of Adventures and turned it into practicing her struggling narrating skills and I would compose it for her and she would copy it then draw and color a picture for it.

Just so you know, my pre-K child loved listening in to Adventures too. He only did lots of manipulatives that year though.

[kfrench]

Yup. My first grader tagged along for read alouds, book basket books, did the coloring for state pages, and enjoyed the activities and did the bible. She didn't always get everything but she enjoyed it and it is much easier to have both kids doing the same thing. I usually have her just copy the notebook pages and there are not very many. MFW is very flexible. Alot of the book basket books are great for the younger kids and they both enjoyed me or my older daugther reading these. I did do her own LA and math and spelling.
Kris

[Blessed Beth]

Yes, I did 7 and 5 year old boys together on Adventures. For the 5 year old's phonics, I used what I already had before finding MFW.

On the history pages, I did the writing for the 5 year old and he drew the pictures. I also didn't push something if he was not interested in it but for the most part, he joined in for the whole time and enjoyed it.

[cbollin]

Next year I have a daughter who should be in MFW1 and a son in MFWK. Then that daughter would move into CTG [with her older sibling] while my son would then be in MFW1. That's a whole lot of Old Testament for me. Anyhoo, my question is how this looks in your family when a guide (in my case MFW1) is taught back-to-back and then simultaneously MFW1 with CTG. How do you keep that fire for learning alive in your home when the kids are hearing/experiencing the same sorts of lessons repeatedly?

My daughter who would be in MFW1 next year is a fluent reader with excellent comprehension and narration skills (The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables) so I'm already worrying about the fact that the Bible reader will be so easy for her and she won't do the science, but rather will tag along with MFWK or ECC science. The math and Bible/Proverbs and Bible notebook will be wonderful, and the phonics wb will be a perfect review of the phonics that she never learned before reading naturally.

I will also call the office tomorrow. Assuming that's the best path, share with me your wisdom in keeping that learning fiery and full of life when the same material is taught back-to-back.

You can rethink what parts to use next year, and save others for year after...

ECC as the base program even for the 1st grader. 1st grade daughter can use the Character Traits training in ECC for copywork ,and the ECC Bible memory for memory work. Save the Proverbs and other Bible in 1st for the following year. That leaves her to do phonics as review and spelling, math, and she can listen in on ECC Bible. From 1st grade manual, you can use the instruction of how to narrate and turn it into writing assignments but apply it to Hero Tales and the book of Matthew. She's already a strong reader so you are using selected parts of 1st for phonics review and spelling, she can do her Bible notebook from Bible in ECC this year.

Then the following year, you'll have oldest in CTG, a 2nd grader in CTG, and someone in 1st.

problem solved? I don't know... it just sounds too easy

-crystal

[Julie in MN]

I think Marie's post here is very similar to what Crystal's saying - use the oldest program as the base for as much as you can, and use the younger programs mostly for reading & math (which has to be individualized for each child anyways):
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=191

Or you can even start now and see how it works starting with PreK & K:
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=642

I think it's helpful to have lots of ideas to turn around in your mind
Julie

[MelissaB]

Hi, Erin Kate -

We taught ECC last year, and are doing MFW 1 this yr. ECC is a really fun year.

I agree with Crystal. If my first grade daughter were reading that well, I would consider doing MFW 1st Phonics & Math and let her join ECC's Bible, History, Geography & Science.

If you do include her in ECC for those subjects, here are a few more ideas:

Bible - She can use the MFW 1 Bible Notebook to draw a picture and write part/all of the memory vs. with the ECC Bible lesson.

Science - She'll probably really enjoy the Living World Encyclopedia and The Great Animal Search, and she can do The Book of Animals on her own while the older children do Prop. of the Ecosystems, which may be a little too advanced. (BoA is 2nd grade level - and awesome. Your older children will enjoy it, too.)

History/Reading - If she's already reading Anne of Green Gables (wow!), I think she'll enjoy the missionary biography Read Alongs with ECC (They're amazing.) - and Heidi when you study Germany.

Geography - While she may not be able to find the latitude/longitude of a country, she can definitely learn North-East-South-West & play the Geography game with her siblings.

ECC is such an amazing year. Every curriculum we've done with MFW is great - truly wonderful. But there's something about ECC. Everyone we know who's been through ECC says it's changed their perspective on life, and on Christianity in general. You have an amazing year ahead!! Enjoy!

