Which do you like better SL or WP?

[Coastiewife]

I have posted this on the general forum but wanted to move it over here. I goofed, I didn't check myself I was too anxious to post.

 

I have used SL in the past, but not the last two years. I've used LLATL. I have MOH and a friend told me it was the spine for QAW. I really miss SL and all the good books. My children are ages 10 ds, 9 dd, and 6 dd. My son reads well above grade level and I owe that to SL. My daughter reads well, but isn't in love with reading like he is and I think it's because I did not do SL LA2 adv. with her. I am going to do that this coming year so she can hopefully fall in love with books. I am going to do LA 1 with my 6 yo. She is already doing 1st grade work so I think she can handle it.

My son will be the only one doing LA with WP. Any thoughts?

 

I'm so glad to have found this group.

Rhonda

[Kristen in NC]

I have never used either SL or WP, so I can't help you except to share this website with you. Winter Promise vs. Sonlight . It is written by a homeschool mom who lives in China. She's not classical, more Charlotte Mason but has an excellent blog. (It's www.homeschoolblogger.com/jimmie ) in case you're interested.

[Melissa in CA]

It is like comparing apples and oranges. They are both good, both healthy choices, and you can't really go wrong with either one...both will nourish you.

 

**WP will nourish with books and activities, with the history & read-alouds at grade level, and the readers at or above grade level.

 

If you and your dc really like activities and crafts, then WP will be a great fit. The history selections are not as deep as SL's, but again they are not meant to be as they are more at grade-level with the child. WP has lots of great picture-type books, which are wonderful for the more visual child. History is made 'fun' for the child, not 'deep.' If you want to develop deep thinking by reading more difficult history books to your child, then perhaps WP would not be the best choice.

 

**SL will nourish with lots and lots of books, with the history & read-alouds usually above grade level and the readers at or above grade level.

 

If you and your dc do not like activities and crafts, then SL may be a better fit. SL does not offer a lot of picture-type books though, so you may feel the need to add some in for your more visual child. If your dc love to read and be read too, love to discuss history with you, and can learn history without any type of 'doing,' then SL will be wonderful.

 

In my opinion, both are great choices, and both can be tweaked if not perfect fits as written. I too attribute my youngest sons love of books to SL. His love of reading really took off with SL's readers in 2nd grade. In fact I was so happy with SL that I sent a picture of him reading to them and they put it in a past catalog. He would pick up and read the read-alouds that had already been read to him...that's how much he began to love reading. I almost feel sad to be moving on to TOG next year, but SL no longer offers me what I am wanting in a curriculum. I know I can always jump back into SL at any time though. :D

 

WP has been a fun change this year. We have loved almost all of the books, and adding in SL's Core 4 readers and some of the SL read-alouds, has been a perfect fit. My son does not like crafts though, so in that respect a lot of the WP exclusives have been a complete waste of money. I have missed the deep history discussions we used to have with SL as well. With WP my son totally understands the history books, and I have no need to explain them, or restate them, etc., which I would often do with SL.

 

In my mind it boils down to this:

 

WP is perfect for the visual hands-on child, and the parent who wants history to stay as close to grade level as possible. ;)

 

SL is better for the little thinkers out there, who enjoy discussing the harder aspects of history and could care less about fun activities and making milk carton wagons. :D

 

Blessings,

[G5052]

It is like comparing apples and oranges. They are both good, both healthy choices, and you can't really go wrong with either one...both will nourish you.

 

**WP will nourish with books and activities, with the history & read-alouds at grade level, and the readers at or above grade level.

 

If you and your dc really like activities and crafts, then WP will be a great fit. The history selections are not as deep as SL's, but again they are not meant to be as they are more at grade-level with the child. WP has lots of great picture-type books, which are wonderful for the more visual child. History is made 'fun' for the child, not 'deep.' If you want to develop deep thinking by reading more difficult history books to your child, then perhaps WP would not be the best choice.

