I keep hearing negative things on here and in my homeschool groups about ECC. I had already planned on using it for next year, but I am starting to doubt my decision. It has been suggested to me that I just skip it and go to year two, has anyone ever done this and/or do you think it would cause any problems? My children are 3, 6, 8 and 9. My 6 year old is finishing up MFW 1st grade this year.
ECC is My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. I used it this year and I do think that it is a really good curriculum. However, I have had to do a little tweaking for my kids. Some of the stuff flew over their heads this year. There were certain aspects that they loved and I did too and others that I felt like I was beating my head against a wall. Because it is so repetitive in doing the same routine (much like adventures was) for each country my kids are now getting bored with it. Due to family circumstances we have not been able to do as many craft projects because of time. They have learned where the continents and oceans are and which countries are on which continents. We don't play the geography game as much as we should and I am okay with that. I don't care right now at their ages (7 and 9) if they can tell me where all the countries in the world are. If they can name the continent that is better than a majority of the adults in the world. All of that to say, we are switching to Tapestry of Grace this year. There are many reasons but we feel it will be a better switch. The other issue that I had with ECC is that is covers 3-8 grades. There is a lot of different levels in that range. If you are looking to just open and go, ECC may not be what you want. With the ages of your kids you will probably find that you have to do some tweaking. I read on one person's blog that she pretty much scrapped the books that were included and chose different ones that were much easier for her kids to understand. My sister-in-law however, loves the curriculum and it is working well for her family. I was so excited to start this year but if I had it to do again, I think I would have used it as a guide, done it over two years, and added more things and maybe a few more countries as well.
We did it this year. MY ONLY PROBLEM WITH IT WAS THE SCHEDULE. EVERYTHING ELSE WAS WONDERFUL!!!! And all I had to do was reschedule it to make it work with our crazy life. LOVE the content. LOVE how my kids are amazing at geography. LOVE the content. Love their heart. Missionary stories are wonderful, etc. A lot of positives. I'm a control freak....so that's my problem - just the schedule!
I haven't used ECC but have used SL Core 5.... Coming from SL, very similar sequence to MFW......I think a world geography course with an emphasis on missions is a must for a well-rounded education and greatly enhances the world history study. We have done the Americas and the Eastern Hemisphere prior to the world history cycle using literature with Sonlight. I don't have any familiarity with ECC specifically so I'm not able to answer your actual question but wanted to throw my 2 cents in there.
