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My 9th grader is using core 100 and I'm soooo glad we came back to SL. Everyone has their different issues and for me I love having the questions for history and literature. I love having the writing assignments correlate with what he's reading. It's been great for us and we plan on using SL throughout high school.

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My 9th grader is using core 100 and I'm soooo glad we came back to SL. Everyone has their different issues and for me I love having the questions for history and literature. I love having the writing assignments correlate with what he's reading. It's been great for us and we plan on using SL throughout high school.

Good to hear! I love all the book selections. Even though she will be starting Core 7 in 10th grade I think she'll love it. She's a very fast reader and has not covered this time period in public school

Core 100 looks amazing, as soon as the new catalog arrives, im on it!

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I'm a long-term SL user, but I won't use them for high school again.

 

I have used every Core from K up through 100 and have also used 300. I thought all the Cores were very good except for 100 and 300. Even Core 100 would have been fine if it hadn't been marketed as a high school level Core. I think it is great for 7th or 8th grade.

 

I'm switching to Oak Meadow for high school level history.

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I used Core 100 for 9th grade. You'll find varying opinions on whether or not 100 is worthy of a high school credit. I think it is fine for 9th grade, but would be hesitant to use in the later years.

 

I think you would need to beef up Core 7 quite a bit to make it hs worthy....

 

SL does not have a high school world history core, so this year (10th) we abandoned SL for history (used 200's literature for English, however) and went with WP Royals and some Teaching Company courses. I won't use WP again. Too disjointed, the books choices were mediocre, the schedule doesn't include ANY notes or questions.....

 

Anyway, I'm not sure what we are doing for next year. I may use Core 400. I just don't know.

 

I wish SL would direct more of their resources towards high school.

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We are! Love the books, the Q/A for the lit are okay---history questions are pretty good. That said---we supplement HEAVILY! The writing, without any guidance, just doesn't work for my kids---so we use a different program. In fact, this year I am using Core7/WP American Crossing 1 for my 8th grader and Core 300/WP Royals for my 11th grader. WP history is AWESOME---but, like the pp said, no notes, questions or any interaction with Royals. But we are finding the books wonderful---very deep and rich learning. WP American History is STELLAR---especially using their Lit choices. No real commentary or questions---but again, the books speak for themselves. It is a great pairing with SL. So next year my son will do Core100/WP American Culture. Splitting up US Hist makes SO much more sense---I don't think my dd got as much out of doing the SL 100 last year as my son is getting out of doing the History of US from Core100 over 2 years using WP and SL reading.

 

SL is what you make of it though. As written, it doesn't work 100% for us. But plenty of people use it just as it is all through high school, and especially using their writing assignments---and their kids do great.

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We are! Love the books, the Q/A for the lit are okay---history questions are pretty good. That said---we supplement HEAVILY! The writing, without any guidance, just doesn't work for my kids---so we use a different program. In fact, this year I am using Core7/WP American Crossing 1 for my 8th grader and Core 300/WP Royals for my 11th grader. WP history is AWESOME---but, like the pp said, no notes, questions or any interaction with Royals. But we are finding the books wonderful---very deep and rich learning. WP American History is STELLAR---especially using their Lit choices. No real commentary or questions---but again, the books speak for themselves. It is a great pairing with SL. So next year my son will do Core100/WP American Culture. Splitting up US Hist makes SO much more sense---I don't think my dd got as much out of doing the SL 100 last year as my son is getting out of doing the History of US from Core100 over 2 years using WP and SL reading.

 

SL is what you make of it though. As written, it doesn't work 100% for us. But plenty of people use it just as it is all through high school, and especially using their writing assignments---and their kids do great.

How do your children find time for all the reading with both plans???

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I used Core 100 for 9th grade. You'll find varying opinions on whether or not 100 is worthy of a high school credit. I think it is fine for 9th grade, but would be hesitant to use in the later years.

 

I think you would need to beef up Core 7 quite a bit to make it hs worthy....

