Is Sonlight enough for jr. high?

[Sweet Home Alabama]

We used SL 3 last year, and we'll finish SL 4 this year. My kids love SL! I love that it has caused them to love to read. Now, as I look to the next few years, I want to know if SL is enough for jr. high into high school.

 

Next year, I will have kids in grades 7,6, and 2.

 

I want to find a curriculum similar to SL since my kids really love it. I want the Lord to be a primary component to history (how could He be left out???) I want all of my children's grades to be inculded as much as possible, and I MUST have a lesson plan.

 

I do not want to use TOG. I know it's popular, and honestly I love the look of it. However, I become overwhelmed when I have to pick and choose from a list of choices. BTDT. This is why I MUST have a lesson plan.

 

I like the look of Trisms, but I'm concerned that a leap from SL to a research-based curriculum might be too much. I think I would get short answers to questions and looks of frustration from my kids. Plus, Trisms would not incorporate my youngest child. Trisms, however, seems the right direction to go...... how do I get there from here?

 

History Odyssey might do the trick. It's more research-based than SL, and it has lesson plans, but it still doesn't incorporate my youngest well. (It would be expensive and time-consuming to buy two levels).

 

Diana Waring and Biblioplan provide the inculsion of the Lord. I haven't researched them enough yet to make any decisions. Thoughts???

 

Story of the World: Can I really use this for older kids? HOW???? This seems very elementary for the ages of my older kids.

 

Omnibus? It certainly covers upper-level thinking, but it certainly does not incorporate younger grades.

 

MFW? Two concerns: 1) We haven't really been following the classical history cycle, so I'm not sure where to begin. (We've used MOH vol. 1, SL3 and SL4. That's all. And, for some strange reason, my kids did not like MOH.) 2) Is MFW "rigorous" enough? I know it has a plan for 2nd-8th, but, if we started out in Year 2, would that be too easy for my older kids? I'm trying to BEEF UP their history.

 

I read one post from a mom who suggested using TWEM or Teaching the Classics with SL to beef up the questions. Maybe that would work, and we would just go ahead with Cores 6-7 using Cores 1-2 with my youngest child. (Still, concerned there is ONLY reading and answering questions).

 

I'm thinking since we will have completely covered US history with SL Cores 3-4, it would make sense to cover ancient and medievel history in the next two years and then my oldest will be ready for high school history. I like Notgrass, and MFW uses that. I'm leaning towards this plan. With that in mind, I'd love to hear from those of you who have used MFW high school. Do you feel it is rigorous enough? It's so new, I really haven't found any reviews.

 

So, Is SL enough for jr. high? What would you recommend that is similar but is beefed-up that would make for a good transition to high school?

There must be a perfect answer out there, right?:tongue_smilie:

[mchel210]

I think it depends who you ask. I think it is. I finished core 4 last year in 7th grade...and working in core 6 now for 8th. I add in my extra stuff...but I am even learning a lot. I am going to continue with Sonlight as I think it is perfect for our family. My son is learning a lot and retaining it. That is the goal for us. I know you can go into the SL forum for high school and get lots of positive feedback. I imagine each board will be different.

[calandalsmom]

I think SL is perfect thru Jr High. High school I have qualms about but all the cores thru core 100 are wonderful, IMO.

[Chris in VA]

Winter Promise uses Mystery of History 1 and 2 in their Ancient and Medieval years. It's definitely meaty enough for jr hi and can be made simpler for elementary.

[cbollin]

I don't know anything about SL. You also asked about MFW.

 

I've used MFW for 6.5 years. My oldest is in 8th grade. I do think it contains plenty of strong academics. My dh and I are academic geek types. He has a PHD in chemistry. So we want that strong academics with Biblical worldview and MFW is working well. We plan to continue it through high school. I've seen the high school program in person and it's plenty.

 

You're right -- there aren't a lot of online chat types who are using MFW high school. There are some on the MFW board. But not necessarily lots of chatters on other places. One of my friends helped to pilot the program for about 3 of the 4 years. The son is now a freshman in college and doing fine. (mid terms he had a 4.0 in his classes. He's at a engineering university.) He CLEP'ed out of US history while in high school using MFW for that.

