New to Forum with questions about Sonlight Core 400

[Aslana]

Hello all,

 

Long time lurker here and I've just mustered up enough courage to post a question to the board and it's a doozy. I've seen sonlight talked about here on the boards before, but I'm not sure I'm searching correctly because my particular circumstance didn't really come up in search.

 

I'm requesting assistance with Sonlight 400--specifically the American Government and Economics and seperatly, the British Literature course. This is my last year and I want to do it right.

 

My concerns/questions are:

 

I know one can do Sonlight secularly, but up until now I've just created my own quite successfully. I'm kind of feeling the push, though, to make this last year a whopper (single child will be a senior). So before I fork over the money, I wanted to know which of the books in this package (American Government) were the Christian ones. Or Christian leaning. EG: Congress for Dummies isn't Christian, but is Black Like Me, Are You LIberal? Conservative? or Confused?, Selecting a President, or the US Supreme Court? Are any of those Christian (meaning, does it speak from the standpoint--"this is what Congress is, how to get elected, etc..") or does it say "Congressmen are God's elect" or something like that?). Likewise, what point of view does the economics book Money, Possessions, and Eternity take (the title might be a giveaway to you, but again, I'm treading on very new territory here)?

 

Basically, as a history major, I'm wondering how much I'll have to re-direct if, let's say, I were to teach this course as a secular course.

 

(And a side note: it uses the Thinkwell course, how do you like it?)

 

(And please understand this: I do not ask to insult. I've no problem with these statements because I will discuss on my POV, I'm just curious as to what I am up against--how much extra work will there be with this course (for me)?

 

And as far as the Brit Lit is concerned, I'm familiar with all of those books except Canterbury Quintet, Dubliners, The Great Divorce, Right Ho, Jeeves; The Secret Sharer, A Severe Mercy, and Three Men in a Boat. So I would love a review of those books if possible.

 

I'd be grateful for any help you can give me.

 

Aslana

[mumto2]

Core 400 just got a revision so no one has used the core with those books. In fact it has a pretty new format. Econ got wrapped up in it. The old 400 not overly popular but I personally liked the spine.;)

 

I know Black like Me is not Christian. It is a really powerful book. Iloved it as a teen but can't remember much beyond basic theme. The Great Divorce is by CS Lewis definately Christian.

 

Bumping for you. You may need to ask about individual books.

 

[Julie in MN]

Are You LIberal? Conservative? or Confused? -- extreme Libertarian point of view, not necessarily Christian that I've ever noticed

 

Money, Possessions, and Eternity -- Christian, well the topic of using money for other than self could be secularized, but the book is written from a Christian viewpoint

 

The Great Divorce -- as mentioned, CS Lewis writes from a Christian viewpoint, but many nonChristians read his works such as the Narnia series

 

I haven't seen the others.

Julie

[Aslana]

I do not mind CS Lewis at all. My only exposure to him was through Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, but I don't mind him.

 

When you say "extremely libertarian" does that mean it doesn't really discuss any side but that one? Or does it discuss all sides but with more of a "this is how I view them" twist?

 

I'm mainly concerned with how much of a re-direct into secular I'll have to do. I really hate editing an author's work so much that it becomes something not like what the author intended, which is why I've stayed away from packaged material for so long. But this being our final year, I feel the need to go a little hardcore.

 

Thanks for the input, ladies.

[cbollin]

"Likewise, what point of view does the economics book Money, Possessions, and Eternity take (the title might be a giveaway to you, but again, I'm treading on very new territory here)?"

*********

 

very Christian... ... . I don't know how SL uses it, but I'd call this Personal Finance instead of economics. I don't see how it could be secularized.. The topic of thinking of others needs could be for anyone, but it would be very difficult to use this Alcorn book for that purpose without a lot and lot and lot and lot of extra work. not worth it for your goals.

[Aslana]

I could skip this portion of the economics course. I did determine that book to be too far Christian to re-direct, but I did (so far) like what I saw of the preview of The Invisible Heart. And Thinkwell is pretty much secular as it is, so I could do the economics course secularly. I think. :D

[Sebastian (a lady)]

 

 

And as far as the Brit Lit is concerned, I'm familiar with all of those books except Canterbury Quintet, Dubliners, The Great Divorce, Right Ho, Jeeves; The Secret Sharer, A Severe Mercy, and Three Men in a Boat. So I would love a review of those books if possible.

