Flowergirl159 Posted March 1, 2016 Posted March 1, 2016 I have been using the readers from SL for my girls, and some of the read alouds. Because my girls move through the SL readers from Grade 2, Grade 3, Grade 4/5 and Core D readers, Core E seems like the next step. I have really liked, and needed, to have a selection of readers shelved and ready for her to grab and read when she needs them. And SL organises the readers so well that way I will attempt to read as many of the read alouds as is possible. We do cover Bible as a family in our Morning Time. I had also been covering history altogether in our Morning Time too. Now though, I am wondering if I should continue that or just drop our group history studies and do history separately. I had a perfect plan for history that we had been working on :/ You can see that here. My oldest finished Core D readers in November last year and really enjoyed them. I had planned on using something else for her readers this year. Only because I find it a challenge to fit in all the reading aloud that is required for a core. I wondered if it may not be the best idea that she is just getting the readers without the rest of the core. She loves the SL readers so I thought I would give her the Core E readers this year. And I am will to attempt reading the read alouds to her. Would it be wise to continue with our group history as well? Have others done a group history lesson as well as individual cores? My DD11 needs readers, so I was going to have her read the Core E readers. Even if we don't cover much else of the core, she could read the readers?! Last year when we did Core D, she did all of the readers, even though we didn't do all of the read alouds. (and she loved them) Our new year has already begun, in January. My middle girl is reading the grade 4/5 readers. And for my younger girl, she is on the grade 2 readers. I thought I would throw in core A books for my youngest, as they are mostly fun books that are easy to add to our day. So perhaps I would do Core C with my middle girl, not sure yet. I know that I could possibly search for readers that line up with our Ancient studies, but I finding that to be more challenging :/ Quote
Incognito Posted March 1, 2016 Posted March 1, 2016 I can't answer your questions, but we've also enjoyed the readers through the years and Core E looks really neat to me, so I would bet it would be a good year - however you sort out family history. :) 1 Quote
athomeontheprairie Posted March 2, 2016 Posted March 2, 2016 (edited) I know that I could possibly search for readers that line up with our Ancient studies, but I finding that to be more challenging :/ I'm not entirely certain I understand your question . if you want to know if she should read core E readers on their own...sure. Most of them are really good, and she has already enjoyed similarly books chosen by the same company. If your question is, what to have her read that matches with your history... She could still read the SL E readers. Or ask the hive for specific suggestiopns? Ask about grade level and content. You'll get good suggestions. Fwiw, we've read many sl readers. I find even having them on the shelf to be good. if my kids run out of reading material, they have something good to just pick up. It's also okay if your reading selections don't match up with history Edited March 2, 2016 by athomeontheprairie 2 Quote
MerryAtHope Posted March 2, 2016 Posted March 2, 2016 It sounds like what you are doing is working and your kids enjoy it...not sure why you would change things up then! Sure, it's great if readers match the history, but is it absolutely essential? Probably not. So, my first vote is...if it ain't broke, don't fix it! However...if you want to consider shaking things up, you might start to think about what you think you'll do long-term. If you really like Sonlight and just find it's hard to get through a whole core--there's lots of us that are "Sonlight eclectic" and end up dropping some books (or subbing in different spines, or other tweaks and alterations). If you are starting back with Ancient History this year though, have you thought about pulling from the Sonlight G readers for your oldest, and Sonlight B for younger ones? You might find appropriate read-alouds from those two cores as well. Sonlight says core G is best for ages 11-13. When my youngest did ancients in 6th grade, I found that many of the books from core B that she had missed the first time around were still interesting/enjoyable for her, and so we sometimes mixed in some of those easier books. Just a thought if you are set on doing ancients this year but are wanting to have readers match your history. I suggest that with some hesitancy though...if the read-alouds from Core D were a good fit this past year for your kids' span of ages, you may not want to jump up in levels to the matching read-alouds. So much depends on the family dynamics and how things are working now. 1 Quote
