Anyone do the NFP home study?

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I want to start doing NFP, and the next time a class is offered in my area isn’t until October. Has anyone done the home study course? If so, is it easy to follow? What were the drawbacks? Thanks!
 
If you choose the Marquette method, the instructions are all free on the website.
 
I did the Couple-to-Couple home course (STM) with a work book several years ago. I mailed my charts in and they gave me advice and feedback. There was telephone support too. I found it to be very easy and a thorough program.
 
DH and I did the CCL home study course too. We just bought the book and charted on my computer. Although they recommend you get the additional consulting as well, you can also get that later if the need arises and you are very budget-conscious, like we were (both of us were in college). If your diocese requires you complete an NFP program, make sure the home study counts (it does in most places), but just buying the book usually doesn’t count.

I found it very easy to follow, pretty much read the whole book in one sitting, then looked back at it for reference in the first few months. The online charting program they have now is also useful in double-checking your interpretation. DH also read the book all in one go. I do have a scientific/research background, so I knew all the basic biology already, and I felt very at home with recording data and interpreting charts. For others it might be a steeper learning curve at first.

I did misunderstand one rule and so mis-calculated by one day during the first month, which is why I think it’s important to use the book as a reference the first couple of times. Also, have your husband and you interpret the first couple of charts separately, then see if you came to the same conclusion. I had a lot of confidence after 2-3 months.
 
Count me in as another that did the CCL home study program.

It worked for us…but I have easy cycles to interpret and was able to get a good grasp on what was going on with my body within a month or two of using it.

I don’t think I’d recommend it for someone who has irregular cycles or a condition like endometriosis or PCOS.

The home study course covers a lot of irregularities…but it doesn’t go in depth with them. The course teaches you how to chart and interpret regular cycles and then touches base on a variety of irregularities.

There is a separate course book for post-partem mothers and I believe another separate book for menopause.

I found I had a hard time consulting with anyone from CCL…but we didn’t need it. I was able to chart just fine and was able to TTA for about a year before TTC with our current pregnancy.
 
Just to add…

I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Marquette method and its online community. I’ve peaked at the website and liked what I saw.

I’m not sure if I’m ready to switch methods and try something else because we’ve had good success with STM. But I really liked the online community that Marquette had.

Something else to consider too…the book: Taking Charge of Your Fertility has a very good online community. I think it’s a forum and I’m not entirely sure who posts there (if it’s just users or if anyone from the medical community frequents to answer questions) but they do have lots and lots of example charts uploaded from people using STM for different types of women…whether they were TTA or TTC.

You can upload your charts and have more sets of eyes helping your interpret. This book is more secular though…just an FYI. But it’s nice to see many other women from all walks of life jumping on board with NFP (or FAM as they call it).
 
Kelfa28 said:
Just to add…

I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Marquette method and its online community. I’ve peaked at the website and liked what I saw.

I’m not sure if I’m ready to switch methods and try something else because we’ve had good success with STM. But I really liked the online community that Marquette had.

Something else to consider too…the book: Taking Charge of Your Fertility has a very good online community. I think it’s a forum and I’m not entirely sure who posts there (if it’s just users or if anyone from the medical community frequents to answer questions) but they do have lots and lots of example charts uploaded from people using STM for different types of women…whether they were TTA or TTC.

You can upload your charts and have more sets of eyes helping your interpret. This book is more secular though…just an FYI. But it’s nice to see many other women from all walks of life jumping on board with NFP (or FAM as they call it).
Click to expand...
This. TCOYF isn’t written from a Catholic perspective, and does suggest using barrier methods during fertile times. This isn’t OK from a Catholic perspective, of course. Still, I found the book to be much more in-depth than any other book I ever read on the STM, and I had no problem disregarding the condom suggestions and using what I did find to be very useful. I self-taught NFP from it, and had no trouble at all learning.

That having been said, I don’t have PCOS or endo. My cycles aren’t clockwork, though, and I didn’t find that to make the charting more difficult; instead, I just accepted that each cycle was different in length but would follow the same overall pattern of symptoms, if that makes any sense.

Also, my personality is such that I learn this kind of thing MUCH better from a book, which I can constantly reference, than in a class. I never learned very much in a classroom in school; I’d hear the general ideas at best, and then go home and read and write about the subject, and that’s how I’d learn. But since my aural learning skills are terrible and my visual/logical ones are very strong, that’s hardly surprising.
 
UbiCaritas said:
This. TCOYF isn’t written from a Catholic perspective, and does suggest using barrier methods during fertile times. This isn’t OK from a Catholic perspective, of course. Still, I found the book to be much more in-depth than any other book I ever read on the STM, and I had no problem disregarding the condom suggestions and using what I did find to be very useful. I self-taught NFP from it, and had no trouble at all learning.
Click to expand...
I picked up the book before I converted with the intention to learn FAM (NFP) since I hated using contraception.
Then I picked up the CCL book for a Catholic perspective. I liked the textbook format of CCL but I think TCOYF had more information.

If I can remember…it’s been awhile since I’ve read it…while they do mention that you can use barrier methods during fertile times they don’t advocate or suggest that you do this. Especially if you have very serious reasons to avoid.

The reason being is because you’re basically throwing the actual stats of NFP out the window and replacing them with condom stats…maybe even increasing your chances since you’re using the condom only during your most fertile times.

While the philosophy of why you shouldn’t use condoms isn’t the same as the Church…they do have a point. Abstaining is the only way to guarantee the effectiveness of this method. Using a barrier method could seriously decrease the effectiveness.
 
Kelfa28 said:
I picked up the book before I converted with the intention to learn FAM (NFP) since I hated using contraception.
Then I picked up the CCL book for a Catholic perspective. I liked the textbook format of CCL but I think TCOYF had more information.

If I can remember…it’s been awhile since I’ve read it…while they do mention that you can use barrier methods during fertile times they don’t advocate or suggest that you do this. Especially if you have very serious reasons to avoid.

The reason being is because you’re basically throwing the actual stats of NFP out the window and replacing them with condom stats…maybe even increasing your chances since you’re using the condom only during your most fertile times.

While the philosophy of why you shouldn’t use condoms isn’t the same as the Church…they do have a point. Abstaining is the only way to guarantee the effectiveness of this method. Using a barrier method could seriously decrease the effectiveness.
Click to expand...
You’re right about this; I typed my reply very quickly before running out to church this morning, so I didn’t proofread as well as I should have. 🙂
 
Keep in mind that the CCL also ffers virtual classes where you get the same course delivered via webcam from live instructors. It is another option, and cheaper than the home study. There are usually several courses starting throughout the month…
 
nwfs.org/

We have a great program through NW Family Services. I was pleased when my daughter in Phoenix went through their on-line program.
 
Thank you for the feedback. I think I’m going to do the Marquette method. My husband is very nervous about this whole thing, and I think using the monitor will give him something other than my own observations to trust. Not that he doesn’t trust me, but I can be flighty at times, so I kind of understand his trepidation.

Thank you again!
 
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