MFW for high school?

[Momto5girls]

I tried a search, but wondering if anyone else has any opinion on MFW for high school? The samples look very good, I like the Biblical worldview, and the focus on community service. The samples for year two are not up yet, and was wondering if anyone has any experience with year one or two?

I'm trying to decide between this and SL for high school. I have decided not to stay with TOG for various reasons, and have had success with SL. However, I dont' know how I feel about the high school cores. Any opinions anyone can offer in that regard would be helpful as well.

thanks so much!!
Lisa

[Jenileigh]

I'm not able to answer your questions but this is what I plan to use next year with my daughter. I am looking very forward to it. It looks full, and it uses Notgrass History (which I love-my oldest used this when she was in highschool), I plan to continue with Apologia Science, and we are using Saxon Math.

[Julie in MN]

Hi Lisa,
I see you got more answers over on the K-8 board. I'm looking forward to MFW high school, but not there yet.

Hi Jenileigh,
Nice to see you on the boards today!

Julie

[JanOH]

I've got two high schoolers using MFW Highschool Year 2 and I can tell you that we are all loving it. It seems to be a perfect balance for them. The only book they've really complained about is "Church History in Plain Language" but they just say it's boring. Other than that, we've really enjoyed the way it is set-up for independence. I really like the weekly parent conference - it's an easy way for me to track what they are doing and call them on it if I find out that they are not following through on things they should be doing - or getting behind. If you've got any specific questions about Year 2 let me know.

I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with for Year 3 for next year.

[Jenileigh]

Hey Julie- Thanks, I try to pop in here and there. :)

[Jenileigh]

Jan- that is great news! Thanks for sharing!

[Tiffani]

I was planning on using Notgrass next year, but now I've switched my 9th grader to SL. I noticed you use IEW (and you may be better at this than I), but I'm tired of trying to piece everything together. We used SL years ago, been using WP for the past 2 and are now going back to SL. I think my ds needs the challenge for him to be ready for college. SL's proven, that's probably my biggest reason for switching. My BF IRL (best friend in real life) is using MFW for high school (and has used it for the past 5 years) and even she is considering SL for high school. It's the history, bible, lit, lit questions everything that attracts me. Especially the lit questions!!! Nothing negative about Notgrass (I was actually looking forward to it), but I need everything done for me at this point.

HTH!
Tiffani

[Jenileigh]

Tiffani- can you elaborate on why you think you have to put things together with Notgrass? My oldest dd used it for highschool and I didn't get that from the program at all.

[Julie in MN]

My BF IRL (best friend in real life) is using MFW for high school (and has used it for the past 5 years) and even she is considering SL for high school. It's the history, bible, lit, lit questions everything that attracts me. Especially the lit questions!!!

I'm wondering if your best friend is using MFW for jr. hi and not high school? Have either of you really looked at the high school samples? :001_huh:

SL lit questions... hmmm... My older dd did one year of SL-100 and the history lit questions were basic recall of facts. Kinda like public school quizzes on dates and names. Pages & pages of basic questions on recall. Few questions on the English literature, or sometimes no questions. No high school level analysis or even literature terms at all during the one year we used. You could get more thinking questions from a jr. hi Progeny Press guide, IMHO. No one on the SL forums could tell me what to do with the maps except look at them. The vocab was always listed but really no work on that. Some of the literature was along the lines of Dear Mr. Henshaw. But again I just used one year, and since they change their programs yearly, it may be totally different now.

There was no Bible whatsoever unless you bought a separate program, with a separate guide, and it certainly did not have you reading the entire Old Testament page by page, in order, in one year of high school (which you do in MFW 9th grade).

SL was fine for my older dd, but I've personally been far more impressed with MFW elementary depth than I was with SL high school, but maybe it's just different styles & maybe I'm misreading your preference as a criticism.

[4wildberrys]

I'm wondering if your best friend is using MFW for jr. hi and not high school? Have either of you really looked at the high school samples? :001_huh:

SL lit questions... hmmm... My older dd did one year of SL-100 and the history lit questions were basic recall of facts. Kinda like public school quizzes on dates and names. Pages & pages of basic questions on recall. Few questions on the English literature, or sometimes no questions. No high school level analysis or even literature terms at all during the one year we used. You could get more thinking questions from a jr. hi Progeny Press guide, IMHO. No one on the SL forums could tell me what to do with the maps except look at them. The vocab was always listed but really no work on that. Some of the literature was along the lines of Dear Mr. Henshaw. But again I just used one year, and since they change their programs yearly, it may be totally different now.

There was no Bible whatsoever unless you bought a separate program, with a separate guide, and it certainly did not have you reading the entire Old Testament page by page, in order, in one year of high school (which you do in MFW 9th grade).

SL was fine for my older dd, but I've personally been far more impressed with MFW elementary depth than I was with SL high school, but maybe it's just different styles & maybe I'm misreading your preference as a criticism.