Julie of KY Posted March 2, 2016 Posted March 2, 2016 Looking at your link, it looks like you are doing a lot of history. I would give yourself permission to cut back and keep whatever works for you. You can keep doing the SL readers without the cores if you wish. I like to do my main history together with my younger kids. I tend to pick a core to read the history from and then the rest of the readers for my kids may or may not match. You don't have to do all of the history and read-alouds - pick what looks most interesting to you as that will often be the most interesting to the kids as well. 1 Quote
SebastianCat Posted March 2, 2016 Posted March 2, 2016 If you are asking whether SL Readers from Core E would be appropriate for an 11 year old to read by herself, I'd say yes. But if your goal is just to have good books available for reading, I'd also recommend the RAs from Cores B-D, and even from Core A. 1 Quote
Flowergirl159 Posted March 2, 2016 Author Posted March 2, 2016 Thanks so much for all of your replies! Most helpful :) Sorry my question wasn't clear :/ Yes I want to continue with the SL readers. But wasn't sure if it mattered if I used the rest of the core or not. Would she still benefit from just the readers? I will most likely have the time to be able to read about 4 of the read alouds over the year, or the time that she is reading the readers from core E. My other question, does it matter if we are doing Ancients together as a family, even though they may be doing their own separate cores. I think you have all answered my questions though - no it doesn't matter if we are doing history altogether, and yes that is fine for her to just do the readers. 2 Quote
Flowergirl159 Posted March 2, 2016 Author Posted March 2, 2016 It sounds like what you are doing is working and your kids enjoy it...not sure why you would change things up then! Sure, it's great if readers match the history, but is it absolutely essential? Probably not. So, my first vote is...if it ain't broke, don't fix it! However...if you want to consider shaking things up, you might start to think about what you think you'll do long-term. If you really like Sonlight and just find it's hard to get through a whole core--there's lots of us that are "Sonlight eclectic" and end up dropping some books (or subbing in different spines, or other tweaks and alterations). If you are starting back with Ancient History this year though, have you thought about pulling from the Sonlight G readers for your oldest, and Sonlight B for younger ones? You might find appropriate read-alouds from those two cores as well. Sonlight says core G is best for ages 11-13. When my youngest did ancients in 6th grade, I found that many of the books from core B that she had missed the first time around were still interesting/enjoyable for her, and so we sometimes mixed in some of those easier books. Just a thought if you are set on doing ancients this year but are wanting to have readers match your history. I suggest that with some hesitancy though...if the read-alouds from Core D were a good fit this past year for your kids' span of ages, you may not want to jump up in levels to the matching read-alouds. So much depends on the family dynamics and how things are working now. Thanks Merry :) I didn't do Core D read alouds for my other girls, just my oldest. So no I wouldn't necessarily read aloud from Core E to my youngers. I have between 15 and 30 minutes each day that I read aloud to each girl on their own, so this is when I would cover any read alouds from Core E for my oldest. Thanks for the suggestion of using SL's G and B along with Ancients. I did have a quick look at Core G, but will look further into those. Thanks again for your reply :) Quote
Julie of KY Posted March 3, 2016 Posted March 3, 2016 If you aren't doing the read-alouds as a family, consider adding some in as readers if the reading level is appropriate - there are lots of good books there. Quote
