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Is Sonlight a little negative?


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I've started using the 3/4 and 4/5 preschool sets and maybe it's just me, but the books seem a little negative. I really, REALLY want to like this curriculum and so many people do, but I've been a little confused on some book choices. For instance, I opened the stories from Africa book and read it before doing our assigned reading, I just couldn't believe a Christian book choice would be about a bird getting his tail cut off, or the nursery rhyme book extending the jack and Jill poem about Jill hitting jack on the head...I don't know...several books I've opened to read to them just seem a little hard to read to such young children. I know there's lessons to learn in the end with the books...but the delivery just seems off. Again, I really want to use this curriculum and am about to purchase the K multi-core set but I'm hoping the books get better???

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We are not using Sonlight fully - just as a reading list but yes I agree I'm a little surprised. I started reading New Toes For Tia to my kids the other day and put it away for when they are older after one chapter. It seems a little "heavy" for the P4/5 level. Plus we school secular so it was a little hard to explain to them what a missionary was/does.

Edited by sewingmama
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I agree with this sentiment, though I'm not sure that "negative" is the word I'd use. Or maybe it is, I'm trying to think of another one...too mature, a bit pessimistic, maybe negative is the best word! I've used P 3/4, P4/5 and Core A. I agree on P4/5, and I also had to put Core A aside for the same reason, some of the stories were too mature or sad/scary. And I was starting with a child at the older end of the age range. This is one of the reasons I now use SL as a booklist and read them according to what my kids are ready for and not according to their schedule. I wanted to like SL too but as a package it didn't work for us (this wasn't the only reason).

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I agree, I'd probably say mature. I found that some of the Pre-K books were better for my kids when they were a bit older (5 or 6). Although some that I was a bit afraid of reading to them were favorites too! I also found that the books had lasting value--my kids read many of them over and over, even at ages 8 & 10 they were re-reading these books or asking me to read them. So you may find that you like them in a year or two.

 

Merry :-)

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I agree, some of the topics I wasn't really ready to discuss with DS. Nana Upstairs was one. If we had a dying relative, it's a great book to read, but not something I really wanted to explain to my 3yo at the time. I really didn't want DS to start thinking that his Nana would leave him.

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I agree. They are a bit too mature. I am doing P 4/5 with my 4 and 6 year old. The stories fit pretty well for my 6 yr old, but my dd only listens to the stories half of the time.

 

P4/5 makes a great Kindy curriculum. I think Merry's characterization of mature is best. I use it on the lower end of the age range and it has been perfect for my boys. I like the discussions it has sparked in our home. That story about the bird was a good one. I've read it several times to my ds8 when he displays similar behavior to the boy in the story.

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P4/5 makes a great Kindy curriculum. I think Merry's characterization of mature is best. I use it on the lower end of the age range and it has been perfect for my boys. I like the discussions it has sparked in our home. That story about the bird was a good one. I've read it several times to my ds8 when he displays similar behavior to the boy in the story.

 

I'm still needing to hear how the bird got its tail CUT OFF. :001_huh:

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I agree with what you all are saying...dark and mature are great words that I couldn't think up at the moment! Haha! The part about the bird's tail is in the book "Stories from Around the World" in the story "The Little Sparrow" (page 118-122) it says the wife "was so angry that she grabbed a pair of scissors and snipped off the sparrow's tail. Then she threw it out the door, shouting, "Go away you filthy bird, and never come back."

A little too intense for my kids at this age!

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I agree with what you all are saying...dark and mature are great words that I couldn't think up at the moment! Haha! The part about the bird's tail is in the book "Stories from Around the World" in the story "The Little Sparrow" (page 118-122) it says the wife "was so angry that she grabbed a pair of scissors and snipped off the sparrow's tail. Then she threw it out the door, shouting, "Go away you filthy bird, and never come back."

A little too intense for my kids at this age!

 

Okay, gotcha. I thought you were talking about Stories from Africa. There are a couple stories I skipped in the other books. I remember one in particular about a man melting in a foundry or some such thing; didn't read that one. In general though, I like the selections a lot.

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I agree with Merry about the topics being somewhat mature. For the record, my kids loved the story where the bird's tail was cut off. We aren't formally doing Core P 4/5. I have all the books and the guide but we read them at our own pace, out of order or whatever we feel like. I read them to a 7 (6 when we started), 6 (5 when we started), and 3 year old. They all enjoy the stories, and they have lead to some wonderfully awesome conversations in our home. New Toes for Tia was a big hit here as well, and oh the topics we were able to discuss with that one. Some of those things I would have never considered talking about with my young children, but I'm so glad that SL introduced us to those things in a gentle way, and also leaves it completely up to the parent on what you want to discuss, skim over, etc.

 

It's always a good idea to pre-read if you'd like to shy away from certain topics or have a sensitive child.

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I have used the older version of Core A (used to be Core K) and think it is even more sensitive than P4/5. The selections are great and thought-provoking. They took a couple of the mature books out replacing them with Curious George and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I'm glad I have the older version! I would miss the titles they took out like Apple and the Arrow and Family Under the Bridge. They did keep some of the sensitive material in like Twenty and Ten and Mary on Horseback. I do use this Core with my 6yo so that we can discuss these topics on a higher level and don't have to worry about maturity.

