A few basic Sonlight questions

[Moxie]

~How do you organize your SL stuff? Do you pull out the big binder every day or do you keep current stuff in a smaller binder or what??

~Do you write on the IG if you are planning to re-use them in 5 years?

~If I have GWG, handwriting and Natural Speller do I need the LA? Would it be good review or just a waste of $$?

~How do you encourage your kids to work through SL independantly? Mark off what they have done or ??

~Any tips on using a core with 2 kids easily?

 

TIA!!

[calandalsmom]

~How do you organize your SL stuff? Do you pull out the big binder every day or do you keep current stuff in a smaller binder or what??

 

I have done both. Currently I check in with the IG once a week or so to see how Im doing, but its just a loose guideline for me this year. Other years I have taken out 6 weeks at a time and kept them in a small binder to consult frequently.

 

~Do you write on the IG if you are planning to re-use them in 5 years? I write on it sometimes and other times I have stuck in a piece of notebook paper in the section Im on and jotted down things about what we haev doen and skipped and added.

 

 

~If I have GWG, handwriting and Natural Speller do I need the LA? Would it be good review or just a waste of $$? No, you wouldnt need the LA unless you wanted to use it for writing and I dont like it for that so wouldnt recommend it.

 

 

~How do you encourage your kids to work through SL independantly? I dont really. We do most of the reading together. we enjoy it.

 

~Any tips on using a core with 2 kids easily? I have always used one core. My kids are 3 yrs apart. Its fairly easy to keep the young one up to speed. Especially if you look at it as exposure rather than a mastery approach.

[liltrees]

How do you organize your SL stuff? Do you pull out the big binder every day or do you keep current stuff in a smaller binder or what??

 

 

I keep my big binder handy, but I photocopy the IG and place the weeks work in a smaller folder. This way, I can highlight each item we complete, yet not mark on my "master" copies in the binder.

 

~Do you write on the IG if you are planning to re-use them in 5 years? [/quote

 

See above, but no, I don't.

 

~If I have GWG, handwriting and Natural Speller do I need the LA? Would it be good review or just a waste of $$?

 

 

I agee with the above poster. I wouldn't purchase the LA program.

 

~How do you encourage your kids to work through SL independantly? Mark off what they have done or ??

 

 

We do most of our work together. I cover LA and Math separately, but do not require much work "on their own", as my two are still young.

 

~Any tips on using a core with 2 kids easily?

 

 

We do History/Geography, Bible, Science and other read-alouds together. My ds5 sits in on ds7 math work (they play with manipulatives together), then allow each to take a break as I cover LA and ds5's math.

 

Sonlight will tell you that you can easily use a singles core with multiples kids. You will need to order the correct math and language arts for the individual. If you go to their website www.Sonlight.com or read their catalog, there are articles about combining children to use one core. They also have a "room" on their forums for families that are doing this.

 

[Loupelou]

 

I keep my big binder handy, but I photocopy the IG and place the weeks work in a smaller folder. This way, I can highlight each item we complete, yet not mark on my "master" copies in the binder.

 

~Do you write on the IG if you are planning to re-use them in 5 years? [/quote

 

See above, but no, I don't.

 

 

 

I agee with the above poster. I wouldn't purchase the LA program.

 

 

 

We do most of our work together. I cover LA and Math separately, but do not require much work "on their own", as my two are still young.

 

 

 

We do History/Geography, Bible, Science and other read-alouds together. My ds5 sits in on ds7 math work (they play with manipulatives together), then allow each to take a break as I cover LA and ds5's math.

 

Sonlight will tell you that you can easily use a singles core with multiples kids. You will need to order the correct math and language arts for the individual. If you go to their website www.Sonlight.com or read their catalog, there are articles about combining children to use one core. They also have a "room" on their forums for families that are doing this.

 

 

:iagree:

 

Obviously, there are several of us that do the same things. Because my kids are older, the LA is built into the core so the younger ones have separate LA after we do History- I have added the SOTW activity books to tie into history for my younger ones. I also would not order the LA IG as it appears you have that covered. Have fun!:001_smile:

[ChemMommy]

~How do you organize your SL stuff? Do you pull out the big binder every day or do you keep current stuff in a smaller binder or what??

 

I usually pulled out the big binder and wrote daily lesson plans for each child in an old-fashioned teacher's planner book. The kids were easily overwhelmed when looking at the binder and couldn't find their work in all that huge thing. Also, dh would never find the correct spot in the binder.

 

So, I wrote daily lesson plans for the family, taped it to the wall, and everyone was happy. I could also add math and LA and science to this paper and have a good overview of the entire week.

 

Now, I use HST but I have 4 kids and one is in high school. I have a lot more to organize each week.

 

~If I have GWG, handwriting and Natural Speller do I need the LA? Would it be good review or just a waste of $$?

 

I never really liked SL's language arts program, so I supplemented with Abeka, Italic handwriting, and a grammar program.

 

 

~How do you encourage your kids to work through SL independantly? Mark off what they have done or ??

 

I have each child put small check marks next to completed work as soon as they complete it. At first, I had to do the work with them and then take them to the lesson plans taped to the wall in order to check off the work and to see what to do next. It didn't take long for them to get the hang of doing this independently. Plus, I rewarded them for completing their work by giving them lots of free-play time. Dawdlers got less time to play.

 

 

~Any tips on using a core with 2 kids easily?

 

Two kids in one core is easy! Truly. Ask the older one that harder questions and save the easier questions for the younger one. Expect 2-3 sentence answers from the older one but only 1 sentence answers from the younger one. Pause more often to make sure the younger one is following the story.

 

Accept that you will have two different levels of LA and math to handle, but keep history, Bible, and science together. The years we had the most trouble combining was 1st/3rd and 5th/7th. The mindsets of a 1st and 3rd grader are noticeable different, same for 5th/7th.

[sandalwood]

~How do you organize your SL stuff? Do you pull out the big binder every day or do you keep current stuff in a smaller binder or what??

 

 

I put Science & the Core in one big binder behind each week tab. Then, I make a photocopy of each week (as we go throughout the year) and we check mark off on that page when something is completed. This also serves as a copy of what we do each day (for state requirements) and if I do something non-sonlight, like grammar or math, I write it at the bottom.

 

 

~Do you write on the IG if you are planning to re-use them in 5 years?

 

Nope, never ever 'cause I only resell mine right away

 

 

~If I have GWG, handwriting and Natural Speller do I need the LA? Would it be good review or just a waste of $$?

You've got the LA well covered and I'd stick with what you had. The LA (both old and new) has been both a hit and disaster at times at our house. I prefer something else for LA, but I do like their new creative writing in the new LA.

~How do you encourage your kids to work through SL independantly? Mark off what they have done or ??

 

Yes, I check off on that photocopied page and my son *loves* checking off stuff. I guess I have made him into a box-checker. He likes to pick and choose what order to do stuff in & he'll check off as he goes.

~Any tips on using a core with 2 kids easily

I have not used a core with 2 kids, but will say that the Dear Sonlight or Choosing Sonlight forums which are free are great for ideas if you don't have access to all the Sonlight forums yet. Edited April 17, 2009 by sandalwood