Sonlight or Veritas Press?

[ksr5377]

This year for K we're doing a mix of things that I planned out on my own, mainly following WTM recommendations. Only one month in I KNOW that I will never (probably never) do this again. I need it preplanned. I want to check off boxes and know that we're accomplishing things.

Whichever one I choose I plan on using everything they recommend, not just their history or LA. I'm wanting the whole box! Ideally, provided everything works OK for my children, I would prefer to stick with one or the other for the duration of our homeschooling adventure.

I'm sure these two have been compared before, but I couldn't seem to find anything? If you have opinions or know of a different thread, please let me know.

Thank you!

[Ellesmere]

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[ksr5377]

Yes, by "whole thing" I mean that if we go with SL, I will do their LA, HWOT, science etc. If we go with VP it'll be Shurley English, Saxon Math, everything they have in their guide. Unless, of course, there is something that's extremely wrong for us.

[lorisuewho]

Are you open to considering other programs? Or are these the ones you have researched and to which you have narrowed it down?

[Meriwether]

We use VP. If you have specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

[ksr5377]

I would say that I'm still open to other programs, it just seems that these are the two I keep coming back to.

[Meriwether]

I would not try to talk someone into VP. They are very expensive. Very! Some of the books - we have them all - are hard. My kids know their stuff, though. There are some points I disagree with the publishers on. I feel comfortable enough at this point, but I may reconsider later.

 

The Shurley English and IEW are incorporated into the VP history lessons. Latin for Children uses Shurley English and LfC history readers align with the VP history cards. You could certainly use different resources, but I would look at them first to see if they'll work for you.

[ksr5377]

I would not try to talk someone into VP. They are very expensive. Very! Some of the books - we have them all - are hard. My kids know their stuff, though. There are some points I disagree with the publishers on. I feel comfortable enough at this point, but I may reconsider later.

 

The Shurley English and IEW are incorporated into the VP history lessons. Latin for Children uses Shurley English and LfC history readers align with the VP history cards. You could certainly use different resources, but I would look at them first to see if they'll work for you.

 

I know VP is expensive, but do you think it's worth it? Ideally we'll be using it for all three children. While I don't want to be wasting money on something that isn't good, I still think that any of our choices will be less than private school tuition, which is my husband's goal.

I think my main concern with it is that I know with SL you can combine students in a core, is that at all possible with VP? Someone I know uses it and swears that you can, but they haven't used it that way yet.

[Little Blue House]

I think my main concern with it is that I know with SL you can combine students in a core, is that at all possible with VP? Someone I know uses it and swears that you can, but they haven't used it that way yet.

 

Yes, you can combine students in grades 2-6 for history. The history resources and readers are seperated into 2 levels...lower and upper. Grammar, math, spelling would need to be seperate anyway. I think you could teach the IEW history based writing together too and just adjust the assignmnent depending on the child's level.

[MeghanL]

You can absolutely combine children for History & Bible with VP. I have used both Sonlight & Veritas Press and I prefer VP by a mile.

 

First, Sonlight jumps all over the place with their books. For all the work of pulling out the books, it's almost not worth it for the 5 sentences you read out of 5 different books. VP just seems to be much more cohesive in their lesson planning.

 

IMO, VP also does much better in giving you (the teacher) the objective of the lesson. Sonlight doesn't bother with giving objectives, just the order to read the books in and some additional activities. At the end of each VP lesson I know what we covered, why we did the additional activities and what I can now expect of my child.

 

Lastly, Long-term, I can see the vision VP has and what it is hoping to accomplish with their program, and I can really get behind it. When I see the books that we will read through the years, I get excited for my kids. Many of the books are ones that I enjoyed as a child or enjoyed as an adult. With Sonlight, the books are fantastic, but don't have the emotional connection for me, since for many of them I had never heard of them before using the program.

 

Hopefully some of the things I have noticed will help you in your decision.

[Meriwether]

I know VP is expensive, but do you think it's worth it? Ideally we'll be using it for all three children. While I don't want to be wasting money on something that isn't good, I still think that any of our choices will be less than private school tuition, which is my husband's goal.

I think my main concern with it is that I know with SL you can combine students in a core, is that at all possible with VP? Someone I know uses it and swears that you can, but they haven't used it that way yet.

 

Well, it is worth it to me. I don't know that I would choose it over good food for my family. I'd say it is worth it if you can afford it. A big part of the expense is books which I never mind buying. (In fact, at some point I'll probably have all of the Sonlight books, too.)

