My Father’s World

My Father’s World

My Father’s World offers complete or almost complete grade level programs for grades K through 8 and is developing high school level programs. MFW embodies methodology from unit study, Charlotte Mason, and classical approaches with a strong biblical base (Protestant) throughout all levels. Each program centers around a single guide and uses a mixture of real books and hands on activities along with a few textbooks. Complete/Basic or Deluxe Packages are available for each level. Complete Packages (also called Basic Packages for newer volumes) provide core elements that are consumable or that you cannot find at the library. Deluxe Packages include either all or almost all items you need other than household supplies for activities.

My Father’s World From A to Z: A Complete Kindergarten Curriculum

by Marie Hazell

Kindergarten level focuses on beginning reading, math, science, and religion appropriate for children who are just ready to begin learning letters and sounds. Other activities in the book cover the rest of what needs to be accomplished at kindergarten level. Many activities in the book—especially those not targeting beginning number and letter skills--easily expand for use with younger or older children.

Although My Father’s World was written for either home schools or regular day schools, it has elements of classroom organization and scheduling. However, Charlotte Mason influence is strong with the incorporation of real books and hands-on learning throughout the program. (Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s book about Mason’s methodology, For the Children’s Sake is referred to a number of times in My Father’s World and is included in the deluxe package.)

Lessons should take 60 to 90 minutes per day, and there are sufficient lessons here for a full school year. Lessons are presented in two parts—reading lesson and science lesson—although lessons are structured differently for the first ten days. Those first ten days follow integrated lesson plans wherein the biblical creation story is taught along with letters and their names. From day eleven on, the program integrates lessons for teaching sounds and beginning blending (short-vowel words only) with science lessons. All learning is multi-sensory, combining worksheets, oral work, listening, movable alphabet, flashcards, and hands-on activities.

For example, Lesson 11 teaches about insects, emphasizing the Biblical concept of diligence. Ants, bees, and ladybugs are used as examples. Children are advised to look at the “Ant” article in World Book Encyclopedia, and make observations from the illustrations, then maintain their own ant farm with the Ant Hill kit that is included in the Deluxe package.

Simple science experiments, craft projects, and literature are built into the lessons. Reading lessons present a new letter every six days (coordinating with the six days for presenting each science lesson), then use a wide variety of activities to teach the sound, letter formation (handwriting), recognition of sounds in spoken words and pictures, and, when children are ready, blending. Directions for a few of the reading activities are sometimes presented in two different ways, for either classroom or homeschool.

A variety of worksheets are provided, including some cut-and-paste. Many learning activities use textured letters (these come in the deluxe package or you need to obtain them separately), tactile activities (e.g., finger Jello® cut into letter shapes, pancakes formed as letters), and verbal responses.

Day six in each lesson is “Book Day” for reading a “real” book and engaging in related activities. Math is often integrated in lessons; for example, sorting leaves by color and size or cutting an apple in half. When math skills do not integrate easily into the topic, they are presented as supplemental lessons. Skills covered include shapes, comparing and sequencing, measuring, calendar, money, time, counting, and writing numbers.

The basic program includes a lovely, full-color set of A to Z Alphabet Flashcards. These 5” x 8” flashcards feature illustrations from nature and a typestyle that looks like manuscript printing. These flashcards are also sold separately for $9.95, and they might be used with other reading courses.

My Father’s World is clearly structured with easy-to-understand instructions. Lesson preparation time will be required primarily for gathering necessary materials; planning ahead is essential. In addition to the textured letter set mentioned above, you need a Bible and access to either a set of appropriate encyclopedias such as World Book or children’s non-fiction library books.

To make things easier, My Father’s World offers a deluxe package that includes the basic program and alphabet cards plus A- Z Textured Letters by Lauri, Butterfly Garden, an ant farm, Introduction to Classical Music CD, Cuisenaire® Rods, Cuisenaire® Rods Alphabet Book, and the books What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs? and For the Children’s Sake. These items and a few others are also offered individually on the publisher’s website.

