I don't post here a lot, although I do read these forums a good bit. But I wanted to just comment a little on your struggle to decide between the 2. I have similarly struggled very much in trying to decide the best course. My oldest is a senior and just today I was mentioning MFW, hadn't talked about it in months, and she surprised me by saying that she wishes we would have done that. She's doing SL Core 400 this year, and likes it, but really liked the simplicity of MFW, which we did in her 7th and 8th grade years. I vacillated between MFW, SL, and TOG for my kids, and tried TOG a good bit. Here's how I sum it up - with SL, I feel behind most of the time and that there's something more I want from it but can't quite put my finger on what it is. With TOG, I just feel overwhelmed. Stressed when I do it to the full, guilty when I slack off and try to be relaxed. It has such a heavy emphasis on historical analysis that it took the joy out of history for us. For some people, that might fire them up though. The times we used MFW, we felt just right, like Goldilocks and the 3 bears. You can easily add SL readers to it, it has hands-on that you can choose to do or not do, the TM is just right, the work load is just right, and because of that it can feel too light compared to the other 2. But I actually felt satisfied with what we accomplished when we did it. I am doing SL with all 5 of mine this year - have used it for the past several years, but am missing the simplicity and hands on of MFW, which my kids would choose also if I laid it all in front of them! My oldest loves to read so SL has been good, and she admits that TOG was more rigorous, but she just said today that if she ever homeschools, she'd like to use MFW. I was surprised! I would love to do MFW ECC with my younger 3 next year, which I do have already! And no idea what my rising junior would do, maybe just finish out with SL like his older sister. Hope some of this helps!

My oldest child,11th grade, is doing this so it's our first time through chemistry. I don't have anything to compare it to as we haven't done the Apologia. I chose it because I wasn't sure I could trust the accuracy of the new Apologia book, and with our first time through chemistry, didn't want those issues to contend with on top of the usual challenges with tackling chemistry. The other reason I chose it is that it's Jay Wile's "voice" and method that made those books so popular and well loved to begin with, and I also thought that being this far out from writing it the first time around that he might have some good insights into how to improve explanations for teens and make it accessible. I thought this newer book would have the benefit of all those years of experience, and it has. My dd is not strong in science, but she is understanding this book. There have been times that I've had to 'teach' the material, and that gets her over the hump and then she can figure things out from there. The labs have been great. There was another family that I met that was doing the same course and our daughters are doing the labs together. That has been wonderful as far as accountability and making sure we get the labs done. There's definitely been a 'wow' factor with the labs, and I'm not sure if the same goes for Apologia. Content-wise, it's a challenging course and rivals what I did my first year of college in Chem 101 and 102, but I haven't told my daughter that! But, Jay Wile does a great job with presenting the material and making it understandable. You can see samples here: https://www.bereanbuilders.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=SETDDC

Sonlight took the one Landmark book and separated it into 2 volumes. One volume is used in Core D and the second vol. in Core E. There were some errors in the original that were corrected, more maps were added, and it's full color. The writing was edited somewhat and I find it flows much better. Sonlight worked with the author's family in redoing the newest edition. I really hand it to SL, specifically John Holzmann, to spend the time it took to make it more appropriate for younger ages. It's delightful to read and gives information you just won't find in regular history books. I still have my old copy but am glad I purchased the newer volumes to use with cores D and E. Much more visually appealing also.

If your dd would like to learn about Asia, she would enjoy Core F, which covers it well! My kids have all loved their SL books. My oldest did that core in 6th grade and loved it. She's in 10th now and still talks about it. With your dd in 5th grade she may need more guidance with the World Book research. If you have relaxed expectations it will be much more enjoyable. Just understand that it's to get an overall view and appreciation of the countries, not an exhaustive history, which will come in cores G and H. SOTW vol 1-4 are all used in those 2 cores. We've used SL for many years now and my kids love reading and history. My ds is enjoying core G now after having done F last year. But core E was by far his absolute favorite! And my oldest picked up By the Great Horn Spoon a few weeks ago to reread it just for fun!

Ok, I am so tired of thinking about this, trying to figure it all out, and thought I'd finally ask my specific question to you ladies who are very experienced! I think I've read so many threads on here relating to this, but wanted to get more specific about my child. My oldest is halfway through 10th grade this year and has been doing SL core 200. I've had trouble justifying doing this core without a good world history foundation. I chose it because for the most part we've enjoyed Sonlight and when I choose something I like to stick with it. I also chose it because I wasn't satisfied with the other options. I was also looking ahead to cores 300 and 400 thinking they would be worth waiting for. (not 100% convinced of that right now though!) Along with this core I've had her reading through Streams of Civilization, maybe 4 pages a day. Also, we're using EIL alongside. I bought all five levels so we could pick and choose as we came to the various books in the SL schedule. That part has been wonderful. About my dd - she's my compliant child who will do anything I give her and hardly complain. She also loves to read and loves history. In my doubt, I purchased the first unit of year 2 of TOG. I'm able to get many of the books used, or from the library, or use the alternate titles, like Streams! The few weeks we've done it, we've enjoyed for the most part and I'm actually able to do the discussion, which we've enjoyed. Even if she doesn't have the answer, I just 'teach' from the notes. I'm okay with that. I chose TOG because I wanted my high schoolers to go a bit more indepth than they would with a textbook. But will Tapestry be too much depth? I've also just about memorized the MFW catalog and have even used some of their younger levels, but because she loves reading and history, SL seemed like a better fit. She also saw the Notgrass textbook at a convention and said she didn't want to use a textbook. So, I'm trying to consider her interests and strengths. My concern is, will TOG kill her love of learning? That's my biggest concern at this point. I can commit to finishing out the year with TOG, units 1 and 2 of year 2 and reevaluate for next year. I see widely mixed opinions on SL core 300, so I'm not sure about it. I do know that my dd loves when she has a stack of books for the school year! Do you think TOG will be a good fit here? I know not to "do it all", but it can be hard to figure out what's okay to skip!