 

I am combining my two oldest in the Middle Ages this year. It is working just fine. If I could have, I would have started Ds in Egypt. It has more picture books and some easier activities. He wanted to do Middle Ages, and I let him since it made it easier for me. He is doing well with the Middle Ages which is significant to me since I think it has the hardest book list overall.

 

Eta: Regarding the bolded - The VP history and Bible cards are beautiful. I chose them for the academic contenct, but it is nice to use something beautiful.

Edited September 20, 2011 by Meriwether

[3peasinapod]

I agree that SL P4/5 is jumpy, not reading a lot out of books, but the later cores are more cohesive. Instead of reading vertically, we read horizontally and finish up a week's worth out of one book in 1 day. Core A is a bit jumpy, but you're not reading out of as many books as P4/5. Core B is very cohesive and flows. The read alouds through Core C are not all related to the history studies, but the books are absolutely worth it. By A, you are read significantly large portions from the books, not snippets (except poetry).

 

We have used SL P3/4, P4/5, Core A, and now Core B if you have specific questions on that.

[Joy at Home]

Are you using the TM that corresponds with the cards, or do you use the scripted lessons? Trying to figure out the ins and outs of VP myself.

 

Thanks!

Lisa

 

 

You can absolutely combine children for History & Bible with VP. I have used both Sonlight & Veritas Press and I prefer VP by a mile.

 

First, Sonlight jumps all over the place with their books. For all the work of pulling out the books, it's almost not worth it for the 5 sentences you read out of 5 different books. VP just seems to be much more cohesive in their lesson planning.

 

IMO, VP also does much better in giving you (the teacher) the objective of the lesson. Sonlight doesn't bother with giving objectives, just the order to read the books in and some additional activities. At the end of each VP lesson I know what we covered, why we did the additional activities and what I can now expect of my child.

 

Lastly, Long-term, I can see the vision VP has and what it is hoping to accomplish with their program, and I can really get behind it. When I see the books that we will read through the years, I get excited for my kids. Many of the books are ones that I enjoyed as a child or enjoyed as an adult. With Sonlight, the books are fantastic, but don't have the emotional connection for me, since for many of them I had never heard of them before using the program.

 

Hopefully some of the things I have noticed will help you in your decision.

[Mrs Twain]

If I used a box, I would pick Veritas Press. I am an a la carte type of person, however, and I have not used the whole curriculum. (I use a different math and English and a few other things). More than half of what I use is from VP, though, and I have found all of their recommendations to be excellent.

[Whereneverever]

I obsessed over both, but honestly VP was out of my price bracket. Way out.

 

We are doing Sonlight. I love it! My DD loves it! It's not choppy and it's so well laid out.

 

I really adore it. :001_smile:

[coffeefreak]

I have used both Sonlight and VP. They are very different, and since you're only in Kindy, I would actually recommend you take a deep breath, and wait till spring to start researching. If you are looking for something NOW, I'd say Sonlight (actually, I'd say something totally different but you only asked for Sonlight or VP:D). But if you're looking for next year, you really need to wait. See how this year plays out. See how your dc learns, what you like to do together. I think we get all excited when our oldest is in K and we're ready to go, go, go, when really it's OK to go slow, slow, slow.:001_smile:

 

That being said, here are our experiences with the two programs. I did Sonlight with my oldest in K and it was miserable because she didn't like all the reading. However, years later, in 3rd grade, she LOVED it. VP was a misery for her. She found it B.O.R.I.N.G. and I have to agree. We did it in 2nd grade. Half way through the year, she looked at me and said, "Mom, are we EVER going to get out of Egypt?" When I realized the answer was, "Not any time soon," we bailed and went on to something else.

 

HTH!

Dorinda

[abacus2]

I'm not very familiar with VP, but we use Sonlight. In the early grades, there is no real advantage to buying the "whole box" from Sonlight. Their cores (history), language arts, and science are separate, with separate guides. If I were you, looking for everything planned out, I would still look per subject. I think my ideal for an "everything" set-up would be a Sonlight history core, Phonics Road, NOEO science, and I'm not sure about math (I use Math Mammoth, but have a Math teaching background and would probably want a more elaborate program were this not the case.)

[MeghanL]

Are you using the TM that corresponds with the cards, or do you use the scripted lessons? Trying to figure out the ins and outs of VP myself.

 

Thanks!

Lisa

 

I use the scripted lesson plans. I am always astonished when people say VP is boring. They only spend 1 week on each card and each day is a different activity to drive in the information. I guess if you don't do any of the activities and only read the card it would be boring, but I think that would be true of anything you do.