HOD/Sonlight help choosing!

[sted]

Okay, I'm debating between two possibilities. I'm going to do HOD Bigger with my then to be 9yr. old as written and for my oldest, who will be 10, either doing CTC or doing Sonlight 3+4. If I did Sonlight 3+4 with my eldest she would pretty much do it independantly but the girls would still be studying the same history era. I love the look of HOD and Bigger fits my younger daughter perfectly (she would do best with things broken down into smaller tasks) , however my oldest is quite an avid reader and Sonlight seems to have so many good titles that I think she'd enjoy. We'd perhaps do the read-alouds together as a family.

 

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Shannon:confused:

[Avila]

Sonlight isn't really intended to be independent in the way I think you are thinking of. It has the times in the catalog for parent involvement, and you are spending that time reading aloud to your child (well into upper elementary) and heavily discussing with your child, which for 3+4 is 2-3 hours for the parent and 3 1/2 to 5 for the child. While you could do it more independently, especially with a child on the older end of the range, the more you do that, the less you are really doing Sonlight and you could do just as well just reading the books as a supplement to something else. So you would be looking at spending 2-3 hours with the older, at least that with your child in Bigger, and that doesn't include any other children.

 

Have you thought about combining both in Bigger and either using the extension package or using the Sonlight readers as an extension package? That way you would have them both in the same program but at different stages of it.

 

JMO, and YMMV.

[sted]

Hi Shelley,

 

Yes, I have thought of that. Thanks for the advice. My other dilemma with using Sonlight was I wasn't really thrilled with the history spines so was going to change those. My question is, do you think Eggleston's books is a good enough spine for an older child? I could use the one in the extension package but I was leaning toward using Marshalls "This Country of Ours" which was recommended. I could then use the

Sonlight readers by themselves as an extension package (like you suggested). Have you done Bigger w/extensions? If so, how did you find it?

 

Thanks,

Shannon

[Avila]

I am kind of in the same place you are with this, and I am a history nut, so this is probably a bigger deal to me than it should be! I have soon-to-be 6 yo and 8 yo DDs, and I am trying to decide whether to combine them, and I am looking at Sonlight and HOD to do it (Bigger or Core 3 for the 8 yo if I don't combine, and Beyond or Core 1 if I do). My problem with Sonlight is that I don't think, even with combining, that I am going to have enough time to do it well, since I also have a 10 yo DD in another program and a fairly busy schedule that I am not able to change this year. (My 10 yo DD isn't going into the equation because she is desperate to do ancient history, and I already bought her stuff before I found HOD, so no time or $$ to change that one, even if I wanted to.)

 

I haven't done HOD yet, but it is my current research project. I think Carrie picks books for history that are above the intended grade level, so it seems like all of the spines would be plenty challenging even for the extension ages.

 

You can find the Eggleston books free online, if you want to check them out ahead of time:

http://www.franciacenter.net/html/firsthistory.html

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10070

 

I personally don't care too much for the Bigger extension spine, so I would be looking at swapping in something else, like one of the Guerber books or the Landmark Sonlight spine, and using the Sonlight readers to fill out the extensions. I really do like the Eggleston books, though, so I would keep those. The only thing I would be looking at besides that to have an older child doing Bigger is the age-appropriate language arts and math, and maybe something else for science.

 

Good luck! I swore I would have my own decision made already, but I am still on here trying to figure it out.

 

 

Edited June 5, 2009 by Asenik

[hmschooling]

I think CTC would give you the independence you are looking for for the older. Also, you could add in any literature you like, as well as do DITHOR. You could use some of the Sonlight books for your DITHOR choices if you like or use the book packs from HOD and use SL books for free reading. HOD is much less teacher intensive than SL so I think that's your best bet!

[Donna T.]

I'll vote for Biggers with the Extensions Package or CTC if you think your oldest child is ready for it. I purchased all of Biggers with the Extension Package to use with my sons who will be in 2nd and 5th next year. Oh, my!! The books are absolutely wonderful. I love, love them. The only book we wouldn't have used is A Child's Story of America. At first, I was determined to find a replacement spine... so I considered several things, including This Country of Ours, the Guerber book, and Abeka's 4th grade history text which is an overview of American History. Then, I actually read the Eggleston books myself and decided just to skip A Child's Story of America and not replace it at all. I have alot of the books from Core 3 and quite a few from Core 4 and was just going to use those for DITHOR and extra read alouds and readers. The only thing I really intended to add to Biggers for my oldest was The Story of the World, Vol. 3 and a bit of Vol. 4. I only wanted to do that because we love SOTW, not because Biggers is lacking - not for a 10 year old.

 

In the end, I decided not to combine my sons at all. So, they will each have their own HOD guide. I still want my oldest to have some American history before beginning Preparing, so we are reading appropriate books this summer, including SOTW 3. We're just reading and narrating.

 

I made the determination to split the children into their own guides after purchasing the Preparing guide. I was going to just use the LA schedule in Preparing along with Bigger Hearts for my oldest son. That would work out just fine. But, I just fell in love with Preparing and it's such a good match for my oldest, so I'm just putting him in Preparing. I love the flow and th way that Carrie has kept the child's relationship with God front and center in everything. It's not just info. about God and the Bible. It is that but she also emphasizes the child's heart condition towards God. Oh, I just love that.

 

I really like Sonlight and we just finished our third core but I wish I had known about HOD before this current year. I wish I had used it this year instead of SL. I don't think a child can be nearly as independent with SL as he/she can be with HOD. The SL literature is such that the child really needs a mature reader to filter the info. through. The HOD guides are written to intentionally guide your child towards independence in a way that has the child ready and prepared for it. I think both are great, but HOD is closer to what I've been trying to do on my own.

 

My youngest son has started his guide and it's going great!!