Lori D. Posted March 3, 2016 Posted March 3, 2016 (edited) Here you go -- some book lists to help you think it through. ? The first list is of readers to go with your ancients. The second list is just good books for a 4th/5th grader. The last list is the Sonlight Core E, divided up by reading level -- some of the readers are quite above 4th/5th reader level (?!), and a few of the read-alouds are at a 4th/5th reader level, so you could shuffle that list around if you just wanted to keep going with SL books… BEST of luck in deciding! Warmest regards, Lori D. _______________________________ GR. 4/5 READERS for ANCIENTS Archeology How Sphinx Got to the Museum (Hartland) -- non-fiction 5,000 year Old Puzzle (Logan) -- fictional story around real historical events Motel of the Mysteries (MacCauley) -- humorous Ice Age Maroo of the Winter Caves (Turnbull) -- historical fiction/survival story Mesopotamia/Persia Gilgamesh trilogy: Gilgamesh the King; Revenge of Ishtar; Last Quest of Gilgamesh (Zeman) -- picture book retelling of the classic Lugalbanda: The Boy Who Got Caught Up in a War (Henderson) Europe Skara Brae: Story of a Prehistoric Village (Dunrea) -- non-fiction Egypt Temple Cat (Clements) -- picture book Pepi and the Secret Names (Walsh) -- picture book I Am the Mummy Heb-Nefert (Bunting) -- picture book Zekmet: The Stone Carver: A Tale of Ancient Egypt (Stolz) Diary of an Egyptian Quest: An Interactive Adventure Tale (Harris) The Golden Goblet (MacGraw) -- more of a 6th grade reading level Egyptian Cinderella (Llimo) -- picture book; myth Shipwrecked Sailor: An Egyptian Tale with Hieroglyphs (Bower) -- picture book; myth Seeker of Knowledge: Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Heiroglyphs (Rumford) -- non-fiction Cleopatra (Stanley) -- non-fiction Hatshepsut (Andronik) -- non-fiction Mummies Made in Egypt (Aliki) -- non-fiction Of Numbers and Stars: Story of Hypatia (Love) -- non-fiction; picture book Egyptian Diary (Platt) -- non-fiction Great Ancient Egypt Projects You Can Build Yourself (Van Vleet) -- hands-on Israel Promised Land Diaries series Greece Aesop for Children (Winter) -- classic Kingfisher Epics: The Iliad -- classic Kingfisher Epics: The Odyssey -- classic Young Heroes series (Yolen) -- classic myths Greek Myths (McCaughrean) -- classic myths Greek Gods and Goddesses (McCaughrean) Tales from the Odyssey: The One-Eyed Giant (Osborne) -- book 1 of 6 -- classic Children of the Fox (Walsh) -- historical fiction The Librarian Who Measured the Earth (Lasky) -- picture book What's Your Angle, Pythagoras: A Math Adventure (Ellis) Pythagoras and the Ratios (Ellis) The First Marathon: Legend of Pheidippides (Reynolds) Archimedes and the Door to Science (Bendick) -- non-fiction Galen and the Gateway to Medicine (Bendick) -- non-fiction Herodotus and the Road to History (Bendick) -- non-fiction Alexander the Great (Demi) -- non-fiction Rome Roman mysteries series (Lawrence) -- mystery/historical fiction Detectives in Togas (Winterfeld) -- mystery/historical fiction Galen: My Life in Imperial Rome -- historical fiction The Charioteer's Son (Baudet) -- historical fiction A Triumph for Flavius (Snedeker) -- historical fiction Roman Myths (McCaughrean) -- classics Roman Diary: The Journal of Iliona, a Young Slave (Platt) China A Letter to the King (Va) -- picture book A Grain of Rice (Demi) -- fun "tall tale" The Fourth Question: A Chinese Tale (Wang) -- folktale The Great Wall of China (Fisher) -- or -- The Great Wall (Mann) -- non-fiction The Chi'Lin Purse (Fang) -- folktales _______________________________ GR 4/5 -- GOOD READERSUnderstood Betsy (Fisher) Ballet Shoes (Streatfield) The School Story (Clements) Baby Island (Brink) Nim's Island (Orr) Naya Nuki: The Blackfoot Girl Who Ran (Thomasa) The Rescuers (Sharp) Poppy (Avi) Trumpet of the Swan (White) Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien) Wizard of Oz (Baum) Mrs. Piggle Wiggle (MacDonald) Pippi Longstockings (Astrid)Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Li)The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Aiken)My Side of the Mountain (George) The Incredible Journey (Burnford) _______________________________ SONLIGHT E readers at a gr. 4 level The Perilous Road By the Great Horn Spoon Freedom Train Shades of Gray Old Yeller Helen Keller All of a Kind Family Thimble Summer In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson Plain Girl Gone Away Lake The Wright Brothers George Washington Carver Hero Over Here The Story of Thomas Alva Edison readers at a gr. 5/6 level From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler The Great Turkey Walk The Great Wheel The Seventeenth Swap readers at a gr. 6/7 level Turn Homeward Hannalee readers at a grade 7/8+ level: Bruchko The Terrible Wave Sing Down the Moon Sonlight E Read-Alouds that could be used as readers: grade 4/5 reader level: Caddie Woodlawn The Kitchen Madonna Miracles on Maple Hill grade 5/6 reader level: Half Magic Thee Hannah! American Tall Tales A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs Edited October 7, 2018 by Lori D. 1 Quote
Flowergirl159 Posted March 4, 2016 Author Posted March 4, 2016 Oh my Lori! Thanks so so much for that!! Extremely helpful :D Quote
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