 

The Ancients program in high school has the student read and study the entire old testament while also using Notgrass for ancient world history, as well as ancient literature. Lots of argumentative essay writing alongside all of it. The second year, World History: plenty in there. And they do include extra reading that is part of enrichment reading. Also, MFW recommends and sells the Stobaugh SAT prep book, which has a long lit list too.

 

 

In terms of is MFW enough in jr. high? I sure think so. I'm doing MFW as written with the language arts too.

 

You could start in Rome to the Reformation or start in ECC with the jr. high program. I know you want history, but one important element of teaching our children is about current places and what God is doing today. ECC has the jr. high package and in 2nd edition it's all spelled out.

My guess is that if you stayed with SL, you might be doing their core 5 program -- so why not MFW's ECC? I like the background of geography and current events and missions focus.

 

If you went with RTR next year with 7th, 6th and 2nd: you will want to use MFW's recommendation to have the older children doing monthly reports using the topic list at the chapter beginnings of Streams of Civilization. The child can use the topic list for a wide variety of topics and learn to research. They can either write a report or you can have them give oral reports too. That's mentioned in the intro section of the RTR manual.

 

You'll want to use the book basket library enrichment reading (that's part of MFW and keeps costs down). Remember too, MFW recommends extra reading and lit analysis with Progeny Press guide as part of language arts. You'll do a New Testament overview and learn church history as well.

 

Just like my Jazzercise instructor says about the "lite circuit class": it's only as lite as you need it to be.

 

I think MFW is offering what you are looking for with worldview and history and academic and especially the lesson planning and multi age use in grades 2-8.

 

Maybe it will all make more sense as you go to conventions next year and look at the materials.

 

 

-crystal

[melmichigan]

We are using SL and some of the components of SL for part of middle school. My DD10 is currently fifth for PS, she is using Core 6 with Speilvogel's Journey Across Time, to bump up the SOTW books since I don't think they are middle school. (Personal opinion here only.) We will use 7 next year, continuing with the JAT with some of 5 thrown in where it applies. (I have the core, but use many of the readers for summer and independent reading.) I plan to skip the EHE. I use a seperate Glencoe Geography that will be used over two years to cover middle school geography.

 

I may use part of Core 100, definately with another spine after that but my DD has already read many of the books, I have another year to play with that, that would be 7th gr., if I use it. I may pull a little here and there from the upper cores 300 and 400 but they would be more additional readings, not main material. Many of those books my DD will have already read, most are very appropriate for late elementary and middle school. We use them for addition readers even now. It is a good list for an avid reader.

[MIch elle]

SL in jr. high demands too much reading and not enough thinking.

[Mandy in TN]

SL in jr. high demands too much reading and not enough thinking.

Aptly put!

 

OTOH- SL core 5 is wonderful. Some of my children's favorite books came from core 5. And core 5 lends itself to some wonderful thinking discussions! It is the one SL core that I don't want my little one to miss.

 

Add Material World for everyone and do some lap books instead of the Eastern Hemisphere Explorer with your little one.

Mandy

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Thanks everyone!

 

Crystal, thanks especially for such a complete description about MFW. I have some follow-up questions if you don't mind.

 

We're using IEW early American history theme based writing this year, and my kids have learned a lot. As far as writing with MFW, are there any guides/rubrics that help a mom grade papers? I don't like thinking that grading is subjective only. IEW has a checklist that we're using this year, and it makes grading easy.

 

I'll have to look the Stobaugh up on-line. Looks very helpful, yet I've not seen it.

 

As far as MFW 2nd-8th, I didn't mention the ECC because we borrowed some of these books from a friend of mine and I organized geography for this year to go with our Apologia science Animals of the 6th day. I'm sure what we're doing isn't as good as following the MFW lessons, but I didn't want to repeat it next year either. Also, I have always considered waiting until my youngest was old enough to use ECC which will be in 2 years. At that time I could use the geography as it is intended.

 

Just curious, though, I thought if we used MFW we would start with CtG and then RtR because this is the time period we have missed the most. We could do this in my oldest child's 7th-8th grade years and then she would be ready for MFW high school. How does this sound? (Our SL American history would generally take the place of the 4th and 5th years of MFW).

 

Considering the enrichment and Progeny Press, maybe it would be enough. The advantage here is that MFW is more than just reading, and I like that.

