Something like Sonlight?

[MommyInTraining]

I was thinking of using Sonlight, but there are some books I don't like/don't agree with allowing children to read. Plus, I have read about SL burnout, I don't want something overwhelming. I need the children to be as independent as possible. Is there anything similar to Sonlight with more choices for the parent in the books read, and something that maybe is not as likely to lend itself to burnout? I really don't want to go the textbook route, I would like to use more living books. For those of you that may suggest Heart of Dakota, I have tried it in the past and it just seems too parent directed at this point.

 

Thanks!

[DawnM]

We do SL and honestly, I find less burnout from SL than I do some of the other "like" SL curriculum choices out there. We tried TOG, much more work for me and not our style. We tried Winter Promise because I had heard it was more SL "lite." I can't tell you how much that didn't work for us.

 

So, we returned to SL.

 

However, I am always open to hearing options so I will be subbing to this thread.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

My Fathers World! They have a list of books you can chose to read in the "book basket" list

[Michelle My Bell]

Tapestry of Grace: It is very parent led in that I choose the books we go through each week. I make the decisions how much or how little we do. I have used pretty much every literature based program out there over the years and Tapestry of Grace is a favorite.

[Live2Ride]

I too don't feel burnout with SL. The nice thing is, it's all scheduled-that's the part that totally burns me out. BUT, you can drop books and add in others if you want. The schedule can be as involved or uninvolved as you want to make it. My kids have been mostly self led since they were younger, but it took a little while for them to get it down well. (they are 12 and 13 now and though I have the master copy of the schedule, they also have their own copies tailored to them). We've been doing SL for 5 years now. I drop books I don't like (preplanning as I won't buy them if I plan on not using them) and add in ones that we like better. I've even been know to let the kids just pick out some fun ones instead :D. We don't even use their bible program and we've been known to drop some science books in favor of others. I also have dropped some of the missionary books and replaced them with some of that time period or ones that are about our church history instead. You can always order a three week sample of any of their cores and look it over and see what you think.

 

Good luck choosing!

[momee]

"We do SL and honestly, I find less burnout from SL than I do some of the other "like" SL curriculum choices out there. "

:iagree:

Also I agree with the points mentioned in countrygirl's reply as well.

 

Burnout for me usually follows being unprepared and with SL, I can open and go. That is worth alot to me.

[momee]

hijack - welcome countrygirl

 

Care to send me a pm about how you have a different schedule for the kids? I'm looking to move from my master plan to their daily one and I'd love to hear how you've modified yours using SL's.

[Tess in the Burbs]

I agree that you can change things to avoid burnout. Our year was different this year and come may we still had 10 weeks to go in our schedule. **I** needed the break, so we dropped some books(saved for later when we get to that time period again) and just read the core books. The readers got put into a stack and they both read them on their own time and in all honesty, they read them faster than the schedule would have had them. We skipped the Bible for awhile too. Science I made the decision to skip some topics that are in this upcoming year. I avoided burnout but we finished the program and everyone was pleased with how this year went.

 

I will say that I like the 5 day stuff...it's always things we haven't done yet...but I am doing 4 day this year to avoid the full schedule and I think it will be a better balance for us. I bought the 5 day books I want them to read and are in a corner when they need an extra book to read.

 

I looked at WP and MFW but it didn't seem better, just different so we stayed with SL. I like knowing I could return it all if we have a year it just isn't going right.

 

good luck researching and finding what fits for you. but SL is so adaptable....drop what you can't do, add in what you do want. I add hands on stuff every year. Easy to find, easy to do, so it's not overwhelming.

[Live2Ride]

hijack - welcome countrygirl

 

Care to send me a pm about how you have a different schedule for the kids? I'm looking to move from my master plan to their daily one and I'd love to hear how you've modified yours using SL's.

 

Thanks! Sure.

[Running the race]

I use SL and don't get burnout. The key is to feel free to drop books and not check every box. Modify the schedule any way that works for you. Don't feel like you have to finish all the core or finish in one school year.

