malleyfam Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I am excited to start Sonlight G - American History this year with my kids, but am wondering if the Science curriculum that is included with it will be enough. Has anyone used it? Would you supplement with another Science curriculum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Core G is World History 1. But what history you do shouldn't matter what science you do.... I think it would depend what you have been doing up to now and what your long term plans are. Is this for a 6th grade student? G is about 6th grade....what are you doing for 7th? Are you going into Apologia sequence? Or BJU? Or a secular resource? Most people have their science sequence planned out for high school and work backward. Being so close to high school sequence I would suggest having a plan for 7+ and then decide on 6th grade. We have used SL science for 2 years now and like it. But it's spiral so I know some topics they will only have intro's to and some others more in depth. We are doing it again next year(level F). But I think after that we plan on doing a year of interest science before starting the normal college bound science sequence in 7th grade. So I would start there. Where are you going next? Then figure out this year. Now, if it's a younger student doing Core G my answer would be different. But if the G science topics interest you then it's worth a try. I like the schedule. The TOPS experiment books are ok. Some are pretty in depth/lots of prep work, but the experiments usually work. There is no video supplement like earlier versions for the experiments. hope this helps you start to figure it out :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleyfam Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 Oops! Can't believe I did that - we are doing Core D - American History. My kids are in 5th, 4th and 2nd. We did Apologia Astronomy which was fun but we got sidetracked mid-year and didn't finish because I had a baby :001_smile:. Just wondering if I should start Apologia Swimming Creatures or if the Sonlight Science will be enough. I'm a bit of a curriculum junkie, so I have a tendency to order too much. Thanks for your response! Core G is World History 1. But what history you do shouldn't matter what science you do.... I think it would depend what you have been doing up to now and what your long term plans are. Is this for a 6th grade student? G is about 6th grade....what are you doing for 7th? Are you going into Apologia sequence? Or BJU? Or a secular resource? Most people have their science sequence planned out for high school and work backward. Being so close to high school sequence I would suggest having a plan for 7+ and then decide on 6th grade. We have used SL science for 2 years now and like it. But it's spiral so I know some topics they will only have intro's to and some others more in depth. We are doing it again next year(level F). But I think after that we plan on doing a year of interest science before starting the normal college bound science sequence in 7th grade. So I would start there. Where are you going next? Then figure out this year. Now, if it's a younger student doing Core G my answer would be different. But if the G science topics interest you then it's worth a try. I like the schedule. The TOPS experiment books are ok. Some are pretty in depth/lots of prep work, but the experiments usually work. There is no video supplement like earlier versions for the experiments. hope this helps you start to figure it out :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 As Tess said, SL science is spiral--but it is fun, very engaging, and pretty easy to get done. I think it would be great for your ages. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleyfam Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 Awesome, thanks!! As Tess said, SL science is spiral--but it is fun, very engaging, and pretty easy to get done. I think it would be great for your ages. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lillehei Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 We really disliked Science 4. It used TOPS Electricity and Magnetism and then a slew of other uncoordinated subjects that didn't seem cohesive at all. It felt like we were jumping all over the place and the TOPs experiments were tedious. We have never used SL for science again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Oops! Can't believe I did that - we are doing Core D - American History. My kids are in 5th, 4th and 2nd. We did Apologia Astronomy which was fun but we got sidetracked mid-year and didn't finish because I had a baby :001_smile:. Just wondering if I should start Apologia Swimming Creatures or if the Sonlight Science will be enough. I'm a bit of a curriculum junkie, so I have a tendency to order too much. Thanks for your response! That was our first SL science year. They liked it! The Tops is plants that year. It's tedious but worth it. You have to commit the 30 days for radishes but we loved it! It took some time to get it all prepped. But yes for ages it would be good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleyfam Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 Sorry, I'm pretty new to homeschooling - what do you mean when you say it's "spiral?" As Tess said, SL science is spiral--but it is fun, very engaging, and pretty easy to get done. I think it would be great for your ages. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 We did Science D last year. It is a very good complete course. The TOPS books along with Real Science 4 Kids Biology was really good. I was not thrilled with the Water book though. The thing is though that my dd loves science so we also did Apologia Swimming Creatures through our co-op. I did Sonlight 3 days and then Apologia one day a week. It worked out well for us because dd loves science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleyfam Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 That's too funny! It's exactly what I was thinking about doing (although we would do it ourselves and not with a co-op). I was wondering about the Water book - it is one of the books I don't already have and wondered if I needed to buy it through Sonlight. Great feedback! Thanks! :001_smile: We did Science D last year. It is a very good complete course. The TOPS books along with Real Science 4 Kids Biology was really good. I was not thrilled with the Water book though. The thing is though that my dd loves science so we also did Apologia Swimming Creatures through our co-op. I did Sonlight 3 days and then Apologia one day a week. It worked out well for us because dd loves science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAM Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 We are half-way through Core D Science. My kids have loved it so far. The TOPS kits have been a big hit, though it was hard to get in the habit of doing them every day. I definitely feel like it is enough. Mine are 11 and 9, btw. I think I got the Water book from SL b/c I had trouble finding it on Amazon. Mostly though, I get the books from Rainbow Resource b/c they are so much cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleyfam Posted July 3, 2012 Author Share Posted July 3, 2012 Thank you! Yes, I have kids that are 11, 9 and 7 so we're in the same age ranges. I have to admit that consistency isn't my strongest suit, but I'm trying to get better! I did think my kids would like the TOPS kits as they seem to be quite hands-on. We are half-way through Core D Science. My kids have loved it so far. The TOPS kits have been a big hit, though it was hard to get in the habit of doing them every day. I definitely feel like it is enough. Mine are 11 and 9, btw. I think I got the Water book from SL b/c I had trouble finding it on Amazon. Mostly though, I get the books from Rainbow Resource b/c they are so much cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 I've only done one year of sonlight science (core A). It was easy to do. My kids were always wanting to read more and do more - they loved it. I found it simple to fit into our weeks, and the materials we needed were almost all just around the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mompotter Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Sorry, I'm pretty new to homeschooling - what do you mean when you say it's "spiral?" They repeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Sorry, I'm pretty new to homeschooling - what do you mean when you say it's "spiral?" You come back to topics multiple times over the years. Nothing is very in depth for the year or mastery. You touch on topics building over the years on previous material. Most math is either mastery or spiral as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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