SOTW or SL Core A

[Guest]

Would you choose Story of the World or Sonlight Core A for a 5.5 and almost 7 year old?

[redsquirrel]

personally? SOTW and the AG.  But I've never found Sonlight appealing in any way.  YMMV

[Dinsfamily]

I think it depends on what you want to do in the future. I love Core A for the literature, but the history is not my favorite. Not a big deal since I love the history in Core B+. I don't think my kiddos lose anything at a young age by focusing on all of those great read alouds for a year. Also, if you are leaning towards doing Cores B and C, it does not make sense to do SOTW and then cover the same material the following year (unless your dc are like my oldest and couldn't get enough ancient history).

 

If you plan on doing a WTM four year cycle, then you could start this year or wait until your kinder is a year older and do Core A as a gap year.

 

Also, since you are doing Core G, you have your littles listen in on SOTW while reading the Core A lit. Then they could dive deeper in Core B next year.

[Guest]

I love core A, but for the read a louds etc than just the history. If it was only history I was trying to do I would save my money and do SOTW and the AG as mentioned above. But if you like the readers/read a loud In addition, I think A is a great selection for the ages you have. But that's a massive price difference between the two due to content, so it truly depends on how much content you are looking for.

[SoCal_Bear]

You could just do SOTW with the AG. Choose from the suggest literature and history selections. Lots of people will draw books from the Sonlight reading lists and insert them into their year as they like. The cost between the two quite significant.

I don't have the most recent Core reading lists on my spreadsheet, but you are welcome take a look at my compiled list that is linked here on my blog.

 

https://lifeatwarpspeed.wordpress.com/2014/04/17/good-literature-is-what-everyone-needs-to-feed-their-childs-soul/

 

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

Do you prefer just literature or projects too? How much structure and planning do you like done for you?  How flexible do you want things?  

 

SOTW with the AG is affordable and rich in literature suggestions, but they also have great maps and project suggestions.  For me, Sonlight looks nice, but it is too structured.  I like picking and choosing from the options laid out based on my week and interest in the topic.  If it doesn't interest us, we read the chapter and move on.  If it does, we dive deep with supplemental books and do projects.  I can even make a mini unit study if it is something super important.  I, personally, love the hands on projects.  I can incorporate most of the literature from a Sonlight core into a book basket from the library as a supplement to SOTW, but it's harder for me to add projects to a four day a week laid out schedule.  Think about your planning preferences.

 

Also, look at A Child's History of the World by Hillyer.  That is the spine for Sonlight for the first three cores.  If you like that book, you will probably like Sonlight.  If you don't, then you probably won't.  I am on the fence.