tapestry of grace or stay with sonlight?

[jenniferlee]

I have been looking at the tog website and it looks so cool to have all the kids doing the same thing, but it also looks complicated and like lots of work.

We have been doing sonlight and I like it, but I'm getting nervous about this year coming up with a 2nd, 3rd and 5th grader. and then two more coming up in the next couple years. Is doing several sonlight cores really feasible? is tog a better fit for bigger families? please help me out here. I'm pretty reluctant to start a whole new thing, but...

thanks,

Jen

[Gretchen in NJ]

Good question. I hope you get aomeone to help you out.

[momofkhm]

When I started homeschooling, I really wanted to do Sonlight. But the thought of 2 cores was unreasonable to me. I couldn't find one core where it would be one pare for my then 6th grader and manageable for my then 1st grader as well. I went to My Father's World b/c it was my first year, I wanted everything planned out for me. In 7th grade, my oldest kept asking when we would do history. I looked around and found TOG. Its a good fit for all of us. Different books for different levels. I find it very easy to plan.

 

DH is starting to complain about how much I'm spending on books, but he needs to realize that it will be expensive the first time through. Our library doesn't have a lot for the middle ages time period. They had a lot for the ancients. But if you are already using SL, maybe that won't be an issue for you - the buying of books.

[Jackie in AR]

I have been looking at the tog website and it looks so cool to have all the kids doing the same thing, but it also looks complicated and like lots of work.

We have been doing sonlight and I like it, but I'm getting nervous about this year coming up with a 2nd, 3rd and 5th grader. and then two more coming up in the next couple years. Is doing several sonlight cores really feasible? is tog a better fit for bigger families? please help me out here. I'm pretty reluctant to start a whole new thing, but...

thanks,

Jen

 

One of the many things I love about TOG is the fact that it allows each member of my family to be on the same page in history each week. This year, TOG will cover 8th grade thru 2nd grade for us. And Mom. :001_smile:

 

Is it feasible to do several Sonlight cores at the same time? I've never had the desire to try that out. It doesn't appeal to me in the least.

[G5052]

I know some large families (one with nine children) who use Sonlight and are happy with it, and I know some large families who use TOG and are happy with it. A lot depends on your priorities and what YOU want.

 

To me, TOG was too cumbersome and required too much effort on my part for two children fairly close in age. It caused me stress versus relieving stress. We used it two years and went back to Sonlight. I have no regrets that way. One of my best friends with six children borrowed mine when we were using TOG, and decided to do two Sonlight cores with the younger ones doing BJUP reading so she didn't have to do three cores. The young ones listen in to the older's read-alouds, but are doing more age-appropriate reading.

 

There are lots of ways of doing it, but I wouldn't feel guilty about staying with what is working for you now.

[Tarheel Heather]

I believe with both you could tweak either as far as readers go by using the library. But like GVA said it depends on what MOM wants.

[Staci in MO]

I always say that if I was only schooling my two oldest (two years apart), I would probably stick with Sonlight. But, since I have a third, there didn't seem to be any way, that I could make Sonlight work without doing a lot of revamping.

 

In my mind, if I'm going to have to do a lot of revamping anyway, I might as well go with Tapestry of Grace. Tapestry of Grace has more flexibility built in. With Sonlight, I pretty much had to discard their schedule and start from scratch. Since the schedule is pretty much what makes Sonlight Sonlight, it seemed pointless. Tapestry gives you lots of options and you get to pick what to do.

 

Tapestry does require more planning than Sonlight. Sonlight is pick up and go, Tapestry is not. Sonlight has more fiction scheduled and more books that are just for fun.

 

I personally think Tapestry of Grace offers a bit more, considering the literature worksheets, teacher's notes, geography, etc. But there's no way around it, it requires a lot more prior planning than Sonlight. There's a definite "learning curve" with Tapestry (also called the "four-week fog"), that you don't have with Sonlight.

[WTMindy]

We have never used Sonlight, but have really liked TOG. I love the flexibility that TOG has. You can do as much or as little as you want to, or have time for each week. There IS planning work involved with TOG, but (maybe because I love to plan) after a while, it really does become clear.

[SnowWhite]

Maybe you've already considered this:

 

WinterPromise is a program which allows combining large age spreads in a single program. Its instructor guide is much more like SL's than TOG, though, making it much simpler and more user friendly.

