Switching to Sonlight- any tips?

[Mrs. Lilac]

Being reckless and making a mid-semester switch from MOH, etc., to Sonlight Core B.

 

Any tips, tricks, things I need to know, from you experienced Sonlight moms?

[pjssully]

i am making a switch mid year back to sonlight. I have used several other options throughout the last few years and i have not been satisfied with any. There is something about sonlight that always draws me back. I enjoyed the reading and read alouds so much that i always miss it. how old is your child? My best advice is to relax and enjoy the process. Enjoy the special moments with the read alouds, especially. I let my kids draw while i read history or read alouds. There are lots of hands on ideas if you want them, i may add a FEW. Feel free to PM with any questions. I am going with Core B/C and Core F

pam

[letsplaymath]

The throat spray that numbs everything is great if you get "Sonlight Throat" from all the read-alouds.

[freeindeed]

If you feel overloaded by the reading schedule, remember that you can do some read-alouds at the dinner table or at bedtime. Adjust the schedule if you need to in order to make Sonlight work for your family. We're using Core 3+4 (now called D+E) this year, and we are really enjoying it, but I do some *tweaking.*:)

[Carrie75]

Making part of the scheduled reading the bedtime reading is a great tip to spreading it all out through the day. The reading is the best part, imo. The LA copywork, not so much.

[lbakos]

I definitely can't claim to be experienced sine we're only 4 weeks into Core B and P4/5. This is our first year homeschooling and it's been a breeze with SL. We're on the 4 day schedule. So far we're happy with everything except LA and geography. I'm starting to build my own programs for those subjects. We love the readers/read alouds.

Edited December 24, 2011 by lbakos

[ZooRho]

ask for advice about which core/cores to use with your children before you order at SL. the ladies there are great about helping chose

[PentecostalMom]

Are you using complete SL?

 

I have been using it for several years. Started at 6th grade with my ds, went through graduation. Started over with the littles at P3/4, and currently into Core A (K). Will be starting Core B in the spring.

 

Just don't let it overwhelm you. We read however, it makes sense. I am a real box-checker, so at first I was trying to read each selection from each box daily. Now, I just read whatever I want each day from that week. The older cores are a little different, but for the younger years, it makes it simpler for the parent and more enjoyable for all.

Edited December 24, 2011 by PentecostalMom

[3peasinapod]

We're doing Core B with a 2nd and 3rd grader this year, and we love it. We've also done Cores P3/4, P4/5, and A. I add in SOTW with the Activity Guide for Core B to help with some hands-on. We don't always do hands-on every week, but go in spurts. SL uses SOTW later on, so some people don't like to use it in the younger cores. I am considering using MOH with the older world history SL cores.

 

We do read alouds before bed, and it really helps. It is just a snuggle time, and we're getting some quality school done too. We read the history portions and geography portions during the day. Core B isn't a huge workload, so it's not to hard to acclimate to.

[siloam]

Being reckless and making a mid-semester switch from MOH, etc., to Sonlight Core B.

 

Any tips, tricks, things I need to know, from you experienced Sonlight moms?

There is nothing wrong with doing that. But to make sure it is a good fit I would ask you why? What isn't working about MOH, and what do you think will work better with SL?

 

SL wasn't the best of fits here, because of the volume of work (I wanted more time to work on math and reading skills given how close in age my kids are) and because my three younger kids don't enjoy the emotional SL books. They prefer books lighter in tone. They also prefer to do hands on rather than a read aloud. But for your family those might be what you are looking for.

 

Heather

[MerryAtHope]

I've done SL Pre-K-F and am currently doing G and 100. We love all the books. My thoughts:

 

Let the IG be just that--a GUIDE. It is not your master and it doesn't know better than you do what is enough or too much for your children.

 

Spread a core over more than a year if you want to, and enjoy the journey.

 

I actually used MOH 1 with B, and MOH 2 with C, instead of the spines that SL planned. Don't be afraid to mix things up if you want to, although I do think it's easiest to use SL "as is," because all the planning is done for you.

 

Read the Lit. read-alouds at bedtime. We still do this at 12 & 14!

