MFW modified: BOOKMARK METHOD

In my last post, I wrote mostly about the WHY behind my choice to modify our My Father’s World (MFW) curriculum. To read that post, click here.

Now let me show you the logistics of HOW I do that!

BOOKMARK.

At the end of our school year, we simply put a bookmark where we left off ~ and we pick up in that spot the following year. (If you were preparing yourself for something revolutionary, sorrrrrrry to completely fail you here.) When I purchase a package within the MFW “Family Cycle” I ignore the schedule. I begin it with zero intention of finishing it within a specific time frame.

Here’s why. When I try to fit education into a neat grid I end up harried and hurried. Harried and hurried = poor environment for learning. Me fitting a topic into a timed-grid means that unanticipated questions are now setbacks, impromptu-interest and deep dives require skipping other parts of the curriculum in order to “finish” on time, and unanticipated family emergencies have the power to set off a giant BOMB of behind-ness. There, now I’m making up words. This is getting serious.

I rarely skip topics within in the MFW layout. I’ve been using their curriculum long enough to know that each piece hinges on the next ~ forming a beautifully orchestrated story. We DO skip certain books and activities, but rarely an entire topic of study. Instead, we tackle things one by one, working through each topic– and when the year ends, we BOOKMARK.

Some packages of the MFW Family Cycle take us a year to complete. Some take 16 months, or 18 months…or even 2 years. It all depends how many rabbit trails we take, and what other things we are tackling in our homeschool. Frankly, history and science do not make my top 3 when it comes to educational priorities. This brings me to a story. Let me explain how bad my Type A condition can be.

There was a time when I prioritized HISTORY over pretty much everything else. Why? Well, not on purpose. Instead–for an entirely ridiculous reason: MFW organizes its Teacher’s Manual (TM) by HISTORY. Math and language arts are discretionary, chosen by the parent, and therefore there are no daily plans written in the TM for them. Instead it just shows a little box with a note such as “MATH” to remind the parent to fit in math that day. The MFW mentality for math and language arts is: pick up where you left off, in whatever program you are using with your family (=BOOKMARK MENTALITY). So, if we missed a day of spelling ~ it could easily wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow we’d just “pick up where we left off” in our spelling book. On the other hand, if we were in WEEK 9 of school, the TM would list out EXACTLY what we needed to do for HISTORY in WEEK 9. History = yoked to the specific week of the school year. There is no “pick up where you left off” mentality with MFW history. If we were in our 11th week of school but on WEEK 9 of history–we were “behind.” We either had to extend our school year in order to complete the entire MFW package, or we had to CUT weeks out. I often found it very hard as a new home educator (and still do) to discern what I could trim from a history framework written by someone else. So in fear of messing up and missing connective information, I would do WHATEVER it took to stick to the history schedule as written. In my mind, as long as we got history done: we were ON SCHEDULE. That actually meant that math and spelling were the subjects that got BUMPED! See the mindset here? Today, I use the bookmark mentality for history instead, and I bump history loooooong before I bump math or language arts. I had to flip my mindset to match my priorities.

QUESTION: Do we still end up circling back and revisiting certain periods of history? (Is it still a spiral approach to history?)

ANSWER: Yes. Although our method takes us longer to get through certain Family Cycle packages (eras of history) we still will end up circling back and repeating. We will be repeating less ~ but remember: even when following the MFW plan EXACTLY as it is laid out, only ONE or TWO history packages will be repeated per child before high school. That means MOST packages do not get repeated until high school. By allowing ourselves more time to work through each package, we will have a clear grasp of where our gaps are when we DO repeat, instead of it all having been rushed through and mostly forgotten. With deep dives and deeper memories–we’ll be able to skip portions of the spiral that stuck fast the first time through. I’m also not afraid of gaps; it’s impossible to fully cover all pieces of history in a lifetime (much less by age 18). I had gaps in my own public school education, an education which was carefully orchestrated to prevent gaps I’m sure–but to this day I cannot tell you a single thing about any World Wars. Did I mentally check out those years? Or was it simply skipped? I’m not entirely sure. I am filling in those gaps as an adult, and not only is that okay–it’s even MORE fulfilling!

BONUS PERK: We used to really struggle with book basket titles being reserved by other local MFW families at the exact time we needed them. It only takes one other local family working in the same MFW TM and within the same 4 weeks of history–and suddenly that single copy of a book we really wanted will be out of circulation until long after it fits into our studies. Now that we are no longer in step with everyone else, I rarely have to be on a waiting list for suggested book basket titles listed by week in the TM. And we can renew books and keep them longer b/c they aren’t on someone else’s wait-list. It’s bliss.

QUESTION: What about SCIENCE?

ANSWER: This bookmark mentality works well for all the subjects listed in the MFW TM. We work through the Bible, history, science, etc and then move on to the next week. As I’ve gotten further along in my home educating career, I’ve gotten sassy and have subbed in alternative science and art programs… which means there are some years that I purchase the MFW TM *only* for history. The history layout, activities, and book lists are still worth every penny.

QUESTION: What if you are adding in deep dives–where do you write down all those extra ideas? My MFW TM already seems so cluttered!

ANSWER: Hello, Type A again here…if you want to know my honest answer: I spend a day during the summer retyping the MFW weekly plan grids. This is NOT necessary–I just prefer things visually streamlined. I also don’t like looking at a grid that tells me what to do on “Monday” when in my world, I might be doing Monday’s work on… Wednesday. I like to take out all the time-sensitive verbiage and rewrite it instead with a bookmark mentality. This just helps me keep my inner peace. For many, retyping is overkill–simply checking things off as one goes is more efficient!

If you tend to break out into a sweat looking at a cluttered grid and want to see what my retyped plans look like, you got it ~ click here for: AN EXAMPLE OF OUR MODIFIED MFW PLAN.