So you want to use My Father's World curriculum for your child or children but you can't quite figure out how this whole "Family Cycle" thing works with one or multiple children? Maybe the whole sequence is confusing for you. Here's part 2 of a breakdown on how it works: this part deals specifically with how a family with multiple children would proceed through the curriculum.
EACH CHILD:
Pre - *IMO, don't. Just let your kid play outside and bake and do chores with you as much as possible.
K - Around age 5 or 6, use God's Creation from A to Z Kindergarten program. It's complete. The Basic package is good if you have a good library or a good home collection of picture books to read to your kiddo. The Deluxe also contains enough read-alouds to have 1 per week and is good if you don't have a lot of books at home and can't get to a good library often. I personally was glad to have all the deluxe books since we didn't have a lot and our librarian hated kids.
1st - Around age 6 or 7, use Learning God's Story 1st grade program. It's complete. The Basic package is all you need. The Deluxe also has art and a music CD and a book of suggestions for reading material by age, so if those don't interest you then you don't need the Deluxe. I personally never used any of the deluxe items except the art. The art I used a couple weeks and we all hated it. Deluxe was a total waste of money for me, personally. If it seems like those things are your cup of tea go for it! Different things work for different families.
...OR Alternatively for a second+ child, you can purchase a 1st grade level math and phonics from another company and your 1st grader can join the MFW cycle with their older sibling. You will need to lower your expectations for your 1st grader, especially when it comes to writing things.
Grade-level Math and Language Arts are required as add-ons for all years after this point!>>>
FIRST CHILD ONLY:
2nd - Around age 7 or 8, use Adventures in U.S. History package. This package is designed to be for 2nd or 3rd graders, so for your firstborn or if you only have 1 child you would use it for 2nd grade directly after Learning God's Story.
...OR alternatively, IF you feel your child started school too young or isn't thriving, you may want to SLOW it down and use Adventures stretched out over 2 years. I.e. use it as both 2nd and 3rd grade. There's a F***book group just for suggestions on how to supplement to do exactly that. You will have to weigh the pros and cons for stretching it for your child. One of the pros is that when your child starts the first Family Cycle year (Exploring Countries and Cultures or ECC), he or she will be a year older and better at reading and writing.
If you are just starting to use MFW for the first time ever, and your OLDEST child is going into 3rd grade, you would use Adventures in U.S. History as 3rd grade. If you did Adventures as 2nd grade, skip to ECC below.
Grade-level Science and 7th/8th grade supplements required for all 7th and 8th graders Math and Language Arts are required as add-ons for all grades 2nd+!>>>
ALL CHILDREN:
>Next - Use Exploring Countries & Cultures (ECC). Your firstborn will go to this level after using Adventures and again after using 1850TMT if they have not completed grade 8 yet. Your subsequent kids will do whatever level your oldest is doing that year for 2nd+.
Next - Use Creation to the Greeks (CTG).
Next - Use Rome to the Reformation (RTR).
Next - Use Exploration to 1850 (ET1850).
Next - Use 1850 to Modern Times (1850TMT).
Next - Start again at the > with ECC. Your children will go round and round these 5 year-packages until they each complete 8th grade, then they will leave the family cycle and do high school. When your children repeat one of the early cycle years as an older child they will need a 7th & 8th grade supplement, and when younger children join the olders in one of the later cycle years, they will need a 2nd & 3rd grade supplement.
High School:
9th+ - Proceed to high school. MFW offers High School level curriculum, which I have not yet used, but I know it's grade-specific and not a group curriculum like the family cycle is. My oldest is in 8th this year so I guess I'll know more about the high school next year. :)
*PRESCHOOL:
Anything before Kindergarten is 100% optional. It's NOT NECESSARY. It's not legally required. You do not have to do it. So if part of your reason for why homeschooling or MFW specifically is too hard or not going to work is that you "have to" teach a preschooler too, no you most certainly do not. Preschoolers are literally DESIGNED to learn through play. Any good preschool curriculum is just a collection of educational toys and fun ways you can play with your kids and help them learn through life. You do not need a curriculum for that. Your preschooler is going to be BETTER off playing outside in the yard than doing "preschool" inside with you. Trust me, I love My Father's World, but I confess to feeling a little bit disappointed when they started making and selling preschool packages. Now sadly, many people think that to use the MFW curriculum you need to start your tiny tot in All Aboard The Animal Train at the tender age of 3. Guys, it's OPTIONAL! You do not HAVE to, and in fact I would argue that making them start preschool at age 3 could actually stunt them academically. (See my other post on avoiding overdoing it with too much or too soon.) Some kids are ready and want something school-y to do at 3 or 4 and some thrive with just learning through play until they are 6 or 7 or 8... In fact, if by the time you plan to start 1st grade you have your child taught their alphabet and consonant and short-vowel sounds, and how to count to 20 and add/subtract up to 10, then you could theoretically skip Kindergarten too.
KINDERGARTEN:
The Kindergarten My Father's World offers is so sweet and fun and gentle; it's perfect for a 5 or 6 year old. It's a great intro to schooling and you 1,000,000% DO NOT need any preschool before it. I see a lot of people saying "well it's so gentle my 4 year old (even 3 year old) is doing it!" but IMHO that is a really bad idea. Why? Because 1st grade comes after Kinder and 1st grade level work is MUCH harder than K and is very much NOT developmentally appropriate for a toddler. The bones in a child's hands are not even fully formed until they are around age 6-7 so to give them the writing workload of a 1st grader when they are younger than that is very inappropriate, no matter how advanced they may be mentally.
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