I think that I can honestly say that with every bit of my being I have poured over every nuance of far too many homeschool curricula ... My Father's World, Beautiful Feet, WinterPromise, Simply Charlotte Mason, Heart of Dakota, Five in a Row, Queen ... the list just never seemed to end. Just ask my husband.
Before I ever actually taught with MFW I received a catalog and thought, whoa, I *must* teach Adventures in My Father's World. Must. Here we are, nearing the time when we should be preparing for Adventures, and I started wandering.
My two big worries with MFW Adv is that it is too much of a cursory overview of history with a state study that felt unbalanced in the framework of the year, thus not enough living Early American History, and it does not shine with the pure Charlotte Mason that I adore so much. What to do, what to do?
So, I wavered on pulling together my own Charlotte Mason curriculum with the help of Simply Charlotte Mason. I came upon Module 5 and I was smitten. It had the depth I was seeking alongside beautiful Bible family study and smart Geography using a truly inspiring work. (ETA: It is not as thorough as I at-first thought, but it is beautifully written and the history spine, A Child's Story of the US, is so, so good. SO good that today I ordered the SCM rendition to use with our history upcoming.)
But, then I reigned myself in and looked at the much bigger picture. Ideally, I would like to hold off on putting Sugar into the 5-year history cycle with MFW until she is in fourth grade. This would make Sparkler and Sinclair second graders and I am more comfortable with those ages/levels beginning together with Exploring Countries and Cultures. Looking waaaaay down the road, this also means that when Bugsy is ready to be folded into the history cycle, all four will be in Explorers to 1850 and Bugs will have the second/third-grade supplement from the Adventures year. This works simply and comfortably in my mind and heart, and that is more than half the battle.
Essentially, this gives me two years, second and third grade, as sort of gap years before beginning the history cycle. I printed out the TOCs for Adventures and Module5 (SCM) and started dissecting. I compared the topics of study, how many lessons/weeks per event or figure, I sought to decipher a method to the order and choice of topics, and then I plugged in living books that I cannot do without (and that will put my mind at ease since our library is mediocre, at best, and I am too orderly to simply hope that I will find the living books I desire) to enrich the studies.
Even though I lost hours of my life doing this task, I am SO thankful I took the time. I discovered that I need to do Adventures this year to give Sugar the pegs on which to hang more in-depth Early American History study a little later. "A little later" being third grade, in which I plan to
teach Module5 from SCM in full
craft my own curriculum for the year, and it will be another year of American History ... perhaps with Module5 since it marries Early American History alongside World History of the same era ... or it may be something entirely different than SCM (too soon to tell). I am learning to take this one year at a time. Sugar will be more ready to delve into the beauty and harsher realities of the making of our nation. My heart says she needs another year to reach that readiness, aside from the fact that she will be tackling so much new learning in second grade ... cursive, grammar, spelling, and one-on-one with Jesus Bible study.
Adventures will allow her the grace to flourish and to find a confidence in her learning before moving forward with the curriculum that fits her best at that time. Module5 is lovely and pure Charlotte Mason, and that vibe is the soul of our homeschool, well, at least I hope it is. I love Beautiful Feet so very much that my husband has gifted me the opportunity to order the Early American History guide and literature (all but the spine and CDs) ... these gorgeous books will be the cornerstone of our book basket, which I will also fill with books that I can find with ease at our library.
At this point in our journey, MFW meets the needs of my children by establishing a balance between the nature of CM-inspired, literature-rich learning and Classical sensibilities, while keeping Christ at the center.
I love American history and I am eager to spark a passion in her for the people, events, and places that shaped our country, and to instill a patriotism to carry close.
Because of Him.