:iagree: I didn't respond, though, because I figured if your friend was actually using MFW high school and didn't like it---then maybe the program isn't what it is presented to be. SL is just that---lots of reading, lots of simple comprehension questions for the history and the lit. So far even in Core 300---I haven't come across any deep literary analysis questions or anything as in depth as just the simple samples of MFW high school on their website! In fact, my son is doing the 2 year WP American history along with using the SL readers (since we have them) and I am finding WP MUCH more in depth and interesting than the whirlwhind one year SL100 program! SL has wonderful book lists, but honestly its not nearly as in depth as it is presented and what you might be thinking it is with your comment: " It's the history, bible, lit, lit questions everything that attracts me. Especially the lit questions!!!"

The only place I see more in depth, perhaps, analysis of the lit is IF you use their language arts programs from Core 7 on up---that means the weekly writing assignments based on the lit or history readings. But I can tell you, unless you and your student are stellar at writing and can follow directions for great sounding writing prompts with very little direction or guidance---then you would also drop the LA like a lots of people do. I LOVE SL---don't get me wrong. I just always want to make sure people understand that its not quite as in depth as it is presented.

[Christy B]

I started to use MFW for 9th, decided to put together my own course (using Notgrass EWH and LLfLOTR), and have regretted it. Way too much planning and second-guessing myself.

I'm seriously considering using MFW for 10th grade -- if anyone could tell me what chapters of Notgrass are covered in MFW 9th, I sure would appreciate it! That way I would know where to stop this year.

[Julie in MN]

I started to use MFW for 9th, decided to put together my own course (using Notgrass EWH and LLfLOTR), and have regretted it. Way too much planning and second-guessing myself.

I'm seriously considering using MFW for 10th grade -- if anyone could tell me what chapters of Notgrass are covered in MFW 9th, I sure would appreciate it! That way I would know where to stop this year.

Christy,
If no one chimes in, I would assume it's between Greece & Rome -- the New Testament times would begin year 2 when Rome was in power?

Julie

[Christy B]

Christy,
If no one chimes in, I would assume it's between Greece & Rome -- the New Testament times would begin year 2 when Rome was in power?

Julie

Thanks, Julie, I am sure you're right.

Disappointed, though, that I e-mailed MFW with my question, explaining that I was serious about using their program for 10th grade, and never got a response.

[Julie in MN]

Thanks, Julie, I am sure you're right.

Disappointed, though, that I e-mailed MFW with my question, explaining that I was serious about using their program for 10th grade, and never got a response.

Christy,
I find they are very much phone people. Some of us who are more internet folks just answer one another's questions over on their message board. I don't like the phone that much, but when I call, I've received an hour of help at a time.
Julie

[Julie in MN]

Thanks, Julie, I am sure you're right.

Disappointed, though, that I e-mailed MFW with my question, explaining that I was serious about using their program for 10th grade, and never got a response.


Christy,
I was worrying about you so I e-mailed Lucy over at the MFW office, since we do chat on occasion. Lucy looked into it and said that Bret answered you within the hour of your inquiry? Double-check your spam box and such. If you want, I'd be willing to tell Lucy if you don't find the response anywhere... Or if you had to make a second inquiry and they didn't realize they hadn't answered the first one.

HTH,
Julie

[Kisa in CA]

I saw MFW high School at a convention last year and it blew me away. In fact, it made ms want to homeschool high school and I had NEVER wanted to before. They do have more information about the program on hand-outs, so you may ask them for any additional info. It looks fantastic to me. But of course, I have no experience since my kids are still in 2nd and 6th grades.

[Christy B]

Christy,
I was worrying about you so I e-mailed Lucy over at the MFW office, since we do chat on occasion. Lucy looked into it and said that Bret answered you within the hour of your inquiry? Double-check your spam box and such. If you want, I'd be willing to tell Lucy if you don't find the response anywhere... Or if you had to make a second inquiry and they didn't realize they hadn't answered the first one.

HTH,
Julie

Hm, I can't find the response anywhere, I bet because it was not sent directly from my e-mail to theirs, but rather through one of those forms . . . no doubt a computer communication glitch (or possibly a user error -- who knows but I could have typed my e-mail addy wrong or some such silliness). I'm glad you posted this; certainly even the best of customer service can't control cyberspace. I gladly stand corrected (though I would still like to find an answer to my question).

[Julie in MN]

Hm, I can't find the response anywhere, I bet because it was not sent directly from my e-mail to theirs, but rather through one of those forms . . . no doubt a computer communication glitch (or possibly a user error -- who knows but I could have typed my e-mail addy wrong or some such silliness). I'm glad you posted this; certainly even the best of customer service can't control cyberspace. I gladly stand corrected (though I would still like to find an answer to my question).

Hmmm, I'll ask Lucy...
Julie

[JanOH]

We didn't do MFW Year One but the Year Two starts Notgrass on page 245 (Unit 10) of Part 1 so I'm assuming that the last unit covered is Unit 9.
HTH

[mama25angels]

Thanks Jan!

