Now that I'm typing up the booklists for my oldest, I'm extremely unhappy with SL

[AngieW in Texas]

Her booklist looks awful. There are a lot of books we used that I'm too embarrassed to put on the list.

 

I'm hopeful that the schools my dd is interested (all public universities in Texas) won't ask for booklists.

 

Why did Sonlight put so many middle school and elementary school titles in that Core? It would be fine as a 7th grade or 8th grade Core, but not for 9th. They need to use a high school level history text, drop all the elementary school and middle school novels, and add more high school level novels.

 

I did add other books to the Core, but it was a pretty weak year.

 

English I

US History-based Writing Lessons, volumes 1 and 2 from Institute for Excellence in Writing

Word Roots B1 from Critical Thinking Press

Treasure Island (Stevenson)

Witch of Blackbird Pond (Spears)

Streams to the River, River to the Sea (O’Dell)

Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain)

Mine Eyes Have Seen (Rinaldi)

Call of the Wild (London)

Animal Farm (Orwell)

Farewell to Manzanar (Houston)

To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee)

 

American History

History of US books 1-10 (Hakim)

Walk the World’s Rim

Traitor - The Case for Benedict Arnold (Fritz)

Amelia’s War (Rinaldi)

Slopes of War (Perez)

The Staircase (Rinaldi)

Christy (Marshall)

Dragon’s Gate (Yep)

Bonanza Girl (Beatty)

Nothing to Fear (Kollar)

A Year Down Yonder (Peck)

[Bee]

I recently attended a college fair and only one of the reps said they wanted to see a list of all the books a student read for high school. I'm thinking that could be quite a list for hsers. Anyway,almost all were mainly interested in ACT/SAT scores and courses studied. They wanted to see challenging courses. But most students who attend high school are not going to read as many books as SL uses for an english course. At the most, maybe 6 or 7 per year (and most students won't read that many). So there are a few books on that list that certainly count as high school level and more that could if the student were writing about them and/or discussing them.

 

I personally feel it's maybe going a bit overboard to require my soon to be 9th grader to read a book list that consists only of the classics (as some homeschool curriculums do). I think that might stifle all love of books and learning if a person is scheduled to read only the most difficult things. I also think that required reading of many of the old classics is wasted on teenagers;they simply can't relate to them because they have no life experience.

[Tokyomarie]

Angie, between them, my 2 daughters applied to a total of 7 colleges and universities. Only one of them asked for a booklist and that school was only looking for a sampling of books my daughter had read. When I told them she had read at least a couple dozen books during each year of high school the admissions director told me to submit a list of no more than 20 books. We chose the most challenging of the books she had read, though a few books that were not so academically challenging but significant for other reasons also made the list.

 

My oldest daughter had much of Core 100 on her high school reading list. In fact, she did the history portion of that core together with Core 400 during her senior year. One thing I like about the easier reading books in SL is that they add a lot of cultural literacy in a rather painless format. My daughter, who was a National Merit Scholar, loved some of those easy reading books. That's not ALL she read, but she had fun with some of them. This daughter did Core 200, Core 400, the history portion of Core 100, and about a half-dozen of the Core 300 literature books for her high school work. She did do some of the classic ancient lit through another curriculum and we added some studies in British Lit, and a few other classic works done through an online class. She also did some additional history studies, though none of it was a full curriculum. All of that work was done in grade 10-12. Her 9th grade year was spent at a pricey international school overseas. Her history class was a joke and while her English class was good in many ways, she probably only read 3 or 4 full length works for the year. They were of the level of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

 

In my own background, I attended a very good suburban high school back in the '70s with some really good old-school teachers. If I remember correctly, Tom Sawyer & Animal Farm were on the reading list for my honors 9th grade English class. Of course, we were required to interact with the material at a higher level than a 7th or 8th grader, but still they were on the honors reading list. Most of us went on up through AP English, took the test, and probably did just fine.

 

I believe 9th grade is a transitional year. I don't think it's necessary for most 9th graders to be reading works that many people never read until college if at all. Those 9th graders who truly need the challenge will do well to take it but I don't think we need to push that hard in most cases.

[readwithem]

This is my biggest beef about SL - it's just not rigorous enough at the high school level.:001_huh:

 

I think you're referring to a course description, right? I would just list the strong books and call it a sample list. Would you say her other courses (science, math) are strong? Will she have SAT or AP scores to verify her ability to do college level work?

