Do I want Sonlight Core B or SOTW with SL/TOG books?

[specialkmom]

I'll have two boys, 2nd and K. We love books. Activities are welcomed, but I don't like really big involved stuff. Like the mummified chicken is a no-go. We are moving to a smaller community and I'm guessing the library is so-so. I'd like to have most of the books we need on hand. I was thinking SL Core B, just the history portion. But, its not that many books. So I looked at TOG's recommendations for LG and picked out some of that. Then I thought that if I'm going to buy all those books, then I should just get SOtW and AG and not SL B history portion. Now I'm confused.

 

I want something open and go. I don't want to make lesson plans. I want some activities, but not too much. I want books to read besides the spine.

 

I thought I read on here SL B wasn't chronological. Is that true? Which would be more fun for my boys? My oldest devours books and loves to learn, my younger son has to be ADHD and prefers hands-on and funny books. He will sit for a bit, and he likes books, but his attention span is so short. He gets antsy and has to move. Basically this would be for my older son and the younger one along for the fun parts.

 

Part of me wants to try SL because a lot of my friends like it, we're moving overseas in a year or so, and those books are just so appealing. I'm not sure I care that we do a 4 year rotation at this age. And, our kids will probably be in a school for a year or so when we move overseas before we go back to homeschooling.

 

I appreciate any guidance. Thanks.

[LillyMama]

We're doing SOTW/TOG and I like it. I think the activity guide is open and go. We read from the SOTW book itself, and I also picked up the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia and the Usborne Ancient History Encyclopedia. I didn't purchase any other books and that says a lot as I'll take any excuse to buy any book.

 

As for the books- my personal thought process is that I use SOTW (and TOG) to see if I can order the books recommended from the library. If not, I write down the call number and the kids and I go to that shelf in the library. We can usually find a book or two to meet our needs. Although I do live in a large metro area, we're on the outskirts of a country with lots of branches. The ones closest to us are the smallest. They inter-library ship, but I can usually, even in the smaller library, find at least something to get us through the week.

 

The AG seems to have map work every week, narrations and a couple of projects. We did not mummify the chicken, on that week we were scheduled to build pyramids out of sugar cubes. There are usually simple activities you can do instead of the elaborate ones.

 

I've had no experience with SonLight, sorry.

[Mommy22alyns]

I vote for SOTW with extra books. The AG is a must! I have done both and Rebecca and I much preferred the SOTW way. SL B is fairly chronological but rather boring. No activities. Oh, and 3-4 year old Sylvia was able to enjoy a lot of the SOTW activities as well.

[iafrmgrl77]

I have used Sonlight for a few years. As far as the open and go goes, SL has it all scheduled out for you. My children love all of the books. I am trying to remember Core B (I guess this would have been 2? when we were doing it). I think it was chronological, although the read-alouds did not necessarily all go with what was being studied. There are many things I love about SL and some things I don't. We are switching to TQ next year. I am hoping to use some Beautiful Feet history, as well and will be throwing in several readers/read-alouds from SL. I am excited about the idea of picking our own books and the order in which we will read them. I love most of SL's picks, but there are always a few that I think I would rather sub with something else, and I have even eliminated one or two from each core. I still recommend SL to my friends who are just starting homeschooling. It is great for building your confidence as a homeschooling mom. Hope something in all of that rambling helps! :)

[iafrmgrl77]

Oh, and no, SL does not schedule a lot of activities. Personally, I don't mind that. We do school in the morning, and my children spend the rest of the day running, digging, building, experimenting...you name it. I have found them building models of battleships with their bristle blocks, acting out something we just read about, writing and illustrating their own version of an event from history. They create their own learning activities, and if I ever were to see a need for a scheduled activity (hasn't happened yet!), I am confident I could figure that out for myself! :)

[3peasinapod]

I did both Core B and SOTW1 together, but I did it with 2nd and 3rd graders. I think B might be too much for your K'er. I think SOTW with AG with read alouds and a few added picture books here and there would be the best. You might look at the SOTW AG, look at the book suggestions on Amazon and purchase a few. There are a few threads floating around telling which books people liked the best. The ones I remember the most from SOTW1 is the Gilgamesh Trilogy by Ludmila (something?). They were so good, and the girls wanted them for Christmas. The read alouds don't even have to match up with history. Take a look at SL Core A read alouds.

 

Oh, and you can still get Time Traveler and the Usborne Book of World History. SOTW AG schedules the Usborne Book of WH, and your K'er will be engaged with Time Traveler. TT was the girls' favorite over the UBOWH. :)

[Dinsfamily]

The history portion is chronological; it is the read alouds that don't necessarily correspond with the historical time period. I don't think I'd do SL without the read alouds at this level. The lit is rich and an important part of the core IMHO (just not always related to history). The history is good though and my ds really likes CHOW, UBWH, and TT, FWIW. We did supplement a bit with SOTW just because my ds wanted to read more CHOW but I didn't want to zoom ahead. SOTW fit in nicely. I'm not sure you could go wrong either way.

[specialkmom]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences and thoughts. I think I may lean more towards SOTW to get my second son involved. My oldest would have no problems with just reading books and using his own imagination to make things and act stuff out. My second son needs things to do. We did Geography this year and if it wasn't for the maps and flags to color, and other activitues that were planned, he wouldn't have joined in. Right now the oldest and I are doing a quick American History. We basically use a spine, some Beautiful Feet books, and whatever our library has that is good. That works fine, but my younger son hasn't wanted to join us at all except for the Liberty Kids movies I borrowed from the library.

 

SL has great read alouds. We've read over half of Core A ones and several of Core B. So, I'd probably pick and choose those anyway. My son would need the 3rd grade readers.

 

I was thinking of doing both the audio and book for SOTW if I went with SOTW. Or adding SOTW audio to SL B if I did that. I think my younger son would enjoy listening to that while doing something. I know he'd have a hard time sitting through the book because he still needs the pictures.

 

 

Thanks again for your help.