 

Have fun :-). Merry :-)

[By Grace]

Go at half-pace for the first month: complete a week's worth of work every two weeks for that month. That will help you assimilate all of the various jobs of the Core so you don't feel so overwhelmed. We're doing our 3rd Core now with DD9 and a different Core with DD7. I've always needed to take it slow at the beginning of a Core. By the end of the Core, you should be able to make up for the lost time (if not before) because once you figure it all out, you'll be able to complete more than a week's worth of work in one week.

 

Actually, what worked best for us is to get the 4-day Core, then use it for a 5-day school week. With music lessons and practice, the extra stuff I'm always adding in, and younger kids in the house, we need that extra day each week to fit in all the work of a "4-day" schedule. It's still a robust program, even with just the 4 days' worth of work.

 

Just because you're using a SL Core, doesn't mean you need to use SL for allll of your subjects. I've never liked SL science or LA. I put together my own hodge-podge of stuff for both of those subjects. I also tweak the Bible program by adding in my own devo books for each student. I do use Singapore Math, which SL recommends, but they don't have it scheduled out on the IG. So don't be surprised when you find that not everything is actually included on the IG. That bothered me when I first started with SL, but I found that it's actually better for us. Math is pretty easy to make out a schedule for.

 

HTH!

[morosophe]

Specific tip for Core B: Definitely drop Peoples of the World. That was an excruciating read. Maybe you could put it on your bookshelf for your daughter to flip through herself, but otherwise, I'd just skip it. Start with Archaeologists Dig for Clues instead, and you'll be off to a great start.

 

As others have said, the LA was lacking. I assume you'll be doing something like Grade 3 or 4+ Readers for your oldest daughter; don't do the associated LA. (Although actually, our LA--Grade 2, actually--was exactly where my son needed to be for copywork and grammar; it was just the composition half of the week that stank.)

 

Feel free to "skim" the Usborne books, reading the main paragraphs and asking questions about the pictures, or letting your daughter find what interests her there.

 

Mountain Born is a lovely book, but is probably a little too difficult for your kindergarteners to understand. Ditto for Understood Betsy. (On the plus side, since Understood Betsy is in the public domain, you can easily choose a version of it recorded for Librivox and let your older daughter enjoy it all on her own!)

 

I hope this helped a little.

[ZooRho]

S

Mountain Born is a lovely book, but is probably a little too difficult for your kindergarteners to understand. Ditto for Understood Betsy. (On the plus side, since Understood Betsy is in the public domain, you can easily choose a version of it recorded for Librivox and let your older daughter enjoy it all on her own!)

 

I hope this helped a little.

Understood Betsy is one of the best books SL has. Yes it may go over the head of a Ker but It is a great read aloud for a 3rd grader.

[MerryAtHope]

Understood Betsy is one of the best books SL has. Yes it may go over the head of a Ker but It is a great read aloud for a 3rd grader.

 

My dd loved this book!

[armom]

We started Sonlight this summer. I started out checking off every box, and made myself crazy. I am doing two cores with my children. After a short period I quit feeling the need to check off everthing and just do what we can get done for the day. We have enjoyed the books Sonlight has. We are doing core B and D. Some of the Usborne books in Core B have not been enjoyable to my son, but he has learn quite a bit from them anyway. (Peoples Of the World and Houses and Homes were two he didn't like.)

 

Sonlight does have a lot of reading, but my children have loved the books. My twins who are doing Core D love the books, and beg to read extra every day. I love how even the readers have tied in the history for them.

[EmilyGF]

(Peoples Of the World and Houses and Homes were two he didn't like.)

 

It is interesting to me that the kids didn't like these books. My son really has enjoyed them - maybe because we treat them more like launching points for discussions than like read alouds? Anyway, we've had some really good discussions stemming from them and he requested them even on days off.

 

Emily

[scrapbookbuzz]

The Instructor's Guide is just that - a guide. Don't feel the need to "box check". That will just drive you nuts!

 

It is a wonderful curriculum. I piece-mealed my first two years of hs'ing: LA from here, history from there, etc. I finally told my dh I wanted the lesson planning done for me! I'd looked at many different curricula and Sonlight resonated with me, as it evidently has with you. I second the motion of saving the read-alouds for bedtime or the weekend. Sometime other that during "school time." It's a great program. Enjoy it!