 

Which dd is this? Does she have time to "redeem" this year and build a stronger transcript?

Edited April 2, 2010 by readwithem

[Rhonda in TX]

While I don't think every book on that list is "high school worthy", some are. And, if you look at what (and how many) books a PS 9th grader reads for school, I think it is a good list. I think you're concentrating on the weak books, rather than looking at the stronger ones.

 

I also don't think most universities are going to ask for a booklist.

[AngieW in Texas]

The list was for my oldest. Her 10th and 11th grade years have been stronger. We are working on bringing up critical reading (570) and writing (590) scores on the SAT. Her math score is great.

 

She will be taking at least Japanese and English next year at the cc. I hope to get permission from the dean for her to take more course. If I can get 3 courses, then I'll have her do Physics there also. If I can get 4 courses, then I'll have her do Calculus as well.

 

I'm pretty sure that I can get the dean to approve one extra course. There is a list of requirements you have to meet before asking for permission to take extra courses and my dd meets all of those. It is done pretty regularly around here.

[4wildberrys]

While I don't think every book on that list is "high school worthy", some are. And, if you look at what (and how many) books a PS 9th grader reads for school, I think it is a good list. I think you're concentrating on the weak books, rather than looking at the stronger ones.

 

I also don't think most universities are going to ask for a booklist.

 

:iagree: There ARE high school level books there, though, and I'm pretty sure that most public and private schools don't even read HALF of the SL lists--well, make that a quarter---per year! And if you continued on with SL through the rest of the high school Cores----then the reading list would blow away pretty much any other school's list. ;)

[Kareni]

When I worked on my daughter's reading list in the summer before 12th grade (and, no, she hadn't used Sonlight), I found it to be weak in the area of non-fiction. I asked here and elsewhere for recommendations for readable, gripping non-fiction titles. I put together a basket of books and asked her to read six that summer. If I were to do high school again for her, I'd do this each summer.

 

If you feel that your daughter's list is lacking in literary fiction, I'd recommend doing something similar -- ask for recommendations (particularly of shorter titles including plays) and have her do some summer reading.

 

One other thought -- since my daughter went to college with the intention of majoring in Latin, we also included a list of Latin works on her reading list. This included authors such as Ovid and Catullus as well as books such as Virent Ova! Viret Perna! by Dr. Seuss, Ferdinandus Taurus by Munro Leaf, and Asterix Olympius by Rene de Goscinny. We thought this showed her interest.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Faithr]

Gosh, I'm contemplating SL for my 10th grader next year and I really liked the book list. I thought even though there were a number of middle/jr high level books there were certainly a solid number of high school level. I'm looking at the SL 200. It's got two Shakespeare plays, two Dickens, two R. L.Stevenson, two C.S. Lewis, a Chesterton, poetry, Austen, Bronte and Defoe! What is weak about that list?

[4wildberrys]

Gosh, I'm contemplating SL for my 10th grader next year and I really liked the book list. I thought even though there were a number of middle/jr high level books there were certainly a solid number of high school level. I'm looking at the SL 200. It's got two Shakespeare plays, two Dickens, two R. L.Stevenson, two C.S. Lewis, a Chesterton, poetry, Austen, Bronte and Defoe! What is weak about that list?

 

Nothing. The Cores after 100 have GREAT reading lists! :D I think the problem lies in that since SL100 is basically the only US history core for upper levels, a lot of people have trouble getting over the fact that it includes many younger type titles mixed in with some high school level lit. I am now seeing that Core 100 is more an introduction to the upper levels of SL---a gentle introduction. But then again, if you use all the notes, writing prompts and questions---it beefs it up to a higher level. It's Core 400 that has the "American Lit" portion that people are looking for or think is included with Core 100.

[readwithem]

The list was for my oldest. Her 10th and 11th grade years have been stronger. We are working on bringing up critical reading (570) and writing (590) scores on the SAT. Her math score is great.

 

She will be taking at least Japanese and English next year at the cc. I hope to get permission from the dean for her to take more course. If I can get 3 courses, then I'll have her do Physics there also. If I can get 4 courses, then I'll have her do Calculus as well.

 

I'm pretty sure that I can get the dean to approve one extra course. There is a list of requirements you have to meet before asking for permission to take extra courses and my dd meets all of those. It is done pretty regularly around here.