 

**SL will nourish with lots and lots of books, with the history & read-alouds usually above grade level and the readers at or above grade level.

 

In my mind it boils down to this:

 

WP is perfect for the visual hands-on child, and the parent who wants history to stay as close to grade level as possible. ;)

 

SL is better for the little thinkers out there, who enjoy discussing the harder aspects of history and could care less about fun activities and making milk carton wagons. :D

 

Blessings,

 

I'm not a hands-on mom at all, and my oldest has never liked crafts/coloring/notebooking unless it was self-driven. Both of my kids are strong readers, and love being read to. Sonlight has been just right for us. I've been fine with their book choices 95%, even the ones that would be called "mature."

[LaMere Academy]

Sonlight by far. It's better laid out (although the WP I used was a new program, CATW, and it had many mistakes in it).

The main reason though is the books for Sonlight are much better. We all enjoy each Sonlight book and we didn't enjoy any for the WP program we used. I've looked at all the WP programs and just don't see the quality literature. I know some like the hands-on things in WP, we're just not one of those families, I prefer the good books.

[Mamabyrd]

They are both great programs; it just depends on you and your kids. When I used Sonlight, I felt trapped by the schedule. I was always afraid of not getting all the reading done. I did WP American Story 1 last year and it felt so much more "do-able." The reading schedule was a little less intense. Also, Sonlight focused more on historical fiction. While WP has plenty of historical fiction (especially in the Adventure Reading component), they utilize non-fiction books, as well. It was a nice balance. My kids loved the activities, too. I am NOT crafty at all and these activites were easy to do. The schedule has flexibility built into into it. Each week, several hands on activities, DVDs, and websites are listed and it is up to the parent to choose from among them.

 

Also, WP was easier to use with a wide variety of ages because of the add-ons you can buy. For example, I used American Story 1 which is for 1-3rd graders primarily. I had a 1st and 3rd grader so that was perfect. I also, however, had a 7th grader. They had a "middler" add-on so it was easy to use the program successfully with all my kids. They also have Joy Hakim's History of US books scheduled in the IG for those who want to use them.

 

I preferred WP's notebooking to Sonlight's timeline book. At the end of the year by kids had built beautiful notebooks that contained great content and served as a timelie. I did not use WP's language arts or their readers. I did include some of their suggested readers as well as some from the Sonlight catalog into our language arts. However, I wanted my kids to read a variety of genres of novels, not just historical fiction. The books in WP's history program plus the read-alouds were plenty.

 

Sonlight is a great program, too. I do like how Sonlight has specific comprehension questions while WP only has narration suggestions. What great choices we have as homeschoolers! You just have to decide which will work with your own personality as a teacher and meet the needs of your kids.

[siloam]

Agreeing with Melissa, my oldest did fine with SL and I, as an adult, LOVED the book selections, but my next two totally hated it. Asked to stop reading books, had bad attitudes about history.

 

WP was like an oasis for us. My oldest adored having something to do (control), my younger two love the lighter, silly books, the hands on and the picture texts.

 

While SL might be deeper it was completely lost on my kids. They remembered the material better and enjoyed it more with WP. I use TOG now so I can combine both to our liking (mine as well as the kids). :D

 

Heather

 

[Julie]

I definatley lean towards WP, I think they mix up the books a bit better, I love the notebooking, and the hands on stuff. We did tons of notebooking prior to using SL, and when we did not notebook I found the kids growth in writing really slowed.

 

Additionally, while we were doing SL 3 and 4 the kids were begging me not have to read another book about Indians, privately I agreeed.

 

If you are not a hands on person I can see where WP would not appeal to you. However, if your kids are, the hands on is easy to execute, you can pick really easy to more complicated.

 

Lastly, I like the way WP offers more than just books, lots of great web site and DVD recomendations.

 

Best of Luck,

 

Julie

[SnowWhite]

I love WinterPromise. SL has some great book selections (I've bought little packages of used SL books here and there just for fun). WP however, is the Whole Package. It offers the multiple learning styles approach I learned in college.