MFW Adventures in US History Overview

Its time to begin another year of homeschool fun at BKS Prep! This year we are using the My Father's World Adventures in U.S. History for Brooklee and Kellan. Brooklee is in 1st grade, though her coursework will all be on the 2nd grade level and Kellan is in K4 but we are using Kindergarten level work for him. I must mention that Sadie Quinn, my almost 2 year old, will be present during learning, so as much as I can, I'll be including her in some learning as well. Whether or not I am able to pre-plan those activities is yet to be determine.....

To supplement our Adventures in U.S. History curriculum, we'll also be using MathUSee Primer for Kellan and Beta for Brooklee. We began these at the end of last year and will pickup where we left off. For Spelling we are using SpellingYouSee Listen and Write for Kellan, which we also started last year and will pick up. We really enjoyed this curriculum for him as it reviews the letters and letter sounds, as well as teaches him to write and encourages him to sound out the letters to write words. We had to stop the curriculum last year b/c I never bought the teacher manual and we got to the point where I had to call out the word for him to write - but the words were only in the teacher's manual. 

Brooklee should be finishing SpellingYouSee Wild Tales, which really was challenging for her last year, but since the Americana goes along so well wtih the Adventures curriculum, we'll be using it and skipping around on the lessons so the topics match up with what we are studying each week. I was a little giddy to see how well the lessons go with the MFW Adventures curriculum, just in a different sequence. I know Americana will be a huge challenge for her, so I'm not expecting her to be able to do it to the level required in the book, but instead will use it as copywork to practice letter formation, writing skills, and vocabulary while also gaining a better understanding of spelling, grammar and sentence structure. And I love that it will reinforce our topics for the week. 

I bought a workbook called Teach Them Spanish, Grade 1 for us to use as a foreign language study this year. I'm still undecided about our Language Arts studies as Language Lessons for Today came with the Adentures package I purchased but I'm also waiting on another book to see if I like it better called First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, Level 1. Upon glancing at it online, I think I might start with the latter and move into Language Lessons for Today afterwards as Language Arts might be one of the areas where she actually is more on the level of 1st grade than in other areas. Language Lessons starts with common nouns then proper nouns, so while it will be good for Brooklee to review all of this, I think it might be on a level that Kellan can join in, too.

I'd love to do a lot of hands on learning this year because I have seen how the kids understand and retain what they learn through fun more than worksheets. However, I saw a homeschool blogger recently share that they use the See - Hear - Say - Do method of learning as much as possible. I actually love this concept because I really believe each of us have our own preferred learning style(s) in which we learn best but at such a young age I am still struggling to identify what those styles are yet for my kids. And I'd really love it if they are able to figure those out on their own, too. 

There are several songs that we'll learn this year within the curriculum, like America the Beautiful and the Star Spangled Banner, but each month we will also be learning a hymn. I tried to match some of the more well known hymns (as well as a few that I just love personally) with the theme of what we are studying or what is going on during that time. 

• August - What a Friend We Have in Jesus
• September - American the Beautiful*
• October - How Great Thou Art
• November - For the Beauty of the Earth
• December - Hark the Harold Angels Sing*
• January - Amazing Grace
• February - Love Lifted Me
• March - Rescue the Perishing
• April - Nothing but the Blood

*part of the MFW Adventures curriculum

So, if you're intersted in coming along on this journey this year, we'd love to have you. Just follow us here and check out some of my Pinterest Boards below to see what might be in the works for each week. I'd also love to hear your ideas and comments! Please feel free to leave me a message below!

Pinterest Boards by Week
Week 1 - Vikings
Week 2 - Columbus
Week 3 - Jamestown
Week 4 - Native Americans
Week 5 - Mayflower/Pilgrims
Week 6 - New Netherland
Week 7 - Pioneers in Michigan
Week 8 - Benjamin Franklin
Week 9 - George Washington
Week 10 - Dec of Independence/Thomas Jefferson/Rev War
Week 11 - President Washington
Week 12 - Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia
Week 14 - Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina
Week 15 - New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina
Week 16 - Rhode Island, Vermont, Daniel Boone
Week 17 - The Wilderness Road, Kentucky
Thanksgiving Week
Week 18 - Eli Whitney, Tennessee
Week 19 - Pioneers on the Ohio River, Ohio
Week 20 - Louisiana, Louisiana Purchase, War of 1812, Star-Spangled Banner
Christmas
Week 21 - Robert Fulton, Indiana, Mississippi
Week 22 - Illinois, Alabama, Going West by Wagon Trail
Week 23 - Maine, Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan
Week 24 - Samuel Morse, Telegraph, Florida, Texas
Week 25 - Iowa, Wisconsin, Gold in California
Week 26 - Santa Fe Trail, Oregon Trail, California Trail, California
Week 27 - Minnesota, Oregon, Abraham Lincoln
Week 28 - Abraham Lincoln
Week 29 - Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada, Nebraska
Week 30 - Transcontinental Railroad, Colorado
Week 31 - Pioneers on the Plains, North Dakota, South Dakota
Week 32 - Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming
Week 33 - Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Thomas Edison, Wright Brothers
Week 34 - Alaska & Hawaii