Looking for MFWK reviews

[Susie in MS]

I am having dd do HOD's Little Hands right now, but she will be done with it before she is mentally ready for Little Hearts. I am thinking that the light phonics (short vowel) and light science with Bible in MFWK would be more fitting for a 4yo than Little Hearts. Then after doing MFWK Hannah would be more mentally ready for Little Hearts.

So I would really like reviews of MFWK : good and bad.

TIA!

[Linda]

I followed MFW loosely for my then-4 and 5 yos, mostly to give me a little bit of structure in starting our HS journey. We didn't do the math or phonics regularly, but the science and Bible were excellent.

I loved having a topic each week; loved reading, reading, reading; loved the way they wove biblical concepts into the science, loved the overall tone of the program (gentle but not twaddle-y).

It was sweet. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

[Lori in MS]

We love MFW K here. Great program!

[Sue G in PA]

so far I am loving it. I really like the "topics" that are presented using each letter of the alphabet. S for Sun, M for Moon (science then focuses on Earth and Space), etc. It is a gentle approach and perfect for my ds5 who is a bit of a "late bloomer".

[Soph the vet]

I used MFW K and loved it! Skipped the math as we were doing Saxon.
Highly recommend!!

[Cornerstone Classical]

I just came from www.homeschoolreviews.com (http://www.homeschoolreviews.com) there were about 5 pages of reviews for MFW and only one bad one in the bunch. That's pretty good!:001_smile:

[Johanna]

I followed MFW loosely for my then-4 and 5 yos, mostly to give me a little bit of structure in starting our HS journey. We didn't do the math or phonics regularly, but the science and Bible were excellent.

I loved having a topic each week; loved reading, reading, reading; loved the way they wove biblical concepts into the science, loved the overall tone of the program (gentle but not twaddle-y).

It was sweet. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
:iagree::iagree::iagree:

Everything she said is what I love about it. I did follow the phonics portion and found it perfectly gentle for a 4/5 year old. We never really did the math...I always have a WB for K math.
I feel that MFWK is wonderful for spurring on a love for learning. Plus, it is very uniting with family. Our whole family really gets excited for each new science topic. The years that we did MFWK, were the years that i did the most science with all my family. I do believe that is why we love science so much! Oh, and the character/bible lessons are ABSOLUTELY precious how they tie bible/science/LA together.
I cant wait to do it again next year! By now I have really owned it and adapted it to fit our needs....and it provides a solid and MEMORABLE backbone for our K years!
HTH!

[momofkhm]

The phonics was wonderful. The science was fun. The Bible reinforcement was great. All around a great program. DS was 4 when we started.

[Susie in MS]

Thank you all very much!! I did read the reviews at homeschoolreviews and saw that they were mostly possitive. Seems that is pretty much repeated here! Thanks muchly!!
Susie ~

[Hillcrest Academy]

I really don't know what it was, but we didn't enjoy MFW K at all (and I promise it wasn't me who left that one negative review - I haven't reviewed it at all yet!) My kids love science and we found it to be very light on science. Yes, the whole week was based on a science theme, but other than reading books on the subject and one activity/experiment, there wasn't much else. I found myself searching for additional resources to add to each science theme.
We also found that we were bored with the repetition of the same routine every single week. The pro about that is that as a teacher you become very efficient at your task ;) The con is that my dd knew what was coming and rattled through it before I'd even given her the instruction. It became very predictable, and although it does advance in difficulty, the same backbone routine happens week in and week out.
I found MAJOR holes in the integrated Math curriculum. Supposedly, Math happens without the K'er even knowing it. I suppose it is true, but the problem for us came when we had to put the correct math language together with the concepts in 1st grade. It was almost as if giving it a name made it a different concept for her and she had no idea what I was talking about. I have heard about the "holes" from other people, and since MFW recommends Singapore for the later years, I would recommend starting with it, or another Math program, right from K.
My DD finished K knowing how to read CVC words, but I definitely finished K wondering exactly what we had achieved and feeling like it could have been a much richer year as far as activity was concerned.
HTH!
Caryn

[Susie in MS]

You made me laugh when you said that you promise you were not the one with the one negative review!! I have a friend, too, that didn't care all that much for MFW, so I know you are not alone. ;)
Thank you for showing a different view! May I ask what age your child was when you did MFWK?

I really don't know what it was, but we didn't enjoy MFW K at all (and I promise it wasn't me who left that one negative review - I haven't reviewed it at all yet!) My kids love science and we found it to be very light on science. Yes, the whole week was based on a science theme, but other than reading books on the subject and one activity/experiment, there wasn't much else. I found myself searching for additional resources to add to each science theme.
We also found that we were bored with the repetition of the same routine every single week. The pro about that is that as a teacher you become very efficient at your task ;) The con is that my dd knew what was coming and rattled through it before I'd even given her the instruction. It became very predictable, and although it does advance in difficulty, the same backbone routine happens week in and week out.
I found MAJOR holes in the integrated Math curriculum. Supposedly, Math happens without the K'er even knowing it. I suppose it is true, but the problem for us came when we had to put the correct math language together with the concepts in 1st grade. It was almost as if giving it a name made it a different concept for her and she had no idea what I was talking about. I have heard about the "holes" from other people, and since MFW recommends Singapore for the later years, I would recommend starting with it, or another Math program, right from K.
My DD finished K knowing how to read CVC words, but I definitely finished K wondering exactly what we had achieved and feeling like it could have been a much richer year as far as activity was concerned.
HTH!
Caryn

[Hillcrest Academy]

Susie, I started it with her when she was 4 1/2 and finished a few weeks before she turned 6 because we took it slowly. By slowly, I mean that she did an entire week's worth of work in two days, be we only did school every now and then ;) My fault completely, since she used to beg me to do school. She is a bright girl who always likes something new and different. She picked up on the phonics very quickly, but struggled with the math concepts (guess she gets her math gene from me - poor kid ;) ) I'm not sure if the struggle was because she was young or just because math is not her subject (but I guess I won't be able to figure that one out until I've given her a fair shot at math.)

[HFClassicalAcademy]

I know I'll be joining the minority here with MFWK. We used it this past year with my dd3-4 and ds5. It is really a good program, but not a good fit for us. I agree that the repetitiveness of the material bored my kids. The science was good as was the biblical portion. Unfortunately, I always felt that I had to keep supplementing.

The science was nice, but not enough for my bunch. I had to add books to their recommended list of books and look for additional projects to do with the kids. I also thought the math was lacking, which is why we used Saxon along with it.

Overall, I think it is a super, gentle program. But that is not what we go for around here! My kids are into doing more and more...this just didn't keep their attention for long. It became predictable with the cutting and pasting and worksheets. I actually feel like I butchered the program towards the end with all the adjustments and additions I made to it.

HTH.
Liz

[Lori in MS]

I guess I had a different perspective about adapting the program to fit us. I don't expect a program to be perfect "as is" But I loved having a base of topics and schedule to work from. One of my sons had difficultly in learning to read. It took him a very long time to learn anything and the repetitive nature of K was perfect for him. He started having success for the first time with K.

Another son already knew the phonics so we skipped the reading lesson and just did a few of the worksheets for review. Both of my children loved the science but I did get a lot of library books to read to them on the topics. I don't mind doing that though.

Also it makes a difference if your oldest child is doing K or if you have older ones doing another program. I did a complete K program when I was doing it for the first time (with the preschoolers participating in the projects etc.) Later when they were ready to learn to read they did the basics of K and participated in the program of their older siblings. It worked well both ways. When my 2 year old is ready I will do the complete program for him.

I also think the math is too light and we did MUS instead.