 

SL does not have a high school world history core, so this year (10th) we abandoned SL for history (used 200's literature for English, however) and went with WP Royals and some Teaching Company courses. I won't use WP again. Too disjointed, the books choices were mediocre, the schedule doesn't include ANY notes or questions.....

 

Anyway, I'm not sure what we are doing for next year. I may use Core 400. I just don't know.

 

I wish SL would direct more of their resources towards high school.

Looking at a catalog I borrowed from a friend, it does look like SL is really geared for the very younger years...I am torn, My friend also has used Beautiful Feet and says she likes it, wonder if I could go with BF and add in SL readers. is SL teacher guide worth the $$$ Is it "all that"???

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Looking at a catalog I borrowed from a friend, it does look like SL is really geared for the very younger years...I am torn, My friend also has used Beautiful Feet and says she likes it, wonder if I could go with BF and add in SL readers. is SL teacher guide worth the $$$ Is it "all that"???

 

The IG notes that supplement the history are 'all that'. Very thought provoking and enriching----just not very exciting to look at or use.

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Looking at a catalog I borrowed from a friend, it does look like SL is really geared for the very younger years...I am torn, My friend also has used Beautiful Feet and says she likes it, wonder if I could go with BF and add in SL readers. is SL teacher guide worth the $$$ Is it "all that"???

 

I find the SL IG completely worth the $$. I had to buy Core 200's this year to obtain the schedule/notes/questions/writing assignments for the literature. SL's high school IG's are more $$$ ($85) than the lower cores, but IMO, they are completely worth every penny.

 

We will use SL for literature next year (just not sure about history) and I have no problem springing for the IG.

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We are! Love the books, the Q/A for the lit are okay---history questions are pretty good. That said---we supplement HEAVILY! The writing, without any guidance, just doesn't work for my kids---so we use a different program. In fact, this year I am using Core7/WP American Crossing 1 for my 8th grader and Core 300/WP Royals for my 11th grader. WP history is AWESOME---but, like the pp said, no notes, questions or any interaction with Royals. But we are finding the books wonderful---very deep and rich learning. WP American History is STELLAR---especially using their Lit choices. No real commentary or questions---but again, the books speak for themselves. It is a great pairing with SL. So next year my son will do Core100/WP American Culture. Splitting up US Hist makes SO much more sense---I don't think my dd got as much out of doing the SL 100 last year as my son is getting out of doing the History of US from Core100 over 2 years using WP and SL reading.

 

SL is what you make of it though. As written, it doesn't work 100% for us. But plenty of people use it just as it is all through high school, and especially using their writing assignments---and their kids do great.

 

What is WP History?

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Have any of you used BF before? the IG is very slim. Just wondering how much you can get out of it....The whole thing confuses me.

 

Have you looked at their samples? http://www.bfbooks.com/s.nl;jsessionid=0a0105531f43e622caab512348e7bfa68995f64115ed.e3eSc3uRax8Te34Pa38Ta38Qbxj0?sc=5&category=348

 

We used the Primary US History our first year homeschooling, so I can't speak for older grades, but the one thing I remember is it was kind of disjointed and didn't finish all the books we started. That bothers me when you pay so much for the program and the books. SL reads all the books----and also has many more books obviously. SL is just more---and more complete.

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I am thinking of starting my 10th grader on core 7 and progressing thru 100 and finally 300 for the remainder of her school year. How have you liked it if you used it?

 

We used 300 before it was revised. Only half the books had commentary or helps of any kind for me to use, but that may have changed. I did like most of the selections, although we did not read the lighter books because we wanted to take more time with the others. I also found we needed more analysis of the history than the "just the facts" we got from the DK book--but they are no longer using that.

