Sonlight peeps

[Ausmumof3]

If you had these ages and you were dreaming about sonlight again which cores would you pick? I don't need to commit for six months but some of the books I'm using this year might double up next year.

 

Boy 10. Good reading and comprehension, struggles with math, writing still needs a lot of work

Girl 7 turning 8. Currently not independently reading much though improving. Good at maths. Likes writing but uses very unconventional spelling and punctuation.

Boy just turned 5. Currently not reading at all no idea where he'll be.

 

These are the ages the kids will be - the skill levels are where they are at right now.

 

Mostly I'm torn between which kids to combine. It would be easy to do the younger two as they are less competitive but the skill gap is a lot larger too.

[chellesnead]

I have 7-10 year olds at different levels.  We are doing Core D together, but my 8 year old is not able to handle the LA that comes with D.  He's doing LA 2.  If I were you, I think I'd put your older child in Core D and combine the younger two in Core A as at that age the LA is separate from the Core content.  They can both learn a lot from the content of the read alouds and history, but you can meet them where they are at with the LA.  For the little one, you may not even do any LA for another six months to a year.  The other option I see would be to combine the older two in Core B+C with the younger one using LA 2 or 3 and the older one using LA 4&5, and then just reading lots of good books to your littlest.  I think though, that you would be better going with a higher Core for your oldest son because he's reaching an age where he will soon have a lot more responsibility with his schooling, so I'd probably give him the little extra challenge instead of putting him in a core that is recommended for ages 7-9 as core B+C is.

 

 

[Dinsfamily]

My younger 3 are the exact same ages.  I don't like to combine, but if I had to, I would combine the 8 & 10 year olds in Core D and do P4/5 + LA K with the 5yo.  It is so much harder to combine at younger ages IMHO.  I really don't like to start Core A until 1st grade and P4/5 is definitely not enough for a 3rd grader.  Combining in the core is unlikely to cause issues as they will still have their own LA, math, spelling, etc.  The 10yo old could do the advanced LA, while the 8yo could do regular.  

[SebastianCat]

Either Core D for the 10 & 8 year olds, and P4/5 for the 5 year old, OR

 

D for the 10 year old, and A for the 8 & 5 year olds, adding more Readers for the 8 year old using classic literature and sequels of Core A books.

[LindaOz]

I think I would do either B or C with older two combined. I know 10 is older than the age given for those cores but I've done it with an older kid and it was fine - just do a higher LA package with ds10 or even just give him harder books to read and have him do writing from the same as dd8.

 

Definitely p4/5 with 5yo. I'm doing it at the moment with my misses 4 and just-turned-6 and it's great. My 6yo is doing LAk as well but the LA in p4/5 is gentle and is great for a child not reading yet.

 

Also, for what it's worth, being an Aussie mum too, I don't intend to do cores D&E with my younger two so I plan on taking my time with cores K, B and C and interspersing them with Aus history along the way. I will still do the D and E readers though as they are great 😉.

Edited May 18, 2016 by LindaOz

[Ausmumof3]

My younger 3 are the exact same ages. I don't like to combine, but if I had to, I would combine the 8 & 10 year olds in Core D and do P4/5 + LA K with the 5yo. It is so much harder to combine at younger ages IMHO. I really don't like to start Core A until 1st grade and P4/5 is definitely not enough for a 3rd grader. Combining in the core is unlikely to cause issues as they will still have their own LA, math, spelling, etc. The 10yo old could do the advanced LA, while the 8yo could do regular.

Yes... Also I should have mentioned the 3rd grader has done p4/5 plus she sat through most of core b and participated a lot in the science though she zoned out through the history. I'm not sure if d would be too heavy for her though?

 

D is back to world history isn't it? Because we are not American I am trying to avoid the cores that are mostly American history.

[Ausmumof3]

I think I would do either B or C with older two combined. I know 10 is older than the age given for those cores but I've done it with an older kid and it was fine - just do a higher LA package with ds10 or even just give him harder books to read and have him do writing from the same as dd8.

 

Definitely p4/5 with 5yo. I'm doing it at the moment with my misses 4 and just-turned-6 and it's great. My 6yo is doing LAk as well but the LA in p4/5 is gentle and is great for a child not reading yet.

 

Also, for what it's worth, being an Aussie mum too, I don't intend to do cores D&E with my younger two so I plan on taking my time with cores K, B and C and interspersing them with Aus history along the way. I will still do the D and E readers though as they are great 😉.

Ah is k where it picks up world history again? Doesn't it use story of the world at some point?

[Ausmumof3]

Ok looks like f is the first non American history which is definitely probably above dds level anyway.

 

So I either do f with ds and combine the younger as or skip sonlight for another 1-2 years and put them all together.

 

Looks like stow starts at quite an older age? Is it reasonable for older kids still. I thought it was more of a primary school resource.

[Dinsfamily]

Ok looks like f is the first non American history which is definitely probably above dds level anyway.

 

So I either do f with ds and combine the younger as or skip sonlight for another 1-2 years and put them all together.

 

Looks like stow starts at quite an older age? Is it reasonable for older kids still. I thought it was more of a primary school resource.

 

Looks like you are right in the US History hole as far as SL goes.  Could you work through SOTW for 2-3 years and maybe add in Aus history as a pp mentioned?  I wouldn't start Core F until your younger one is at least 10, maybe 11.  I wouldn't rush into it with your ds, either.  It is a great core, but an older child gets much more out of it.  B and/or C wouldn't be too young for your older one if you wanted to do those (though it sounds like you might have already).  

[Ausmumof3]

Looks like you are right in the US History hole as far as SL goes. Could you work through SOTW for 2-3 years and maybe add in Aus history as a pp mentioned? I wouldn't start Core F until your younger one is at least 10, maybe 11. I wouldn't rush into it with your ds, either. It is a great core, but an older child gets much more out of it. B and/or C wouldn't be too young for your older one if you wanted to do those (though it sounds like you might have already).

Yep I have. Sounds like this is what I need to do, I was really hoping for a nice school in the box option because we seem to work better with that than my plans. ( easier to negotiate with mum than a written schedule and I'm struggling for time to piece everything together).

 

Never mind.

[LindaOz]

Ah is k where it picks up world history again? Doesn't it use story of the world at some point?

K is world-ish. B and C do the whole sweep of world history using Child's History of the World but..... I would use SOTW along with it and stretch it out. That way you can skip American cores and come back in on Core F further down the track. That's what I've done in the past and will do again with my next lot of kids. I really like SOTW for that younger age group and it ties in nicely.

[abacus2]

The American History Cores are D and E so you'll avoid those. I think you could use Core B with your older two. 

[Ausmumof3]

The American History Cores are D and E so you'll avoid those. I think you could use Core B with your older two.

I know right but I've already done b. If I had planned further ahead I would have started with k with ds but sadly I didnt.

[abacus2]

If you liked B, just move on to C then. It might be a little much for the 8 year old, but if you do P4/5 too, she could probably float between the two and benefit from some of each.