Compare Sonlight and Winterpromise?

[chrissymama]

I am interested in both of these. I would deeply appreciate it if somebody could compare them for me.

 

In the fall, I'll have 3rd grader, Kindy, 3yo, and 1yo. I am looking for something enjoyable, great quality, and easy for me!

 

Thank you!

[Guest]

Sonlight is all read aloud, no hands-on. (Unless you add them in.)

WinterPromise is very hands-on.

 

Sonlight books are extremely rich in content.

WinterPromise books are extremely rich in pictures and content.

 

I like Sonlight's read alouds, but will not buy their Instructor Guides again. (Too choppy; I just returned 3 of them. :D)

 

We started a year of WinterPromise and it was a little too much hands on.

 

I'm sure you'll get other answers. :)

 

ETA: I can't speak for your 3rd grader, but for your littles, I love the selections from Sonlight 3/4. That core is full of picture books. :)

Edited June 13, 2010 by Guest

[Lovedtodeath]

You will find a lot on this search. This thread is my favorite on the topic.

Edited June 13, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[DianeW88]

To me Sonlight is just a lot of reading (albeit good reading), but it bored my kids to tears. And, bogged us down. We love the hands-on projects that come with WP and all the little extras.

 

So, I guess it depends on what you enjoy and what your children enjoy. You'll find pros and cons on both sides of the curriculum aisle.

 

Diane W.

married for 22 years

homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years

[Aoife]

I chose SL for several reasons. One being that I love the large amount of reading. I am a big reader as is DH and DS1. We really stress the importance of reading and love books that get a bit "heavier" and make you think and make your emotions rise up. As far as hands on it is simple really to add hands on things to anything and I personally would rather add what hands on I want rather then have more then I want and not use it. For instance we will use history portfolio alongside history for that hands on notebooking feel. For reading we'll add in similar activities that I will pull together at some point. Also science itself is very very hands on here so not sure there would really need to be more then that without overwhelming life in general. On another note we do a tons of hands on outside of "school" with cooking, art, gardening ect. So I vote SL and it took me a good year to finally reach that decision so it was very thought out at least for me.

[Lovedtodeath]

Then there is also Heart of Dakota... I don't know if you are interested. They are more CM than either Sonlight or WP, and also have more religion woven into the lessons.

[SnowWhite]

We chose WinterPromise. My ds is more attracted to visually appealing books and nonfiction, and not thrilled about books that "cause your emotions to rise up", or heavy/deep material. As for "too much hands on", the hands on activities in WP are meant to be a buffet from which to choose.

 

We just LOVE WinterPromise.

[Annie Laurie]

I prefer SL, and have done P3/4, P4/5, K, 1, 3+4, 6, 7, and 100. I love the book choices and the emphasis on reading aloud- it wouldn't have occurred to me to read aloud to an older kid, but thanks to SL, my teen and I have fond memories of all the books we've read together.

 

I also like that it's planned out for me, I need that during this stage of life. And I love the customer service.

 

I have tried WP RTL, AW, CAW, and now AS 1. I was disappointed in every program except for AS 1. I do love the beautiful books in AS 1, and I think the crafts are fun. I'm combining with Core 3. My kids prefer most of the Core 3 books for whatever reason.

 

I have had bad experiences with WP's customer service.

 

WP may be easier for younger kids, many people use SL cores one level below grade level. YMMV- my dd is not in 3rd grade yet and doing fine with Core 3.

[Dinsfamily]

I chose SL for several reasons. One being that I love the large amount of reading. I am a big reader as is DH and DS1. We really stress the importance of reading and love books that get a bit "heavier" and make you think and make your emotions rise up. As far as hands on it is simple really to add hands on things to anything and I personally would rather add what hands on I want rather then have more then I want and not use it. For instance we will use history portfolio alongside history for that hands on notebooking feel. For reading we'll add in similar activities that I will pull together at some point. Also science itself is very very hands on here so not sure there would really need to be more then that without overwhelming life in general. On another note we do a tons of hands on outside of "school" with cooking, art, gardening ect. So I vote SL and it took me a good year to finally reach that decision so it was very thought out at least for me.

 

This has been our experience so far. My boys' ideal hands-on are science experiments and we do plenty of those. My oldest especially would not enjoy the hands-on nature of Winter Promise. We love the reading and the book selection SL offers. I like SL's IGs and get much more done by using them than if I were doing it on my own.

 

So...it really depends on what you want out of a curriculum. They're both good, but different. You could check out some selections of the core/theme that you're looking at from the library and see which books you enjoy more. If you aren't a hands-on family, then WP might be too much. If you need lots of projects, SL could just be a heavy reading list. There is a company that offers hands-on supplements for some of SL's cores (Handle on the Arts) if you just love SL books and organization but need more. I've heard great things aobut the supplements they provide.

[Mom in High Heels]

We started the year off with SL 1 and 8 weeks in Indy was bored to tears. He loved the stories, but was tired of not having anything to do. I sent it all back and we changed to WP. We loved it. There was a lot of reading, but there was also so much to do! Too much to do really. At first I nearly drove myself crazy trying to do it all until I talked to Don at the company and he told me we weren't supposed to do it all, just pick one or two activities per week. After I calmed down it was great.

[chrissymama]

Thank you all so much!! This board is such a wonderful resource!

[meet me in paris]

We started the year off with SL 1 and 8 weeks in Indy was bored to tears. He loved the stories, but was tired of not having anything to do. I sent it all back and we changed to WP. We loved it. There was a lot of reading, but there was also so much to do! Too much to do really. At first I nearly drove myself crazy trying to do it all until I talked to Don at the company and he told me we weren't supposed to do it all, just pick one or two activities per week. After I calmed down it was great.

I agree with that... I *hated* Core 1 and returned it. There was nothing to do. Never attempted Core 2 for the same reason.

 

We LOVED Core 3, although I had to add some hands-on - same with Core 4. Core 5 is excellent - we just started it but there is plenty to do with the Eastern Hemisphere Explorer (most hard-core SL'ers don't like Core 5 because it's such a stretch from the other cores). Core 6 was decent, but I won't do it again (again, not much to "do").

 

We're switching over to WP fully after we finish a combo of Core 5 & WP CATW. I'm not very good at adding things that aren't on my schedule (if it's not written out, I tend not to do it!) so I'd rather skip over some extras than have to seek them out. Books I can add... that's my thing. I'll keep the SL catalog handy for that. ;)

[Pemberley]

We started the year off with SL 1 and 8 weeks in Indy was bored to tears. He loved the stories, but was tired of not having anything to do. I sent it all back and we changed to WP. We loved it. There was a lot of reading, but there was also so much to do! Too much to do really. At first I nearly drove myself crazy trying to do it all until I talked to Don at the company and he told me we weren't supposed to do it all, just pick one or two activities per week. After I calmed down it was great.

 

One of the benefits of SL is that customers have 18 weeks to use the product...with a 100% guarantee! I don't know about WP, but as far as I can tell...they don't offer that same promise.