purplejackmama Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 I am looking for an open and go boxed curriculum for my 10 and 9 year old. I was convinced I wanted to try Sonlight. I mentioned this to a friend (who uses Sonlight) yesterday and she said Core D is painstakingly boring. Slow readers, bad read alouds, etc Agree? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 We absolutely loved Cored D and Core E from Sonlight. I cannot imagine anyone saying that core was boring (now Core F that is another story.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplejackmama Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 Thank you, Chickie. Did you take a year to do each or did you do the combo of D/E? Would you do it again, if you had the option? Sorry so many questions, I guess I'm just second guessing my decision. Again. Sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rugrats Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 I have not done it myself, but I have never heard anyone say it was boring. That was a shock to me to see that. I'm sorry I can't help w/ your questions. The only feedback I've heard it that is has some heavy content, so if you have a sensitive child, you may want to pre-read before you do aloud. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynful Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 We definitely did not find it boring and my older two learned so much. They still remember all the books we read. I think "I" learned more about American History than I did in college, high school and elementary school combined. We really enjoyed the readers. There were a few that were just ok, but the marjority were great. The only one I kind of question is the main book Landmark of American History (I think it's called). It was too much for my daughter and we subbed in Don't Know Much About American History which she loved. My son did love Landmark though. I, personally, think it would be a good middle/high school book. Anyway, if that's what you'd like to do, go for it. I don't think you'll find it boring. Also, there's no rule you have to read every book or can't sub some other books in for those that aren't working for you. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplejackmama Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 Thank you ALL! I was taken aback when she said that last night. I'm so glad to see your differing opinions. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3girls4me Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 We enjoyed core D a lot!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Core D was one of my absolute favorites! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 We skipped a couple of the read alouds, but found most of the core D books wonderful! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 We loved that core. Not boring! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. Y Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 We didn't do Sonlight D but we did read all the books. We really enjoyed that year! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I've always heard everyone say that D & E were the two best cores. They definitely have the best selection of historical fiction. We didn't do the full cores (cause I don't like to follow someone else's schedule), but I used Sonlight's booklist when we were studying American history. Those were the two best years ever, and the read alouds are still some of my kids' favorite books. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamatohaleybug Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 We don't use Sonlight but we religiously steal their book lists. :) We loved the Core D books, especially Johnny Tremain. Lots of great books in that year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebastianCat Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 We loved Cores D and E. They were two of our all-time favorites. A few of the books are written for adults, like the Landmark history book (which has been revised since we did this core to make it more age-appropriate). Other books like Incans, Azteccs and Mayans and Walk the Worlds Rim might be considered boring but my kids enjoyed them both. The rest of Core D is filled with excellent books! I will add the caveat that *I* think Core D is best done by children who are at least 9, and preferably 10. Trying to do Core D with a 7 year old would be very difficult. There are some very heavy topics, like war, death, death of family members of the main character, and extreme poverty that take a certain amount of "life experience" to process properly, regardless of a child's reading level. Sensitive kids would be best doing Core D at 10 or 11. (We did Core D when my kids were 10 and 8, and I realized at the end of the year that my then-10-year-old got MUCH more out of the Core than my then-8-year-old. I disagree with Sonlight marketing Core D as a "3rd grade" level.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I love core D. I'm starting it for the third time this fall with a third grader (though it is great for older kids as well). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athomeontheprairie Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 We loved d and e here. Can I ask a general question about your friend? Does she like to read? Do her kids? Had they been doing sonlight prior to d? I ask because irl, a friend was complaining about several books her curriculum had (not sonlight) and I was surprised because we loved them (and they are in core d). BUT in looking back, her kids hate reading and mom doesn't like it either. I think that colored her view. ETA: I'm not commenting in my friends hs in any way! Just noting she doesn't like reading, so a curriculum that had a LOT of reading isn't a good fit for her. Maybe your friend just doesn't like sonlight d, but loves books in general... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 We did each core separately not the combo. There are just too many good books in each of the cores to miss out. I think you will have a great time doing them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplejackmama Posted July 23, 2015 Author Share Posted July 23, 2015 We loved d and e here. Can I ask a general question about your friend? Does she like to read? Do her kids? Had they been doing sonlight prior to d? I ask because irl, a friend was complaining about several books her curriculum had (not sonlight) and I was surprised because we loved them (and they are in core d). BUT in looking back, her kids hate reading and mom doesn't like it either. I think that colored her view. ETA: I'm not commenting in my friends hs in any way! Just noting she doesn't like reading, so a curriculum that had a LOT of reading isn't a good fit for her. Maybe your friend just doesn't like sonlight d, but loves books in general... I think these are great questions to ask and the short answer is, I'm not sure. I do know that they have used Sonlight since K, but I'm not sure about how much they enjoy reading. She stopped homeschooling last year, so perhaps this might have influenced her opinion. I'm not sure? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeAndTheBoys Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 I am looking for an open and go boxed curriculum for my 10 and 9 year old. I was convinced I wanted to try Sonlight. I mentioned this to a friend (who uses Sonlight) yesterday and she said Core D is painstakingly boring. Slow readers, bad read alouds, etc Agree? We loved cores P 3/4 thru C and did NOT like D. I didn't think the readalouds were bad but they took too long--a lot of times, it would take us 45 minutes to read a single chapter. And the Readers seemed to all be historical fiction, and I about lost my non-reader that year. I did find D boring, but not 100% because the material was DULL. But because I realized we did not want to make history such a priority that we would spend 2 hours a day on it (about 1 1/2 hours together, then at least 30 minutes on readers). We have other subjects we wanted to enjoy too. In retrospect, I shouldn't have tried to do it all; I should have done the 4-day over 5 days, and cut out some readers. If we had done that, I might not have left SL after D and gone to MFW. Now we use MFW as our main program and add in some SL readers and do some things in a "Sonlight way". Betsy ETA--we ARE readers, in general--my oldest and I swallow books like crazy; DS2 loves factual animal books like encyclopedias and not novels. But we do love to read lots and lots and lots of books together and independently. But not all history-- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeAndTheBoys Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 We absolutely loved Cored D and Core E from Sonlight. I cannot imagine anyone saying that core was boring (now Core F that is another story.) What's wrong with F? We left after D, but I have always had my eye on F--even though we are using MFW, I plan for my DS2 to use Core F in 8th grade, between finishing the MFW cycle and high school. It looks fascinating--- Please expand on that :) betsy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 I've never used Sonlight, but in all these years I've never before heard Core D described as "boring." That is a first! :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeAndTheBoys Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 I've never used Sonlight, but in all these years I've never before heard Core D described as "boring." That is a first! :) Really? It is funny that others found it so exciting! because we found it so dry and overly-historical fiction-y. But we aren't history people. I mean, we like history, we appreciate it, but we don't live it and breathe it and dress up in costumes=== On the SL forums, there seem to be only extreme opinions--it's either your FAVORITE core or SL lost you between C and D, they are so different :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingaway Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I think she's mixing it up with Core F. I will say we did Core D+E because I thought two years of historical fiction about America was more than we wanted. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeAndTheBoys Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I think she's mixing it up with Core F. I will say we did Core D+E because I thought two years of historical fiction about America was more than we wanted. Again, WHAT'S WITH CORE F?? I've been drooling over it for years. It's what I'm looking forward to returning to Sonlight to use--- B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teyover Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 We love core F. We didn't finish it this past year but will start again soon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 We love historical fiction. That is a major focus for Sonlight starting in Core C and continues all the way up through high school. The issues I had with Core F was their History spine material. There is a tremendous amount of reading from the encyclopedia and I really did not want my fifth grader bored with the notebooking pages. It was at that point we switched to Mystery of History but I kept choosing my readers based on the ones in Cores F, G and H. I can say we have done probably 75%-80% of the readers and read aloud books from Core F and they have been wonderful only one or two duds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 I didn't use Core D (I think I used B and P 4/5) but I did feel like SL was boring. We love books, we love to read, I steal book ideas from SL frequently, but it's just that there's nothing else there. We like activities, maps, notebook pages, trying out