As I said before, I originally wanted Sonlight. It is truly a
great curriculum, I can not emphasize this enough. But the cost was prohibitive for us when my children were younger. MFW still had a Sonlight feel, but packages included all the essential books you will need for the year, for a 1/3 of the price of Sonlight.
What we loved was MFW gives you several book options for each subject in their "Book Basket" lists so there is no need to buy the books when I can borrow them for free, and you can read any or all that are available at your library.
My Father's is also less expensive than many others because it's a one classroom style, meaning you only have to buy one curriculum for your whole family (depending on age of course), so your cost will be much lower.
There were some free options when I started homeschooling fourteen years ago, but free usually meant online, and I've studied early childhood brain development for too long to be ok with all screen curriculum. I do use several
free homeschooling resources as supplements and a few subjects, but not my core subjects and not until until my kids were in at least second grade.
*Updated 2021
My Father's World pricing has changed a lot since we began, an since I first wrote this review.
I still believe when you are homeschooling a large group of multi-age students, MFW is still a a very good cost per student, I just can no longer say it is the most budget friendly.
For High School it is actually more budget friendly for us to do Sonlight, which is what we are doing.
One of my biggest disappointments is they eliminated the basic versus deluxe options when purchasing. The basic package used to include all your core subjects, and the deluxe had extra fine arts and some elective supplies. As someone who never used the deluxe items for a myriad of reasons, I'm deeply disappointed in this choice. It forces the parent to either buy books & resources they won't use ,or worse, feel they have to use EVERY resource they buy. This puts undue pressure on the parent, and take away some of the flexibility that I have loved about MFW in the past.
MISSION
My Father's World's utilizes a portion of their profits for translating the Bible into different languages. This was game changer in my process, and has kept me from wasting hours looking for used curriculum. I feel comfortable paying their extremely reasonable prices straight from their website because I know my money is being used in wonderful ways around the world.
To see their work around the world go to MFW site-
http://www.mfwbooks.com/setcnt/missions.
EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY **
My Father's World has been perfect for us in elementary and middle school because it intertwines Unit Studies, Traditional, and Charlotte Mason approach throughout all the grades. I have felt the freedom to leave out, or emphasize, the approach that works best for each child, or season in our life, without having to buy a separate curriculum.
For Example, one of my children will zoom through his student sheet (more Traditional approach) in about 5 minutes, while the other spends 15 to 20 minutes painstakingly finishing his
beloved sheets.We all enjoy cooking the foods from the country we are studying in Social Studies (Unit Studies). Both of my kids are bookworms, and will sit and read the book basket of living books for hours (Charlotte Mason).
If your kids are
not big readers, MFW differs from Ambleside Online/Pure Charlotte Mason because the book-basket is not an essential part of the day, but a supplement to your main reading during your together time.
For more on different Education Philosophies, and what you may lean towards in your house, see this post,
Five Homeschooling Styles.
**HIGH SCHOOL the style shifts! My Father's World had always been a blend of Charlotte Mason influences in K-8th, with some traditional and classical work mixed in. When we got to
High School, it became less Charlotte Mason and pretty much all traditional and classical
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Charlotte Mason Style Handwriting Copywork |
PRETTY PRETTY BOOKS! +
Originally I was leaning towards
Sonlight because of all the pretty books (children's books are my Achilles
heel). Sonlight's main selling point is it's literature based and each package includes ALL the books
your children will read for the year. While this is awesome, it is also very expensive, and doesn't give you flexibility in the books you read.
With all My Father's World packages
, a
ll the essential books you need are included in your package, but MFW also gives you huge optional/ supplemental book list called your "Book Basket". Sometimes we reserve ALL the books in the Book Basket, sometimes none. It is a completely optional, but wonderful resource to have.
I can pick and choose books from the long list of options in the "Book Basket", depending on what is available at my library or what I think will interest my kids. I also use the "Book Basket" list as a jumping off point for my library search. If the library doesn't have that exact book in the list, I can find a similar book on the same topic.
With the ability to reserve library books online and pick up at the branch closest to me, choosing MFW over Sonlight saved us hundreds of dollars. We all look forward to our bi-weekly Monday afternoon trip to the library, and the boys picked their own books as I pick up the books we will need for the next two weeks.
The family cycle is full of
living books as you study history of our nation and the world, which is the incorporation of my beloved Charlotte Mason philosophy. You learn about history and social studies, while filling your reading requirements for the day.
We have always loved how many different History non-fiction "spine" resources and living books suggestions My Father's World provided or suggested, but this year it was back to one or two dry non-fiction textbooks, and pretty much no living book recommendations. I've had to start compiling my own living book lists for the times we are studying.
I read children's literature as an adult all the time, and I was disappointed that it seems like MFW thinks high schoolers are too old for any children's literature, even historical fiction. I also firmly believe you are never ever too old for a well done non-fiction picture book, or a good historical fiction.
I have always used the book basket as a jumping off point for my library search, so I would get several books that aren't on the list too, but in 9th grade all the reading suggested was half a dozen chapter books for the entire year, most of which my children had already read.
INTEGRATED CURRICULUM
Everything has meaning! No subject stands alone. My Father's World is closely related to Unit Studies because so many subjects relate back to one another, especially in kindergarten and family cycle.
While studying "K" in
kindergarten, we integrated science & art by making Kangaroo pouches, Bible with biblical truth that "God keeps us safe", and literature with story books in the book basket about Kangaroos.
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K for Kangaroo Pouches |
In
second grade, we
studied how yeast works in science as we studied Jesus was The Bread of Life in Bible.
In third grade family cycle (
Exploring Countries and Cultures), when you visit Mexico you can learn to make homemade tortillas in social studies, study desert animals in science, and read about Latin American missionaries in Bible.
FLEXIBLE STRUCTURE++
If you are a mom that needs structure, MFW is for you. If you are a mom that wants the ability to be flexible, MFW is for you.
I have heard many moms say they started with an Open and Go curriclum like MFW, but as they grew more confident, they made up their own curriclum. While I have grown more confident, my basic personality as not changed. I am an
ENFP homeschooling mom, which means I need structure or I get distracted very easily. It also means I do not like strict rules and inflexible structure, so I need freedom to be flexible.
MFW does both for me.
The teacher's manual is laid out in a teacher-friendly way, and all the subjects to compliment each other well and flow well for that day. For those of you who like to check off boxes, there are pretty little boxes for you to know you did all you need for that day!
I stay on track by following the well thought out sequence, but I need to have flexibility to not do every little thing listed in my manual. I can add my own supplements for art and
music easily, without losing a lot money or adding too much work to our day. I can skip Bible Memorization, because my kids are in AWANA and BSF.
Math and Language Arts are NOT bundled in older grades. Like I said above in money, we buy the basic package. Their package structures gives me the freedom to find the right math for my kids' learning styles. MFW recommends Singapore math, but since it is not included in the basic or deluxe package,I can easily purchase another distributor without loosing money. We use Math-U-See because I prefer the Mastery Approach as opposed to the Spiral Approach in Singapore. The hands on learning and DVD of MUS are great for my visual and kinesthetic learners.
++updated 2021
Due to the elimination of the basic and deluxe package options, I have found less implied flexibility built into MFW. We still loved it, but if we had not had that option we would probably have felt much more pressure to use ALL of what we had bought. If you do buy MFW now, treat it as a smorgasbord, you do not have to eat it all1
Remember that your teacher's manual is not God.
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