[campmom]

I used sonlight 1 year and swore I would never do that to myself or kids again! I love the concept but it was way to much. I have friends that do 1 core over 2 years. I'm using My Fathers World now and love it. Much like sonlight with more fun stuff. No problems with questionable books.

[Alyeska]

You could pre-read all the SL books and ditch some. You could use MFW and choose out of the bookbasket in the appendix. I have done both. :) And I have experienced burnout with both. Burnout comes when I try and do everything instead of leaving out some stuff.

[Targhee]

Is there anything similar to Sonlight with more choices for the parent in the books read, and something that maybe is not as likely to lend itself to burnout? I really don't want to go the textbook route, I would like to use more living books. For those of you that may suggest Heart of Dakota, I have tried it in the past and it just seems too parent directed at this point.

 

Thanks!

 

Which elements of Sonlight are you most wanting in another curriculum (lit-based, total curriculum, instructor's guide, history-driven, multi-age, etc)? Maybe that will help the hive mind come up with alternatives for you.

[SnowWhite]

TruthQuest History? We're using it for the first time this year and it's like a breath of fresh air. The only challenging part for me has been that *I* get to choose the books we will use. Since I already have WP's set for Amer History though, that gave me a good start on the material I wanted to use.

 

I seriously LOVE being the one in charge if our pace. No more "behind" syndrome.

[Disney Dreaming]

My Fathers World! They have a list of books you can chose to read in the "book basket" list

 

:iagree:

[PentecostalMom]

I use SL and don't get burnout. The key is to feel free to drop books and not check every box. Modify the schedule any way that works for you. Don't feel like you have to finish all the core or finish in one school year.

 

We actually use one core from January-December. Seems to work better for us. Ds completed five cores in four years when he was doing them mostly independently.

[MommyInTraining]

MFW was put on the back burner here. Too much to deal with for parent.

 

Pre-read the books? Uh, no. No time for that.

 

I have to find time to read through the replies more thoroughly later this evening.

 

So, for those who said no burnout with SL, is it not very parent intensive with lots of different areas to keep up with?

Edited July 27, 2011 by MommyInTraining

[MommyInTraining]

So, are there many of you who leave books out that you find objectionable?

 

Thanks!

[momee]

I haven't found too many books yet but we're still what I'd describe as fairly new.

 

It is very very easy to leave out books with SL. Just skip it :)

 

And in terms of teacher ease? It's the easiest I've found yet...

[Mom0012]

I'm using SL for the 6th year with my kids and I have not suffered burnout from it. It is mostly just enjoying good books with the kids, along with some mapping and discussion. I don't think I have ever dropped any of the books, until this year with Core 5. I'm dropping one that just doesn't look like it would work for us.

 

I do not use SL's LA. That would make things more time consuming. Really, the lower cores probably take 30-40 minutes a day if you do the science and I found I was reading about an hour a day with core 3 and 4. For us, that is not too much. We've just started Core 5, so I'm not sure how long the reading will take, but it seems a little longer, so I'm breaking it up between breakfast and lunch.

 

Lisa

[krisperry]

Paths of Exploration

http://www.geomatters.com/learning_series/

 

It would probably work for your 8, 9 and 12 year old together. You would need the middle school supplement for the 12 year old.

[SnowWhite]

Pre-read the books? Uh, no. No time for that.

 

 

Oh, no, I am not prereading the books. TQ does a great job recommending the really good ones. I just meant PICKING the books as opposed to just reading the ones a curric company picked for us. That's what makes TQ a breath of fresh air. We read the books that I believe are relevant.

[HayleyKC]

I worked a booth at our homeschool conference and found many SL users saying they loved it, but it got overwhelming the more students they added, as they were all in different "cores", etc. Hope I said that right, I'm not personally familiar with how it all works and SL terminology. Anyway, I use and LOVE Tapestry of Grace. I think you can really avoid a "burn out" because it offers you a huge buffet of options, as far as subjects and book selections, that you can pick and choose from and customize to your family and teaching strengths/styles AND you're teaching the same content to all your students. So rather than everyone going down different paths and you being spread thin, you're all unified and working the same topics but with age appropriate reading material and work expectation.

