Tree House Academy Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 (edited) I am just so confused over history this year. Please help me decide... ~I know I want to do a big "living book" type curriculum. WP and Sonlight 3 are my "choose betweens" for now. ~My Kids will be 10 and 6 and working in 5th and 1st/2nd grades. ~I know that I want to do American History and not a combo of World History and American History. ~My older is finishing CHOW, but that is all the History he has really had and we did the book/outlines from Calvert. ~I don't tend to actually DO a lot of complicated projects like cooking and such. I am okay with paper crafts, but they are not really my older ds's *thing.* Younger ds would cut and paste all day if I let him. If I go with Sonlight, I will do core 3 this year, core 4 next year, core 6 (World History) the next year, and core 7 after that. That would give us 2 years of American focus and 2 years of World Focus. If I go with WinterPromise, I am not sure which program to choose...though I am leaning toward American Crossing I since it works with my age range the best. Another fact that keeps hanging me up is that my younger ds will be doing WP LA1, so of course a WP History would be great and tie in nicely for him. My older is not doing WP LA (he is doing CLE), so it doesn't matter much for him. I also feel I should teach "to" my older and let the younger come along for the ride moreso than teaching to the younger, of course. Please help me choose! If I went with WP, would AC1 be the best option? Or what about All American I? Is there a better one for what I am looking for? Edited March 21, 2009 by Tree House Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynful Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 I couldn't decide last year either. :) Mine are 8 and 11 so I chose to try both WP AS1 and SL3. Long story short, not easy to combine the two difference programs. My preference is for Sonlight now that I've tried both. I like the way it flows better than WP, but that's just me. It would be very easy for you to buy one or two of the paper craft books that WP uses and add them in (Colonial America and 3D Maps come to mind). But that's only if you don't mind having to add them in. If you want that all added in already and not have to even think about it, WP may work better for you. There are also quite a few younger American History books out there you could get to help your younger depending on the reading level. I think Charlotte is selling quite a few in the for sale forum. We've loved the books in SL3 this year; not one that we haven't liked yet actually. Good luck with your decision, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted March 21, 2009 Author Share Posted March 21, 2009 Both together? I would HAVE to win the lottery! LOL Do your kids also like SL 3 the most? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynful Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Crazy I know. Not sure what I was thinking at the time. :001_unsure: I should have explained further that what I've done is made Sonlight 3 the core and now I just added in the readers from AS1. Hands down mine have liked Core 3 best. They felt we jumped around too much with AS1. My daughter doesn't like the Landmark of American History so I don't require her to listen to that. I'm like you, I teach to the oldest and the younger is learning by osmosis. :) Actually she's liked the readers and read alouds, just not Landmark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela&4boys Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Disclaimer: We used SL3 for our 19yo long ago and it hasn't changed very much. (Boy, that ages me. :tongue_smilie:) He loved it and still has fond memories. I've only looked at WP AC1 online, but my biases may show through. My personal choice would be for SL3. I think it's the most practical with a 6yo while still having enough meat for a 10yo. Perhaps the history/geography cores could be just your 10yo's and they could both listen to the literature read-aloud? Maybe I'm underestimating your little, but mine would have been climbing the walls. They would then have their own seperate readers and if you're using WP LA1 for Early American History it should line-up nicely. WP appears to have a substantial amount more of reading aloud and unless your 6yo really enjoys sitting still, I'd be a little leary of a program targeted at 4th-7th. I have always kept my middle guys together, but it's been a challenge at times. Beefing it up for the older one has had the best outcome and the least stress for me. My 8yo is a Wiggly Willy and it was torture for him to sit still for longer than 10 minutes when he was 6. My 2 cents, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pongo Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Hi, I recently went through this. I had the TOG re-designed 1,2 and I still have 3( just came in). During the DE talk I decided I wanted to streamline and I knew I was not using ALL of the TOG components, because I love so much other stuff. I HAD to have a printed out TM, and I refused to pay $270 for a printed and DE version. I did not use the TOG Fine Arts, Bible (in year 1), only a bit of the Geography, and I like oral discussions for Literature instead of worksheets. The books were a hit or miss, many we loved many we did not. I wanted more non-history choices. I also opted to take the kids to the local museum, and have them take an art class of that time period instead of using the ideas for the hands-on. I love the foundation it gave me as a parent, but wanted something different. I have been selling the whole she-bang and all the books that took 4-5 years to have and I went with SL 3 for my older 2 and SL 1 for my younger. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the book choices. My oldest will need s few replacements so I did that ( she had already read several of the SL 3 books). It is an open and go history curriculum, It's simple, planned and if I add to it , it's gravy because on it's own its literature rich. I think the only reason I did not go with WP was, their re-selling policy and I knew I would not be using all the hands-on stuff. If you went with SL3 you could use the book suggestions for you younger child from WP, and add in History Pockets for hands on. And, if you choose WP AS1 you could beef it up a bit by adding some of the AC books. They look pretty similar other than the hands on stuff. Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxMama Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Sonlight! Sonlight has no projects( you said you didn't care to do them), a better return policy (you have a year to complete the first 18 weeks), and you can resale their items if you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emily3B Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 I vote for Sonlight....we've been using Core 3 this year with a 4th grader and 2nd grader...and my Pre-K even listens along with the read-alouds. We have enjoyed all the great books! You can adjust the readers or check out books from the library to fit the reading levels. Emily in TX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted March 21, 2009 Author Share Posted March 21, 2009 Yeah, that is my exact position. My younger will definitely be "tagging along" on both Science AND History. The only thing I keep telling myself is that I can supplement with some younger/more age appropriate books and activities for my younger. Also, at age 6, Science and History are not top on the list of importance. However, I do not see this as a plan I can continue as my younger gets older. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 IMO it depends on how your kids learn best. Do they love fiction or non-fiction? Color books or chapter books with little or no pictures? Is history a favorite subject or just OK? Do they like to be read aloud to, or would they prefer to do some reading on their own? How much time do you want to spend on history? Basically WP will have more fiction, and with SL you have a lot of non-fiction, so if you have a concrete learner so sees story books as fluff go with WP. WP also has a lot of full color texts where the SL books will have very few pictures. In fact the co-spine for Core 3, 4 and 3+4 is Landmark History of the American People and it is listed as a Read Aloud for grades 5 to adult in the SL catalog. If you have access to the SL forums go into Core 3 and do a search on Landmark and you will see all the people who struggle with it each year. I personally love the book as an adult, but it was one of the reasons why I went with WP (with three younger kids-this was about 2 years ago). If history is not a favorite topic then I would encourage you to post on SL and ask how long it takes people to do Core 3 in a day and the same with WP. Generally I find that the WP schedule is lighter if you are not doing much of the crafts, with the crafts it has the potential of being just as time intensive. Up until Core 100 SL is structured where you read the history and the read alouds and then they read the readers. WP has readers, but also includes an independent worksheet where the child does some of their own reading. You read the main history portion and the read alouds. For those that SL clicks with it is a wonderful program. I still have days when I which I could fit my square kids into SL round hole because I really enjoyed SL. But they are primarily hands on learners, visual second, so on both counts WP worked better. The one thing I really don't care for with WP is the no resale of IG's and their published products (notbooking pages). They also don't allow the copying of their resources. I was at one point doing both AW and AS 1 with the Native American expansion pack, which means 3 sets of notebooking pages, and it was going to be over $100 just in notebooking pages. In the end I didn't buy any of their pages and instead bought Hold That Thought Pages and just made do with those. :D SL has a great money back guarentee and they allow the resale of their products. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted March 21, 2009 Author Share Posted March 21, 2009 Yep...that is EXACTLY how my kids are. What works for #1 is totally not what #2. I have learned that the hard way. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calandalsmom Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 I did core 3 with a 9 and a 6 yo with SL and it was one of our best years. I did add the Discovery of the Americas book and more from that series (Maestro is the author and I got the books from the library) for the younger child. I didnt use all the SL readers with the younger child but he could do several. I augmented with books from WP and from the earlier SL core. Core 3 is NOT to be missed IMO! I cant wait to do it again! We like hands on stuff but not paper crafts. There is a site called Corps of Rediscovery which has some good crafts. We used Hands and Heart kits but they have had to discontinue their kits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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