[mims]

We've really enjoyed the Literary Analysis in Core 100 for my daughter. I went through and marked all the ones I wanted her to do at the beginning of the year and found that about 2/3's of them were great. I don't demand a lot in length and so it has been very easy to add other writing programs. I feel their writing prompts have really made her think and learn both literary analysis and analytical, Christian thinking.

[Julie in MN]

Hmmm, I'll ask Lucy...
Julie

Jan and Lucy agree, so it's official! Lucy was so kind as to forward the answer Bret sent, so I'll just put it here since I have it:


Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 10:25 AM
Subject: RE: Inquiry from MFW website 'Contact Us' page

Christy,

Thank you for your interest in World History and Literature. We go through Unit 9, Lesson 44 of Exploring World History in Ancient History and Literature.

Two of my children have completed World History and Literature. We have been very pleased with the program both academically and spiritually. It has been wonderful to see how my children have grown in their understanding and ownership of a Biblical worldview as they have used our high school program.


If you have other questions, please let us know.

Bret Welshymer
My Father's World
PO Box 2140
Rolla, MO 65402
573/426-4600
www.mfwbooks.com

[Christy B]

Many thanks to all who took the time to chime in on my question!

I am feeling SO RELIEVED, I am just about 100% sure I will use MFW for 10th grade. They schedule out all the things I already want to use . . . and the writing instruction sounds amazing. Already feeling a burden lifted.

I think I'm going to use the nice course outline they post for Ancients to finish up this year -- try to make sure we've covered the topics, and now I know exactly which chapters to complete in Notgrass . . . it's hard, as a perfectionist, to not want to go *back* and do Ancients via MFW . . . one of the GOOD things about high school is that you have to keep. moving. forward.

[mama25angels]

Many thanks to all who took the time to chime in on my question!

I am feeling SO RELIEVED, I am just about 100% sure I will use MFW for 10th grade. They schedule out all the things I already want to use . . . and the writing instruction sounds amazing. Already feeling a burden lifted.

I think I'm going to use the nice course outline they post for Ancients to finish up this year -- try to make sure we've covered the topics, and now I know exactly which chapters to complete in Notgrass . . . it's hard, as a perfectionist, to not want to go *back* and do Ancients via MFW . . . one of the GOOD things about high school is that you have to keep. moving. forward.

:iagree: and I have most of the books they use in yr.2 so i'm saving money now to buy the TM and the few books I don't have already. I so know what you mean about wanting to go back and do Ancients using MFW, i'd been trying to figure out a way to do that because they are using mostly books that i'm planning to use this year anyway and I already have them, but decided to just stay the course. :lol:

[Tiffani]

Tiffani- can you elaborate on why you think you have to put things together with Notgrass? My oldest dd used it for highschool and I didn't get that from the program at all.

All I'm going on is what I've heard my other friends talk about. There is no study guide for the large test (the one covereing 5 chapters???) and that is disheartening to one of my friends whose daughter felt that she needed something to study to prepare her for the bigger tests...not the one after each chapter. And please correct me if I'm wrong, but there are not a lot of questions for each book (in respect to a literary analysis), right? Is plot, setting, characters etc....discussed in detail?

It's all about perspective. I have NOT had that with WP, my friends were telling me about their experience w/ Notgrass and I've used SL in the past (currently we're in core 200) and are thrilled w/ the information the IG has for "me".

By no means was I trying to bash Notgrass. I had planned on using it for the past couple of years. I love it! It "looks" great. But as my boys get older and our needs change (i.e.: I thought I would use Teaching the Classics w/ Notgrass, but I chose not to) I've made some changes.

Does that help?

Tiffani

[Tiffani]

I'm wondering if your best friend is using MFW for jr. hi and not high school? Have either of you really looked at the high school samples? :001_huh:

SL lit questions... hmmm... My older dd did one year of SL-100 and the history lit questions were basic recall of facts. Kinda like public school quizzes on dates and names. Pages & pages of basic questions on recall. Few questions on the English literature, or sometimes no questions. No high school level analysis or even literature terms at all during the one year we used. You could get more thinking questions from a jr. hi Progeny Press guide, IMHO. No one on the SL forums could tell me what to do with the maps except look at them. The vocab was always listed but really no work on that. Some of the literature was along the lines of Dear Mr. Henshaw. But again I just used one year, and since they change their programs yearly, it may be totally different now.

There was no Bible whatsoever unless you bought a separate program, with a separate guide, and it certainly did not have you reading the entire Old Testament page by page, in order, in one year of high school (which you do in MFW 9th grade).

SL was fine for my older dd, but I've personally been far more impressed with MFW elementary depth than I was with SL high school, but maybe it's just different styles & maybe I'm misreading your preference as a criticism.

Yep! You misread my preference as criticism. I in no way was trying to criticize any program. I even said that Notgrass is wonderful and had planned on using it.

What I'm finding (after 10 years of hsing) is different things work for different people. And every year I have to evaluate what our needs are. And on top of that, my boys are all different and will require different avenues for learning. I may never use SL for my 2nd ds.

I was just contributing from our experience, nothing more. Sorry you took this the wrong way.