[apond]

We did sl the last couple of years and I will admit that I gave myself a break by picking up some of the read alouds as audiobooks from the library. The kids loved the change of pace and it gave me a little break. I have tried several different programs but always come back to sl. I do change some of the books but I do follow most of them. It also gets easier as the kids get older and are more independent. My oldest are 11 and 13 and they could read everything indepently if I really needed them too.

 

Annmarie

[MommyInTraining]

Thanks ladies.

 

I am thinking of just using a spine, maybe this one:

 

http://queenhomeschool.com/productpages/History/livingworldhistoryframe.html

 

and then adding in living books from book lists.

 

Does that sound doable? What is the difference in doing that and using Sonlight?

 

Thanks so much for your help!

 

Jennifer, I was surprised to see that you were straying away from WP!!! I know so much what you mean by that "behind" syndrome. I think that is the number one reason I don't want to have a teacher's guide. I don't like feeling behind if we miss doing something. Does that make sense to anyone?

[Mom0012]

We did sl the last couple of years and I will admit that I gave myself a break by picking up some of the read alouds as audiobooks from the library. The kids loved the change of pace and it gave me a little break. I have tried several different programs but always come back to sl. I do change some of the books but I do follow most of them. It also gets easier as the kids get older and are more independent. My oldest are 11 and 13 and they could read everything indepently if I really needed them too.

 

Annmarie

 

Ah, yes, I meant to mention this. If you are feeling bogged down with the reading and can get some of the read-alouds at the library as audiobooks, it makes a HUGE difference.

 

Lisa

[mom@shiloh]

Are you looking for a complete curriculum, or are you looking at using SL mostly for history and literature? Do you want to keep all of your children together as much as possible, or are you looking at something mostly for the older two?

 

We used SL for five years and loved it, but I don't like to use more than one core so I went looking for something else where I could combine all ages (6-13). We're using TOG, but I'm not sure if that would simplify your life. It depends on how much planning you like to do. I think TOG will work well for us, but I don't have littles anymore and I think it does require more planning than SL. I like Truthquest as well, but there again you need to plan ahead and make up your own schedule plus it requires trips to the library and that can be difficult with littles.

 

Have you looked at Biblioplan? I haven't used it, but it looks similar to SL but a little lighter, imo. Biblioplan has suggestions for each age level unlike SL which is geared to a more specific age group. It does use a daily schedule, but history is only scheduled for three days a week. I believe it covers history, Bible and literature.

[tuesdayschild]

Thanks ladies.

 

I am thinking of just using a spine, maybe this one:

 

http://queenhomeschool.com/productpages/History/livingworldhistoryframe.html

 

and then adding in living books from book lists.

 

Does that sound doable? What is the difference in doing that and using Sonlight?

 

<snip>

"behind" syndrome. I think that is the number one reason I don't want to have a teacher's guide. I don't like feeling behind if we miss doing something. Does that make sense to anyone?

Your choosing a spine & then adding in living books sounds good to me.

 

We ended up using a spine (SOTW) and line our book choices with that. With our book choices; many come from sonlight, others from our country's own hist, classics we'd like to cover, and etc).

If we need to go slower we do, if I want a rest we go audio for sotw and other literature.

(DH was not well for a good while and audio schooling became a very doable option for our family while I cared for him).

 

We took 18mnths to complete sotw1 and then about 15-18mnths to complete sotw2.

 

With sotw3 I've planned to take around 12 months to complete it - oh, & we don't use the SL instructor schedules, just select book notes & some of the map work. We get plenty of mapping work with SOTW ;)

 

I draft up my own schedule to go through.

Seems to work well for us (many others do similarly, just with more excellence:tongue_smilie:).

[warneral]

Thanks ladies.

 

I am thinking of just using a spine, maybe this one:

 

http://queenhomeschool.com/productpages/History/livingworldhistoryframe.html

 

and then adding in living books from book lists.

 

Does that sound doable? What is the difference in doing that and using Sonlight?

 

Thanks so much for your help!

 

Jennifer, I was surprised to see that you were straying away from WP!!! I know so much what you mean by that "behind" syndrome. I think that is the number one reason I don't want to have a teacher's guide. I don't like feeling behind if we miss doing something. Does that make sense to anyone?

