sonlight or memoria press--which is your favorite

[Blessed mom]

If you have used both of these, can you please tell me which one you liked the best and why? What about your child? I am considering MP 4th grade complete or Sonlight Core D.

[Jenn121]

I only know what I see from the catalog and word of mouth about MP but I am told it is a workbook based curriculum and Sonlight is far from that in my opinion. So it is hard to compare as they are very different approaches.

 

My DD did Sonlight D last year and found it to be very fun reading and enjoyed it a lot but found that for her is was not challenging for her and she likes to be challenged. But she is very advanced in her reading abilities and I did not have time to figure out how to supplement it to enhance the Core. We might be going back to Sonlight this next year with Core G.

 

If your child loves to read then Sonlight is wonderful. If they do not like to read I, personally, would not do Sonlight. It would be a battle everyday.

 

Jenn

[mumto2]

There was a very similar thread about a week ago -- I would do a search. It mainly depends on you and your dc's. How do you want your homeschool to be? How much time do you have to sit down and just read books?

 

For us SL is very "me" intensive. We do cuddle together and read aloud for at least two hours most days. It could be done with less but for my ds that is how it needs to work. Dd likes the cuddle time also -- she still arrives to do SL with her brother even though she has other work she is responsible for.

 

We have used quite a bit of MP over the years too. Dd thrives on their format. It works best with an independent child who enjoys writing. Can it be used differently -- of course, and ds and I do it verbally but dd probably learns more from it.

[VeritasMama]

My son also thrives on the MP format, I prefer a "living books" approach like Sonlight. We are using MP along with some selections from Ambleside Online and some other resources, it is a good fit for us.

[boscopup]

I haven't used MP, but we are absolutely loving Core D this year. Like a PP, my advanced reader finds the readers super easy (and we are using the "advanced readers"), but I'm ok with that. He reads other things that are more difficult.

 

We really enjoy the read-alouds and history books (LOVE Landmark). I find the total read aloud time for me is about 30 minutes with this core.

 

We'll be continuing with Core E next year. Not sure what we'll do after that.

[tagglelim]

Have you considered doing a combination of both? I ask because that is what I am considering for my upcoming 4th grader as well. It could potentially look something like this:

 

MP Package:

 

Latin

Math

Grammar

Spelling

Writing

In-Depth Literature Study/Guides

Recitation

 

Sonlight (or, say, Tapestry of Grace):

 

History

Read-Alouds

Readers

Geography

Science

Bible

 

So, the Christian Studies, Geography, Science, and Men of Rome would be dropped from the MP Package, but would keep everything else. Just a thought. With combining the two, I kind of like the idea of having EVERYTHING planned, but also getting a balance between MP's and Sonlight's very different styles. I wonder if it is a crazy idea, hmmm?

[mumto2]

A combination of the two is what we have always done. So it can work well. But I will be honest and say that I had no choice because MP has not always been quite so complete so the choice was not really there for me.;) I would pick a SL core that both children can enjoy. Ds did mainly SL work and dd was heavily supplimented with MP and VP.

[Blessed mom]

I wish I could do both, but I do not think I have the time to devote to two programs. I have three other children who also need me (5 ,4, and 8 months), so I need something simple and all laid out for me. I know these are two very different approaches. I really keep thinking about what mum2 said in one post--that one child thrived on MP format best and the other child did more Sonlight work. I know my son would enjoy Sonlight most, and I love the idea of Sonlight. However, I keep worrying about two aspects of using Sonlight over MP. First, the delay in Latin study. Second, all the questioning from Sonlight is done orally. Do any of you see any problems from these two things? I really want to try to use something next year "as is."

[anmom]

 

This is very close to what we do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you considered doing a combination of both? I ask because that is what I am considering for my upcoming 4th grader as well. It could potentially look something like this:

 

MP Package:

 

Latin

Math

Grammar

Spelling

Writing

In-Depth Literature Study/Guides

Recitation

 

Sonlight (or, say, Tapestry of Grace):

 

History

Read-Alouds

Readers

Geography

Science

Bible

 

So, the Christian Studies, Geography, Science, and Men of Rome would be dropped from the MP Package, but would keep everything else. Just a thought. With combining the two, I kind of like the idea of having EVERYTHING planned, but also getting a balance between MP's and Sonlight's very different styles. I wonder if it is a crazy idea, hmmm?