Some inexpensive art supplies such as clay, watercolor paints, and paintbrushes will be required; a few more such as tempera paints and colored pencils will be optional. You will also need an extra set of Kindergarten Student Materials for each additional student ($35). You can view a sample lesson on the publisher’s website.

My Father’s World First Grade

by Marie Hazell

This first grade program very quickly reviews letters and sounds, then introduces short-vowel words. All basic phonic concepts are presented this year. Spelling and writing both receive much more emphasis this year than they did in kindergarten. Science in the first grade program relies heavily upon three Usborne books-- Things Outdoors, Science With Water, and Science With Plants--in keeping with Marie Hazell’s incorporation of Charlotte Mason’s ideas for teaching science using real books and activities. A list of first grade math goals and ideas for informal math activities are included along with a daily math grid that uses hands-on math activities plus math resources from the First Grade Deluxe program.

The Complete First Grade Curriculum package includes the teacher’s manual, student workbook, student worksheets, Bible Notebook, timeline and figures, Bible Reader, three Usborne science books, and addition and subtraction facts practice charts (similar to Holey Cards).

The Bible Notebook is a “blank” book with lines and spaces for children to create their own notebook from the lessons they study. The Bible Reader features simple retellings of Bible stories. Weekly memory verses from Proverbs reinforce key lesson ideas and are used for developing handwriting skills as well.

This program builds a very strong familiarity with the Old Testament since it uses lengthy readings in many lessons as well as the Bible Reader. Children also learn the names of the books of the Bible this year. Minimal lesson preparation is required. Daily lesson plans provide detailed instruction and are easy to follow. Some cut-and-paste activities are used from time to time, and there are a few projects you might use if you so choose (e.g., celebration of Purim).

Children are asked to draw in many of the lessons, and the author suggests using the book Drawing with Children for developing drawing skills. That book along with Honey for a Child's Heart , Come Look with Me: Enjoying Art with Children, Come Look with Me: Enjoying Landscape Art with Children, Wooden Pattern Blocks, The Complete Book of Math (300+ page book of math activities), Pattern Animals: Puzzles for Pattern Blocks, and Introduction to the Orchestra CD, in addition to all items in the Complete Package, comprise the First Grade Deluxe Package.

Adventures in My Father’s World

NOTE: This is an optional program designed for a second or third grader who is an oldest child. Families with older siblings should instead purchase one of the programs that covers grades 2 through 8 so that all students are working on the same topics.

Adventures in My Father’s World provides complete curriculum for Bible, History, geography, science, art, and music, with United States History being the primary theme for the year. There is some language arts instruction, but it is not comprehensive. Math is not included. You need to add your own math and language arts resources. MFW recommends Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serl and Spelling by Sound and Structure (Rod and Staff). Study of a foreign language is recommended but not required. (MFW recommends Rosetta Stone courses for this purpose.)

Moderately detailed lesson plans are provided for each day.

Students will be doing increasing amounts of reading and writing at this level. Each student will need two three-ring binders—one for U.S. History and geography and the other for all other subjects.

You will need to do some prep work before teaching the program: photocopy pages at the back of the guide that are used for activities and for creating a timeline, gathering/buying art supplies for I Can Do All Things, and gather or purchase books you will need for the first few weeks of the program.

You may purchase either the Basic or Deluxe Package. The Basic Package includes the teaching guide, a Map of the United States and of the world, state sheets/cards, state flag stickers, Celebrate America CD, and the books NIrV Discover's Bible for Young Readers; Exploring American History (CLP); American Pioneers and Patriots (CLP); North American Indians; Red, White, and Blue; The Thanksgiving Story; The Fourth of July Story; First Encyclopedia of Science; Science in the Kitchen; Science with Air; and Birds, Nests, and Eggs.

The Deluxe package includes all of the above plus the I Can Do All Things art program, Soda Bottle Bird Feeder, Introduction to Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker Suite CD set, and My First Magnet Kit, plus seven additional read aloud books such as The Courage of Sarah Noble.