[AngieW in Texas]

I love SL through 8th grade, but not beyond. The upper level cores don't require analysis. I didn't like Core 100 when I did it with my oldest for 9th grade. I used the first half last year for my 8th grader and it was fine for that level, but not for high school. I bought Core 300 this year for my 11th grader because the literature was completely redone, but I'm still not happy with it. It doesn't go into any more depth than the lower level Cores did. I won't be using SL Cores for high school again.

 

I do still love SL for the lower grades though.

[LindaOz]

My 7th and 8th graders are doing SL core 7 and getting a lot out of it. They are not finding it too much reading, in fact, for my 7th grader it is not enough reading and I have to find her more. So far, I have found that the 'reading' has generated the 'thinking'. My girls often come and talk about what they are reading and learning, and sometimes it inspires further research and assignments. My Dad has just come to visit from interstate, and the first day that he was here I heard the girls discussing WWII with him. I'm happy with that.

 

Next year, we are having an Australian history year, and so will skip Core 100 as we are not American. I am planning, however, to continue with Core 200 after that - my 8th grader is REALLY looking forward to this core.

 

I'd say if you and your dc love SL, go with it.

[StephanieZ]

IMHO, SL is fine for Jr High. My 5th & 7th graders are doing Core 6 this year and we look forward to Core 7 next year.

 

My dc are are each high achieving/gifted/accelerated students. I don't see the SL cores as particularly challenging for dc at this point, but they are learning a lot. The are challenged in plenty of other areas. You can add required writing/analysis/etc to the core easily if you wish to make the history core itself more challenging. My 5th grader is appropriately stretched by the reading, but it's all easy for 7th grader. So what? She reads at a 12th grade + level. She doesn't need for every book to challenge her reading abilities.

 

After that, I am still thinking about the 00 level cores and how they'll work for us for high school. I am likely to go ahead and use them and simply add more deeper literature for the older child(ren) as needed.

 

In fact, next year for dd 8th grade (Core 7), I plan to add Literary Lessons -- LOTR for literature analysis, and will use the additional literature as well (shakespeare, beowulf, arthurian tales, etc.). That will be my first year of actively supplementing with serious literature. Depending on how it goes, I might just keep up with adding additional lit ( w/ or w/o study guides or formal analysis) for the older kids in the 00 level cores.

 

Using SOTW with the older kids is working fine. It is just one resource of many. It's a nice story line. It isn't babyish IMHO.

 

So, if SL is meeting your needs so far, I encourage you to keep with it at least through Jr High / Core 7. Then you can think about what to do for high school

[cbollin]

Thanks everyone!

 

Crystal, thanks especially for such a complete description about MFW. I have some follow-up questions if you don't mind.

 

 

I can try to answer some.

 

You can still use IEW style of grading while using MFW. I know I used it for a while when my oldest was either 4th or 5th grade. Grading writing is more in my mind along the lines of looking for progress over time – more of an art which is something that I’ve heard and read that Pudewa does a bit too. I've read that in the "but it's so awkward" article that he has.

MFW recommends Writing Strands and WS has a book called Evaluating Writing and also has notes for looking for progress. But that's a recommendation --not a requirement. So, if you use another formal writing program, it's fine.

 

I think at the high school level (from what my friend who piloted it told me), MFW includes much more detail and guides/rubrics for the high school writing.

 

Yes, you can do that with CTG and then RTR. I guess on my suggestion I was just noticing that you had done ancient time and had not done a RTR time. So that’s where my thoughts were. But I really like the looks of your plan on it

Ctg 7th/6th/2nd

Rtr 8th, 7th, 3rd

Then oldest in high school, ECC for 8th and 4th. Then go from there.

 

Sounds great.

 

-crystal

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Ok, ladies, I have been reading posts from this thread and others. Which combination would you choose?

 

These are my goals:

Lesson plan that accommodates grades 2,6, and 7

 

Similar to Sonlight because this is what my kids are used to and love

 

Similar to History Odyssey/Trisms because this is where I want to go

 

Something that will help us transition to high school eventually

 

The inclusion of God in history or at least a plan to inclute this perspective if the curriculum is secular

 

Choice 1:

My Father's World as the spine (with the idea in mind of using MFW high school),

Include a selection of the best of Sonlight books in the book basket,

Something like Teaching the Classics and/or TWEM to help us with more logic level thinking,

Maybe IEW Ancients/Medieval themed writing (we're using IEW early Am history theme book this year and learning a lot.)

