Question for people who have used BOTH Sonlight and Calvert

[Dolphin]

I like the look of both programs and I am trying to decide which to try with dd next year. I have read lots of positive things about both programs. I would like to find out pros and cons, and how they differ from people who have used BOTH. (I am not meaning to be a brat, but I don't want to here how much you love your program if you have not also tried the other). My dd will be in PreK next year and I think that is a great trial year as preK seems the least expensive for the most part.

 

Thank you

Nicole

[laughing lioness]

I've used both.

They are completely different approaches. Calvert is a workbook approach with a classical bent. Sonlight is a (loosely) Great Book approach.

Calvert's K is a fun program- lots of songs and coloring. Fun and easy worksheets for the student to do. Very interactive with the teacher.

 

We did SL's gr 1- TONS of reading- the primary reader reads and reads and reads. Great book selections! I loved their phonics and have used thier approach with each of my 5 kids with great results.

 

I liked both programs, though I learned more about teaching and created a structure for our homeschool based loosly on SL, whereas Calvert is more traditional and just fill in the blanks. I think a lot of it depends on you, your student and honestly, money. Do you like things scripted for you? Does your student like to fill in the blanks? I have a couple of kids who do- they would MUCH rather have a worksheet than an "activity-kwim?

 

Calvert is pricey year after year and we just couldn't afford it for the # of kids we were purchasing for (the 2 years we used it a family member bought it). Just something to think about. SL is as well but you can get a lot of the books from the library.

[Guest]

I used Calvert's PK with my son when he was 4 and it was too easy for him but he did enjoy it. Lots of hands-on stuff. Two things I didn't like:

 

a) You are not suppose to reuse the materials with another child, not even the teacher's guide. Others can correct me if I am wrong but as I remember it the only thing you can actually reuse is the RA book, which I would not reuse and you will understand why after you read (b).

 

b) The RA storybook had no pictures and the nursery rhyme book had some (very few) black and white ones. For this age group? Not sure what they were thinking!

 

We covered the materials in 4 months and near the end we added SL's P3/4. We read the books in 1 month and then moved onto P4/5. P3/4 is just books to read to your child. P4/5 has the Developing the Early Learner books (they are workbooks) and that was what kept Adrian a little challenged.

 

Coming back to Calvert's PK, I loved the TM because it gave me structure since it was the first time that I was homeschooling and had no idea how I was going to go about doing things. SL gave us great books to read with illustrations, so necessary for that age. If I had to do again and I was just starting our homeschool journey, I would have started them when Adrian was 3 and bought them both at the same time. With my youngest now I am more than likely going in another direction but will definitely use SL's Cores P3/4 and P4/5 with him. We loved both those Cores.

Edited January 25, 2011 by Guest

[MIch elle]

I've used both and they are both WAY overpriced!! We used Calvert K,1,4,6 and SL 3/4 & 6.

 

I prefer CLE or R&S for the basics and then read, read, read books you bought yourself.

[Dolphin]

So my dd is 3, she will be 4 in April. She really wants to DO school with us. I have been using the odd workbook and we read and sing LOTS, but she wants more. I could spend an hour a day with her on something, but I don't really have the time to put together something myself (this is our first year homeschooling and my mental energy is going towards ds and just figuring this whole lifestyle out). So, maybe I should get clavert pre k with her now if it is the easier of the 2, then sonlight 4/5 after she finishes that? That way she would have something that is hers, and would hopefully be enough for her.

Thank you for the help

Nicole

[Catwoman]

We used both, and I wouldn't waste the money on the Sonlight program again. When we used it, the teacher's guide was a joke, and we could have easily gotten most of the books on the reading list from the library, or purchased for less money elsewhere.

 

The Calvert program is cute and fun, but again, probably costs more that it's worth if your child is relatively bright, as it's not a particularly challenging program and you may work through the whole thing within a few months.

