New path

I have been dabbling in other curricula for some time now. I heartily love MFW, but I do believe that we are outgrowing it. It isn't filling us up as it once was and our studies are feeling a bit tedious. Our days have lost their sparkle a little. Sugar is learning SO much, without question, but the joy of the learning is waning. I am also not settled on ADV, the second grade year with MFW, for reasons that swirl in my head and in turn light that fire in me to explore our options. It is bittersweet. MFW has served us so well, and the company and its authors are truly Godly people who provide a gift through this curriculum.  

I have spent hours upon hours into the wee hours of nearly every night dissecting curricula, talking on message boards, ordering catalogs, reviewing samples, reading reviews, calculating costs, making spreadsheets of the next zillion years until Bugsy is through high school, and the list goes on.

Ultimately, Kevin challenged me to prioritize what I want in our homeschool education today and in years to come. This is easy ... it's the applying this to the best curriculum that makes my priorities fuzzy.

1) Christ-centered curriculum: I mean more than Bible stories and Bible study. I mean Jesus at the center of IT ALL. Not a subject. Not music here and there, memory verses, Bible history. I mean Christ present in every part of our day, woven into the very fabric of each day's lessons, from Language Arts, to Math, to History, to Science, to playtime, to lunch, to community missions, to church, to bedtime prayers. 

2) Charlotte Mason inspired living education.

"The question is not, --how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education -- but how much does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?" --Charlotte Mason. 

"Benevolence makes us able, not only to bear with the people who annoy us and irritate us, but to give them sincere and hearty liking. Perhaps there is nobody who we should not be able to love if we really knew him, because all persons are born with beautiful qualities of mind and heart; and though the beauty of a person’s nature may be like a gem buried under a dust-heap, it is always possible to remove the dust and recover the gem." --Charlotte Mason 

Enough said.

3) Chronological, Biblical Worldview of history.

I asked all the questions, read all that I could, mulled it over incessantly, and prayed, prayed, prayed. Then, I set it at his feet. My path was made straight.

Our town wharf ... a beautiful, reflective path.

We've chosen to embark on a fresh journey in second grade with Heart of Dakota. My intent is to remain with HOD at least through third grade with Sugar, at which point Sparkler and St Jude will be in second grade and Bugsy will be ready for "preschool", ala CM.

I am still torn on whether to fold the kids into one year of study at that point ... combining them with the same history but modifying it to their appropriate levels (MFW) or teaching separate guides that are specific to each child (HOD ... I really like the idea of meeting each child where they are at when they are there ... yet we hope to adopt again so we'll see where we are led with 5 children being schooled at home). 

For now, I have utter peace (and I'm over-the-moon excited) over our decision to switch to Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory (HOD) for Sugar. 

Sparkler and St Jude will do MFW Kindergarten with the Literature pack ... I wholeheartedly believe that MFWK is an absolutely amazing program in every.single.way, and the new lit pack will ease my burden of scouring our dismal library for the best living books and storybooks to enrich each lesson, and we'll continue to grow our home library will classic children's literature. They will continue in first grade, at the very least, with MFW1 for phonics (including the Bible reader and notebooking), but we may endeavor to move to Little Hearts for His Glory (LHFHG) with HOD with the MFW phonics. 

Bugsy and I will have the joy of Before Five In A Row as well as lots of hands-on art and carefree fun. Come his year of preschool prior to Kinder, I will teach him with Little Hands to Heaven (HOD) in preparation for either MFWK or LHFHG. 

More to come ... I'm grateful for all of the encouragement and candid conversation from my cyber MFW and HOD friends. These communities are remarkable.

Because of Him.