Sonlight Core B Questions

[CookIslandsMommy]

Hi there,

 

I have a few questions about Sonlight Core B for those of you that have used it.

 

Looking at the history

1) Does the missionary stories with the Millers book tie in with the history or geographical locations covered at all, ir it stand alone?

 

2) Does Core B included any historical fiction for read alouds or readers etc that tie in with history?

 

3) Does the Creative expression tie in with history at all? Or is this stand alone?

 

From the quick glance, and I am may be wrong, but it appears there is alot of stand alone subjects. So for example:

There are missionary stories - Missionary stories with the Millers; THUMB discussions; Abeku - Zapotec

Then there are read alouds - general good books

Then there is history, which is dictated mostly from Usborne and CHOW.

 

If this is the case - how many of you have found the disconnected parts of Sonlight B, overwhelming for kids, rather than tieing in? Has anyone done anything to tie in better?

 

For those of you that loved Core B, did you child/ren retain much of the info?

 

I always through that it was the historical fiction ties into history that made Sonlight the success it was. I haven't seen any reading tied into history so far. Does this change later on down the track? Are there writing activities that tie into history down the track too?

 

Thanks heaps

Sherid

[mumto2]

Core B was a long time ago for us. I know we actually read both of those books--we did not always do the mission focused books because while inspirational they just were not a great personal fit. The Miller's book did not fit the rest of the curriculum at all as I remember but ds thought it was exciting so we enjoyed it. The A to Z book we used as a geography starter(where in the world...) so not so much as SL wanted. Probably would not buy it individually.

 

I just pulled my current catalog. I have to agree not a great deal of literature / history coordination. I remember more. I do think the books are good but not well coordinated. You could do better on your own using WTM and VP as your guide. The LA for SL is never enough imo. I have always supplemented.

 

I honestly did not mean to sound so negative. We loved that core! It was absolutely perfect for my son (We used VP at the same time for dd who needed more). SL is easy to use. Loved the schedule.

 

[PentecostalMom]

Hi there,

 

I have a few questions about Sonlight Core B for those of you that have used it.

 

Looking at the history

1) Does the missionary stories with the Millers book tie in with the history or geographical locations covered at all, ir it stand alone?

 

2) Does Core B included any historical fiction for read alouds or readers etc that tie in with history?

 

3) Does the Creative expression tie in with history at all? Or is this stand alone?

 

From the quick glance, and I am may be wrong, but it appears there is alot of stand alone subjects. So for example:

There are missionary stories - Missionary stories with the Millers; THUMB discussions; Abeku - Zapotec

Then there are read alouds - general good books

Then there is history, which is dictated mostly from Usborne and CHOW.

 

If this is the case - how many of you have found the disconnected parts of Sonlight B, overwhelming for kids, rather than tieing in? Has anyone done anything to tie in better?

 

For those of you that loved Core B, did you child/ren retain much of the info?

 

I always through that it was the historical fiction ties into history that made Sonlight the success it was. I haven't seen any reading tied into history so far. Does this change later on down the track? Are there writing activities that tie into history down the track too?

 

Thanks heaps

Sherid

 

 

I was going to suggest that you post this on the Sonlight forums, but I see you did that already. At this early stage the read-alouds do not tie-in a lot. However, as the Cores progress, it does more. Also, if I was constantly reading about historical things to my dc, they might revolt. Somewhat kidding, but even a lot of historical fiction is relatively rich, and it does them good to listen to things like Charlotte's Web and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.

 

I think Robin on the SL forums gave you a very thorough response and description of things begin to tie in more in Core D. We are using Core B right now and some of the things that my dc retain amaze me. Even the 3yo retells things we have read about to friends and family. She will begin her own Core this year, Core P3/4, but for now, she loves to listen with her sister.

[elizabeth rose]

It's been a while, but I don't remember any of it tying together. The geographic locations were always different. I was a newbie, I would not do it that way again. IThat said, we enjoyed all those books very much.

[lilybrooke14]

We're finishing up Core B now. Most of the readers were good (we skipped the missionary stories), but they don't tie into the history. I actually picked up some other books that I felt tied in better. My daughter especially liked Black Ships Before Troy and Tales From the Odyssey part one and two. I wasn't crazy about CHOW either, and I didn't feel like she was retaining anything from it. I got Story of the World volume 2 for next year, along with the workbook and test book, and they seem a million times more thorough.

 

I bought Sonlight because it was my first year, and I really wanted something scheduled for me. For that purpose, it did what I wanted it to. I have no desire to continue using them, and I don't even plan on keeping it around for my son. Some of the books I'm going to hang onto, but that's all.

 

If I had it to do over, I'd just use it as a book-list.

[Incognito]

We've gotten a little over halfway through Core B (doing it with SOTW1) this year so far.

 

The books don't all tie together, but it does not confuse my kids. I'd skip the Missionary stories with the millers if I had to do it all over again (and the geography for that does not tie in to other geography in history, but it flies you around to different places).

 

As far as historical fiction - there are some. They are fine. There are also other history books - like Tut's Mummy, Lost and Found.

 

The creative writing - I don't know, I have an old core and am not doing the LA.

 

The books are good books for the most part. For me, having 2 history programs (SL and SOTW) has slowed us down - it's a lot of good resources but SOTW really would have been enough.

 

So in summary: from what I understand, higher cores have lots more integration. It is not confusing for my kids - they like the variety. The books are mostly good. :)

[CookIslandsMommy]

Thanks heaps for the replies! They really helped me. I've decided to hold off on world history until DD is in OD Preparing as I prefer linking in with historical fiction. We are doing American history with HOD Beyond at the moment and i was adding on Core B for world history. But I think we are doing enough. I would never use Son Larts on its own - I use CLE as my main subjects and add others as additional. I do enjoy the Creative Writing from SON for extra too. But seems alot fo money for next year just for that...

 

Thanks :)