 

Sorry, I saw you said it was your oldest in your title.

 

You say she's looking at state schools within TX, maybe run the book list by somebody in admissions and see what they think. Or are the state schools more numbers driven, in which case a solid Lit SAT or AP score might suffice.

 

What year did your dd do this core? If it was a few years ago (9th grade or so), I think they would probably look more closely at her recent coursework regardless.

 

There's actually a thread on SL right now, the poster's dd was waitlisted at UVA and the adcoms said it's because they question SL's rigor.

[Faithr]

That is a hoot about UVA questioning Sonlight's rigor! I know someone who is at UVA right now and did Seton. And I would say that SL is way more rigorous than Seton is! I think UVA really judges on SAT scores, SAT subject scores and what kind of extracurricular stuff they do. They've started requiring 3 SAT subject tests from homeschoolers. They get a bazillion applications all the time. I don't think they focus that much on what curriculum the student really uses. That's my impression.

[Tokyomarie]

Another thought I had about college admissions in general: most competitive colleges like to see some outside coursework evaluated by a non-family member as confirmation of academic ability. Of course SAT/ACT scores help but I think no matter what curriculum provider the student used for coursework done at home, the most competitive colleges want to see evidence that the student has some experience working in a classroom setting. If an actual detailed list of course descriptions is requested- which most colleges don't have time to pour over but a few ask for- they may like to see multiple publishers listed to show that the student has had exposure to a variety of viewpoints on different subjects.

 

Something else you can do is organize your transcript by subject. If you feel you would like to add something to her American History learning you could watch the Teaching Company American History college level DVDs this summer, or perhaps watch some DVDs on a couple of particular time periods or issues in American History and add those to the list of materials used. In our homeschool, I arrange the transcript by subject because we are always watching this, reading that, or visiting museums and other sites of interest in our travels. All of that gets added to my "materials used" list, which I've not actually provided to any schools except for one.

 

Don't forget about extracurricular activities. They are also evidence that a prospective student can manage well in a group setting.

 

The whole package will be far more important to admissions folks than whether a student read a moderate number of "middle school level" books as part of their overall curriculum in 9th grade.

 

I seriously would relax about having SL's Core 100 as a 9th grade course. Please do remember that most colleges do not want or request a detailed course description, they only want a traditional transcript that says American History and English I/English 9.

[AngieW in Texas]

Her booklists should show increasing complexity. It probably is unlikely that the colleges she is interested in will ask to see them anyway. They aren't interested in SAT-II scores either.

 

She'll have plenty of community college credits to show that she can work in a classroom. Her SAT scores are pretty decent and should be higher when she retakes it this summer.

 

I can breathe now.

[LizzyBee]

For 9th grade, my oldest dd took Honors English and Honors World History at a college prep public charter school that has a great reputation with NC colleges. Your dd's list looks better than my dd's list. Really, you have nothing to worry about.

[TravelingChris]

It looks weak to me. THat is one big reason I didn't continue with Sonlight. SO while I wouldn't recommend this for ninth graders unless there are other issues, I wouldn't fret about it with a child who has done this already.

 

In terms of her SAT scores, try the ACT. My dd scores very well on the ACT but only somewhat better than average on SAT tests (I actually haven't had her take any but she took PSAT twice and SAT practice tests). She scored 34 on her Reading test on the ACT but only 62 on the PSAT. She is a very concrete type thinking child and the ACT is much better suited to her.

[Heather in VA]

That is a hoot about UVA questioning Sonlight's rigor! I know someone who is at UVA right now and did Seton. And I would say that SL is way more rigorous than Seton is! I think UVA really judges on SAT scores, SAT subject scores and what kind of extracurricular stuff they do. They've started requiring 3 SAT subject tests from homeschoolers. They get a bazillion applications all the time. I don't think they focus that much on what curriculum the student really uses. That's my impression.

 

That is probably true but if I'm not mistaken, Seton is "accredited" and has an outside diploma type thing, right? UVA isn't going to want to take the time to understand another type of education. And don't forget, if someone is from Northern Virginia, even a homeschooler, you will be subjected to the quota issues and have to meet much more stringent guidelines than someone from other parts of the state.

 

Heather

[Mom0012]

Does anyone have a 9th grader in public or private high school that could list the books their child is using? I think it would be interesting to compare the SL 100 selections with what is actually being used in the schools.

