MFW or Veritas Press???

[3babiesmommy]

Okay, I was totally sold on MFW and planning on using it for the duration. I have not used any of it yet, but I have the Adventures and ECC guides and plan on using them next starting next year. Then I stumbled upon Veritas Press. It really looks great to me, but I would LOVE some first hand opinions on one curriculum or the other.

Thanks!

[Nakia]

I haven't used VP, but we are using MFW K and ECC this year, and we love them both!! Do you have particular questions?

[OhElizabeth]

Don't know the ages of your kids, but VP suggests doing local history and geography in 1st before starting their history sequence in 2nd, so you could do MFW ECC and then go to VP history quite nicely. If your dc is older, remember too the history years are NOT grade-specific. You can easily up the ante using the more advanced assignments in the tm on the enhanced cd-rom and make it work for older kids. Also, for an older dc I would combine VP OTAE and VP NTGR into one year, meaning you'd complete the 5 years in 4.

Since you have MFW ECC and like it, do it! Then start VP the following year. There's a wonderful yahoo group for VP history also http://group.yahoo.com/group/vp_elementary

[Donna A.]

What ages are your kids now? Were you planning on trying to do ADV and ECC simultaneously?

[3babiesmommy]

No, I was not planning on doing them simultaneously. My kids are 5 and 7 now, K and 2nd grade. Since I first wrote this I had a thought though. I was thinking about combining MFW and Veritas History and Bible. They pretty much follow the same cycle, and that way I could pick and choose the stuff I wanted to emphasize. It would also solve the science problem for me since Veritas doesn't start that until 7th. Any thoughts?

[Nakia]

I don't know. I tend to be on the more "gentle learning" side of things, and it seems like it might be too much to combine them. ECC is a more than full curriculum on it's own. I can't imagine adding history and more bible. The bible lessons in ECC are very nice! We love the missionary stories. But I'm sure others here will be helpful to you!

[Donna A.]

You could do that. The VP cards are beautiful. I have some, and I bought one of those 6x9 ring binders with page protectors to put them in, so we can just flip through them to read the info as they come up in our MFW lessons. VP uses a lot of the same resources as MFW, so you could look up add'l info that the VP cards mention that MFW doesn't. Not that I think the VP cards are necessary.... MFW is very complete. But the cards are nice, and if you don't try to get all involved with doing the whole program or adding too much, they can make a really nice go-along.

ETA I was typing at the same time as Nakia. I agree about not adding to ECC. I was thinking more along the lines of the chronological history cycles in MFW. Again, you don't *need* to, but they're nice. You can use them as part of your Book Basket time in MFW, or leave them out on the coffee table for browsing, or whatever. Like I said, I put mine in a 6x9 binder with page protectors, but some people hole punch them and put them on a big ring, like a keyring only bigger.

[Nakia]

You could do that. The VP cards are beautiful. I have some, and I bought one of those 6x9 ring binders with page protectors to put them in, so we can just flip through them to read the info as they come up in our MFW lessons. VP uses a lot of the same resources as MFW, so you could look up add'l info that the VP cards mention that MFW doesn't. Not that I think the VP cards are necessary.... MFW is very complete. But the cards are nice, and if you don't try to get all involved with doing the whole program or adding too much, they can make a really nice go-along.

ETA I was typing at the same time as Nakia. I agree about not adding to ECC. I was thinking more along the lines of the chronological history cycles in MFW. Again, you don't *need* to, but they're nice. You can use them as part of your Book Basket time in MFW, or leave them out on the coffee table for browsing, or whatever. Like I said, I put mine in a 6x9 binder with page protectors, but some people hole punch them and put them on a big ring, like a keyring only bigger.

Donna,
That sounds like a great idea!

[3babiesmommy]

Thank you for your responses! I am sorry if I was unclear, I do not intend to add anything to ECC. My plan at the moment is to do Adventures, then ECC, and then the 4 year history cycle and do exactly what Donna said. I would basically use MFW and do the cards as they come up and read some of the resources that MFW does't include. I really appreciate your opinions. They definitely helped!