 

I'd be grateful for any help you can give me.

 

Aslana

 

Welcome to the boards.

 

Dubliners - James Joyce, an Irish author known for Ulysses - a novel set in Dublin (which I'm not personally fond of). If I'm remembering my books correctly, Dubliners is a collection of a handful of short stories, all set in Dublin. The most commonly anthologized is Araby. Not written from a particularly Christian viewpoint, although characters may be Catholic.

 

The Great Divorce - C.S. Lewis allegory about the separation between man and God. I would put it more in the category of his apologetics works (books designed to explain Christianity and perssuade the reader) than fiction (like Narnia). It is a pretty short book (my copy is about the size of one Narnia book) and might be worth retaining as a jumping off point for what Christians generally believe.

 

Right Ho, Jeeves is by P. G. Wodehouse, a very popular British author whose Jeeves/Wooster books depict the mishaps of a member of the British nobility (Wooster) and his put upon valet (Jeeves). It was written in 1934, so it would show the interwar period.

 

Canterbury Quintet is Chaucer's Prologue and four commonly read tales (Nun's Priest, Miller, Wife of Bath and Pardoner). I've not seen this book, but it seems that it has the original language with modernized spellings and footnotes. (Personally, I prefer a parallel text for Chaucer. But I probably wouldn't go out of my way to change this book out. I do notice that it is missing my favorite tale, The Knight's Tale.) This is a framework story with characters on pilgrimage to Canterbury to see Becket's tomb. Several characters are clergy or lay church officials. But Chaucer often roasts them ironically. Stories range from whimsical to epic to bawdy.

 

The Secret Sharer is Joseph Conrad (author of Heart of Darkness). Haven't read, but I wouldn't expect an overtly Christian theme.

 

A Severe Mercy is a story of a couple finding Christian faith through a friendship with C.S. Lewis and grief.

 

Three Men in a Boat is a comic travelogue.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I could skip this portion of the economics course. I did determine that book to be too far Christian to re-direct, but I did (so far) like what I saw of the preview of The Invisible Heart. And Thinkwell is pretty much secular as it is, so I could do the economics course secularly. I think. :D

 

For Economics, I'm a huge, huge fan of Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics. The first editon is relatively short. The third edition is much expanded, but also adds a series of study questions for each chapter.

[Aslana]

I'll look at that, Sebastian(a lady). Thank you. And thank you for those links and comments, I do appreciate it.

[Candid]

I'd look at these two from the 400 part:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Tools-Dominion-Case-Laws-Exodus/dp/0930464109/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364413795&sr=8-1&keywords=tools+dominion

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Godless-Constitution-Defense-Secular/dp/0393328376/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364413665&sr=8-1&keywords=godless+constitution

[Aslana]

I do not see either of those two books in my sonlight catalog. Perhaps they changed this core to disinclude those books this year?

[prairiegirl40]

I do not see either of those two books in my sonlight catalog. Perhaps they changed this core to disinclude those books this year?

 

This. Core 400 had many books removed, added, and moved around this year.

[Aslana]

That's a good thing too because that was one of my concerns. The religious content I can avoid if it is easy enough to do. But if the package was all religious, it would be more difficult. KWIM?

[Candid]

I do not see either of those two books in my sonlight catalog. Perhaps they changed this core to disinclude those books this year?

 

 

Hmmm, I looked the day I posted so they still have them listed online, I guess there must be a change date?

[Aslana]

Candid, do you have the newest catalog? They may be listed in the back of the catalog as extras, but on the Core page, they are not listed as one of the books. Could that be it?

[Candid]

Candid, do you have the newest catalog? They may be listed in the back of the catalog as extras, but on the Core page, they are not listed as one of the books. Could that be it?

 

 

I looked online which I assumed would be up to date. Guess not.

[Aslana]

It should be up to date, but it's possible they haven't updated all the cores to match the catalog yet.

[prairiegirl40]

 

I looked online which I assumed would be up to date. Guess not.

 

 

The current core is still available to order at their website, but the new catalog is shown in the following link. It will be available around April 1 from what I understand.

 

 

http://www.dpub.us/Sonlight/Sonlight-2013/SL-2013.html