 

Lisa

[Faithr]

Heather, you might be right about the accredited business but it has nothing to do with rigor! And yes if you are out of state stakes are higher. My bil went to UVA but he got a perfect score on the math section and near perfect on the language portion. He was from Baltimore MD. And I actually know two homeschoolers now at UVA both from Northern VA. One was enrolled in Kolbe, I think, and the other as I said before was enrolled in Seton.

 

So it might be that being enrolled was the key for them. But also both did very well on their SATs and took several SAT subject tests. And both had very wonderful extra-curricular stuff going on like working as interns at the UN and things like that!

 

Anyway I just read an article the other day and I wish I could put my finger on it but it focused on now famous/successful people who got rejected by the first college of choice. And one of the facts that they pointed out was that, sometimes the numbers just aren't with you and even though you ought to have made it into a school they can only accept so many students. So sometimes it just doesn't work out the way you hope.

[meet me in paris]

Does anyone have a 9th grader in public or private high school that could list the books their child is using? I think it would be interesting to compare the SL 100 selections with what is actually being used in the schools.

 

Lisa

Mine's not in PS, but here is the local PS 9th grade reading list:

 

 

Unit 1

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Night -Gifted Hands

Supplemental:

-All Over But the Shoutin

-The Road from Coorain

-Farewell to Manzanar

-A Personal Reflection of the Holocaust

-The Summer of My German Solider

Unit 2 Raisin in the Sun

Supplemental:

-Animal Farm

-Lord of the Flies

Unit 3 Romeo and Juliet

Supplemental:

-A Midsummer Night's Dream

Unit 4 Antigone

Supplemental:

The Odyssey

 

Seems fairly light to me (I'm not sure what they do with the "supplemental" titles), and this is a "good" Maryland school.

Edited April 3, 2010 by meet me in paris

[Mom0012]

Mine's not in PS, but here is the local PS 9th grade reading list:

 

 

Unit 1

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Night -Gifted Hands

Supplemental:

-All Over But the Shoutin

-The Road from Coorain

-Farewell to Manzanar

-A Personal Reflection of the Holocaust

-The Summer of My German Solider

Unit 2 Raisin in the Sun

Supplemental:

-Animal Farm

-Lord of the Flies

Unit 3 Romeo and Juliet

Supplemental:

-A Midsummer Night's Dream

Unit 4 Antigone

Supplemental:

The Odyssey

 

Seems fairly light to me (I'm not sure what they do with the "supplemental" titles), and this is a "good" Maryland school.

 

Thanks, Susan! That's really helpful. It's nice to be able to compare and put things in perspective.

 

Lisa

[MIch elle]

Does anyone have a 9th grader in public or private high school that could list the books their child is using? I think it would be interesting to compare the SL 100 selections with what is actually being used in the schools.

 

Lisa

 

FYI:

 

English 9th grade texts:

Holt Handbook: Grammar, Usage, Mechanics and Sentences Sixth Course

Prentice Hall Literature Gold

Vocabulary for the College-Bound Student

 

Literature:

Into Thin Air

The Odyssey

Great Expectations

Farenheit 451

Romeo & Juilet

Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Things Fall Apart

The Gift of the Magi

The Scarlet Ibis

The Cast of Amontillado

THe Old Man and the Sea

 

I think this is all that my ds read in 9th grade (not 100% sure this is all of it).

 

They also did selections from PH Lit. Gold as well as poetry & poetry presentations (my ds did "The Creation" by JW Johnson); literary analysis, and composition; along with grammar and vocabulary from the listed texts above.

 

The Murder of Tutankamen was one book for history - no other books that we can recall other than the textbook.

 

I used SL 100 myself when my older ds was using SL 3/4 in grade 5. By the time I planned on using SL 100 (gr.8) with my dc, I decided not to use it. Many of the books in SL 100 are elementary literature BUT there are a TON of them!

[Mom0012]

FYI:

 

English 9th grade texts:

Holt Handbook: Grammar, Usage, Mechanics and Sentences Sixth Course

Prentice Hall Literature Gold

Vocabulary for the College-Bound Student

 

Literature:

Into Thin Air

The Odyssey

Great Expectations

Farenheit 451

Romeo & Juilet

Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Things Fall Apart

The Gift of the Magi

The Scarlet Ibis

The Cast of Amontillado

THe Old Man and the Sea

 

I think this is all that my ds read in 9th grade (not 100% sure this is all of it).