Lastly, maybe CDs from Diana Waring

 

Choice 2:

Sonlight 6 and 7 over the next two years and then move to MFW for high school,

Sonlight uses SOTW which I could use with my youngest (or SL 1-2),

Also, use Teaching the Classics and/or TWEM for more logic-appropriate questions,

Also, IEW ancients/medieval themed writing and the Diana Waring CDs.

 

Choice 3:

History Odyssey for the olders

Maybe SOTW with AG for the youngest

Include the best of Sonlight books or maybe Beautiful Feet Ancients

(With this plan, I might not need the Teaching the Classics/TWEM as much nor IEW)

 

Choice 4:

Trisms History Makers with the olders for 2 years

(concerned this is too much of a change from what we're used to in Sonlight, but I like the research aspect)

Not sure what to use with the youngest.

[jlovebaker]

We did Core 6 last year with my then 4th graders and 6th grader. My 6th grader did the LA portion which was just ok - he didn't have any problems but there wasn't a lot of instruction (he only did the writing portion - the dictation/copywork was a waste for him). SL doesn't provide a way for the parents to evaluate or help with the writing IMO.

 

This year we're doing Core 7 and IEW (SWI B and now SICC B) - I love IEW! I personally like Mr. Pudewa teaching my kids thru the DVDS but I think you could use one of the theme based courses too - especially if you were already familiar with IEW. Later I do plan to do Teaching the Classics ... Now I'm satisfied with the program. Wish I discovered it last year.

 

I love SOTW - it's just one of the spines (Foster's is also used). But I don't think it's too easy - it's true the reading part of it is easy but the information is a lot to digest. My kids do not complain about it and we get something out of it each time. The amount of reading and some of the SL books more than make up for it.

[MIch elle]

Choice #2

 

Adding TtC and IEW will add depth to your SL history/lit core studies. Consider using Windows to the World for grades 8/9. Look at Jill Pike's syllabus on the IEW families yahoo group (lesson share files) for WttW.

 

This will help too: http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/mshaw/Revised_Analysis_Sheets%5B.pdf

 

Pass LA has some good free material you could use with all your dc: look at LA units 6 - this is just one part of many: http://www.pass.leon.k12.fl.us/All%20Books/6a%20LA1%20SB%20Unit%206%20413-425.pdf

Edited November 10, 2009 by MIch elle

[melmichigan]

I would pick 2 as well. I am using the SOTW with my youngers in Core 1 and next year in Core 2. They like that they can discuss the stories with their older sis. Even though they are at different parts in the books it is nice to see that interaction. :) I also recommend the AG, we use it for the youngers and my older uses the maps and the tests as a worksheet along with her Core 6 material.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Choice #2

 

Adding TtC and IEW will add depth to your SL history/lit core studies. Consider using Windows to the World for grades 8/9. Look at Jill Pike's syllabus on the IEW families yahoo group (lesson share files) for WttW.

 

This will help too: http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/mshaw/Revised_Analysis_Sheets%5B.pdf

 

Pass LA has some good free material you could use with all your dc: look at LA units 6 - this is just one part of many: http://www.pass.leon.k12.fl.us/All%20Books/6a%20LA1%20SB%20Unit%206%20413-425.pdf

 

Michelle,

This might be a silly question. Adding TtC/WEM will necessarily add time to SL. It seems like I would want to choose the best of the Core for the in-depth discussion and not try to cover all of the books. Do you agree?

 

This is why I love pre-planned material.....:) Then I just follow all the lovely directions!

 

Thanks so much for the links!

[MIch elle]

[/url]

Michelle, Adding TtC/WEM will necessarily add time to SL. It seems like I would want to choose the best of the Core for the in-depth discussion and not try to cover all of the books. Do you agree?

 

 

Yes, I agree. That's why I said that SL spends too much time reading and not enough time thinking. Skim off some/many of those SL books to spend the time discussing and learning the basics of literary analysis as needed.

 

Using CLE reading

and other longer works of literature helps us to get it done in a systematic way.

[Homeschooling6]

Option 1 sounds great. I plan to use MFW for Jr. High. My son will use it next year Exp1850.

Dh home will have to finish later ;)

[crowscreek]

I was just reading a similar thread over at the sonlight fourms...they get asked this question a LOT.