 

I dislike when people do this, but I'm going to anyway--:D--I know you asked about Sonlight, but have you considered Omnibus? Omnibus 3 is written for high school (as opposed to Sonlight 7, which is really middle school level, imo), and would cover the Reformation to the Present. The readings are quite good--not terribly hard, tho it's mostly Great Books. You will still have day by day lesson plans, and would give 3 credits--history, lit and theology. You don't have to do every single book, and could take out a few and substitute from the Sonlight list of the same time period if you wanted to. We did Omni 1 and 2 with tweaking, and I really liked them.

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Thanks, I will check out Omnibus, however my dd just came out of public school. I pulled her out in 9th back in Oct, and we have been unschooling, just reading, watching History Channel etc...

 

I really REALLY think Core 7 is more her speed. I am not concerned with credits etc..since I am my own private school and Jr. College if any is our goal with this child

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My DD is currently doing Core 6, we will do a combination of 7 and 100 over the next two years. We really enjoy them. I think you would need to supplement spines to make these high school, but that could be done quite easily. We love SL, but we are readers, my DD actually does another Lit program and is still an avid reader in her spare time. We use something else for LA and science.

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My DD is currently doing Core 6, we will do a combination of 7 and 100 over the next two years. We really enjoy them. I think you would need to supplement spines to make these high school, but that could be done quite easily. We love SL, but we are readers, my DD actually does another Lit program and is still an avid reader in her spare time. We use something else for LA and science.

Can I ask why you don't like SL's LA? It seems to be a theme!

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My ds is using Core 100 this year for 7th grade. I think its light for high school, but if you don't mind that, it was a great core - very enjoyable. We are going to do Core 6 & Core 7 the next 2 years for 8th & 9th grades. I will supplement the spines to raise the level to what I consider a high school level. For Core 6 I'm going to use SWBs History of the Ancient World and History of the Medieval World. I haven't decided what to add to Core 7 yet to make it high school credit worthy. I have also added Lightning Lit 7 this year (and will add 8 next year) for Lit Analysis with more hand holding. I hope to do Core 300 in 10th grade too.

 

We really like sonlight. I think it does a great job of immersing kids in the time period they are studying. If you are trying to do something different than public school and get in some interesting history study that doesn't have to prepare for a 4-year university, the cores you are looking at are a good fit.

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Can I ask why you don't like SL's LA? It seems to be a theme!

 

Well, having tried to do SL LA since we started way back in 2004---I can pinpoint our reasons why it just doesn't work. First of all, they changed the old grammar heavy with no grammar teaching LA sheets to basically just writing with no grammar. And writing topics that are WAY to deep or advanced for the levels indicated with NO actual instruction on HOW to write. Apparently, they 'solved' this problem with the newer sheets, but I tried the new LA4 a few years ago and didn't notice much difference. The LA from Core 7 on up are writing prompts tied to the reading books. But prompts that are just TOO hard to implement for most people. And once again, no actual instruction for writing. The IG schedules the optional workbooks---Wordly Wise, Analogies, Vocabulary From Classical Roots also. Again, no grammar. With a strong writing background, i guess the SL LA in the upper cores could work. I just think most people's kids aren't at that level and find it very difficult to implement. :glare:

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Well, having tried to do SL LA since we started way back in 2004---I can pinpoint our reasons why it just doesn't work. First of all, they changed the old grammar heavy with no grammar teaching LA sheets to basically just writing with no grammar. And writing topics that are WAY to deep or advanced for the levels indicated with NO actual instruction on HOW to write. Apparently, they 'solved' this problem with the newer sheets, but I tried the new LA4 a few years ago and didn't notice much difference. The LA from Core 7 on up are writing prompts tied to the reading books. But prompts that are just TOO hard to implement for most people. And once again, no actual instruction for writing. The IG schedules the optional workbooks---Wordly Wise, Analogies, Vocabulary From Classical Roots also. Again, no grammar. With a strong writing background, i guess the SL LA in the upper cores could work. I just think most people's kids aren't at that level and find it very difficult to implement. :glare:

wow, this is interesting. I am wondering if you are meant to use it from the get go, and it progresses each year. Someone just jumping in it may not work for? No Grammar? But I have read about the "no grammar" philosophy before.

