Sonlight questions

[LAmom]

If you use or have used Sonlight, can you tell me how it works?

 

1. History is not the 4-year cycle like SOTW, MFW, TOG, etc., right? So, it is a year of world history, american history, etc? I couldn't find a timeline of what is studied on their website.

 

2. How does it work for multiple children? I see many people with a bunch of kids use it but it seems like I would need several CORES to make it work. So, I would be juggling more than one instructors guide? And buying more than one core? Yikes. Does it work for you?

 

3. I am studying SOTW 1 this year. So where would I start next year with my 5th grader and 3rd grader. I would have a 1st grader, too (and 2 youngers), but he could just listen to the stories?

 

4. How does it compare to SOTW, MOH, MFW, TOG, etc?

 

5. The price is outrageous to me. Is it as bad as it looks?! :)

 

 

Thanks for any input you have. I see it recommended often but don't see how it would work well for a wide age range.

[MerryAtHope]

If you use or have used Sonlight, can you tell me how it works?

 

1. History is not the 4-year cycle like SOTW, MFW, TOG, etc., right? So, it is a year of world history, american history, etc? I couldn't find a timeline of what is studied on their website.

 

I've used cores PreK, A-G, 100, and parts of H and 200.

 

Core A is kind of World Cultures.

Cores B and C are World History

Cores D and E are US History (which actually works very nicely after the WH rotation).

Core F is more of a culture/geography focus on the Eastern Hemisphere

Cores G and H are another 2-year World History rotation.

100 is US history

200 is Church history

300 is 20th Century World History

400 is Government

530 has no history--it's British Literature.

 

It's easy to use SL as is, or to adapt it for a 4-year WH rotation if you prefer (I'm doing that currently with Cores G, H, and 200). The US history cores are very good.

 

2. How does it work for multiple children? I see many people with a bunch of kids use it but it seems like I would need several CORES to make it work. So, I would be juggling more than one instructors guide? And buying more than one core? Yikes. Does it work for you?

 

If you look at the "cores" instead of the "multi-level packages" that SL sells, it's much easier to see how it works for multiple ages. For example, a 3rd and 5th grader could easily be combined in Core D, which is for 3rd-6th graders. Or, a 1st and 3rd grader could be combined in Core B, which is for 1st-3rd grades. Some people will also use a core for a student outside the recommended age range--either to listen in, or they will adapt and add higher or lower level books for the extra student. Others simply do separate cores for groups of children, while still others prefer a core for each child.

 

I combined my kids in the same core for years (they are 2 years apart) and only as my oldest got near to high school did we decide to separate. That was because of some differing interests, not because combining wouldn't work otherwise.

 

3. I am studying SOTW 1 this year. So where would I start next year with my 5th grader and 3rd grader. I would have a 1st grader, too (and 2 youngers), but he could just listen to the stories?

 

If you wanted to interrupt your rotation, Core D. If you don't, consider Core C, but you may want to beef it up just a bit for the oldest with some different reader choices. Core B covers Ancient History, and Core C covers from the Fall of Rome on.

 

4. How does it compare to SOTW, MOH, MFW, TOG, etc?

 

I really like MOH, and I've used that with Sonlight B and C, and am currently using it with Cores G and H, this time doing a 4-year rotation. I've blogged about that, here is a link to my 3 MOH and SL blog entries.

 

I've never used SOTW, but Cores G and H use this as a spine (I'm substituting MOH).

 

I've only looked at TOG and MFW online. Sometimes I think MFW's teacher guides might be more helpful, but I just haven't liked the book selection as much. Their guides seem very nicely laid out. TOG is more than I want to juggle.

 

5. The price is outrageous to me. Is it as bad as it looks?! :)

 

Thanks for any input you have. I see it recommended often but don't see how it would work well for a wide age range.

 

It seems to work best for a spread of 2-3 years. More than that and it would be difficult, though some people use the lower cores to complement the uppers. They don't line up exactly, but you could have older ones studying World history in G and H, while youngers do the books from B and C, also world history, for example.

 

As for the price--are you looking at the multi-subject packages? If so, look at just the cores, and then compare. We have quite the home library after all these years of Sonlight, and my children don't want me to get rid of many of the books--we've greatly enjoyed most of them.