 

:)

[merylvdm]

Sonlight is definitely suitable for junior high and high school. My dd 19 is now 2nd year college. During her high school years we used SL. She wrote 7 AP exams and received 5s (highest you can get) in 5 of them. And she was a National Merit Finalist. She also won some writing contests. And practically all we used was Sonlight for History / Literature.

 

She was accepted into ll the colleges she applied to - 4 were hard to get into ones with acceptance rates under 25% (Emory, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, UNC Chapel Hill). She got into the Honors Program at the schoool she chose to attend (Biola). She is now working as the research assistant to one of her Profs. He and his wife just started homeschooling and he wrote to me for advice because he was so impressed with my dd.

 

So - yes - Sonlight stays being as amazing for high school as it is in cores 3 and 4. I have 2 high schoolers at present and both are loving SL as my oldest did. It is enjoyable and challenging - what more can you ask for!

 

Meryl

[Mom0012]

Sonlight is definitely suitable for junior high and high school. My dd 19 is now 2nd year college. During her high school years we used SL. She wrote 7 AP exams and received 5s (highest you can get) in 5 of them. And she was a National Merit Finalist. She also won some writing contests. And practically all we used was Sonlight for History / Literature.

 

She was accepted into ll the colleges she applied to - 4 were hard to get into ones with acceptance rates under 25% (Emory, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, UNC Chapel Hill). She got into the Honors Program at the schoool she chose to attend (Biola). She is now working as the research assistant to one of her Profs. He and his wife just started homeschooling and he wrote to me for advice because he was so impressed with my dd.

 

So - yes - Sonlight stays being as amazing for high school as it is in cores 3 and 4. I have 2 high schoolers at present and both are loving SL as my oldest did. It is enjoyable and challenging - what more can you ask for!

 

Meryl

 

Meryl -

 

Thanks for sharing a positive experience with SL. I've been using SL with my kids from the start and we are currently doing Core 3. It gets really discouraging to hear so much negative feedback on this board about it. I had always figured SL was a pretty rigorous choice, but from the stuff I read lately, you would never think so.

 

A couple of questions. Did you add in any literary analysis and did you use SL's LA? What types of AP exams did your daughter take?

 

Thank you!

Lisa

[melmichigan]

What types of AP exams did your daughter take?

 

:bigear:

 

I also found it interesting that 70% of people who answered the latest poll about high school used any of core 5, 6, 7, or 100 for high school. Which cores did your DD use? I am truely curious because my DC are really enjoying SL but I am very concerned about the upper cores. I plan to use core 100 as it stands now, but for middle school.

Edited November 11, 2009 by melmichigan

[merylvdm]

Ok - to answer the last 2 posters questions:

 

1. I did not add any literary analysis. Sonlight give quite a lot of direction BUT I did discuss the essay questions with my kids if they felt lost (specially at the beginning). I did read all the books so I could do that. I also told them to use Sparknotes and Cliff notes online to get ideas for their essays.

 

2. Yes, I did use SL LAs - they contain all the essays they need to write. And they have an indepth analysis of styles of writing etc. Really good!

 

3. My dd took the following APs: World History (we did use Spiegelvogel and Duikers' book as well as SL 300 to cover the early years); US History, Art History (used books recommended by SL and various others), Engl Lit, Engl Composition, Chemistry (after Apologia Adv Chem) and Spanish (co op class). She took US Hist after doing core 100!! SHe cored a 5 on all but the Chem and Spanish (scored 3s for those)

 

We homeschool for academic reasons primarily - I want a rigorous education for my kids. But I want them to love it too. That's why I use Sonlight. There is a lot of reading in the higher levels and plenty of essays. I cannot understand why anyone would be concerned about the academic level unless they are not doing it all. We do it all. I only let my kids off a writing assignment if they do an essay contest in its place. The writing assignments are in the LA portion. There are usually 2 per week. I also do as SL suggests and make my kids do 2 research projects per year. One of them they do for National History Day and it must be related to the history they are doing that year and I grade it (plus they have the chance of placing in the contest). The other paper I usually let them choose which of their subjects to base it on.

 

I hope that answers everything

Meryl

[Emma]

Meryl,

 

This is great to hear, since I am planning on using SL through high school. She enjoys it very much and I think the book selections are wonderful for a well rounded education. I am impressed with all the other things you added in. I'd love to see a sample of some of your daily plans. Your dd must be very ambitious to accomplish all that she did. Congrats to you, MOM!

