Sonlight core 100 questions

[Kathie in VA]

I have a few questions on SL core 100 that got buried in a different post so I thought I'd just repost them so they can get seen by the right folks.

 

 

• It says that it includes LA. I will already be using Classical Writing-Homer, can I skip their LA? Well I'd like to do the reading and discussion but maybe not any more papers. Would this work out or would we miss too much? Also, we did a bit of Lightning Lit and I really liked that they were learning literature terms like genre, plot, climax, etc. Would we get any of that with SL core 100?
   
   
  
• About how much time per day or week should I schedule for it (history & lit read aloud, history & lit silent reading, discussions, maybe mapwork and timeline work, and possibly the tests, ?is there any other work besides the papers like worksheets or something?)?
   
   
  
• Does SL core 100 use any other non-fiction books for history besides A History of US?
   
   
  
• Their website states: "Modern liberal" as opposed to "classical liberal." Classical liberals believe, with Thomas Jefferson, that "That government is best which governs least." Modern liberals seem to place far more faith in government and applaud governmental intervention in people's personal affairs. ---I don't think we would call ourselves 'modern liberal' in this sense... we would probably lean closer to 'classical liberal'. So how much of a problem is this? Should I just avoid SL?
  

 

 

Thanks for any and all help. I really do appreciate it!

:bigear:

[merylvdm]

1. You can skip the LA if you are doing something different ... I am pretty sure it is mainly writing assignments. And I am sure SL does cover many literary terms in sl 100 ... we did it a year ago, so I am trying to remember. At the end of every set of questions on the books you have to say who the protaginist is, I htink they ask for the theme and that sort of thing. If you stick with SL over high school they do cover everything they need to know. I think my dd got 790 on the SAT II Literature exam - she did the AP this year, won't know those results for a while. I have only used SL.

2. There are questions for the readers and history books. I suppose it would take 1 - 1 1/2 hours. I bought tests from Hewitt Homeschooling.

3. Check the catalog - I know there are missionary biographies

4. I wouldn't worry about the slant ... SL has notes that prompt you when you should be discussing stuff with your kids. It is good for them to learn that books have biases. I don't think it will drive you crazy - my dd was 16 when she did this and is definitel not modern liberal ... but I don't recall her complaining - thought I think she did sometimes disagree,

Meryl

[Kathie in VA]

merylvdm: thanks for the info, especially the time estimate. That is really helping me right now as I try to determine if I can fit this into a schedule.

 

I just started looking at the bible study component. Do you know about how much time this part might take? Does your time estimate include working on the Bible study as well or is that additional time?

 

tia

[paula j]

The language in sonlight 100 is mostly writing assignments which would align with the history studies, you could skip it or pick and choose. there are probably at least 1 or 2 research papers included too.

 

As far as how long the Bible takes, it has only taken us a few minutes to 1/2 hour in the cores I have covered. Core 5 took the longest as it included Remembering God's Awesome Acts which includes some art and writing assignments. If I remember correctly core 100 has a new Bible component this year (I may be wrong but I think it was 100) any way, if this is true, I doubt anyone has completed it yet.

[Kathie in VA]

Thanks everyone so much for all your help. I've borrowed a copy from a friend. If I go this route then I'll probably buy it & most of the books from her. If I get the rest from SL it will be enough of an order to still get access to the SL formums.

 

For a pick up and go curriculum I'm kinda surprised that the weekly schedules are in one place and all the discussion questions for history are in another... and the lit are in yet another. I'd rearrange it all into weeks so we can have the schedule and all notes within each week; but it doesn't seem to be printed in a weekly friendly format. Just seems strange.

 

Anyway, I just like to confirm that we should be able to do all this in about 2 hours a day?? I expected one day in the schedule to do the discussions but it's not there. Do you just do them daily or as they are called for in the schedule?... which means all the Bible work, history reading and discussion and mapwork and timeline, and all the literature reading and discussion and mapwork should be doable within that 2hr per day timeslot? Oh wait, what about the memory work and the current events work? Still within the same timeslot? I know there are also creative writing assignment but I doubt we'll be doing those since we are using CW.

 

Does the mapwork actually follow along with what they are reading or is it in it's own order? My younger ds will be doing US geography memory work so I'm trying to decide which to follow with my older two.

 

TIA

[Melissa in CA]

For a pick up and go curriculum I'm kinda surprised that the weekly schedules are in one place and all the discussion questions for history are in another... and the lit are in yet another. I'd rearrange it all into weeks so we can have the schedule and all notes within each week; but it doesn't seem to be printed in a weekly friendly format. Just seems strange.

 

Yes, and quite frustrating to say the least. Good luck on getting it all organized to your liking. ;)

 

Anyway, I just like to confirm that we should be able to do all this in about 2 hours a day?? I expected one day in the schedule to do the discussions but it's not there. Do you just do them daily or as they are called for in the schedule?... which means all the Bible work, history reading and discussion and mapwork and timeline, and all the literature reading and discussion and mapwork should be doable within that 2hr per day timeslot? Oh wait, what about the memory work and the current events work?

 

Two hours a day should be sufficient for all that you've mentioned. Do you plan to read the History, Lit, etc with them? I ask because it will be quite difficult for you to have meaningful daily discussions with them if you do not. Sonlight is written for the parent to do with the students. It is not made for independent learning, except for perhaps the literature reading, and even with that you'll have to read the books yourself to truly be able to comment on or discuss them. Sonlight is all about curling up on the couch with your children and learning history TOGETHER. I am not saying people don't have their children do it independently, but that it was not written to be done so. There ARE questions and answers. You can have your children answer the questions and you can then discuss their answers with your answer key...but still, you personally will not have a lot of discussion material to bring into the conversation without reading the books yourself. You'll just have the answer key.