new foods, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 We really enjoyed the books in Core D when my oldest was in 3rd grade (and was an advanced reader and a history buff). It was Core E where I was just burnt out on historical fiction and switched to something else. I think it would have been better to have more non-fiction mixed in with the good fiction books. Oh, and the very first read alound - Walk the World's Rim - is a bit slow. We liked the book, but some of the other books were faster paced. So I could see someone thinking that one and maybe a few others are boring. I've heard people say Landmark was boring, but we LOVED it. Found it very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrips Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 I wonder what she normally likes to read? We are just finishing up Core D and have loved it. Not boring in our opinion. We're looking forward to E. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjand6more Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Core D is not my favorite, it is not my least favorite. lol I don't think of it as 2 hours of history focus. We incorporate geography, reading skills(occasionally notebooking the books),handwriting, writing prompts etc. They just all involve history. I admit to occasionally disliking a read aloud in every core. I'm fine with it. Sometimes, I skip it the next time I do the core, sometimes I just push through if I feel the content is worth the frustration.(Ex:Walk the World's Rim) B-I did Core F twice as written. This time, with my non-reader 5th grader(I mean, she hasn't developed a love for reading-yet) we are doing a SL Core F and Winter Promise Children Around the World combo and including her 2nd grade brother. This is the first time I have ever combined kids in a core! I am so excited! I am using the fun and hands on aspects of CAW and a lot of the literature and biographies in Core F. I have also chosen some new to us books that I think will be great. My ds would be ready for Core C. I don't like how SL doesn't try to tie in readers in the younger cores, so I have put in LOTS of time finding books for my ds7 that tie into the country we are studying. I like that it is a world geography core instead of just Eastern Hemisphere study. We are leaving out the EHE this time. Dd would hate it.(older dd loved it) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebastianCat Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Again, WHAT'S WITH CORE F?? I've been drooling over it for years. It's what I'm looking forward to returning to Sonlight to use--- Core F has probably been our least favorite SL Core. My DD has really enjoyed the historical fiction, but because the books are arranged geographically, rather than chronologically, it just feels different. DD does not like the World Book readings and notebooking either. I've been told that the old Eastern Hemisphere Explorer was harder to use, though. We haven't "hated" Core F, it's just "different." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeAndTheBoys Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 B-I did Core F twice as written. This time, with my non-reader 5th grader(I mean, she hasn't developed a love for reading-yet) we are doing a SL Core F and Winter Promise Children Around the World combo and including her 2nd grade brother. This is the first time I have ever combined kids in a core! I am so excited! I am using the fun and hands on aspects of CAW and a lot of the literature and biographies in Core F. I have also chosen some new to us books that I think will be great. My ds would be ready for Core C. I don't like how SL doesn't try to tie in readers in the younger cores, so I have put in LOTS of time finding books for my ds7 that tie into the country we are studying. I like that it is a world geography core instead of just Eastern Hemisphere study. We are leaving out the EHE this time. Dd would hate it.(older dd loved it) That is helpful-- I think F will work well for us--my youngest will be in 3th grade doing MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures, which we didn't LOVE our first time through. But I am envisioning Core F with ECC, doing some stuff together with the 3th and 8th grader and some separately will make for a better year. I expect my then-8th grader to enjoy the EHE--he likes to do research. But he can still participate in the hands-on of ECC. b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeAndTheBoys Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Core F has probably been our least favorite SL Core. My DD has really enjoyed the historical fiction, but because the books are arranged geographically, rather than chronologically, it just feels different. DD does not like the World Book readings and notebooking either. I've been told that the old Eastern Hemisphere Explorer was harder to use, though. We haven't "hated" Core F, it's just "different." See, we have enjoyed My Father's World since leaving SL--it's a little light in some areas and I have added in reading, but i do like the notebooking. Maybe that's why F appeals to me so much--it has lots of SL books (we won't read all of them) but also the notebooking aspect. Helpful info. And I"m realizing that I have derailed this Core D topic into Core F--sorry-- B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolamum Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 You know, years ago when I knew I needed a boxed curriculum I had my eyes torn between Winter Promise & Sonlight with a heavy lean towards Sonlight, I had many well meaning friends tell me how they'd bombed with it & how awful it was.. Yet, we tried it for ourselves & really loved it. We are currently using Core D with our youngest child & he's enjoying it so much. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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