 

HTH some! Merry :-)

[aprilsblessings]

:bigear:

[LAmom]

Thank you, Merry! That was very helpful.

[Samiam]

If you are doing SOTW 1 this year, that lines up with Core B. Core C is the next step, from Fall of Rome, but it moves much faster than SOTW 2, as Core C essentially takes you all through the Middle Ages, Reniassance, and to the early 1800's, from what I can tell. SOTW2 doesn't move that fast. Then Core D is about American History.

 

Core C could definately be done with all of your children's age. Keep in mind, you don't have to do a WHOLE CORE, especially if you are doing Core C or earlier. This is what I did not get at first when I started looking at Sonlight. A CORE is all subjects, ie history, science, reader schedule (meaning books the child reads to themselves to practice reading and Core C and below, those books are stand alone, meaning they have nothing to do with the history reading), language arts, math.

 

Sonlight tout's their "Core" as the best pricing, since it's a discount for a large purchase. But if you want JUST pieces of it, you can do that. You can purchase JUST the history portion of Core C, or just the Science portion, or just the reader section.

 

That is what I did. I did JUST the history, just the readers, and just the science. And even then I was confused, lol. My main goal was for the history and sciece portions. But I've alwas heard so much about their book lists, etc, and for some reason, I thought I needed to get the Reading curriculum along with the history section. Guess I was in a daze from information overload, haha. So after spending the summer getting all the books from here and there, and finally having it all on one shelf, it dawned on me that the readers for the reading list, have NOTHING to do with the history. Yes, the read-alouds from history are all related but the reading program isn't. No idea why that did not dawn on me before. Now that is all for Core C and below. I have heard, that from Core D going forward, the readers do correlate to the history section.

 

So something to consider :).

[LindaOz]

I have 6 kids using SL. My 3rd and 5th graders are combined in a core, but the others each do their own core work independently. My oldest is just doing the literature from Core 300 as she is doing a distance education course as well. You would probably find combining your older two children would work well, and the youngers could maybe combine in a different core when you and they were ready. As the others have said, Core C would be a good follow on from where you have finished up with SOTW 1.

 

I know SL is pricey, but I have to honestly say that, having started buying SL books years ago when my 17 and 16 year olds were 7 and 6, it was worth it. Those books get used again and again. And most of the Core programs are non-consumable so you get value from it over time (no, I am not employed by SL ;) ). We are currently using just the Core part of SL - the history, reading, literature, and Bible. You don't have to buy everything. It all depends on how much you want to do. We use different LA and science programs, but we still get the value of the SL Core program.

[boscopup]

We're using Cores P4/5 and D this year. I bought Core D used, 2004 version. The only difference between my version and the 2011 version was the poetry book (which we aren't using anyway). I do not use SL's LA. I just use SL for history, readers, and read-alouds. Next year, I'm going to do Cores A and E, and I'll just get the core packages, because that's cheaper than only buying the books I don't have (I have a spreadsheet - even though I have 8-9 of the books in each of those cores, it's still cheaper to just get the Core package (NOT the multisubject package - I don't recommend that). Or if you get it used, you can spend even less. Many people sell their SL books by the lot, and you can save by doing that. I got a bunch of Core D books for $75 locally, and I only paid $20 for the IG, IIRC (and that included 2 books as well).

 

The perceived high cost of SL is the BOOKS (though the IGs are more now that LA is added in... you're basically forced to buy LA if you get a Core package). You can check your library to see what the availability is for the books you'd need. My library had many of the Core D books, though I prefer to own them so I don't have to worry about putting books on hold in time, worrying that someone else has the book checked out, worrying that someone else might put the book on hold before we're done with it, etc.

 

SL compared to some other curricula... SL usually has more historical fiction than some other curricula. I've found it a good amount for us. My 3rd grader LOVES history, and Core D has been perfect for him this year. He loves all the books (including the Landmark book, without edits!). The readers have been very easy for him, but that's ok. I'm not worried about challenging his reading level. The readers in Core D are tied to the history being learned - they just add more details.