 

Honestly, I spent a lot of money on pre-K materials, and if I had it to do over again, I would have bought a few cute workbooks from Sam's Club, and done a lot of read-alouds (from the Sonlight list, the Five in a Row list, or just whatever I thought my ds would enjoy.) Honestly, for pre-K, the workbooks aren't even a necessity, so it's really up to you how structured you want your homeschool to be.

 

FWIW, Sonlight didn't work out for us for the long term, and I got tired of teaching Calvert on my own (although I thought it was a good program,) so we ended up using the BJU DVD program. My ds is now doing the BJU 7th grade program, and although I took some time off last year to try some of the wonderful programs I read about on these forums, and I've bought a ton of other curriculum over the years, we always seem to end up using BJU again, because the DVD program is so convenient to use.

 

Cat

[Guest]

So my dd is 3, she will be 4 in April. She really wants to DO school with us. I have been using the odd workbook and we read and sing LOTS, but she wants more. I could spend an hour a day with her on something, but I don't really have the time to put together something myself (this is our first year homeschooling and my mental energy is going towards ds and just figuring this whole lifestyle out). So, maybe I should get clavert pre k with her now if it is the easier of the 2, then sonlight 4/5 after she finishes that? That way she would have something that is hers, and would hopefully be enough for her.

Thank you for the help

Nicole

 

How challenged your daughter will be with Calvert all depends on where she is at. Adrian already knew letters and numbers so there was no challenge there for him. I added Hooked on Phonics at the time as an intro to reading and he took off with that. Calvert however did the hand holding for me that I needed at the time since we were just starting out. While letters, numbers, shapes... were familiar to Adrian already, the program did help in other areas. One example, their constant use of Nursery Rhymes and emphasis/ guidance on pointing out the rhyming helped my son "get it" when it comes to rhymes. He was rhyming within weeks of using the program. While I could have skipped forward avoiding what Adrian already knew, I opted instead to using the program as is and omitted very little. It gave my son a feel about what school is all about and the structure I needed at the time. It helped me later work out how I want to make my own schedules and break up our time during the day.

 

At the time I was going to continue with Calvert but various reasons pushed us away from it. I have no regrets and was glad we found Sonlight at the time. We have moved away from SL also but I feel that we used the Cores that I liked and that suited us for that age. Yes, SL is a program that includes just a good book list (at least for the early years, since that is all I can speak for) and I could have bought the books from elsewhere at the time (we were out of the country and did not have access to libraries) but the price difference to buy elsewhere would have been small and as far as I am concerned someone put in the hard work at putting these resources together. Since I no longer use SL, I don't find it fair using their book lists when I am not buying anything from them, but that's just me. Note, that I did buy the bulk of the Core K books from another supplier but I did at least spend the money to buy things exclusive to SL from them also.

 

Certain aspects of SL (SL science for example) did not work for my son Adrian. I am keeping my materials however because the program may work great for Malcolm. That's one thing with SL, the materials are mostly non consumable and can be used with all your kids again and again. And all the books have been well loved in our house.

Edited January 26, 2011 by Guest

[ZooRho]

I didn't use both but I did have a chance early on to see them both up close and hands on so that helped. Dh and I also talked about our goals and what we wanted for our family and how we saw our child learning (the oldest is 5 years older so we based it on him).

 

Can you really look at them both hands on any where? If not list out the pros and cons for your family. Each family is different and each child.

 

We did end up going with SL. For us one thing was the reusablity of Sonlight vs Calvert.

 

That said. I love SL. It was a great fit for my oldest. It has not been as good a fit for my youngest especially now that he is high school age. And I am working on changing some things for him.

 

And also keep in mind things don't have to be all or nothing (although Calvert might be I have no idea) Sonlight isn't though. I stopped using SL LA in 5th grade for oldest and 4th for youngest. We have done the math they suggested, but again it was a good fit. There are many options for Math-you don't have to use what SL suggest. I always bought the science books but we also had a coop for science so I didn't do the sl science hard usually just read the books.

 

When I was first starting out we looked at SL, Calvert, Abeka and Bob Jones. We were able to see all of them hands on and discuss them and how we could see them would working in our family. That is the best thing you can do after you read our feedback.