[merylvdm]

My high schoolers do on average 8 credits a year. We use the SL schedule for LA, Lit and History and do 1 Apologia module every 2 weeks. Subjects that are full credits they do one hour 4 times a week; 1/2 credits we spread over a year so they do 1/2 an hour 4 times a week.

We attend a co op for part of the day on Thursday, so they only do a few subjects that day.

My high schoolers start school at 7.30am (my dd used to start at 6.30am!! but boys are lazier). They work through till 1.30 with a breakfast/shower break and then a snack break at 11am. Afternoons they do at least one more hour, but do the chores.

And school is only half of what they do! They are very active in 4-H and we do practically every contest there is going - including very time consuming ones like Science Olympiad.

And they do have a social life. And they do sleep. And they are happy. My boys play basketball too.

Having lots on their plates helps them to prioritize and learn to work under pressure. My dd says she copes so much better at college than most others as she has learned to work effeciently and fast.

Meryl

[Emma]

Wow! I am impressed. You sound very together and your kids will undoubtly do great. Way to go!

[ariasmommy]

Ok - to answer the last 2 posters questions:

 

1. I did not add any literary analysis. Sonlight give quite a lot of direction BUT I did discuss the essay questions with my kids if they felt lost (specially at the beginning). I did read all the books so I could do that. I also told them to use Sparknotes and Cliff notes online to get ideas for their essays.

 

2. Yes, I did use SL LAs - they contain all the essays they need to write. And they have an indepth analysis of styles of writing etc. Really good!

 

3. My dd took the following APs: World History (we did use Spiegelvogel and Duikers' book as well as SL 300 to cover the early years); US History, Art History (used books recommended by SL and various others), Engl Lit, Engl Composition, Chemistry (after Apologia Adv Chem) and Spanish (co op class). She took US Hist after doing core 100!! SHe cored a 5 on all but the Chem and Spanish (scored 3s for those)

 

We homeschool for academic reasons primarily - I want a rigorous education for my kids. But I want them to love it too. That's why I use Sonlight. There is a lot of reading in the higher levels and plenty of essays. I cannot understand why anyone would be concerned about the academic level unless they are not doing it all. We do it all. I only let my kids off a writing assignment if they do an essay contest in its place. The writing assignments are in the LA portion. There are usually 2 per week. I also do as SL suggests and make my kids do 2 research projects per year. One of them they do for National History Day and it must be related to the history they are doing that year and I grade it (plus they have the chance of placing in the contest). The other paper I usually let them choose which of their subjects to base it on.

 

I hope that answers everything

Meryl

 

This was encouraging to hear - thanks!:) We're a long way from the high school cores yet, but when I look at SL's catalogue, I think "I wish I could do those cores.:D" Good to know others are using SL successfully in the highschool years.

[TechWife]

SL in jr. high demands too much reading and not enough thinking.

:iagree: We had the same experience - there really isn't any info in the instructor guide to help you tie all of the reading together. I ended up adding to Core 6 last year and purchased the SOTW activity guides so I could have help. Even though SOTW is geared to younger students, I found plenty in the activity guide to help me beef up Sonlight for my then 6th grader: better maps; basic comprehension questions; suggested reading at a range of reading levels and occasionally I found one of the hands-on activities to be right up my son's alley (model building, etc.).

 

One of the fun things we did with the SOTW activity guide was to get a book from every culture/country that was a "Cinderella story." My ds was intrigued that this one story line was so popular around the world, even though it was Cinderella!

 

Overall, I think Sonlight demands too little from their students - my son was routinely reading stories below his comprehension ability and then there would be an odd one thrown in there that was not appropriate for Middle School level, but was an adult level book (Bruchco comes to mind).

 

After I read the new edition of TWTM I started telling one of my friends how I was going to change Sonlight to beef it up and she introduced me to History Odyssey. It has been a great match, so far.

[paula j]

Sonlight is definately enough for jr high. I know it uses Story of the World but look how fast the dc read through them, all 4 in 2 years. Also add in the Foster books included in these two cores like Augustus Caesars World, definately jr high or even high school level. Don't forget you also have all the great literature to top it off. Core 6 and 7 are awesome and my ds loved almost all the books. I would also like to add that their are some really good writing asignments in these cores, I think you will be just fine using them.

