Sl users please help with IG

[joyfulhomeschooler]

This will be our first time (possibly) using SL. I am looking through the guide and trying to figure out how to use it. It seems like it is basically just a schedule of what days to read what book. Can someone walk me through exactly how to get the most out of the guide?

[mschickie]

Which Core are you using? We are currently doing D.

 

I have the schedule laid out behind each of the weekly tabs. I took all the appendixes/study guides and put them in a seperate book, that is where all the questions, mapping, timelines.. are. I can leave the big binder open to the schedules and then just flip around in the smaller binder to the book we are working on at the moment.

[skeeterbug]

It seems like it is basically just a schedule of what days to read what book.

 

:iagree:There are also discussion questions for each read-aloud with a list of vocabulary words for each chapter (the vocabulary words may or may not be new to your kids). There are also mapping activities, just copies of maps for each book that has any geography in it. I find we don't use any of these extras very often. I can come up with my own discussion questions, we discuss vocabulary as it comes up, and we use our own maps rather than the ones provided. Without all that, it really is just a schedule of what days to read what book. I found that following the schedule horizontally rather than vertically worked better for us- reading more chapters in one book at a time rather than just a few pages of each book every day.

 

I will probably no longer be ordering the IG, I think it costs too much for what you get- again, I am using the earlier cores at this point, Cores A & B.

[joyfulhomeschooler]

:iagree:There are also discussion questions for each read-aloud with a list of vocabulary words for each chapter (the vocabulary words may or may not be new to your kids). There are also mapping activities, just copies of maps for each book that has any geography in it. I find we don't use any of these extras very often. I can come up with my own discussion questions, we discuss vocabulary as it comes up, and we use our own maps rather than the ones provided. Without all that, it really is just a schedule of what days to read what book. I found that following the schedule horizontally rather than vertically worked better for us- reading more chapters in one book at a time rather than just a few pages of each book every day.

 

I will probably no longer be ordering the IG, I think it costs too much for what you get- again, I am using the earlier cores at this point, Cores A & B.

 

This is exactly the way I felt as I was putting it together and going through it. I thought I understood it correctly but I guess I just expected there to be more to it. I was looking at core B... I think I may end up going with something else that we have though. I am just not that pleased with the IG and we can just read the books for fun.

[MerryAtHope]

I pretty much just used the schedules in the younger grades, but I like the questions in the new core 100 guide. It's been a good mix of comprehension and thinking type questions, and we've had some good discussions. I wish the younger guides would have had a better mix of questions. So often they seemed to focus on minute details. I had my kids narrate and discuss instead!

 

Merry :-)

[3peasinapod]

We are doing Core B, and I don't find the discussion questions helpful. I feel bad for not using them, but the questions are so focused on details, and I want to know if they get the gist of the story, not every single detail. Anyhow, I use the schedule more for a guide to help me get through the books. If I don't have it, it is hard for me to get things done. When we get to Core D, the books can't be read in any order, and I don't want to figure out which to read next. They go more in chronological order (as much as a literature study can). :001_smile:

[Lindsay W]

As a faithful Sonlight user (Cores K-E so far) I must add that if you drop the IG and just use the books they suggest you risk missing some very interesting connections between the literatures across the subjects. Often, we have found that the exact Bible passage we read that day was written about/quoted in one of our Readers. Or, for example, the geography work that we did coordinated exactly with a sea voyage that was discussed in the readers.

 

This kind of thing isn't essential to a quality education, of course, but I happen to love these moments. It makes me feel like my kids hear how connected all of these ideas and subjects really are.

 

I will readily admit though, that I need to have the days' assignments laid out for me :), so that may explain my dedication to the IGs.

Even if you do drop the IG, I still think you are getting an awesome experience. Sonlight's literature lists are wonderful.