arcara Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 I have pretty much decided to do a year of US history for my 4th grader next year. I've been trying to figure out how to put this all together. The, I realized that Sonlight had a program that did just this! Sonlight 3/4! However, I have NO personal experience with Sonlight. I've heard good things about it, though. I'm looking for advice, experienced opinions, etc. of this program to see if it's a realistic option for us next year. I'm just looking at the history and literature part, not the core. TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 (edited) Well I have the full SL3 core (along with a whole bunch of american history stuff like VP, Hakim, TQ, Guerber, you name it), but I've decided to do WP AC1 with my dd. The users with 4th gr girls that I've found (searching various boards) seem to be phenomenally happy, and now I know why. See between last year and this, my dd really took a leap. She really needs to OUTPUT more, and the writing component of WP AC in the TT activities is just right. SL was just going to be a bunch of reading for us, and I wanted her to write history, do history. I thought about having her do WTM-style paragraphs, but that was going to be such a drag compared to the interesting writing assignments in the TT stuff (newspapers, etc.) The books are totally different too. The SL books are good on audio, the real classics, but the WP books are so engrossing, with pictures of colonial life, etc. My dd wants to DO history, and WP is going to make it easy for me to do that. Of course I have a baby and needed everything fully scheduled. You could do your SL3 and add on TT yourself, no problem. I wouldn't do 3+4, me personally, no need to rush. Check out WP AC and see what you think. http://www.winterpromise.com (WP AC=Winter Promise American Crossing) It uses Time Travelers as a spine, and you can see samples of them and everything you make with them on the Homeschool in the Woods website. PS. I see you're expecting!! You WANT to do WP AC, or rather you want to do AA. AA=All American, where they combine the lower level (AS) and upper (AC). That way you'd have an easy to implement schedule to use with all your kids, so good! That's what finally broke my back, the new baby thing. Back in January of last year, when I was planning my history out (I actually wrote out plans for all the first year using the VP cards), I thought I could do it. I've used the VP cards for years and I thought it would be fine. But then the baby came and my brain left. Also, my dd took a real leap I hadn't been anticipating. none of the stuff I thought was fine was suddenly enough. So there's that element too that you can't factor in, the growth spurt and leap into early logic stage. She's your oldest, so she's the guinea pig, eh? :) In any case, that's what I decided to do, being in the same boat but a year ahead. I went to WP. I have almost all my stuff and we start Monday. I've been fiddling through it for a while now to get things in order, and I'm thinking it will be great! Edited January 18, 2009 by OhElizabeth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline4kids Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 We are doing 3+4 this year. I switched to it a while ago and we LOVE it. I have a fourth and fifth grader doing it mostly, but my seven and four year olds tag along. Currently, we are on week 12. My kids have liked all the readers so far and they really seem to like the read alouds. My husband joins us as we read each night. I read the history bits earlier in the day and save the read alouds and bible things for evening. I personally like the spine they chose--The Landmark Book of American People--I think that's the title anyway. I have enjoyed reading ahead and then if it is a bit on the boring side I narrate what I read to the kids. I find it helps tremendously to have something for the kids to handle while listening to me read. Thinking putty, legos, ZOOB pieces, etc seem to help them focus and retain more. We have a map on our dining room wall tracked all over with people's journeys and labeled countries and states. The kids seem to enjoy all of this too. After getting a few weeks into it, I know wish that I had done this years ago. I just bought Core 5 for next year. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcara Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 Anyone else? My dd actually enjoys reading much more than hands-on activities, so I think Sonlight may be a better fit for her. I may order one Time Traveller CD to try, though. Thanks for your input!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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