 

They also did selections from PH Lit. Gold as well as poetry & poetry presentations (my ds did "The Creation" by JW Johnson); literary analysis, and composition; along with grammar and vocabulary from the listed texts above.

 

The Murder of Tutankamen was one book for history - no other books that we can recall other than the textbook.

 

I used SL 100 myself when my older ds was using SL 3/4 in grade 5. By the time I planned on using SL 100 (gr.8) with my dc, I decided not to use it. Many of the books in SL 100 are elementary literature BUT there are a TON of them!

 

 

Thanks, Michelle! I'm not familiar with all of these books, or the SL books, but it will be nice to be able to go through them and get a better idea of exactly what the differences are.

Lisa

Edited April 4, 2010 by LisaTheresa

[Mom0012]

Okay, now I understand. I went and plugged in a bunch of the books that Susan and Michelle listed as well as the SL books into lexile.com. It seems that most of the SL books are at a lexile level ranging from 730 - 930. There were two that were 1040 and 1170 and I wasn't able to find out the lexile level of the Hakim books. Most of the books posted by Susan have lexile levels from 1040 - 1330. The books posted by Michelle that I could get a lexile score for were a mix with about half being in the SL range and the other half being 1260 - 1320 and maybe higher. There were quite a number of books I couldn't get a lexile score for, but this gives me a much better picture of why everyone keeps complaining about this level of SL, so thanks for sharing that info. My children may very well still be doing SL 100, but it is interesting to see the numbers.

 

Lisa

Edited April 4, 2010 by LisaTheresa

[meet me in paris]

Okay, now I understand. I went and plugged in a bunch of the books that Susan and Michelle listed as well as the SL books into lexile.com. It seems that most of the SL books are at a lexile level ranging from 730 - 930. There were two that were 1040 and 1170 and I wasn't able to find out the lexile level of the Hakim books. Most of the books posted by Susan have lexile levels from 1040 - 1330. The books posted by Michelle that I could get a lexile score for were a mix with about half being in the SL range and the other half being 1260 - 1320 and maybe higher. There were quite a number of books I couldn't get a lexile score for, but this gives me a much better picture of why everyone keeps complaining about this level of SL, so thanks for sharing that info. My children may very well still be doing SL 100, but it is interesting to see the numbers.

 

Lisa

Thanks for looking that up and posting it, Lisa. I'm still planning on doing SL 100 in 9th (if you're going to read 30 books, they can't all be door-stoppers, LOL), but I think I may add another one or two of the heftier American Lit books for good measure.

[Kareni]

Anyway I just read an article the other day and I wish I could put my finger on it but it focused on now famous/successful people who got rejected by the first college of choice. And one of the facts that they pointed out was that, sometimes the numbers just aren't with you and even though you ought to have made it into a school they can only accept so many students. So sometimes it just doesn't work out the way you hope.

 

Faithr,

 

I think this may be the article you were referring to: Before They Were Titans, Moguls and Newsmakers, These People Were...Rejected.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Tokyomarie]

Thanks for looking that up and posting it, Lisa. I'm still planning on doing SL 100 in 9th (if you're going to read 30 books, they can't all be door-stoppers, LOL), but I think I may add another one or two of the heftier American Lit books for good measure.

 

Interestingly enough, after musing over this thread, I'm contemplating giving up my attempt to soldier through a 4 year rotation of history for high school. It just seems like I'm not finding materials/methods in that vein that work for us. I may have my son do SL 100 for 10th grade (he's doing ancient history this year) and add the Teaching Company series History of the United States the way I did for my dd. I may pull a few works from SL 400's American Lit to add to SL 100.

 

Of course this is all subject to revision before the summer's over but honestly, while I don't use much/most of SL's writing, overall it is the curriculum we've been able to be most consistent about using over the years. We add to it when we have time and when life gets crazy, at least I have the IG schedule to just open and go.