In God's richest blessings -
Melissa B.

[erin.kate]

You can rethink what parts to use next year, and save others for year after...
...
problem solved? I don't know... it just sounds too easy

Nope, sounds great. Let's see, so ...

Mae: ECC
Viola: ECC + 1st Bible notebook (for ECC), phonics/spelling wb, math
James: MFW K
Jack: helpful

I don't know why I didn't think of having Viola do the Proverbs/Bible from 1st with James the next year. I like that as he'd like to have someone to learn with, too, especially when it comes to memorizing something in English. Thanks so much!

I think it's helpful to have lots of ideas to turn around in your mind

Julie ~ This is another good idea. Hmm. Maybe I'll think about having Viola (1st) do all but science and instead of tagging along in ECC have her tag along in MFW K science since she did not do that this year, but then what will I do for her copywork? Maybe all of 1st, tagging along with science/activities in K, and listening in on Window on the World and the read alouds from ECC. She'll do ECC again, of course, so perhaps letting her be littler this year, despite her reading abilities, will be more engaging for her ... she is very much only a 6-year-old (this Thursday!). That sort of sounds complicated, but I think if she has her MFW1 time with me and floats between K and ECC for other lessons she'll get plenty. I'll think about those ideas, more, too. Thank you!

Bible - She can use the MFW 1 Bible Notebook to draw a picture and write part/all of the memory vs. with the ECC Bible lesson.
Can you explain to me a little bit more about how this might work? Since the Bible nb in 1st is relevant to actual Bible stories, it was fairly straightforward to build oral and written narration skills, along with illustrating the story. Is the bible in ECC actually around stories, or ideas, more or less? I'm just trying to envision what her Bible nb might look like by using ECC/Matthew.

Science - She'll probably really enjoy the Living World Encyclopedia and The Great Animal Search, and she can do The Book of Animals on her own while the older children do Prop. of the Ecosystems, which may be a little too advanced. (BoA is 2nd grade level - and awesome. Your older children will enjoy it, too.)
Yes! The CBoA. Definitely have that in my cart. And, the other two books will be a huge hit as well. I have to think more about this, but yes, maybe sitting in on ECC science vs K science as Marie suggests might be a better route, since she's a bit advanced.

ECC is such an amazing year. Every curriculum we've done with MFW is great - truly wonderful. But there's something about ECC. Everyone we know who's been through ECC says it's changed their perspective on life, and on Christianity in general. You have an amazing year ahead!! Enjoy!
I hear this over and over and ECC is the year that actually first drew us to MFW when we started K with my oldest. I'm eager to see it unfold in my family, as well.

Ah, so many great ideas! Gosh, now I'm lost/torn, but in a great way! Thank you ... can I ask you a few more things? I put them in red above. Thanks!

[cbollin]

Bible - She can use the MFW 1 Bible Notebook to draw a picture and write part/all of the memory vs. with the ECC Bible lesson.
Can you explain to me a little bit more about how this might work? Since the Bible nb in 1st is relevant to actual Bible stories, it was fairly straightforward to build oral and written narration skills, along with illustrating the story. Is the bible in ECC actually around stories, or ideas, more or less? I'm just trying to envision what her Bible nb might look like by using ECC/Matthew.

a few ideas... hoping Melissa and others have time to chime in too.

The Bible stuff in ECC has some stories: Hero Tales. So that will be straightforward.
The Bible stuff in ECC included reading the entire book of Matthew. Many of Jesus's stories, parables, etc. are in there.

Let's pull up the sample week in ECC
http://www.mfwbooks.com/downloads/pdfs/ ... manual.pdf

go to the grid page for week 9 in Brazil.

So, you can notebook the memory verse. 1st grade probably should not do it as dictation on Tuesday but finish copy work. (that would be Matthew 5:14, not the John 3:16... the John 3:16 is an ongoing thing with Bible in many languages...)

then one notebooking page for the rest of the week could be just on Mat 6 - Jesus teaches about praying. 3 sentences on what you learn. do that on Thursday or something like that
then, on Friday - 1st grader can do ONE just one! geography vocab notebooking page (as instructed in the manual)

Other weeks, there will be parables and other stories in the book of Matthew.

You don't have to do one every week. and you'll have to judge each week how much writing your child can do. some weeks, doing just the Hero Tales, or just the geography vocab is enough.

-crystal