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We have used Sonlight alt 7, 100, 200, and 300

I am probably skipping 400 and doing a more condensed American govt

and then doing British Literature- I taught British Literature and just can't resist - I love Sonlight for the book lists- I think the key to High School with Sonlight to transistion from mom directed to more independent work- having said that we have found it easier to use Queen homeschool literature studies some this year- because of the way they are laid out per lesson -what to accomplish

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I am thinking of starting my 10th grader on core 7 and progressing thru 100 and finally 300 for the remainder of her school year. How have you liked it if you used it?

 

 

Yikes! I think it would be extremely difficult to get through three cores in one year! Esp. since you're coming out of public school, I'd suggest instead just using some of the great book ideas from Sonlight and then:

 

1. Get solid programs for each of your core subjects, esp. English (grammar; writing; literature; vocabulary) -- SL language arts is NOT the best choice for starting homeschooling partway into high school, IMO -- not specific enough or in-depth enough on any aspect of English

 

2. Decide on a SINGLE focus for history for your first year of homeschooling; for example:

- Medieval/Renaissance/Reformation world history (possible SL core 7 books)

- American History (possible SL core 100 books)

- Modern/20th Century world history (possible SL core 300 books)

 

3. "Cherry pick" the best books out of the SL cores -- what you feel are the "must reads" or "want to reads" -- to supplement your history and literature; to enjoy as solo reads for your DD; and as great family read alouds.

 

 

Some alternate curriculum suggestions that would be at your DD's level:

 

HISTORY

- Notgrass World History (ancients to modern world) - Christian; 1-year program; reading level: gr. 8

(http://www.notgrass.com/world-history-high-school-curriculum.php)

- Notgrass American History (colonial to modern US) - Christian; 1-year program; reading level: gr. 8

(http://www.notgrass.com/american-history-high-school-curriculum.php)

 

COMPOSITION (WRITING)

- Write Shop I (http://www.writeshop.com/)

- Institute for Excellence in Writing (http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/twss-swi-combo-pack)

 

GRAMMAR (if needed)

- Analytical Grammar (thorough final grammar review for high school; workbook, more formal) (http://www.analyticalgrammar.com/analytical-grammar)

- Chortling Bard (editing practice and grammar review for high school; informal) (http://www.amazon.com/Chortling-Bard-Caughtya-Grammar-Giggle/dp/0929895258/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269323515&sr=8-1)

 

SPELLING (if needed)

- Megawords (Books 4-8) (http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntk=keywords&Ntt=megawords&action=Search&N=0&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1&Go.x=16&Go.y=7&Go=Go)

 

VOCABULARY

- Vocabulary Cartoons (http://www.amazon.com/Vocabulary-Cartoons-SAT-Word-Power/dp/0965242234/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269323616&sr=8-1)

 

LITERATURE

- Lightning Literature & Composition 8 (1 year course; gentle intro into literary analysis with 3 short stories; 3 poetry units; 1 novella; 5 novels)

LL programs = http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/book/blight.asp

LL8 scope and sequence = http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/book/blight8.asp

LL8 student guide sample lesson = http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/pdfs/3285.pdf

 

- Windows to the World (1-semester course; 6 short stories; annotation; a little literary analysis; how to write a literary analysis essay) (http://www.christianbook.com/windows-the-world-introduction-literary-analysis/lesha-myers/9780980100518/pd/100518?item_code=WW&netp_id=523440&event=ESRCN&view=details)

 

 

We still enjoy a lot of the SL books, but have not found their language arts manuals to be very helpful -- specific programs for grammar, literature, etc. have had much better and more helpful instruction, analysis, teaching, etc. Just my 2 cents worth! BEST of luck whatever you go with -- and welcome to homeschooling! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited by Lori D.
fixed typos
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Yikes! I think it would be extremely difficult to get through three cores in one year! Esp. since you're coming out of public school, I'd suggest instead just using some of the great book ideas from Sonlight and then:

 

1. Get solid programs for each of your core subjects, esp. English (grammar; writing; literature; vocabulary) -- SL language arts is NOT the best choice for starting homeschooling partway into high school, IMO -- not specific enough or in-depth enough on any aspect of English

 

2. Decide on a SINGLE focus for history for your first year of homeschooling; for example:

- Medieval/Renaissance/Reformation world history (possible SL core 7 books)

- American History (possible SL core 100 books)

- Modern/20th Century world history (possible SL core 300 books)

 

3. "Cherry pick" the best books out of the SL cores -- what you feel are the "must reads" or "want to reads" -- to supplement your history and literature; to enjoy as solo reads for your DD; and as great family read alouds.

 

 

Some alternate curriculum suggestions that would be at your DD's level:

 

HISTORY

- Notgrass World History (ancients to modern world) - Christian; 1-year program; reading level: gr. 8

(http://www.notgrass.com/world-history-high-school-curriculum.php)

- Notgrass American History (colonial to modern US) - Christian; 1-year program; reading level: gr. 8

(http://www.notgrass.com/american-history-high-school-curriculum.php)

 

COMPOSITION (WRITING)

- Write Shop I (http://www.writeshop.com/)

- Institute for Excellence in Writing (http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/twss-swi-combo-pack)

 

GRAMMAR (if needed)

- Analytical Grammar (thorough final grammar review for high school; workbook, more formal) (http://www.analyticalgrammar.com/analytical-grammar)

- Chortling Bard (editing practice and grammar review for high school; informal) (http://www.amazon.com/Chortling-Bard-Caughtya-Grammar-Giggle/dp/0929895258/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269323515&sr=8-1)

 

SPELLING (if needed)

- Megawords (Books 4-8) (http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntk=keywords&Ntt=megawords&action=Search&N=0&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1&Go.x=16&Go.y=7&Go=Go)

 

VOCABULARY

- Vocabulary Cartoons (http://www.amazon.com/Vocabulary-Cartoons-SAT-Word-Power/dp/0965242234/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269323616&sr=8-1)

 

LITERATURE

- Lightning Literature & Composition 8 (1 year course; gentle intro into literary analysis with 3 short stories; 3 poetry units; 1 novella; 5 novels)

LL programs = http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/book/blight.asp

LL8 scope and sequence = http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/book/blight8.asp

LL8 student guide sample lesson = http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/pdfs/3285.pdf

 

- Windows to the World (1-semester course; 6 short stories; annotation; a little literary analysis; how to write a literary analysis essay) (http://www.christianbook.com/windows-the-world-introduction-literary-analysis/lesha-myers/9780980100518/pd/100518?item_code=WW&netp_id=523440&event=ESRCN&view=details)

 

 

We still enjoy a lot of the SL books, but have not found their language arts manuals to be very helpful -- specific programs for grammar, literature, etc. have had much better and more helpful instruction, analysis, teaching, etc. Just my 2 cents worth! BEST of luck whatever you go with -- and welcome to homeschooling! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Lori,

Thanks for all the great links. About WriteShop,

Does that teach how to write the different types of papers? Essays and such??

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We have used only one of the high school level cores, Core 300. Before even beginning the course, we threw out around 17 of the assigned books. A few, we passed down to the appropriate age sibling. Too many books, however, were offensive to us. We believe that there are better ways to teach dc about the sin and filth in the world than to wallow in such books for an entire school year.

 

The "spine book", however, was a good addition to our home library. SL no longer uses it, but switched to something else, I think, the year after we bought the course.

 

I've been looking again at Cores 400 and 500, but don't "warm up" to them. Selecting novels for student study is subjective for any teacher; I look at the SL lists and immediately think of what I would substitute !

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We have used only one of the high school level cores, Core 300. Before even beginning the course, we threw out around 17 of the assigned books. A few, we passed down to the appropriate age sibling. Too many books, however, were offensive to us. We believe that there are better ways to teach dc about the sin and filth in the world than to wallow in such books for an entire school year.