 

I have found it easy to do 2 cores this year. Core D doesn't take a huge amount of my time, and P4/5 is super easy to do in a short time (one day this week, we did an entire week's worth in one sitting because I was trying to get him in sync with his brother - I'm nutty like that and like to be in the same week with both kids). For the P4/5 core, I stick the week's books in a tote bag with a small binder holding the IG and a pen. I can put the binder in my lap, then go through the books we are to read that day. I sometimes go across the page for books with very little daily reading (like Mother Goose rhymes... no sense in getting the book out for just 4 lines, when we could do 2 pages and get the whole week of it done). Other books I do as written because it's one good length story each day (Uncle Wiggily, for example). In Core D, I've mostly followed the schedule, though we sometimes read ahead in Landmark (it's so interesting that I don't always want to stop at 2 pages!), and DS usually reads his readers in one day instead of the week or two scheduled - he's a fast reader. Otherwise, they usually have one chapter from the read-aloud, and a similar amount in a history book, so it's not a huge amount for me to read out loud.

 

In your case, I'd probably combine your older two and your younger two (when they get there). So you could do just one core to try it out, then later add in the younger group if you like it. Core C beefed up for the 5th grader or Core D would both be good choices. I haven't used Core C, but many people love D and E. I don't think we've had a "dud" book. We had one book that was a bit slow (it's been removed from the current core, I think), but even though it had no action, we did make a cool connection toward the end, as we were reading about the culture in another book as part of our history reading. So it was still a worthwhile book. The others, we've really enjoyed.

[brookspr]

If you have a good library, you can just buy the instructors guide and the consumable materials and borrow the books from the library as you need them. Kind of a pain, but cuts down on the cost considerably. If the library doesn't have one or two of the books, it's not the end of the world. The great thing about homeschooling is you can be flexible. I know there were a few "dud" books in one of the cores we did and I just substituted another book on the same subject.

 

We are lucky that we have a good library that also has a reciprocal program to many of the neighboring town libraries, so if we can't find it here it is usually at one of the other libraries. We also have a store called Half Price Books where I can get many of the books on the cheap.

[cassafraz]

Brookspr- Thanks for the info that you could buy the instructor guides by themself. I didn't know that! Part of the problem for me with sonlight is that we already own several of the Core A books, definitely not all, but enough that I didn't want to buy them again!

[Tess in the Burbs]

I think whether combining the 2 oldest in a Core would depend on the younger child's reading strength. My two are 20 months apart/one grade level due to bday's, and the youngest is younger than the Core age range. But she's a strong reader and we did B, C, D, E with them together. We are now doing Core G over 2 years(using SOTW as the spine) and may do H after.

 

I spent last night looking at TOG and I can tell you, SL is cheaper. One year of TOG with books was over $1k! And honestly, my kids could do dialectic and upper grammer separately but who could afford that? We like buying the Core books and many have been reread. So cost wise TOG isn't cheaper. I also have looked at MFW. It seems cheaper but it's less books as well.

 

The SL Core is history/readers/readalouds and now grammar(we don't use this portion). I loved having the 2 years of World and then 2 years of US history. We are trying the '4 year' rotation now by slowing Core G down into 2 years to cover SOTW 1 and 2. However, it's almost too slow and we may drop this idea and go back to normal speed. And my dd is still not in the age range for this core but doing ok.

 

So back to your kids. You would need more than one core at some point. And how you combine them depends on reading levels. But cost wise doing TOG over multiple age sections may cost you more in books than more than one core.

 

I will say I bought SL cores in their entirety for 3 cores. I put the first together on my own and said I wouldn't do it again. But due to finances I did my own list this year based on the SL older Core G and other resources, but it's not the same. I finally bought the Core G IG and am now working my way back to doing it all with SL and not my own thing. It fits for us.

 

When I first bought SL I had every intention of returning......they have a money back guarantee. But I found it to work perfectly for us. you should try it. You can always return. We have read so many amazing books, and my kids have learned so much from the SL cores. We finally added in the science and still us it, love it! It's nice to have those areas covered with a schedule so I have less planning time in that area. When they wanted more hands on there are lots of options out there but it's nice not to buy it and not use it(like Winterpromise).

 

If you wanted to put the older 2 of your kids together.....read through or listen to SOTW 2 this summer and start Core C in the fall. D&E will be US history after that(wonderful cores!). Core C will feel fast after SOTW this year...just warning you. For us, we liked a faster pace. And am now in the process of ramping back up to SL entirely for history.