[Faithr]

The posted list above for 9th grade made me think of something: I teach Sunday school to 7th grade girls at my church. Two of the girls are in the 'gifted' program at the public school. The books they read this year were Lord of the Flies, Night and Frankenstein. This blew me a way. These are 12 year old girls, mind you! For one thing, from talking to them, even though they were physically capable of reading these books, I could see they had gained nothing from them, except the ewww! factor. Imo these books were way too old for them. Now I know the public school has no interest in preserving childhood innocence and that they want to throw very dark, depressing, existential literature at these girls way before they are emotionally ready to deal with it and that they do this so they can brag about the advanced lexile level or some such nonsense so it'll look good on their records. These girls will most likely go to the local high school which has an epidemic of genital warts, lots of problems with drugs, depressed teens, the occasional suicide, etc. Could it be that one reason for this is that kids are pushed into adult subject matter before they are ready? Just one factor I believe.

 

I know I am coming from a Christian point of view and so is Sonlight, but maybe the reason for SL 100's list is that they want the child to read lots of well written books to get a real taste of history and the places they are studying but they do not want to violate the child's innocence before their time. And frankly I think that is a more valid pedagogical approach than the crap the ps puts forth as education (not that I don't think the books the girls read, Lord of the Flies, Frankenstein and Night aren't books worth reading, but they are worth reading at an older age when they can really think deeply about the books and not just be shocked and frightened by them).

[4wildberrys]

The posted list above for 9th grade made me think of something: I teach Sunday school to 7th grade girls at my church. Two of the girls are in the 'gifted' program at the public school. The books they read this year were Lord of the Flies, Night and Frankenstein. This blew me a way. These are 12 year old girls, mind you! For one thing, from talking to them, even though they were physically capable of reading these books, I could see they had gained nothing from them, except the ewww! factor. Imo these books were way too old for them. Now I know the public school has no interest in preserving childhood innocence and that they want to throw very dark, depressing, existential literature at these girls way before they are emotionally ready to deal with it and that they do this so they can brag about the advanced lexile level or some such nonsense so it'll look good on their records. These girls will most likely go to the local high school which has an epidemic of genital warts, lots of problems with drugs, depressed teens, the occasional suicide, etc. Could it be that one reason for this is that kids are pushed into adult subject matter before they are ready? Just one factor I believe.

 

I know I am coming from a Christian point of view and so is Sonlight, but maybe the reason for SL 100's list is that they want the child to read lots of well written books to get a real taste of history and the places they are studying but they do not want to violate the child's innocence before their time. And frankly I think that is a more valid pedagogical approach than the crap the ps puts forth as education (not that I don't think the books the girls read, Lord of the Flies, Frankenstein and Night aren't books worth reading, but they are worth reading at an older age when they can really think deeply about the books and not just be shocked and frightened by them).

 

:iagree: You hit the nail on the head!! I read those books much earlier than I am having my kids read them too---with the same experience you just described with those girls. It's the 'deep thinking' part I am more interested for my kids at an appropriate age----and yes, kids can read all sort of high lexile books early on. But it doesn't mean they actually understand what is going on or how to analyze and get the big picture! There has been a LOT of talk even at SL how SL high school cores aren't rigorous enough because the reading lists contain 'middle school' reading level books. This is interesting---because it's made me think HARD about using SL for high school and what I want for my kids. After looking at the reading lists at Veritas Press and Kolbe----I realize that SL and their slow, gentler approach to literature and literary analysis is the route I want to take. I would laugh out loud at any college that said SL's reading list wasn't good enough using 100-400 for high school. :tongue_smilie: I think, also, that the distinction needs to be made that SL is 'Literature Based History' and not Classical or Great Books. ;)

[momee]

I'll let you all know how it goes. I'm putting the Core 100 books on my shelf right now. This is for an 11th grader. I know, I know. I'm sticking my fingers in my ears with you all and the complaining 100 is not high school level.

From what I've read in the notes and assignments so far, it looks really good to me.

 

Anyway, he did year 1 rhetoric and year 2 rhetoric with TOG and is totally burnt out on history and lit. He needs something enjoyable where not every book assigned has to do with his history topic that week. Plus I totally agree with the comments about maturity. I gave my son works he was not ready for. Left a baaad taste in his mouth. I'm frankly ready for success, not pushing over his limits :) and ending in frustration, kwim?

 

I trust SL actually. They say it's hs level and I have to go with them until I see different. There are many different opinions on this hot topic on the SL forums, that's for sure. He is at the high end of the age range and so we very well might add stuff in. That will not happen though from the looks of it. I think between this core 100 for 11th and core 300 for 12th he'll have more than enough for American History AND lit.

