Sonlight or Winterpromise?

[Guest Cheese&Sprinkles]

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[southcarolinamom]

My experience with WP is that it was "too easy" on the reading books and too many activities.

 

We switched back to Sonlight after a year of WP. Sonlight was more "meaty".

[gramlingk]

I have a 10 yr old son and an 11 yr old daughter who are both doing Winter Promise All American 2 (4th - 8th curriculum). We do like doing some of the activities. But, I admit that I don't do all of them by any stretch (there are a lot). As for bad reviews, I haven't heard these. But, then again, I haven't been looking for them. It is a good interesting program that is working for us and keeping the kids pretty interested in history. I say that is a success no matter what others think of it. There is a lot of reading aloud, which you could take turns doing with your son or let him read some of those on his own if you wish. I just really like reading the books along with them. It is a little challenging finding the materials if you are looking to find them used. And, it does take a while to get your materials from the publisher if you order it new. Other than that, I highly recommend it. I think that Winter Promise and Sonlight are similar but there is definitely more reading in Sonlight and there are more activities in Winter Promise. The activities, though, are often very simple to do and do not bother my son who is not into crafts as much like my daughter is. Hope this is helpful...

[SebastianCat]

We've used Sonlight for 5 years, although my kids are younger than the child you are asking about. I've recently looked at WP's American History program for next year, and it seems like WP uses many more nonfiction books in their program, while SL uses more historical fiction.

 

So I would look at what angle you and your DS would like to study.....nonfiction or historical fiction? For us, we keep coming back to SL every time I look at other programs. Yes, SL is much more "meaty" than others, but it's a great fit for us.

[Whereneverever]

Sonlight!

[PentecostalMom]

Sonlight!

 

:iagree:

[edelweiss]

I've wanted to use Sonlight, but it never seems to work out for what I want to study at the ages that I want them to study a topic. I want to only do one history program for both of my kids (adjusting assignments for their different ages, of course), and Sonlight never seems to work out when I look at it. :shrug:

 

So, we use Winterpromise. :001_smile: I have been very pleased with it. I only buy WP exclusives from the company though.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I used WP for Sea and Sky and never had any problem with the company. My son did not like doing the activities but you do not need to do them. The books were on the lighter side but still full of info. I think doing SL core 100 would be doable. You can always throw in some WP books that look interesting.

[just.me]

After thoroughly looking through the Sonlight site and their forums I think I've decided to go with Sonlight Core G for 7th and Core H for 8th. Then he can do Core 100 in 9th and continue with 200, 300, and 400. I want to choose a curriculum and stick with it for the long hall (I know, famous last words lol) and Sonlight seems to flow better for that purpose. And it's just way too hard for me to fork over $500 for Winterpromise when they have so many mixed reviews. I will definitely be choosing some books from their American Cultures 2 curriculum because they look great!

[TGHEALTHYMOM]

I would recommend Joy Hakem's set of US History books. Sonlight carries them and I think CBD and Rainbow do as well. IEW has American Writing also. I wouldn't fork over the money for Sonlight unless you want to read tons of books and have the time and money to invest. Just my thoughts.;)

[PentecostalMom]

Sonlight also has a one-year love-to-learn guarantee. This cannot be found with any other curriculum publisher. You can use, actually use, the curriclum for a year and if you don't like it, you can send it back for a full refund, dog-eared pages and all. Of course, you can always buy used for mostly any program.

[kolamum]

I think that comparing WP and SL is kinda like comparing green grapes & red grapes. They both have their advantages and both are different, but each one is just right for certain people, kwim?

 

We used WP last year and used their All American 1 {a mixture of AC 1 & AS 1} We enjoyed it, but there is a LOT of hands on stuff. I'm going to tell you right now it is NOT worth your money if you don't want to do hands on stuff. I know that AC 2 is slightly different in their hands on projects, but they are still there.

 

The other thing to consider is that you can't get American History in one complete year from WP. Do you want to do it over 2 years? Or are you okay with only doing the second half of US history? Crossings starts with the gold rush, or just after {beginnings of Civil War} and works forward.

 

The book selections for AA-1 were amazing and we loved all but one. I decided NOT to do AA2 or AC 2 and to move to SL this year to wrap up American History. My choice is NOT based on my experience with WP, because honestly we LOVED it. My choice was made on the book selections, and I just prefered the ones with SL.

 

I'm slightly nervous about the choice, because while I love what I'm getting, I loved what we did last year and chance can be daunting for me at times. ;) I also have a student who loved the hands-on activities and one who could have lived without them. I liked that WP had the activities there to have some proof of what we learned and all that.

 

So, this year to be sure I get that mix in there I'm planning to do the Core E with a 3rd and 5th grader. We'll also be using SOME of the books I did like from WP {as they tie in} a few extras we have on the shelf {as they tie in} & the HSITW activity packs that match up to the time periods we'll be studying. :D

 

Now.. if you're concern is only based on the WP reputation & not what you are getting I'd probably go with WP. My advice on that would be to ONLY order the Core Guide, a timeline {essential, and even if you never use anything else from WP, their timeline is the most amazing thing ever, really and I've used a LOT of timelines}, and the student pages you'll need. That's it.

 

I'd order all your books that go with the core from Amazon or Book Depository. Simple as. I'd place my order over the phone and ask specifically when you can expect that order and when it will ship out, all though they'll probably tell you. I had NO ISSUES with their customer service at all. Everything arrived promptly save one thing that was shipped to a US address instead of my Aussie one. I contacted them and they immediately refunded the shipping cost to me. Easy Peasy. :D

[manyblessings]

Sonlight!

:iagree:

[clarkacademy]

Sonlight also has a one-year love-to-learn guarantee. This cannot be found with any other curriculum publisher. You can use, actually use, the curriclum for a year and if you don't like it, you can send it back for a full refund, dog-eared pages and all. Of course, you can always buy used for mostly any program.

 

I don't know how great that is. I have never used it but I have read on this very forum if memory serves that when people have returned things Sonlight has not given a full refund because the books were in less than sellable condition. Like I said I never used it, but I have read people who have had no problem and then people who have had major problems.

[Mom22ns]

Sonlight! If he doesn't like activities, then Sonlight will be a much better fit than Winter Promise.

 

For American, you could either do the second elementary American Core (used to be 4, I just haven't learned the letters yet), or Core 100 or a combination of the two. How is his reading level? My ds did Core 100 in 7th grade. We dropped 2 or 3 books that I wanted to save a little longer but it was such a wonderful year! I did the Hakim books out loud and dd who was in 5th sat in for those and used the readers for 3+4. Then I also read the read alouds from 3+4. We all loved that year the most of all our SL years so far.