can y'all tell me about Further Up Further In?

[Peek a Boo]

especially w/ the spread of ages I have? [see sig]

I'd like to try this out for next year, so i'd have a 15yo sophomore, 12yos 7th grader, 8yo third grader, and K'r [w/ a 3yo preschooler].

weak areas? strong areas?
substitutions?

I'll crosspost to the other boards too :D

[ereks mom]

Personally, I didn't care for it. We loved the Narnia books and ended up just reading and discussing them, using a book I bought at the Christian bookstore: A Family Guide to Narnia: Biblical Truths in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia (http://http://www.amazon.com/Family-Guide-Narnia-Biblical-Chronicles/dp/1581345151).

The publisher says FUFI is for grades 5-8 (or maybe it's 4-8), but I think the younger end of that scale is more like it. The activities seem geared to upper elementary, and are supposed to be adaptable for older students. The questions are generally simple recall, rather than useful for discussing literary elements, and there is no literary analysis, which a high schooler would need. The vocabulary study is very poorly done (fill in the blank sentences that use a word bank); the vocab lists include quite a few words that a student should know by 5th grade, but MANY of the more difficult words in the reading are nowhere to be seen. Still another complaint about the vocabulary study is that in the case of some words that can have multiple meanings, the definition that is used in the exercises is NOT the definition used in the story.

I really WANTED to like FUFI, but I just couldn't.

[Peek a Boo]

Personally, I didn't care for it. We loved the Narnia books and ended up just reading and discussing them, using a book I bought at the Christian bookstore: A Family Guide to Narnia: Biblical Truths in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia (http://http://www.amazon.com/Family-Guide-Narnia-Biblical-Chronicles/dp/1581345151).

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I really WANTED to like FUFI, but I just couldn't.


Thanks!
do you think the Family Guide book would be appropriate to cover FUFI's weaknesses, or really only as discussion, not "credit"?
Or do you think using another lit guide [for my high schooler] for the series would be better [while the younger ones do the FUFI], and if so, any suggestions?

[ereks mom]

Christian allegory. I think, however, that if you wanted to, you could use it to come up with some writing assignments that incorporated literary analysis. We didn't do that, but I think that it could be done if you have the time and the desire.

[Moira in MA]

Or do you think using another lit guide [for my high schooler] for the series would be better [while the younger ones do the FUFI], and if so, any suggestions?
Omnibus I covers the Narnia stories as Secondary book selections. The material was well done and my dd's (then 9th and 7th grade) got a lot out of it.

HTH
~Moira

[Peek a Boo]

Omnibus I covers the Narnia stories as Secondary book selections. The material was well done and my dd's (then 9th and 7th grade) got a lot out of it.

HTH
~Moira

ok, since my oldest still wants to do a Narnia study, I'm thinking i can use FUFI for the younger kids and maybe the selection from Omnibus for 10th and 7th grader. I'm also looking at the Roar! book.

I also had a couple other families express an interest in co-oping w/ us for this. Has anyone done a Narnia study as a multi-age co-op?
how often/ long did you meet?
do you think a one-hour-a-week timeframe would be ok, or would a 2-3 hour block be better?
and what materials worked best?? [besides the ones listed, or best ways to use the ones listed already]

[jellogirl]

FUFI is interesting and enjoyable. But don't expect it to be rigorous! And while your oldest may enjoy parts of it, I'd suggest doing it primarily with your younger children.