 

The "spine book", however, was a good addition to our home library. SL no longer uses it, but switched to something else, I think, the year after we bought the course.

 

I've been looking again at Cores 400 and 500, but don't "warm up" to them. Selecting novels for student study is subjective for any teacher; I look at the SL lists and immediately think of what I would substitute !

Well the selections for Core 300 do look daunting...This is why I am thinking of doing BF instead and adding in some of the books from SL that I can pick and choose

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Lori,

Thanks for all the great links. About WriteShop,

Does that teach how to write the different types of papers? Essays and such??

 

Looks like Write Shop 1 focuses on descriptive and narrative writing, with a little expository writing, while Write Shop 2 focuses on narrative, expository and persuasive writing, with quite a few lessons on various types of essay writiing.

 

Write Shop I scope and sequence = http://www.writeshop.com/wsiscopeandsequence.htm

Write Shop 2 scope and sequence = http://www.writeshop.com/wsiiscopeandsequence.htm

Table of Contents (to both 1 and 2) = http://www.writeshop.com/tmtableofcontents.htm

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Well the selections for Core 300 do look daunting...This is why I am thinking of doing BF instead and adding in some of the books from SL that I can pick and choose

 

One of the nice things about SL, though, and their book choices is they are very upfront that they don't only use Christian or 'safer' books. They have a huge list of why you 'shouldn't' use SL. They definitely use a broad range of good lit and more provocative titles. I disagree that there is 'filth' to wallow in though----that is a personal perspective on literature. :glare: My dd is using Core 300 this year----and they have done a MAJOR revamping of the lit---but still many titles that show the world with all its warts and allow for discussion.

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Looking at a catalog I borrowed from a friend, it does look like SL is really geared for the very younger years...I am torn, My friend also has used Beautiful Feet and says she likes it, wonder if I could go with BF and add in SL readers. is SL teacher guide worth the $$$ Is it "all that"???

 

All that and a bag of chips. I used to use SL without the IGs (bought a program used, then changed stuff, added stuff in, until IG schedule wasn't useful, so never used notes either), but since Core 3 (we're on 6 now with ds) I've used it as-is out of the box, and I can't live without it. But I'm a very busy person, I work full time and hs 2 kids full time (one in Core 6 and one in Omnibus I) and I NEED that IG to get by! LOL!

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Sorry, but I don't understand the ":glare:" reply symbol. We here all are parents, with widely assorted viewpoints. I'm accustomed to reading posts with which I disagree.

 

Peacefully,

 

O-6[/quote

 

I was mainly giving that look for the 'wallowing in filth' comment because I know we are all parents with our own opinions on what we want our kids to read and be exposed to---but that's a pretty strong comment when some of us are using Core 300 and those books. When I am using Core 300 with my daughter. I guess I just kind of find it offensive.

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I can understand why you reacted strongly. Your family's worldview was not under attack. Please accept that. When I visit "mixed" boards, I read and post from the understanding that posters may state their personal views, with it understood by everybody that we all may state our views, so long as individual people are not expressly condemned. So I shall stand by what I wrote earlier about some of the Core 300 books because I am speaking within my faith's outlook. I do not speak for adherents of other faiths. Nor do I "judge" any individual whose opinions differ from mine. Not in the slightest ! If people may not give their own honest assessment of a curricular product, why do boards such as WTM even exist ?

 

 

Sorry, but I don't understand the ":glare:" reply symbol. We here all are parents, with widely assorted viewpoints. I'm accustomed to reading posts with which I disagree.

 

Peacefully,

 

O-6[/quote

 

I was mainly giving that look for the 'wallowing in filth' comment because I know we are all parents with our own opinions on what we want our kids to read and be exposed to---but that's a pretty strong comment when some of us are using Core 300 and those books. When I am using Core 300 with my daughter. I guess I just kind of find it offensive.

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