Thoughts on Readers for SL Cores 3 and 4?

[melmichigan]

:bigear:

 

I've heard mixed reviews. Some that they are great and add to the history, others that they are boring. Anyone willing to share thoughts? I am looking at how many of the R and RA's I want get from these cores. Any must not miss books from either section?

[Cynful]

So far, our favorites have been the read-alouds. The readers are ok. We're doing 3+4 with ds13 (learning delays) and dd10. Our favorites:

 

The Birchbark House (not from Sonlight - from WinterPromise)

Walk the World's Rim

Secret of the Andes

The Sign of the Beaver

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

The Skippack School

The Matchlock Gun

Paddle to the Sea (Done with BF's Geography Guide and Map)

Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia

Johnny Tremain

Mr. Revere and I

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

 

That's as far as we've gotten. :)

 

Good luck,

[MerryAtHope]

Almost all were awesome! I would skip the Thanksgiving Story. And if you have a child who doesn't need a super easy reader--you could also skip Bears on Hemlock Mountain.

 

Merry :-)

[Jyniffrec]

We have completed Core 3 and are already flying through Core 4. My daughter seems to have liked almost all of them. The only exception is Calico Bush. I'm not sure why - I think it is a great book and I have heard that others love it, too.

 

I've heard many people say that Core 3 is their favorite year.

[Mom0012]

We just finished Core 3 and we've used SL since the Pre-K level. The Secret of the Andes is the first SL book I've come across that I personally found boring. There have been some books that have started out slow, but picked up a few chapters in and by the end I was very glad I stuck with them. I find this often happens with the missionary stories. The Secret of the Andes seemed like it was going to be interesting at first, but then never really went anywhere. My kids never complained, but I doubt they would say it was a favorite.

 

My daughter has loved all the readers. My son is a little more picky and doesn't really enjoy reading on his own as much as he enjoys me reading to him so he doesn't rave about them the way my daughter does, but he doesn't complain either.

 

Lisa

[Mom22ns]

We did core 3+4, so I don't know all the readers in both individual cores, but we loved the ones we did. There were just a few that my dd thought were boring, but some of those I really liked. One of the ones I liked least was one of her favorites. They definitely add to the history. You really aren't doing the Core if you don't do the readers or some very good substitutes! From Core 3 on you are expected to get a feel for each time period in history from the historical fiction you are reading. It wasn't uncommon at all for us to read about the exact events of the reader in the spine we were using (History of US because ds was doing Core 100 at the same time). It was so well integrated, it was our best year of history ever.

[Mothersweets]

We've done core 3 and core 4 and my kids enjoyed almost all the readers (some were too easy but they didn't complain). I got a little antsy over a few of the readalouds-one that comes to mind is Swift Rivers. The story was good but author's phrasing was very cumbersome to read out loud.

 

Oh, and Ginger Pye about drove us all nuts! Cute story but it could have been told in about 100 pages and my goodness, those kids in the story were kind of dense.

[Mothersweets]

We have completed Core 3 and are already flying through Core 4. My daughter seems to have liked almost all of them. The only exception is Calico Bush. I'm not sure why - I think it is a great book and I have heard that others love it, too.

 

I've heard many people say that Core 3 is their favorite year.

 

 

We listened to Calico Bush on cd. The reader for it was wonderful!

[Donna T.]

I have read almost every book from Core 3 and Core 4. I will be doing the combined (3+4) Core next year with my 11 year old.

 

I have really loved the books that I have read. The only book that I found boring was Secret of the Andes. The story just never goes anywhere! It's not scheduled in 3+4 and I don't plan to add that one in at all. I love the way that everything is coordinated for Core 3+4. I think the books definately add to the history. They aren't just there for entertainment or to fill your time up. They are relevent to what you are studying in your history books and they really do make the history come alive. They provide a great context for explaining the "whys" behind alot of things that happened in history.

 

I especially love the books written by Fritz (all of them), Incans, Aztecs, and Mayans (but not for a 3rd or 4th grader, I'd wait to read that one with a 5th or 6th grader), Johnny Tremain, Walk the World's Rim, The Witch at Blackbird Pond, Caddie Woodlawn, Across Five Aprils, and By the Great Horn Spoon. I also like the main spine books.