 

If he finishes early, yeehaw. More time for (cough - sputter) physics and higher math, right?

 

Respectfully, have those of you who say it's not actually hs level done the core and all the work they assign? (I did see the OP did the books, but the work and writing and etc. also?)

 

Also, Walk the World's Rim is in my fourth grade stack as a read aloud...not my Core 100 stuff. I don't know that you meant this to be on your list but it isn't a 100 book. I didn't look at the others, only that one because I just began reading it to my 8 year old.

Edited April 5, 2010 by momee

[AngieW in Texas]

I had my 9th grader read two books from the Core 3/4 list because they were closer to high school level than many of the books in Core 100. In fact, I had my dyslexic 6th grader reading some of the Core 100 books last year and this year with Cores 3 and 4.

[GraceLikeRainFallsDown]

Thanks for looking that up and posting it, Lisa. I'm still planning on doing SL 100 in 9th (if you're going to read 30 books, they can't all be door-stoppers, LOL), but I think I may add another one or two of the heftier American Lit books for good measure.

 

A good add to Core 100 for us was Uncle Tom's Cabin. My daughter is doing Core 100 in 8th grade, but if your child has not read Uncle Tom's Cabin I would recommend it. I had not read it until this year. I now think it should be required reading. (I just looked it up on lexile.com and it was a 1050L rating. Thank you for the website Lisa. It is interesting to see the reading level.)

[Mom22ns]

I had my 9th grader read two books from the Core 3/4 list because they were closer to high school level than many of the books in Core 100. In fact, I had my dyslexic 6th grader reading some of the Core 100 books last year and this year with Cores 3 and 4.

 

My dd did core 3+4 this year while ds did core 100. One book that really stood out to me as belonging in Core 100 was Across 5 Aprils. We did it as a read aloud so both kids got to hear it anyway, but it was over the head of my 10yo. This comes up as an 1100 Lexile and the coverage of the civil war is deeper than anything in Core 100.

 

On the other hand, my 10 yo read several Core 100 books. There are some light books in there. We had a great year with it though. My ds did it for 7th grade, but we didn't do all the writing. It did bring out great discussions and I think it will go as deep as any typical high school American History and American Lit classes do.

[Heather in VA]

I have been thinking a lot about this thread and something finally occurred to me. This is a prime example of the tight rope we have to walk as we homeschool for high school. I think that it's very likely that doing Core 100 in 9th grade will produce as much appreciation and understanding of American History as most public schools, perhaps more. We know that in homeschool it's more than just reading a list of books and being done with it. But we also have to acknowledge that if a college looks at a book list, it is only going to look at the materials. They aren't going to see students talking, discussing, writing, thinking etc. Nor are they going to stop and think about the benefits of different approaches to education - like literature-based. They are going to say 'gee these books seem easy'.

 

So as homeschoolers we have to walk that fine line between schooling our kids in the way we know is best for them and will have good results while still "playing the game' enough that our children have the doors open for them that they want down the road. I know this is a tough thing for me as I try to avoid comparing my daughter's transcript to the over-inflated insanity of a Fairfax County public school transcript with 10 AP classes etc. I graduated from that. It isn't all it's cracked up to be but it's alway what I have to face as her competition if she wants to go to a school in VA (she probably doesn't but she is considering William and Mary).

 

I have no answers but I felt like sharing my musings this morning.

 

Heather

[Mom0012]

Is it mainly Core 100 that people take issue with or are the other HS cores lower in reading level as well? I got the impression from one of the earlier posts that this is the core most people feel is weak.

 

I am surprised the colleges want book lists at all, but it seems you could easily add a few higher level pieces in for this year and still be doing just fine. But, with a 2nd and 4th grader, I do not have the perspective some of you high school moms have.

 

ETA: When I first started using SL, all I heard was how hard the books were and that many were not age-appropriate for elementary students, so it's kind of ironic to hear the opposite for the high school cores.

 

Lisa

Edited April 6, 2010 by LisaTheresa

[4wildberrys]

I have been thinking a lot about this thread and something finally occurred to me. This is a prime example of the tight rope we have to walk as we homeschool for high school. I think that it's very likely that doing Core 100 in 9th grade will produce as much appreciation and understanding of American History as most public schools, perhaps more. We know that in homeschool it's more than just reading a list of books and being done with it. But we also have to acknowledge that if a college looks at a book list, it is only going to look at the materials. They aren't going to see students talking, discussing, writing, thinking etc. Nor are they going to stop and think about the benefits of different approaches to education - like literature-based. They are going to say 'gee these books seem easy'.

