Sonlight or Heart of Dakota

[Shanaudria]

I think I might be going to go with Sonlight for next year after oogling it forever. I've used their catalog for years.

 

Anyhow, I've been picking up books at thrift stores and marking them off in my SL catalog and I have a pretty substantial pile of the books from each of the cores.

 

Just yesterday I picked up what would've cost me $79 in the catalog for something under $8 by doing this. I got around a dozen books or so.

 

YET....I still seem to have a long ways to go in getting all the books I need (cores k and 5) and I see that if you buy a whole core I haven't quite saved so much. I have long lamented that Sonlight is so expensive and it kind of aggravates me when they say how much $$$ they're able to donate to missions/charities from their sales. I could as well spend less in curriculum and give my tithe to whomever *I* chose.....but who am I? Most literature-based programs are pricey, I've noticed. :glare:

 

My library has some of the titles I need, but not all. I might be able to ILL them....but isn't that sort of a pain? Any advice here? I noticed some I picked up used aren't ones I'd enjoy reading more than, say, once or twice so to spend $7/each on them new would seem excessive. :confused:

 

Anyone with experience with Heart of Dakota? This would be the other lit-based curriculum I am interested in.

[hopeallgoeswell]

I can't compare because I have only used SL P3/4, P4/5, and part of K (DD is doing BHFHG this upcoming year). With SL, I only purchase things that will be used for over two months or so. The rest I get from ILL. It is not a pain here. My library system is very large. I just go online, log into my account, and put a hold on the books I need. Very rarely do they not have a book I need right then. The few times that has happened, I substituted the book for another or skipped it and came back around to it when it was returned to the library. This has saved A TON of money!

 

On a side note, I used the SL catalogue, along with AO, and got all my read alouds from the library.

[Midwest Pixie]

If there are books you can't pick up through your library or find cheap secondhand, I'd recommend getting them off of Amazon.com since most books under $10 are part of their "4 for 3" program--even when the price of the 3 paid books *isn't* discounted, it's not any different than buying it from SL. (Even the core discount will only get you 10% off.) Buy similarly priced books together to avoid getting a really cheap one for free with many more expensive titles. There are a few books--usually the small missionary books--that you may not be able to find except through SL. Order those from them.

 

If you're looking for a lot of cohesive direction, you won't find that at SL. The instructor guides schedule things for you and give you discussion questions to ask on the books. If you are someone like me who doesn't like a 10 pg. stretch of reading to be broken up into five 2-pg. assignments, you probably won't find this very helpful. If you are looking for some sort of "tie it all together" info/framework about history, you won't find it here either. That's actually what I wanted more than the day to day scheduling, since I like to tweak that myself, so I found the IGs fairly useless. I'd really recommend you buy one used from someone to test drive it, rather than purchasing a core package.

 

Other history programs that provide more of a framework with reading recommendations WITHOUT the minutiae scheduled for you would be Tapestry of Grace or TruthQuest. You may wish to check those out. TOG has 3-week samples on their website. They give you so much info you may even find it overwhelming.

 

HOD also shows samples on their website for all their books--their approach is much more to do all the lesson planning for you, so you can open the book to a double page spread and there is your assignment for each subject for the day. If you like to have it all prepared ahead of time, this is a great option. It's a little less flexible than some of the other choices, but you do get a choice in what phonics & math you use, etc. and you can always choose to not do some activities and do others instead. Again, the sample pages on their website will really show you. What you see is what you'll get.

 

With anything, if you can get it used, it's a cheaper way to test drive. And as with all homeschooling materials, if it doesn't work for you, you can always re-sell it! :D

 

HTH,

Christa

 

wife to Jeff and mom to 6 munchkins! :grouphug:

[PentecostalMom]

and have found that as you get into the older cores, say past K-2, the books become harder to get at the library unless you have a fabulous library system. Another factor that is more important is my TIME. When we chose SL, I started talking about shopping around, saving money, yada, yada. Dh said, "Is it worth your time? Do you really save THAT much?" Well, I found that I really would not. It's mush simpler to order the core and get a box, not to mention the forum access, 10% discount on future purchases for a year, Love to Learn guarantee, and free shipping! Now, you can find lots of cores used, just check here, the SL forums and Vegsource. We plan on using the cores we are buying with our next dd, so we really do save money anyway. Not to mention, like I read somewhere on the SL site, if you already own a book, then use the new one for a gift. We have done that as well. So, will you use the cores again? Can you look for used? The resell value is pretty good, so you will recoup money there as well. Just some things to think about. BTW, I have no experience with HOD, so I cannot offer my opinion there!

[Lovedtodeath]

HOD is much more flexible and less expensive than Sonlight. It also takes less time to implement each day and gives you more direction for teaching everything. Dictation, narration, poetry, spelling, history activities, science activities, literature activities, math activities, writing assignments... Just compare what you get in ONE guide. It is a much better value, IMO.

 

If you click on the tag you can see where this was discussed before.

Edited May 20, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[blessedmom3]

HOD is much more flexible and less expensive than Sonlight. It also takes less time to implement each day and gives you more direction for teaching everything. Dictation, narration, spelling, activities, writing assignments... Just compare what you get in ONE guide. It is a much better value, IMO.

 

 

That's the reason I am planning to use HOD but can't help to look at SL's catalog. If time allows , we will read some of their books too but I think I am set on HOD (for now :) )

[hmschooling]

HOD is much more flexible and less expensive than Sonlight. It also takes less time to implement each day and gives you more direction for teaching everything. Dictation, narration, spelling, activities, writing assignments... Just compare what you get in ONE guide. It is a much better value, IMO.

 

 

:iagree: I was googly eyed over SL for a long time. I have found my home with HOD. There is so much wonderful to it. The reading is balanced, the hands-on is perfect and easy to implement (and planned, which I hear it's not in SL), and the LA is incredible! You can get the whole package and bells and whistles for much less than SL. The guide is sooooo much easier to follow as it's all right there on a two page spread. Plus you have time in your day to read any extra books you might want, and could use some of the sonlight books as your storytime or DITHOR selections.

[PentecostalMom]

If you click on the tag you can see where this was discussed before.

 

Help me! What tag, where?

[Lovedtodeath]

Help me! What tag, where?

hod vs. sl It is in a box marked "tags" right under the last post in the thread, but I copied it for you just in case.