 

Does the mapwork actually follow along with what they are reading or is it in it's own order?

Yes, it follows what they are reading...not only the history, but the literature. We found it to be frustrating as well. Look over the mapping carefully and see if it is your style. I know many Sonlighter's who love SL but do NOT love their mapping/geography.

 

My younger ds will be doing US geography memory work so I'm trying to decide which to follow with my older two.

 

Personally, if I were to use SL Core 100 again I would bring in the Trail Guide to US History and use that for our geography. We used it this past year with Winter Promise and enjoyed it. It covers all age ranges and you can make it as simple or as difficult as you like while keeping your children together in geography, but at their own level.

 

My 2 cents! ;)

[Kathie in VA]

Melissa,

 

 

Two hours a day should be sufficient for all that you've mentioned. Do you plan to read the History, Lit, etc with them? I ask because it will be quite difficult for you to have meaningful daily discussions with them if you do not. Sonlight is written for the parent to do with the students. It is not made for independent learning, except for perhaps the literature reading, and even with that you'll have to read the books yourself to truly be able to comment on or discuss them. Sonlight is all about curling up on the couch with your children and learning history TOGETHER. I am not saying people don't have their children do it independently, but that it was not written to be done so. There ARE questions and answers. You can have your children answer the questions and you can then discuss their answers with your answer key...but still, you personally will not have a lot of discussion material to bring into the conversation without reading the books yourself. You'll just have the answer key.

 

 

Well I was planning on reading some of it with them but still having them read some on their own. They love when I read to them... and I really like learning with them. However I also want them to learn how to read and learn on their own as well.

 

Yes, it follows what they are reading...not only the history, but the literature. We found it to be frustrating as well. Look over the mapping carefully and see if it is your style. I know many Sonlighter's who love SL but do NOT love their mapping/geography.

 

Personally, if I were to use SL Core 100 again I would bring in the Trail Guide to US History and use that for our geography. We used it this past year with Winter Promise and enjoyed it. It covers all age ranges and you can make it as simple or as difficult as you like while keeping your children together in geography, but at their own level.

 

My 2 cents! ;)

 

Thanks this helps. I'll have to take a good look at it. If it follows what they are reading, what is fustrating about it? It seems to only require noting where specific places are that they are reading about and not too much else. They don't work on memorizing locations nor on tracing or drawing locations. Hmm, perhaps we'll simply not where everything is but really focus on the geography that my younger ds is doing with Classical Conversations- Foundations. He'll be memorizing all the states and capitals. Trail Guides does look good.. I've considered it in the past but since we are already doing Foundations... I'll stick to that to keep the number of subjects down.

 

Thanks again for your input!!

[Melissa in CA]

Melissa,

Thanks this helps. I'll have to take a good look at it. If it follows what they are reading, what is frustrating about it?

 

The frustration came with just the set-up of the mapping in the IG. To be honest the entire Sonlight IG made me frustrated! :banghead: :D It was an organizational nightmare to me and I absolutely despised it! Yet, believe it or not, I stuck it out year after year completing eight cores! The only thing I really utilized to it's fullest is the schedules, and even those I had to transfer to another schedule so that I could give my children their own copy with added subjects.

 

My all time favorite Core was Core 100. We did this together (my older boys and I). We had some fun discussions. ;) Core 400 was my absolute least favorite. It was government on steroids and my boys still, to this day, say they don't remember what the 'heck' them books were talking about. :lol: It was waaaaay over our heads.

 

Anyhow, I am not trying to dissuade you from Sonlight. It's a great program. It would be a perfect program if they would organize their IG better, add in some meaty Socratic discussion questions with enough teacher's notes and info for discussion without my doing their school with them (especially in the high school years). And last but not least, add in some form of evaluations (testing). I have nothing concrete to show a public school official should they ever ask, and frankly, that bothers me in todays climate.

[Kathie in VA]

It's a great program. It would be a perfect program if they would organize their IG better, add in some meaty Socratic discussion questions with enough teacher's notes and info for discussion without my doing their school with them (especially in the high school years). And last but not least, add in some form of evaluations (testing). I have nothing concrete to show a public school official should they ever ask, and frankly, that bothers me in todays climate.

 

I'd love to see the Socratic discussion. I did, however, purchase Teaching the Classics (last year) which goes over how to do these. Now if I can find the time and peace to actually view this, I might get a handle on this ahead of time!

 

As far as showing something concrete... I've thought of this too. Part of me is glad I can skip the writing assignments so I'll have more time for Classical Writing. On the other hand I worry that we won't have anything to show for our year. Well I guess we will have the timeline and should be able to talk about each entry. I am considering the Hewlett tests for A History of US. I might also take some time to have them practice outlining, as we haven't gotten too far on that yet. All depends on time though. I've got about 7 hours per day for my rising 8th grade dd and that's just the school work without breaks or lunch. ... but then again it is without homework either... hmmm

[Teri H.; Oregon]

Thanks!

[paula j]

I don't have a problem with the IG and how it is organized, that's why it's punched and in a three ring binder. here is what I dol

 

I take 5 or 6 weeks of the IG schedule and move it to a smaller notebook, then I go through and see which books are covered during this time. I then pull the study guides for those books out of the IG and put them with the schedule for the first week they are used. If the book is used for more than one week, then I just move it each week so it is there with the schedule page I am using. For a big guide like the History of US guide, then I just take that and put it in the back of my smaller notebook and put the 5 weeks worth of schedule in front of it.