 

For a 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grader, you could choose Sea and Sky with the Younger Learner Guide, or All American 1(early American history), or Children Around the World, or even possibly Quest for the Ancient World.

[jenniferlee]

thanks so much for the input so far!

no one is saying they do several sonlight cores?? anyone out there, or should I ask a separate question?

thanks,

Jen

[1bassoon]

Jennifer -

 

We are thrilled users of TOG - but -

 

When I started, I had my oldest dd in school all by herself until 5th grade. I did SL K-5 and loved, loved, LOVED it. I am so thankful for the library I've built, the love of learning and reading in my home, the exposure to other cultures, the missions. . . the lists goes on.

 

BUT -

 

I just couldn't make it work. 2 cores, that is. I tried, I really did, but my oldest was getting Lost. Oh, academically she was doing fine, but I didn't have a handle on what she was doing. It was too overwhelming for this mommy.

 

When I found TOG, I felt like I could breathe again.

 

Yes, it's a lot of work. to homeschool 5 kids with competence takes a lot of work. BUT - it's much less work than anything else, especially now that we're in a "Groove", as it were. I love that we can all discuss the same topic together, and that all my kids can work together on projects, celebrations, etc.

 

I have lots and lots more to say on this ;), but I'm needed for a couple of lessons. Feel free to pm me, and we can trade emails and I'd be happy to "chat". I understand your dilemma!

[gardenschooler]

thanks so much for the input so far!

no one is saying they do several sonlight cores?? anyone out there, or should I ask a separate question?

thanks,

Jen

 

Colleen uses Sonlight with a pretty wide age-span, but I'm pretty sure she said she only uses two cores at a time.

 

I've never used SL, and I'm just starting on TOG, so I'm really no help. I just wanted to let you know that some people do SL with a variety of ages, and it seems to work for them. :)

[ChemMommy]

We did SL K-4 with my two older ones. We did Core K/5 with all four. Honestly, SL is so well-planned out that it wasn't a big deal to do both. After many years as a Sonlighter, we were used to reading out-loud and a bit more confident about skipping a book here and there. We made no effort to keep the four kids on the same part of history

 

We are changing to TOG this year because the core 6/7 is not going to work well with a 9th grader. I'd end up needing to supplement a lot, IMHO.

 

I've also gotten more interested in the idea of keeping everyone on the same page in history, so to speak, and more concerned about the academic rigor of SL.

 

We have loved, loved, loved SL for elementary school and I would heartily recommend it to anyone. But, as I looked over the high school cores, I saw more places I would need to supplement. I also saw that the upper cores seemed to be collections of topics that people needed to cover for high school; however, they were not particularly well thought out or planned. So, we did what I NEVER ever thought we would do: we left SL!

 

TOG is a lot more planning work, especially since I am needed three of the four levels this year. It does not tell you what to read each day, but rather tells you what you need to read that week. We are experienced homeschoolers, so that is less frightening to me now that it would have been initially.

 

TOG has more non-fiction, less-fun books. SL has more fiction and fun-books. The number one reason my dh didn't wan to leave SL was that he didn't want to give up read-alouds and the great books. So, I'm adding that to TOG.

 

I'll try to post in a few months on how the SL-to-TOG transition is going. Right now, I'm just making lesson plans in HST and reading the manuals.

[LaMere Academy]

You could make one core work for 2nd, 3rd, and 5th. I would choose Core 3 and read the readers aloud to your 2nd grader if need be.

 

I left SL to try TOG a few years ago...not the redesigned...and it was too overwhelming. Too many choices, too much information. It just wasn't for me. I've looked at the new version and I still feel the same way. It's better organized but still too much for me. But I'm not a pick and choose person, I'm a "go down the line and check off" person.

So, I love Sonlight. I feel the schedule is simple and easy to follow and the books are the best. TOG's selections were not as good nor as interesting to my children.

I know others who love TOG, so really it comes down to you and you won't know unless you try both.

[paula j]

Hi Jennifer. I personally only use one core but I do know of several on the sonlight forums that use as many as 3 or 4 cores. The thing is, once your child is older, they can work fairly indepenently, freeing your time up for the youngers. I also know that many families combine the dc into one core, adding more age appropriate readers for the youngers or olders. After all, the history and read-alouds are read by you anyway so they work for all ages. It really just depends on what fits for you.

