Sonlight 6 Questions

[jengjohnson]

I want to do ancients next year and really like the looks of Sonlight 6 (we did 1 & 2 a couple of years ago). However, I would like to get back on the 4 year cycle, so I don't want to cover all that history in 1 year. Has anyone stretched this core over 2 years? If so, any suggestions on what to add in? I'm concerned that by slowing down they won't have enough reading to keep them happy. They read non-stop.

 

I'd also like to involve my new K'er as much as possible. I think I'll get SL Core K (already have most of the books) for her and then use the SOTW activity guide to give her a bit more history on her level. She's a strong student too and enjoys listening to chapter books.

 

Any suggestions? We've used HOD for the big girls this year and it's gone fine, but I'd rather move to something more condusive to combining. Also looking at TOG, but can't get too excited about it, LOL. I will miss the notebooking aspect of HOD though. History is always a difficult decision for me!

[MamaHappy]

Have you checked out BiblioPlan?

[StephanieZ]

I'm using it over one year. . .but I am sure you could easily enough spread it over 2 years instead.

 

I'd think to start my plan with just spreading out the 36 scheduled weeks over 72 weeks. . . and add in extra books & projects a la WTM suggestions. You could just do 2-3 SL "days" each calendar week. . .

 

OR You could perhaps schedule 3 SL weeks, then 2-3 "extras" weeks. . . and keep rotating like that (with some planning to allow for logical "breaks" so you aren't stopping in the middle of books).

 

I could see a lot of advantages to doing this. You could work in more significant research/writing projects regularly. (Maybe an essay every 2 weeks? &/or a research paper every 3 months?) You could add in extra literature (some more advanced Lit from WTM lists would be great). You could read/watch a play or two. . . You could do some field trips, hands-on projects, crafty stuff, cooking, etc.

 

I think it'd work just great! SL could be your "spine" ("core", lol) and you could use WTM lists/etc to flesh things out. Sounds fun to me!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I wanted to finish before my oldest starts high school. So I'm doing a few weeks following Sonlight, then a few weeks with history being research and writing, with an emphasis on paragraph writing.

 

So Egypt is being stretched from 4 weeks to 8. When we get to Greece and Rome, which was longer in Sonlight, I may cycle twice.

 

You could do notebooking during these off weeks. You could also do extra weeks with free reading from a variety of possibilites. Or listen to lectures and take notes. This is probably where I will do the activity sheets from SOTW and/or the History Pockets that I've accumulated over the years. It would depend on the age of your kids.

 

On our "off" weeks, we still do our other subjects. My plan is to get three years of science in while we do two history cores.

 

For me it came down to the fact that I loved having the SL schedule. The only thing that I needed to tweek was the timing.

[meet me in paris]

It's very easy to combine a younger into Core 6. We're doing it this year. It would be especially easy if you're stretching it out over 2 years, since you'll be going through one SOTW book per year instead of 2 - that's a better pace for the younger student.

 

There are tons of additional resources posted on the SL forums for adding in more books, too. But I think just adding extra projects and writing activities would be enough to stretch it, too. We're doing IEW Ancient History based writing w/Core 6 and it worked out well.

[MerryAtHope]

I'm going to spread World History over 4 years by using Mystery of History, Truthquest Guides, and books from SL cores 6 on up (and maybe a few others recommended in either MOH or TQ). I can't wait!

 

Oh, also Diana Waring CD's.

 

Merry :-)

[jengjohnson]

Thanks for all the suggestions and encouragement. I have also looked at Biblioplan and am keeping that in mind, but I just love all the SL literature. I think I would like to also add in MOH, I remember seeing schedules combining MOH and SOTW, so perhaps I could just plug those into SL to extend things. I guess I'm just worried about taking 6 weeks to read a book rather than 3, the kids are always asking for more, so I'd better be prepared to add more in rather than just stretch it out. I do like the idea of adding in more related writing assignments though. I'm going to look at the IEW Ancients. That might be just what I need.

 

Thanks again!