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Sonlight B+C or Sonlight D w/a 1st, 3rd, and 4th grader?


umsami
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Trying to figure out what we'll be doing next year. I'm considering going back to try Sonlight again. I can't seem to

decide between B+C (World History condensed) or D (American History). It will be mainly for my 3rd and 4th graders, but my

daughter who will be in 1st will no doubt listen in/tag along. Both boys are very good advanced readers, if that matters. They've done Stack the States, Stack the Presidents, and Stack the Countries, but have never studied formal American or World History.

 

We'd be doing it as a Secular curriculum, if that matters.

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Have you done any formal world history study? How good is your dd at reading? If she is a strong reader too, I would combine all 3 in SL Core B+C, and just do different level readers for your dd and your older boys.

 

 

No, no formal world history study as of yet. DD is a good reader for her age. She's just getting into beginning chapter books like Junie B. Jones--but I'm not sure if she's be at a Sonlight 2nd grade readers level. Of course, I'm OK if she just tags along and listens. It's not like her only exposure to world history will be in 1st grade. :)

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No, no formal world history study as of yet. DD is a good reader for her age. She's just getting into beginning chapter books like Junie B. Jones--but I'm not sure if she's be at a Sonlight 2nd grade readers level. Of course, I'm OK if she just tags along and listens. It's not like her only exposure to world history will be in 1st grade. :)

 

If she is starting to read Junie B Jones, she'll do fine in grade 2 readers and could probably go to grade 3 readers without much trouble. My dd reads those pretty quickly and is in grade 3 readers.

 

If you're not totally attached to the idea of Core B+C, I'd put all 3 kids in Core B this year, then Core C next year. Use Grade 2 readers this year for your dd, and grade 3 for the boys. The next year use Grade 3 readers for your dd and grade 4-5 readers for your boys. Or you could put them all in Core B+C and stretch it out a little. Either way you are basically teaching once for three kids.

 

I would worry about some of the subject matter in Core D for your dd at her age - some of the books there are pretty mature for that core IMO.

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I've done Core D with my 3rd grader this year, and my K'er has listened in to some of it. For the most part, he really hasn't been interested in it. It's been spot on for my advanced 3rd grader though. I'm doing Core E next year, and instead of getting a core for my rising 1st grader, I am just getting some library books at his level that go along with what we're studying in Core E. I'm not very concerned if my 1st grader doesn't get any history at all that year. We'll be doing Ancients the following year all together.

 

Note that my kids aren't sensitive, so nothing I've read in Core D has been anything my K'er would have issues with. Mostly, the books are just over his head and not interesting to him.

 

I haven't used any other cores (except P4/5 this year with my K'er), so I can't compare to B+C. My 3rd grader loves history and reading, so I think B+C might be a bit too light for him. As it is, the readers in Core D have been light (using Advanced Readers). The Landmark books have had a good amount of depth for him. Another thing to note is that the combined cores sometimes go at break-neck speed. My friend has done D+E this year, and when we compared reading amounts, it was a drastic difference. I don't know if the reading amounts for B+C is that bad (I'm talking about things mean to be read aloud by you), but it's something to think about. They take out some books from the individual cores, but it's still more reading than is typical for a single core. I've found Core D pretty easy to get done - we have one read aloud and one history reading each day, usually about a chapter of each. Then kiddo has the reader (some of which are scheduled for a week or two and are finished in a day or two).

 

It's really hard to truly combine in Sonlight unless they're close together. Your 3rd and 4th graders can easily combine. Your 1st grader with the 4th grader... not so much, without someone losing out.

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My older ds was 3rd grade when we did Core D. He did great with it. My younger ds is in 2nd grade and Core C is perfect for him. Trying to imagine my now 4th grader sharing core C with his brother....I think I might have to beef it up slightly. The readers are pretty easy for an advanced reader. Still, I tend to like to keep mine on the older end of the recommended age range b/c they can do more independent reading that way. I do think adding in your first grader to either Core might be a stretch. I have combined kids within two years, but more than that I prefer to do a separate Core for them. So...I'd vote for Core D for your older two, though I don't think you would go wrong with B+C either and you could always add to it if it felt too easy.

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