"My Father's World" homeschool curriculum?

[contrary]

hi all,

does anyone know anything about the "my father's world" homeschool curriculum? I've been googling, but i'm not finding a lot of unbiased info, it seems....

my BIL and SIL use this to homeschool their three children, and i'm curious as to whether it's a viable curriculum, or if it's of the IBLP/VF vein...

[GenerationCedarchip]

I don't know a whole lot about the curriculum other than reading reviews online and hearing it mentioned occasionally (I've had more than a few homeschool clients - lots of homeschooling goes on in my area). I get the impression that it's conservative and Christian, but not in the same vein as the VF/ATI cult wackiness.

[contrary]

thank you. most of what i can find is by evangelical moms extolling its virtues. i did fine one who said it presented evolution alongside creationism, but that's really all she said...that it was a "gentle introduction to the evolution vs creationism issue" that parents could pick and choose from, or use to discuss what they believe.

i dunno. i'm feeling suspicious, but part of that is due to my immersion in fundie-blogs. MFW could be a totally viable curriculum, and i don't want to be suspicious of it JUST because it's christian.

[dcmhejbl62]

I don't know much about it, but at the moment I'm suspicious of it too, mostly because I've read people dissing Sonlight as too worldly and saying MFW "is a better fit for our family's values." Sonlight is up front about saying they are literature-based, that they don't use the hokey stuff from Christian publishers, and that parents need to expose children to the world, even if it isn't all sunshiney and wrapped in scripture, in order to teach them about it... and yet used as written, Sonlight is STILL very conservative. Makes me wonder.

[Mommy22alyns]

It is definitely not VF/IBLP crapola. It is pretty conservative Christian. It looks (from my research) to be pretty academically sound.

Yes, this is my first post and I run a SOTDRT. :mrgreen:

[Burris]

I checked out the reviews then went to the vendor's website to read the catalogue. The MFW curriculum actually sounds interesting, rigorous, and easy-to-use even for parents uncertain of their own ability to homeschool.

It's definitely fundie, but I didn't see any ATI/VF nuttiness there. In fact some of the recommended books - e.g., Animal Farm and Pride and Prejudice for kids in high school - are common choices even in public schools (and probably for reasons similar to why MFW recommends them).

[contrary]

thank you all. again, i think me immersion here has made me suspicious of them, as they are certainly far more CC than i.

they're also the family we've named as guardians for our children, god forbid we need guardians. so..while i'm certainly not looking for reasons to be suspicious, i also feel like i need to keep an eye on things, too.

all in all, should our girls by some tragedy, end up with them, i'm okay with their lifestyle being different than ours as long as it wouldn't put my children at a disadvantage in any way.

[apple1]

thank you all. again, i think me immersion here has made me suspicious of them, as they are certainly far more CC than i.

they're also the family we've named as guardians for our children, god forbid we need guardians. so..while i'm certainly not looking for reasons to be suspicious, i also feel like i need to keep an eye on things, too.

all in all, should our girls by some tragedy, end up with them, i'm okay with their lifestyle being different than ours as long as it wouldn't put my children at a disadvantage in any way.

This seems to be one of the strangest posts I have read on FJ. I think you just said that the authors/sellers of these materials are your choice for someone to raise your kids, should you become unable to do so.

Why would you use unknown (might not even be who they say they are- nothing against anyone here, but that's the way it could be on the internet) posters on a message board to vet such a personal and IMPORTANT decision? Color me totally confused by this.

Or are you saying that the people you have chosen use these materials to teach? That's a horse of a different color, although I'm still confused about why you would ask unknown posters on an internet board.

[sableduck]

I think the OP has named her family guardians and they use MFW, and if something should happen to her she wants to make sure that her kids are still receiving a sound education.

My mom used the curriculum for a few years, and she has one of the most aademically sound homeschools I've seen. Now, she has homeschooled for 25 years and does tailor curriculums to meet the individual child's needs, which means they don't do every activity. But she has never stayed with a curriculum long if she found that it wasn't academically sound. The only reason she no longer uses it is because my sisters are too old now or she finished it, I don't remember which.

I am very impressed with what I have seen in the younger grades of Sonlight(haven't looked at the upper grades), so that is where I am leaning once my kids are old enough for school. But I would conside My Fathers' World, too.

[contrary]

yes, we've named the SIL/BIL as guardians, and they use MFW for their children. I was asking for information on MFW because i just generally keep loose tabs on how they raise and educate their own children as a measure of how they'd raise and educate mine, should the need arise.

i am not asking for advice to vet the guardianship decision; i'm asking what the FJ folks know about the MFW curriculum, because the posters here seem to be very knowledgeable about homeschooling and what is/is not a sound educational mechanism. I couldn't find anything online that made me feel any better informed, after some initial research, so i asked here, since we have a large number of homeschooling mamas whose opinions i would trust.

thank you sableduck. the info in your post is good to hear!

[Triplet3]

i did fine one who said it presented evolution alongside creationism, but that's really all she said...that it was a "gentle introduction to the evolution vs creationism issue" that parents could pick and choose from, or use to discuss what they believe.

If it presents evolution as anything other than the closest thing to fact as it's possible to get in science then it isn't academically sound. I very much doubt that it presents the 'issue' impartially.

[contrary]

i agree, triplet, wholeheartedly.

[apple1]

OK, glad to hear that I was misunderstanding what you were asking.