 

I actually have (in hand) Core B and most of Core C from Sonlight. We've been plowing through the books of Core B this summer and I don't really feel like it is too much reading (we are going at a fast rate and adding in supplemental projects found on the internet and other non-sonlight books).

 

While I like Sonlight, I don't feel it necessary to purchase each book. Once most books are read once, we will no longer need them. That is what the Library is for :D

 

I bought mine from a friend so it wasn't as expensive as purchasing from the site.

 

Last week I read through TWTM for the first time. I really found it inspiring! I also like the concept of a 4 year cycle and was thinking I would like to try Mystery of History in a few years and give my kids 2 full cycles of World History. Before that, I wanted to try a US History program and discovered there aren't any in-depth 1-year US History programs available.

 

I decided to jump ship on my Sonlight Core B and switch to 2 year US History. As much as we loved learning about the ancients, I was feeling my original plan of doing world History in 1 year and then US History in 1 year was just too much for our first time HS'ing! I really want to get in US History before we start our 4yr cycles so I bought Queen's Living History of our World.

 

I have it in hand and have been putting together our lesson plans. I want to add in books from the Library and am using Sonlight, GuestHollow, Beautiful Feet, etc. for ideas of supplementary books. I think that the Living History of our World alone is actually enough. I personally think the workbook is a good thing to have. My kids learn more if they are writing and not JUST listening.

 

I wasn't impressed with SL's Language Arts and had ditched that long ago. I also don't care for the IG as it is too structured for me. I want more flexibility and I don't want to become a slave to the schedule.

[SnowWhite]

 

Jennifer, I was surprised to see that you were straying away from WP!!! I know so much what you mean by that "behind" syndrome. I think that is the number one reason I don't want to have a teacher's guide. I don't like feeling behind if we miss doing something. Does that make sense to anyone?

 

I still LOVE WP and will always use many of their resources. Andrew is using mostly AS1 stuff (leftover from when Joshua did that program). I know Joshua well enough to know that AC1 would flop for him. So this year we are doing TQ with AS1 and selected AC1 resources, but I am also using WP's LA1 and LA2 resources with Andrew and WP's World Around Me as well. (guess that is in my sig... So I'm being redundant!) I do love being the boss of our history program though.

 

For anyone wondering what I'm using from AC1, I really love the Christian Character Trait workbook (it does have a few typos though ;)) so far.

[apond]

I don't do muliple core with sonlight. I just follow what ever my oldest children are doing and then add in readers, usually based on sonlight, for my younger kids. I use sonlight because of the schedule and preseclted books. I don't have a desire nor time to spend trying to select books. I get too overwelmed trying to figure it out as I did in the past. We also don't have a great library system so that may have been part of it. I don't want to spend money on a book we will never read.

 

Annmarie

[gracyomalley]

We've done combo SL/WTM for a few years now - initially to focus on American History. What I love best about it is the reader selections and pre-scheduled history/literature. The kids have been exposed to excellent literature at a challenging level (intellectually and often, but not always, reading level) without my having to schedule it out. I do pre-read the readers for the older two, but not the read alouds. If a read aloud isn't working for us, or we get too bogged down in everything else, we skip it! I am doing a seperate core for the youngest and honestly, that takes about 45 minutes a day, usually before the others wake up! He also enjoys the older kids core. I have not found anything "objectionable", but I really fit well with the SL idea of exposing them to different ideas but within our home where we can compare and contrast them with the truths we hold...if your approach is different, you may have more issues. I also like the missionary stories, but we do discuss them, not just read and agree with everything...

 

I guess that's what I like best, so far...good literature that has gotten my dyslexic reading 25 books a year at middle school level (he listens to high school literature on cd, but his reading will always be a challenge...SL has been perfect for a comfortable push...) and my advanced reader really focusing on content and connecting ideas from one book to another...and the discussions we have because of immersing ourselves as a family into a period or story...and without me having to go to the library weekly (doesn't happen here with working, 3 kids, single mom, etc...)