At the back of the teacher manual are pages of still more book and video recommendations (annotated with short descriptions) that are arranged very helpfully week by week so you can easily browse through possibilities for alternatives or additions to the curriculum.

Charlotte Mason methodology again dominates with the use of real books, hands-on activity, nature walks, narration, and other Mason techniques used throughout the program.

The religious perspective is non-denominational Christian.

2 nd - 8th Grade Multi-Age Curriculum

While the preceding programs all have more narrow age/grade level designations, the rest of MFW consists of five volumes, any of which might be used for students in grades two through eight. Ideally, you would follow MFW’s sequence, no matter at what grade level you begin. (Note that you might complete all five volumes in grades two through six, then repeat the first two volumes at a more advanced level for seventh and eighth grades.)

The first year of the five-year cycle is dedicated to concentrated study of geography and cultures in Exploring Countries and Cultures in My Father’s World. The next four volumes follow a chronological order:

History: Creation to the Greeks

History: Rome to the Reformation

U.S./World History: Exploration to 1850

U.S./World History: Civil War to Modern Times

As with the other MFW volumes, these five levels use real books and lots of hands-on activities to cover Bible, social studies (history/geography), science, art, and music. You might consider this a unit study although study in all subjects is not as tightly linked to unit themes as in other unit studies. For example, music study might be about a composer from the time period studied in history, or students might study Greek and Latin word roots while working through the volumes that include study of the Greek and Roman empires. MFW also incorporates textbooks and other resources to cover specific topics that might not fit exactly with the topic. For example, children learn the music of Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel during their study of History: Creation to the Greeks.

Language arts are covered separately, although children will be working on some language arts activities within the curriculum itself. MFW suggests resources like Spelling Power, English from the Roots Up, Writing Strands, and Intermediate Language Lessons for language arts. These particular resources are not essential, and they are not written into the lesson plans.

Math is not included in these volumes, although MFW recommends Singapore Math. Study of a foreign language is recommended with Rosetta Stone suggested as MFW’s preferred resource. Seventh and eighth graders need to also add a grade level science course.

Teacher’s Manuals feature daily lesson plans with additional notes and explanations alongside each week’s chart. Charts show specific pages and activities within the core resources. Some of the books included in the schedules are NOT included in the Basic Packages; generally these are read aloud books that you might find at the library. All resources listed in the schedule charts ARE included in the Deluxe Packages.

At the back of each teacher’s manual are reproducible pages for creating a timeline, plus many others for activities such as mapwork, crafts, and written work. As with Adventures in My Father’s World, students will need to maintain two three-ring binders for their work for each volume of this course.

The first three volumes (those available at the time of my review) all exhibit a very strong biblical base with an especially strong emphasis on Protestant missionary efforts. While this can be a good thing, I think it sometimes crowds out the larger picture of history, skewing the perspective a bit. This is evident in both the teaching guides and the resource books and videos used for each volume.

Note that in this selection of resources, especially those for science, evolutionary assumptions crop up now and then. The teacher’s manual sometimes has notes alerting you to this issue in advance.

Exploring Countries and Cultures in My Father’s World

As the title suggests, this volume teaches about other countries and cultures. It is selective rather than comprehensive in coverage, an approach entirely suitable for a young audience. For example, while all continents are “visited,” only a few representative countries are actually studied. Protestant missionary biographies, stories from Hero Tales (heroes of Protestantism), and information from Window on the World (information about missionary efforts and status worldwide) are assigned for reading within the lesson plans, often coordinating with the country being studied that week. For example, the biography of Gladys Aylward, missionary to China, begins during the study of China, but continues through study of Japan.

Of course other resources are also used along with Exploring Cultures. The Basic Package includes the teacher’s manual, Hero Tales, Window on the World, Illustrated World Atlas (Usborne), Intermediate World Atlas, a wall map of the world, Maps and Globes (Usborne), Geography from A to Z, A Trip around the World, Another Trip around the World, World Geography (activity workbook), Wild Places, Living World Encyclopedia (Usborne), Global Art (activity book), Wee Sing Around the World CD, Math Facts Practice Charts (for practicing addition, subtraction, multiplication, division), and Flag Sticker Book.