 

I tried tog by buying one unit used. I did enjoy the notes to the teacher but felt the book choices didn't fit our family as well as sonlights. I also felt it was alot of planning but then I'm only homeschooling 1 dc if I had several I might feel differently. I did wonder though, because even though everyone stays on the same page in history they are all reading different books so I don't know if that is much different than using more than one sonlight core.:confused:

[jenniferlee]

ok, this is really helping me out, thanks everyone.

 

one more question, does tog have any kind of money back deal like sonlight does, if you don't like it?

 

also, in response to the suggestion that we could do core 3 for all the grades this year, we did core 3 LAST year and core 4 would be way over my 7yos head. but thanks for the idea :) anyway.

Jen

[Annie Laurie]

thanks so much for the input so far!

no one is saying they do several sonlight cores?? anyone out there, or should I ask a separate question?

thanks,

Jen

 

I do. This year my middle two are doing MFW Adventures, youngest is doing SL P4/5 and oldest is doing core 7. I did core K and 6 last year without a problem, but core K readings aren't very long. Next year we're doing core 100 and core 1. Then core 2 and core 300 and so on. Next year I might start core K with my youngest who will be 5, spreading it out over two years, or he might just tag along with the other kids. If I have three cores going I don't think it will be hard since core 100 and up have no read alouds and are designed to be done pretty independently.

 

As my littlest gets older I plan to do WP with him, so that he is on the same time period as the middle two, for example, they will do cores 3 and 4 while he does ASI and II. My reasoning for that is because of their spacing, I can't stand the thought of having to repeat cores with littlest only one or two years after the middle two have used it. I know of many people on SL who do so sucessfully though.

 

There are ways to supplement a core down or up also, I may find that littlest ds does fine tagging along with adding some picture books and activities for him.

 

I think it depends a lot on how much reading aloud Mom likes to do.

[chaik76]

thanks so much for the input so far!

no one is saying they do several sonlight cores?? anyone out there, or should I ask a separate question?

thanks,

Jen

I'm a member of the SL forums...there are many reasons why you should (or shouldn't) do several cores. Some people find trying to stretch a core to meet many grade levels very demanding. There are quite a group on SL that are doing three cores (or more), with total success. For me, TOG (which I love to look at!) was just too confusing. We'll end up doing two (or more) cores eventually. And I'm happy with that.

There are also people that are extremely happy supplementing up and down with one core.

I think it really depends on what you, personally, want. If you're interested in doing multiple cores I know a few people on both boards who would be able to come here and tell you how that works for them.

:grouphug:

[siloam]

I started out with SL, and it was a perfect fit with my oldest. The next year I added my 2nd dd and we immediately had problems. Even though they are close in age my 2nd dd is very sensitive. When we started Core 2 I actually tried also doing core K and Core pre-K at the same time (yep 3 cores!). While I know some people prefer having each kid doing their own thing, working at their own pace, it DROVE ME NUTS! I had to have everyone on the same topic, so I re-wrote Core 2 adding in younger books, hands on, ect...

 

By the time we hit Core 3 I decided to use WP American Story with it, except all my kids decided they preferred WP. :001_huh: I still re-wrote the whole WP schedule, because that is what I do. :D In the end I decided I could do TOG and have the best of all worlds: TOG writing is incredible, I get hands on like WP, I can add SL books and best of all, I set the pace.

 

But the big hang up I had with SL was how to get my history buff through all the cores while keeping the level appropriate for my younger kids who are sensitive to material. My 8yo still doesn't want to read a book where someone dies, which is really hard to mesh with SL books, KWIM? I knew my oldest would end up dropping something, and it was just so unfair! With TOG I can keep the level of material that my oldest is working through at a higher level (and include SL books), but keep things lighter (both in volume and in content) for my sensitive girls. Most of the SL books I have come accost so far are listed as D level books (those would be from core 3), so TOG is more conservative in their choices, which works better for us. Once more TOG schedules church history all the way through, so Core 200 is covered. It is heavier on modern history than SL, so Core 300 is covered. Government is covered in all 4 years, so 400 is covered. They cover different countries all the way through the program, so Core 5 is also covered. I am no longer worried that she is going to miss something, so this just works for ME.

 

The key is to figure out what works for you. If you can use SL as an open and go program, then TOG will probably overwhelm you. It is all good, but just not necessary, KWIM? But if you tend to tweak and mess with it, then TOG will just give you more options to play with. That is just fun!

 

Heather