Who has used the Sonlight core that is basically church history?

[Chris in VA]

We are, once again, thinking we might be able to go on sabbatical for a couple of months, most likely to Jerusalem. Probably it'd be next fall.

 

I'd like to explore using Sonlight's church history program.

 

What can you tell me about your experience with it? Is the spine good/balanced/interesting? Is it engaging?

 

What else?:bigear::bigear:

[LindaOz]

We are, once again, thinking we might be able to go on sabbatical for a couple of months, most likely to Jerusalem. Probably it'd be next fall. I'd like to explore using Sonlight's church history program. What can you tell me about your experience with it? Is the spine good/balanced/interesting? Is it engaging? What else?:bigear::bigear:

 

I have had two dds do this program so I asked them to share what they thought. I thought it might be good to have the perspective of someone who has done or is doing the course. I didn't realize that they were going to be quite so wordy in their responses :001_huh:. Bear in mind they are older than your dd so that may make a difference in their perspectives. Emily was 16 when she did SL 200 last year, and Jessica is nearing the end of it now and has just turned 16.

 

Here's what they said...

 

Jessica:

 

There are 3 main spines: From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya by Kath Tucker, The Story of Christianity by Michael Collins and Matthew A. Price, and The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History by A Kenneth Curtis., J Stephen Lang, and Randy Petersen.

 

'From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya' is biographies of missionsaries from the Apostle Paul up to late 1970s. They are detailed stories about separate people. Ruth Tucker often highlights the negative and failings of the missionaries (SL notes often rebuff it). The stories are interesting and you often get facts about missionaries/culture that you don't get from 'normal' biographies. Ruth is a Protestant and is quite prejudiced against Catholics (once again, SL notes sometimes rebuff such prejudices.)

 

The Story of Christianity is written by a Protestant and a Catholic Priest making the balance quite even. It is a condensed overview of the History of Christianity, so particular people aren't mentioned so much as events. It is divided into sections such as "Reformation", "Crusades to Renaissance" etc. There are lots of colorful illustrations, mainly of paintings from that era.

 

Finally, 'The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History' are 1-2 page long articles on certain people or events. They often tie in with Story of Christianity, so if you read about the Revival, for example, and SOC mentions John Wesley, then '100 Events' would have a short bio of John Wesley. You couldn't use '100 Events' by itself because it is just separate events, not a flow-on history. Tied in with SOC however, it works well.

 

You don't necessarily use all three books every day. They are scheduled so you do maybe 100 Events and SOC one day, and then Jerusalem to IJ another.

 

There is one other spine, 'How to Read Church History, but it is optional in the SL schedule and I never did it.

 

EMILY:

 

The SOC was quite interesting as it was co-authored by a Catholic and a Protestant. This could make it a little confusing when it came to perspective (some pages were written from a Catholic point of view and some from a Protestant point of view.) SOC was really good when it came to facts - it was a real history text in the sense that it simply states what happened. (I loved the pictures and art work it had in it too, but that is probably beside the point!) The same can be said of '100 Events' only they took more of a "The Church" perspective without focusing too much on denomination.

 

My favorite spine book was Jerusalem to Irian Jaya. It was a 'cuddle-up-on-the-lounge-with-a-cup-of-tea' book and it gave a lot of insight into the lives of individual missionaries reflecting on their strengths and their weaknesses. The only negative I'd say is that Ruth Tucker is quite stronly prejudiced against Catholics and lightly peppers her wiritng with some subtle (and some not-so-subtle) ridicule of non-protestants.

 

As far as age goes, the actual history program is achievable for ages 12+ (younger students may need help sometimes as some of the reading requirements from day to day can be quite heavy.). As far as literature and writing assignments go, most of the readers are for ages 15+, partly for the language level and partly for content ('Jane Eyre', for instance, or 'Until We Have Faces') The writing assignnments can be adapted for younger students, but most of them are mainly focused on analysis and essay/research papers.

 

One last thing...before doing this program, one really should have a firm and steady knowledge of what one believes and should have a good knowledge of the Bible. Some of what is covered requires a steady faith and comparison to the Word. This is done by design to teach apologetics, but it can arouse some new throughts and interesting discussions.

[Chris in VA]

Pls thank your girls for me! Very helpful.:001_smile:

[Miss Marple]

I have had a couple of boys do this program. One did it when he was a bit older than the other. I would echo Linda's assessment. Both boys learned a lot from the program.

 

One last thing...before doing this program, one really should have a firm and steady knowledge of what one believes and should have a good knowledge of the Bible. Some of what is covered requires a steady faith and comparison to the Word. This is done by design to teach apologetics, but it can arouse some new throughts and interesting discussions.

 

I agree with this as well. Both of my boys ended up asking questions about the "whys" of many of the events. These times provided good opportunity for jumping off for a bit and discussing our beliefs and comparing them to those studied.

 

FWIW, the readings were easy and I don't think they were overly time consuming. In fact I added in more (Timothy George's History of Christianity and Christianity vs. Islam video series, for example).

[Harriet Vane]

I have not used the Sonlight program, but do have a recommendation.

 

I went to a small, academically challenging private school for high school. I had a fabulous Church History course there. I liked the course so well that I kept the textbook, and over the years have bought updated/revised versions of that text.

 

Church History in Plain Language, by Bruce Shelley

[Chris in VA]

I have not used the Sonlight program, but do have a recommendation.

 

I went to a small, academically challenging private school for high school. I had a fabulous Church History course there. I liked the course so well that I kept the textbook, and over the years have bought updated/revised versions of that text.

 

Church History in Plain Language, by Bruce Shelley

 

Thanks! I have this and loaned it to a friend, who is OOT at the moment. I was just yesterday trying to think of the title! :001_smile: It is a good hs text--I gave it to someone who was struggling with a more convoluted church history text. I never thought of using it for dd. Hmmmm.

[Carol in Cal.]

Concordia Publishing House had a great one semester overview of church history written at about a 7th grade level that we used AFTER finishing Story of the World. It was in the Voyages series, most of which is OOP, but they seem to have retained this volume as it is still listed in the catalogue online.

 

For older kids, there is a recently published history book that has gotten excellent reviews. Although I have not seen it yet, based on the superb recent publications of this publisher, I would recommend it sight unseen: http://www.cph.org/p-18164-the-church-from-age-to-age-a-history-from-galilee-to-global-christianity.aspx

Edited September 25, 2012 by Carol in Cal.