[boscopup]

First, the delay in Latin study. Second, all the questioning from Sonlight is done orally. Do any of you see any problems from these two things?

 

 

My son does Latin while doing Sonlight Core D. Why would you have to put off Latin? You could even use the MP Latin that would be used in the 4th grade package, if you wanted to. We're using Getting Started With Latin this year and next year, and then we'll move to Latin Prep in 5th. At least, that's the plan today. ;)

 

Sonlight questions are oral, but I think that's fine - it's called discussion. :D If you want something written, just have him write a narration. I wouldn't do a written narration for everything, but maybe once a week he could write it down? If you're using the LA in Sonlight (I'm not), they also have some writing assignments in there each week.

 

If you want him writing answers to questions, you could use the Story of the USA books for that (they're in that core). I do the questions orally so I can reuse the books, but Sonlight intends for them to be "consumed".

 

If you think your son would prefer Sonlight, I'd go with Sonlight. Core D is a fabulous core. All the books are so interesting.

[Blessed mom]

Thank you for your suggestions. How long do you spend with your child in direct instruction for each of the following: Sonlight Core D, IEW, and Latin? I would like to do all of these things, but I feel so overwhelmed between taking care of all four children. I can not spend 4 hours with just one. I feel like I may have to choose between some things. Any insight would be much appreciated.

[boscopup]

Thank you for your suggestions. How long do you spend with your child in direct instruction for each of the following: Sonlight Core D, IEW, and Latin? I would like to do all of these things, but I feel so overwhelmed between taking care of all four children. I can not spend 4 hours with just one. I feel like I may have to choose between some things. Any insight would be much appreciated.

 

I spend about 1.5 hours with this child total (everything in my sig). Many things we do are independent or partially independent. Sonlight takes me about 20-30 minutes tops, and half of that is done at breakfast time. I read Bible, then I read our read-aloud for Core D. It's above my little ones' heads, but that's ok. They're eating. They don't care. ;)

 

IEW takes about 30-45 minutes the first day, then the other days are mostly hands off from me. I just need to be nearby to help if needed.

 

Latin takes us about 10 minutes. We're using Getting Started With Latin. It's easy to use, snuggle on the couch type thing.

[Blessed mom]

For Sonlight, do you use the IG for anything more than a schedule? Thank you so much for all your help!

[Jennay]

We are using Sonlight for History, Literature, and Science. I use WWE/WWS for writing. Both my older children are using Memoria Press Latin - DS9 is in Latina Christiana I and DS10 is in First Form Latin.

[boscopup]

For Sonlight, do you use the IG for anything more than a schedule? Thank you so much for all your help!

 

 

I rarely use the questions. We do the map and timeline work. As I'm reading aloud, I stop and discuss things. I also sometimes ask him to tell me about what he's read in the reader.

 

Sometimes there are notes to the parent about a book, so those can be useful also.

[Mom0012]

Have you considered doing a combination of both? I ask because that is what I am considering for my upcoming 4th grader as well. It could potentially look something like this:

 

MP Package:

 

Latin

Math

Grammar

Spelling

Writing

In-Depth Literature Study/Guides

Recitation

 

Sonlight (or, say, Tapestry of Grace):

 

History

Read-Alouds

Readers

Geography

Science

Bible

 

So, the Christian Studies, Geography, Science, and Men of Rome would be dropped from the MP Package, but would keep everything else. Just a thought. With combining the two, I kind of like the idea of having EVERYTHING planned, but also getting a balance between MP's and Sonlight's very different styles. I wonder if it is a crazy idea, hmmm?

 

I think this is a great idea. I've used SL for years, but never used their LA since it rarely gets positive reviews. So, we use it for most of the subjects this poster listed and then add in CLE for math, Lingua Latina for Latin, Megawords for spelling, Hake for grammar, etc., etc. You could add in some of the MP materials instead.