 

So as homeschoolers we have to walk that fine line between schooling our kids in the way we know is best for them and will have good results while still "playing the game' enough that our children have the doors open for them that they want down the road. I know this is a tough thing for me as I try to avoid comparing my daughter's transcript to the over-inflated insanity of a Fairfax County public school transcript with 10 AP classes etc. I graduated from that. It isn't all it's cracked up to be but it's alway what I have to face as her competition if she wants to go to a school in VA (she probably doesn't but she is considering William and Mary).

 

I have no answers but I felt like sharing my musings this morning.

 

Heather

 

Well said! The whole "Look At Me" transcript thing is 'playing the game'---because I agree that my dd using Core 100 for 10th gave her more understanding of US history than I have ever had! The SL method gives a broad depth to history that you will never, ever get from a textbook. Even reading lower lexile or 'middle school' books. But I also understand that if you have a child that wants to go to a competitive school, you might have to get really creative in your course descriptions or simply 'play the game' and load up on CC classes and other textbook style, impressive transcript fillers. ;)

[unsinkable]

If you are still wondering/looking for 9th grade lists, my DS is at a private boys school this year and this is what he has done/will do:

 

poetry unit with analysis questions

short story unit with a paper, a major test & a creative writing assignment

Lord of the Flies with quizzes, a paper, a major test & a creative writing assignment

Dracula with quizzes, a paper, a major test & a creative writing assignment

Julius Caesar -- just started reading it in class. I am assuming there will be quizzes, a paper, a major test :001_smile:.

Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett -- just started this as independent reading. I am not sure if he'll have to write a paper or what???

Animal Farm will be the last book, I think. Again, I assume there will be quizzes, a paper, a major test.

 

It seems like DS's class is concentrating on digging deeply into a few books. They read everything critcally. The quizzes are more than just recall of facts. The essays are thesis-types and the creative writing assignments are like: "continue one of the short stories we read."

 

He also had to read 3 books over the summer and take a quiz on each book. DS read:

 

7 Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers

Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod

Field of Dreams

 

It was difficult to find decent books on the summer reading list. I preread a few of them and they were just cr@p I was really discouraged.

 

HTH

[Mom0012]

[quote=unsinkable;1612023

It seems like DS's class is concentrating on digging deeply into a few books. They read everything critcally. The quizzes are more than just recall of facts. The essays are thesis-types and the creative writing assignments are like: "continue one of the short stories we read."

 

HTH

 

This is the impression I am getting. That's what makes me feel that it would be easy to just add in a few extra upper level books to even things out. The other complaint I have heard about SL in the HS years is that there isn't any literary analysis. I would think you could add in a literature guide for a few of the books and compensate that way as well.

 

 

Lisa

Edited April 6, 2010 by LisaTheresa

[Mom0012]

Well said! The whole "Look At Me" transcript thing is 'playing the game'---because I agree that my dd using Core 100 for 10th gave her more understanding of US history than I have ever had! The SL method gives a broad depth to history that you will never, ever get from a textbook.

 

And this is exactly why I want to be able to continue using SL. I think the understanding is so much greater learning this way and it is just plain enjoyable as well. Every time I hear that it is not rigorous enough, it alarms me a little.

 

Lisa

[4wildberrys]

And this is exactly why I want to be able to continue using SL. I think the understanding is so much greater learning this way and it is just plain enjoyable as well. Every time I hear that it is not rigorous enough, it alarms me a little.

 

Lisa

Yep---I hear ya! But listening to my daughter comment about historical events lately, and even what she comments to her homeschooling friends' parents---I worry less now. ;)

[melmichigan]

I agree there is definately a way to find a balance. Many of the complaints are that people remember that Core 100 used to be a middle school core for grades 7-9 (middle school in my day ;)). Not much really changed and if anything the Core spine was lowered with HUS versus the old spine. I agree you could always use a different spine, or a few higher level books and some more literary analysis and have a great high school year for most students.

 

(Just to clarify, I am using Core 100 for middle school, but did consider what could be done to bring it up a little more for a high school course.)