 

The other programs mentionned, to me, are either more work for me...or not as good literature. Also harder to "combine and go"...for our family at least.

 

I did it truely WTM way for first son for almost 3 years, but because of his learning disability, which required a lot of read alouds and books on cd to keep up with the reading suggestiong there - and because of having 3 kids to do, SL has worked better. Independance is coming, and in my opinion, is not related to curriculum, but to child and educational goals. You really can't expect a kid to get anything remotely like a classical education without tons of teacher time - discussion, socratic method, exposure to ideas slightly beyond them, are all too key...so we just pace ourselves with whatever we are using!

Erin

[JadeOrchidSong]

I used SL for prek and k and part of 1. We may return to it. We are doing SOTW now.

[SnMomof7]

SL can be as much or as little as you like. The key (as with ANY curric really) is to OWN the program and do what you need to do to make it work for you. We drop elements/add them back in etc. depending on how things are going around here.

 

It is definitely important to find your own groove! We sometimes take time off, but the IG is just there waiting for me to pick it up again whenever we are ready to start. Because it is pre-planned that is easy-peasy to do.

 

Also - I read to the children while nursing baby or at bedtimes, that takes care of my side of the readings! I just use the core and readers, no LA, Bible (we do our own thing) or science FWIW.

 

I also sometimes read across the schedule instead of flipping between all the books - no worries there either :).

 

The key thing for me with SL is just enjoying it and being flexible in my expectations and how I use it. I don't worry about when we'll finish - it is a full, rich learning experience for my children that helps them ADORE books, learn lots, and look forward to 'school', and best of all - it asks so little of me in terms of planning.

[SnMomof7]

Oh yes, I have skipped the odd book if I deeply object to it :).

[Murrayshire]

hijack - welcome countrygirl

 

Care to send me a pm about how you have a different schedule for the kids? I'm looking to move from my master plan to their daily one and I'd love to hear how you've modified yours using SL's.

 

 

I would soooo loooove to know how you did this as well if you don't mind!! Would you mind sending me a pm too?!:001_smile:

[lovemykids]

Thanks ladies.

 

I am thinking of just using a spine, maybe this one:

 

http://queenhomeschool.com/productpages/History/livingworldhistoryframe.html

 

and then adding in living books from book lists.

 

Does that sound doable? What is the difference in doing that and using Sonlight?

 

Thanks so much for your help!

 

Jennifer, I was surprised to see that you were straying away from WP!!! I know so much what you mean by that "behind" syndrome. I think that is the number one reason I don't want to have a teacher's guide. I don't like feeling behind if we miss doing something. Does that make sense to anyone?

 

There isn't anything wrong with that at all. Sounds perfect! But if you want to have something already pulled together for you, there are many options.

 

I have used SL a little over the years but I have yet to follow the schedule exactly as written. This year we are going with Winter Promise QMA. WP QMA reminds me slightly of Beautiful Feet’s Junior High Medieval program; only with more exciting books added in, as well as projects and websites. Since my oldest dd has decided she loves SL and similar programs, and they generally make my life easier, we are going to continue utilizing them. I also love to integrate a little AO in our studies as well. I just can’t follow someone else’s plan so we drop and add at a whim, etc.

 

I completely agree with the fact that you need to own the schedule, not the other way around. You are the master, make it work for you. It’s not that difficult. Normally I rearrange the IG, or make my own schedule, while loosely following the IG. But I have even been known to drop the IG altogether, have the children read the books on their own, and let them follow self-directed paths for a spell.

 

Winter promise has an independent element. They have a student schedule so the children can also work by themselves. I can’t see using too many levels of WP but it will be a nice change... and we are excited about it for this year. Although I am not sure how we will feel about MOH. WP really needs to do something about the high school selections, which seem to be almost nonexistent. At first glance, I thought we could use the high school materials, but now I see it’s just not going to work out unless they make a few changes. Illuminations is another option... and looks promising for high school. I don’t know much about them at all... but it’s a thought. They have grades 3-8 as well.

[Geo]

www.biblioplan.net

[MommyInTraining]

Geo, what happened with you and HOD and SOW?