The Deluxe Package adds the six missionary biographies, The Great Animal Search (puzzle book from Usborne), and an inflatable globe.

Since this volume is intended to be used first in the sequence of five volumes, it is designed for a slightly younger level than the others, targeting students in grades two through six. Sometimes the teacher’s manual describes activities as better for older or younger students, but most of the time it’s up to you to decide which activities are appropriate.

History: Creation to the Greeks

MFW strongly recommends that children complete Exploring Countries and Cultures before beginning this volume so that they have foundational knowledge of countries and geographic terms that will be used this year.

The outline for this study follows the Old Testament, beginning with Creation and continuing through the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the exile (in the book of Nehemiah). Following the biblical timeline, students also learn about ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Babylonian kingdom, early North American cultures, other ancient cultures of the Middle East such as the Canaanites, Hittites and Philistines, Assyria, Greece (including some Greek mythology), India (including brief study of Hinduism and Buddhism), early Russians, Phoenicians, and the Persian empire, culminating with Alexander the Great. The book Celebrating Biblical Feasts is used to incorporate study and celebration of the Old Testament biblical feasts.

Core books used with this volume seem to be significantly more challenging than those used for Exploring Cultures. The Basic Package includes the teachers’ manual, Victor Journey through the Bible, Streams of Civilization Vol. 1 (a history text typically used at junior high level), Ancient World, Ancient Egypt, Aesop for Children, The Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War, The Children’s Homer, Genesis for Kids, Dinosaurs of Eden, Pyramids, Archimedes and the Door of Science, and Celebrating the Biblical Feasts.

The Deluxe Package adds: English from the Roots Up; God and the History of Art(art history for older students from a decidedly Protestant viewpoint); Introduction to Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel CD; and a set of three Patricia St. John books-Treasures of the Snow, Star of Light, and The Tanglewood’s Secret.

This volume also includes a list of recommended books to enrich topics addressed within each week’s lesson as does Exploring Cultures. If you are working with younger children, be sure to select and use resources that are age appropriate or that you can “translate” down for your children.

History: Rome to the Reformation

The layout and methodology for this volume is essentially the same as for the Creation to the Greeks. This volume again includes many pages of optional book and video recommendations for each week of study. The assumption is that you have just completed Creation to the Greeks and already have some of the resources used with that volume: Victor Journey through the Bible, Streams of Civilization Vol. 1, and Ancient World. Other items included in the Basic Package are the teacher’s manual, How the Bible Came to Us, The Roman Empire, Augustus Caesar’s World, Galen and the Gateway to Medicine, The Story of theWorld Vol. 2 (by Susan Wise Bauer), Medieval World (Usborne), Trial and Triumph: Stories from Church History, The Human Body for Every Kid (science experiments), The Body Book, How Your Body Works, The Wonderful Way Babies are Made, and Exploring Creation with Astronomy.

The Deluxe Package adds Starting Chess (book that teaches beginners the basics), Make This Model Medieval Castle kit, Introduction to Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven CD, and the read aloud books: The Bronze Bow, Twice Freed, Dangerous Journey, and Door in the Wall. English from the Roots Up and God and the History of Art (both might have been used along with the previous volume) are scheduled in the charts at this level but are optional.

You might have noticed that the human body and astronomy are the primary science themes for this year. You might also have noticed that there’s quite a lot of reading material included, and a good deal of it is written at junior high level. However, the program is designed so the parent is reading the books aloud to the student, and pages to be read are listed under daily assignments. That means you will not be reading every page in every book, so it is not as overwhelming as it might seem. As with the last volume, make sure you “translate” difficult books so that younger students understand the material, or be selective about which resources you use.

It is important to note that history coverage, especially through Streams of Civilization, Augustus Caesar’s World, and Story of the World, is not restricted to Western Civilization but includes Japan, India, Australia, and other far flung places.

U.S./World History: Exploration to 1850

Not yet reviewed

Not yet reviewed