From the mom who is a firm believer (ok, just really comfortable with) workbooks/textbooks; I am considering jumping into a different style. :shock: I've looked at both MFW and Sonlight, and love the history aspect of them. My dd is much more of a real life book learner; and I thought these might fit her better. If anyone has used either of these; please let me know your thoughts. Especially for time involved - I'll still have approximately 6 preschoolers running around. Also is it possible to use a different source for Science/LA/Math? I'm pretty firm about curriculum for those. Thanks everyone! Have a great weekend.
You can definitely do your own math/science/LA with My Father's World. They're happy to send you just their "core" curriculum without the math and science packages. We have been using the first grade MFW and we really like it. My daughter just turned 6 in May, though, so although we were doing the 1st grade material last year, we were doing it with a kindergarten attitude - only taking about 2 hours a day and skipping lightly over science and history. We will be doing a much more intensive "first grade" this year. Joy is already reading at a second grade level, and is 2/3s of the way through the first grade Saxon Math book, so we're not really on a "normal" schedule at this point. LOL She doesn't write well enough yet to do second grade LA work (she has age-appropriate level fine motor skills - which means sloppy and slow! :lol, so we are doing reading comprehension workbooks and lots of handwriting practice. I expect we'll be buying the second grade MFW sometime around Christmas. I haven't done Sonlight, but it looks fantastic and I've heard very good things about it.
i have done my fathers world for 2 years and I have to say that I love the curr. I looked into sonlight but in the end chose My fathers World. I choose my own math and you can choose your own Language arts.
We use Sonlight and love it. I haven't taught it with 6 preschoolers running around but I've done it with 2 and newborn twins. . .does that count? It is very flexible and that's what I like about it. You do not need to use their science or language arts or math. I really like their lang arts though. As far as time, you will spend time reading out loud but I like that the assignments are short. (I missed what grade we're talking about and whether or not the child reads. . .) but while we do spend a lot of time reading together. . .we can do a little here or a little there so it works well for our family. HTH
Thanks everyone so much! "Newborn twins" - oh, my goodness! I shall never complain again about my own three (dd8; ds4; ds2) or the extra daycare kids. Well, ok, maybe not never - but I will definitely do it less! My daughter would be going into 3rd; and is generally right on target. Most of the time, she hates reading silently; but loves being read to. That was what attracted me to MFW and Sonlight. I'll admit, I'm leaning a bit more toward MFW as it seems easier for me to use. I kept getting confused at the Sonlight website. Could just be me though. We just came off of 3 years with ABeka; and I'm quite fond of it. Used it myself as a classroom teacher. I do plan to use it for Language next year. Perhaps also math. Science will be Apologia - it's her favorite subject and I want to give her something with more "meat". I still have a little longer to decide; though dh wants me to decide and order within the next few days. He did initially choke at some of the prices until he realized that most could be reused with our two younger boys in a few years.
No it's not just you. Sonlight is very confusing to figure out. That would be my one complaint. It's like an entirely different language you're speaking when you explain it to someone. However, if this helps, you are just looking at Core packages. Not core ultra or core plus. . .just the core packages. I highly recommend Sonlight's reading list even if you aren't interested in getting it. It is one of the best reading lists out there IMO that includes Christian fiction. If you have questions about how to navigate it, let me know. I'm happy to help.
I know a LOT of people here that use Sonlight. I looked at it but didn't think dd would like it. And I agree- they're reading list is a good one. In fact I printed of just the reading list they have for 1st grade and used that for dd's reading for the end of K.
Thanks for all the details! My dh actually took a look at the two and is also leaning more towards MFW. I do like the idea of using the Sonlight reading list as a guide though. I've been doing some looking on ebay and may try to place some bids later tonight. I've decided on Abeka for Math. Singapore doesn't give dd enough review.