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In the story where the bird's tail was cut off, the woman who did it learned a huge lesson, so I don't have a problem with it. Granted, my children also learn Bible stories, including the one where a woman rams a tent peg through a man's head while he's sleeping. So the bird's tail being cut off is a bit tame compared to that. :D

 

I'm using P4/5 with a 5.5 year old. It's been good for us. I can't imagine using it with him at age 4, but 5 is a good age for him.

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I have used the older version of Core A (used to be Core K) and think it is even more sensitive than P4/5. The selections are great and thought-provoking. They took a couple of the mature books out replacing them with Curious George and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I'm glad I have the older version! I would miss the titles they took out like Apple and the Arrow and Family Under the Bridge. They did keep some of the sensitive material in like Twenty and Ten and Mary on Horseback. I do use this Core with my 6yo so that we can discuss these topics on a higher level and don't have to worry about maturity.

 

:iagree: we used it last year and the maturity level was great for DS6. I had a few "huh?" moments with the P cores, but we did it all without any problems. I, too, am glad to have the "old" core A.

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the Song of Ring Around the Rosies--is about the bubonic plaque I believe

Red Riding Hood---the wolf eating grandma and goldilocks

The three little pigs-wolf gets boiled in the pot in the fireplace.

Gingerbread house story-the kids are about to get eaten by the witch

The Bible stories-can be really scary-Story of Moses and Exodus is scary for kids cause of the kids/babies getting killed, Cain and Abel

 

 

I am sure there are more....

 

My oldest son wasn;t scared of any of these but what freaked him what was Chuck E Cheese, Clowns (go figure his godmother is a professional clown) and Hometown Buffet Bee, and the song Puff the Magic Dragon made him sob and sob and we were not allowed to sing it.

 

None of the Sonlight Books freaked him. Kids are so strange.

Edited by happycc
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the Song of Ring Around the Rosies--is about the bubonic plaque I believe

Red Riding Hood---the wolf eating grandma and goldilocks

The three little pigs-wolf gets boiled in the pot in the fireplace.

Gingerbread house story-the kids are about to get eaten by the witch

The Bible stories-can be really scary-Story of Moses and Exodus is scary for kids cause of the kids/babies getting killed, Cain and Abel

 

 

I am sure there are more....

 

My oldest son wasn;t scared of any of these but what freaked him what was Chuck E Cheese, Clowns (go figure his godmother is a professional clown) and Hometown Buffet Bee, and the song Puff the Magic Dragon made him sob and sob and we were not allowed to sing it.

 

None of the Sonlight Books freaked him. Kids are so strange.

 

:iagree:I think most classic children's stories are freaky. If you want everything to be happy, happy sunshine, then you'll probably want to choose all your own literature. Sounds like SL just isn't for you.

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:iagree:I think most classic children's stories are freaky. If you want everything to be happy, happy sunshine, then you'll probably want to choose all your own literature. Sounds like SL just isn't for you.

 

Not necassarily. My kids LOVE most of the Sonlight books we have read -just one or two seem odd choices for their age. I don't mind reading the darker stuff to my kids - we've read the Blue Fairy book etc - none of my children are especially sensetive - my DD in particular is very logicallly minded and not squeamish.

 

I think it has to do more with whether a child at that age is ready for exposure to the mature themes. In my example "New Toes for Tia" I personally thought the themes were ok for 4/5 yo's BUT there was just so much new content my kids weren't comprehending it at all. I found I was stopping to explain every couple of sentances and my kids were loosing interest along with the thread of the story.

 

My kids are great listeners but my 4.5 yo wandered off after the first few paragraphs and my DD who will sit and listen to a whole chapter book if I was willing to read it all in one sitting was asking me to "Just skip to the chapter where there is a picture of the girl with the bandaged leg in the hospital -I want to know what happened to it" :lol: It was just too many new concepts and new settings for my kids to understand all at once KWIM.

 

It did enlighten me that before I try reading it again I should probably get some DVD's on African cultures and traditions. My kids do know what missonaries are since we are LDS however their images of what an LDS missionary does is quite different to the one in the book and I found it quite hard to explain to them because they have different ideas in their heads of what a missionary does/is and they were getting confused - I think mostly due to their ages and lack of background exposure.

 

Anyway -we will still be using Sonlight as a booklist - and I'll probably just try reading the ones that don't go down well a little later. Kids are ready at different ages - there is no harm in skipping some things if you think your child isn't ready for them.

 

I wouldn't give up on Sonlight just yet -most of the books my kids have LOVED. The Boxcar children (even my 3yo will listen to) and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is another huge favourite that I wouldn't have thought to read to it them if it wasn't recommeded by Sonlight as our library doesn't have most of the books so I have to buy them all and probably wouldn't have read it otherwise.

 

I don't think the themes etc are inappropriate but I do agree that a few of them are for more mature/experienced readers and there is no harm skipping it and waiting till later if that is the case.

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