 

I have used sonlight for 6 years, although I did add in MFW Creation to the Greeks when we did core 6. I felt it was really good and loved the Biblical history, however, I do not feel it would have been nearly enough for my ds by itself after using sonlight and being used to so much literature. MFW is a great company though and we definately learned alot about the Old Testament.;) Ds learned the books of the Bible, 10 comandments, all sorts of memory work. We also thoroughly enjoyed celebrating the feasts.

 

Blessings

Paula

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Sonlight is definately enough for jr high. I know it uses Story of the World but look how fast the dc read through them, all 4 in 2 years. Also add in the Foster books included in these two cores like Augustus Caesars World, definately jr high or even high school level. Don't forget you also have all the great literature to top it off. Core 6 and 7 are awesome and my ds loved almost all the books. I would also like to add that their are some really good writing asignments in these cores, I think you will be just fine using them.

 

I have used sonlight for 6 years, although I did add in MFW Creation to the Greeks when we did core 6. I felt it was really good and loved the Biblical history, however, I do not feel it would have been nearly enough for my ds by itself after using sonlight and being used to so much literature. MFW is a great company though and we definately learned alot about the Old Testament.;) Ds learned the books of the Bible, 10 comandments, all sorts of memory work. We also thoroughly enjoyed celebrating the feasts.

 

Blessings

Paula

 

Thanks, Paula. You've hit upon my problem. I think I need to choose the best of Core 6 (and eventually 7) and do more specific analysis with just a few books. I don't think I could do both of these together. Yet it seems a great combination!

[SandKsmama]

Not Crystal, but I've also used MFW for the past 5 years (and done all the programs - MFW K, 1st, ECC, CTG, RTR, Ex1850, and 1850-modern), and my oldest is 8th grade this year, so I thought I could help a little.

 

About the writing...honestly, if you are using IEW and happy with it, I'd just continue it, and use the appropriate one to coordinate with the time period you are using in MFW. There really isn't any "graded" writing until you get the high school with MFW.

 

You would be fine jumping in at CTG, and then moving on to RTR. This would put you in a perfect spot to start with MFW high school. If you are used to Sonlight, you might feel the need to add in some additional books (maybe from one of the Cores reading lists? I dunno, I've never done Sonlight, but this is what I hear from former Sonlighters who switch to MFW). Or the great balance that MFW has between reading/narrating/activities, etc. might feel like a breath of fresh air and you won't *want* to add anything else!

 

Hope this helps,

Amanda

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Not Crystal, but I've also used MFW for the past 5 years (and done all the programs - MFW K, 1st, ECC, CTG, RTR, Ex1850, and 1850-modern), and my oldest is 8th grade this year, so I thought I could help a little.

 

About the writing...honestly, if you are using IEW and happy with it, I'd just continue it, and use the appropriate one to coordinate with the time period you are using in MFW. There really isn't any "graded" writing until you get the high school with MFW.

 

You would be fine jumping in at CTG, and then moving on to RTR. This would put you in a perfect spot to start with MFW high school. If you are used to Sonlight, you might feel the need to add in some additional books (maybe from one of the Cores reading lists? I dunno, I've never done Sonlight, but this is what I hear from former Sonlighters who switch to MFW). Or the great balance that MFW has between reading/narrating/activities, etc. might feel like a breath of fresh air and you won't *want* to add anything else!

 

Hope this helps,

Amanda

 

Hi Amanda,

 

Are you trying to make life easier?:lol: We've been reading so many SL books that MFW just "seems" too light, and I feel like I must add more to it especially for the logic stage. (i.e. outlining, analytical questions, etc...) That's primairily my concern about MFW. Otherwise, I've only heard wonderful things about them.

[swellmomma]

We are looking forward to using SL for jr high(and beyond). Right now we are spending 2.5 yrs doing cores 3/4and 100 all intertwined for grades 5 & 6. We are leaving Sl for gr 7 because I want to do WP S&S. Then back to SL for Gr8 it will be core 5, gr 9 core 6, gr 10 core 7. Jr high here in Canada is grades 7-9. HIgh school is grades 10-12 and I plan on using core 300 & 400 with core 530 split over grades 11-12.

 

For my goals for my kids this works out well. I wish I could fit in core 200, but don't see how without losing WP S&S and I don't want to give that one up, so will have to wait for my 3rd to take it as I will have extra time to fit it in his school plans.