[unity]

So, maybe I should get clavert pre k with her now if it is the easier of the 2, then sonlight 4/5 after she finishes that?

 

I like this idea. We did both, as well, and I do have fond memories of our time doing Calvert Pre-K. However, I only did Calvert PreK with my oldest; the next two times so far I've gotten to that age we went with Sonlight. I also did Sonlight PreK with the oldest, too; the two really dovetail nicely. Calvert PreK is not very heavy in reading aloud, and Sonlight is not heavy in activities (at that age, anyway).

 

If you can afford it, maybe you should get Calvert Pre-K and Sonlight 3/4. I enjoyed doing 3/4 with my 3rd son (it wasn't available earlier). It was really just a booklist but some nice books. otoh, I totally agree with other posters who say you can just use your own books or the library to get a feel for Sonlight. SL is pretty much about reading.

 

Calvert Pre-K gave instructions like, "practice hopping," or "discuss New York City." Sometimes it seemed random but I followed directions and it was cool. Surreal to try to discuss NYC with children who had never seen a skyscraper. :-)

 

I ditched Calvert midway through K when I realized the whole "boxed" thing wasn't going to work with my hg boys, but even after 8 years of hs'ing I'm still drawn to curricula that package it all and just tell me what to do. Give me too much of a buffet and I get a stomachache. I ditched SL after completing many cores when I realized they were just not learning the history through literature they way they were supposed to be. (They were/are outstanding readers, though....maybe partly thanks to SL? IDK)

 

Anyway. hth

[Mom0012]

My vote would be to use SL and pick up some of the Kumon workbooks for that age (Pasting/Cutting, Mazes, Numbers, etc.). Or, you could skip SL and use Jim Trelease's Read-Aloud Handbook. You would actually wind up with a lot more reading choices with that book. That's what I used when my kids were that small and the recommendations in that book are excellent.

 

I did use SL-PreK, after we worked our way through Trelease's book, and still use SL (we're on core 4 now), but when I used SL Pre-K, there was a yahoo group that actually had a "beefed up" schedule for SL Pre-K, so it did keep us busy most of the year.

 

SL is really the best part of our day. I do use workbooks for math and LA, but reading together with SL is something we all look forwad to and gives a nice balance to the other things we do. I should add that we don't use SL's LA. I'm sure some people are thrilled with it, but you will hear mostly negatives if you ask.

 

Lisa

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I have used both. Sl I have used for a multitude of ages (cores 4/5, K, 3, 4, 6, 7, 100, and 200) and for Calvert I used the 3rd grade and the 7th grade. SL, for us was more a big box of books we read and discussed some. I used it as the main curriculum for 2 years but then realized my children were not picking up the history they should have. We used Sl the other years for supplimental reading. The book choices are great and I was able to work the books into the other curriculums we used. I did not like the Instructures Guides for SL and usually they just sat on the shelf except to tell me what book was next. Calvert is expensive and not resellable or reusable. This is the main reason we did not use it again. That said, my two boys who used it loved it. Both have asked why we have not gone back with Calvert. The teachers guides do hold your hand and give you a play by play script but this is not necessarily a bad thing. For a truly open and go curriculum, Calvert fits the bill. No planning or preparing, just sit down, open the manual and teach. The curriculum supplied was a textbook type with workbooks, but there was also writing throughout and the courses intertwined. If in science you were learning about rocks, in the next computer lesson (which is great, their computer classes) you would learn how to make a spread sheet but the info you put in the spread sheet would be about rocks...so it was not random work, but connected. The book discussions were well scripted and lots of activities to go along with the work they did.

I will add that when my dd was 3 I looked into the Calvert preschool program but it was too easy, even the K was too easy. She took the online placement test and it said she was ready for 1st. My dd is not gifted, but she was a little advanced, but still I felt the programs at that level were weak. When my 3rd grade son did 3rd grade however, I felt it was right on the mark. So it is just the lower levels that are weak.

 

I hope this helps some.