Sonlight for high school vs TOG or ?

[Annie Laurie]

My son will be 15 soon and needs American history. I was set on SL Core 100 but feel that 100 is better as a middle school core. I was thinking about adding Core 400 lit (American lit) to Core 100. Then I started feeling that I really need to add more geography also, SL is a bit lacking in this area and I feel my son needs to work on this, and I don't usually use SL's writing instruction either.

 

So this led me to wondering why I'm using 100 at all then, it's getting pricey adding all of the other stuff in. This led me to looking at TOG, which would have rhetoric level lit, mapping, and the other things I'm looking for. I'm not hung up on the 4 year cycle and wish I could separate out world history, American history, and so on, to make awarding credit easier.

 

I've looked at Trisms in the past but for some reason, I really don't want to use it now. Partly due to the price tag for Age of Revolution.

 

I've thought about just skipping SL 100 and doing 300 this year, I feel the lit is more on par with high school level there, but then I am still stuck figuring out US history at some point. SL is my preference in curriculum though.

 

Thoughts, suggestions?

 

Thanks!

[mamaof2andtwins]

I am interested in hearing what others have to say.

 

:lurk5:

 

Jennie

[Annie Laurie]

bump.

[AngieW in Texas]

My oldest did Core 100 for her 9th grade year, but I added a lot to it.

 

My middle dd has been doing the 1st half of Core 100 this year for 8th grade. I intended to have her do the 2nd half for 9th grade and add a lot more to it. Now I'm thinking of switching her to Oak Meadow's American history program. They get to the Civil War by the 11th week (vs 17th for Core 100). I could spread the last 26 weeks of Oak Meadow's American history over 36 weeks of school (instead of the last 18 weeks of Core 100's over 36 weeks). I've been thinking of using Excellence in Literature's Intro to Lit course with it. I'd still have my dd read: Nothing to Fear (my oldest dd's favorite book from the Core), Farewell to Manzanar, Call of the Wild, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

[jananc]

The second half of Year 2 TOG is almost all early US History. You could begin TOG with Year 2 Unit 3 & Unit 4, and count a 1/2 credit towards Early US History. Then, you could continue on and do all of Year 3 TOG, which according to the TOG website can count as 1/2 Western Civilizations and 1/2 US History. The preliminary info about Year 4 will be released in early May, so I'm not sure yet how those credits will play out, but I'd be willing to bet you could also do a 1/2 credit of Modern US History with it too.

[Veronica in VA]

For geography we used a map book for US history. It worked well (until we lost it and it didn't show up until May.:blink:) My dd has used Sonlight almost exclusively but for US history we looked for other resources for the same reason you mentioned. We used Notgrass, the US map book, and American Lit Lightning Lit. I liked it and thought it worked well, but my dd tells me she didn't learn anything. If I had to do it again, I would put aside a few of the lighter books for fun reading and do Sonlight 100 with Lightning LIt and do some but not all of the books in there.

 

Just my opinion though,

 

Veronica

[sandra in va]

My oldest did Core 100 for her 9th grade year, but I added a lot to it.

 

My middle dd has been doing the 1st half of Core 100 this year for 8th grade. I intended to have her do the 2nd half for 9th grade and add a lot more to it. Now I'm thinking of switching her to Oak Meadow's American history program. They get to the Civil War by the 11th week (vs 17th for Core 100). I could spread the last 26 weeks of Oak Meadow's American history over 36 weeks of school (instead of the last 18 weeks of Core 100's over 36 weeks). I've been thinking of using Excellence in Literature's Intro to Lit course with it. I'd still have my dd read: Nothing to Fear (my oldest dd's favorite book from the Core), Farewell to Manzanar, Call of the Wild, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

 

 

 

What kinds of things did you add to Core 100 for a ninth grader?

[Annie Laurie]

How does this sound?

 

Core 100 with Lightning Lit early American lit and mid-late 19th century American lit, taking out some of the middle school books from Core 100 to make room for the books in Lightning Lit. But if we do something like IEW or Wordsmith Craftsman, will Lightning Lit be overkill in the writing department?

 

I was also looking at Trail Guide to U.S. Geography with the notebooking, but is it really appropriate for high school? Any other geography suggestions?

 

I looked at some of the books for TOG yr 3 on Amazon and think they look fascinating. I love how TOG incorporates art history and music appreciation. But I don't think my son, who has not been classically educated, is ready for that quantity of rhetoric level reading.

 

Trisms is going to be at my hs book fair so I'm taking a look at AoR closer then, along with looking at the Core 100 guide more closely.

[DarlaS]

Have you considered picking up a well written AP or college level American history text (Yes, they do exist.) and adding the best of Sonlight's America Lit (by that I mean the lit portion of Core 400) to that?

[Harrison_B]

I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but I wanted to share this information. The National Repository for Online Courses (Google - NROC) has AP US History I and AP US History II courses on their website. These are free online courses. They have a section on recommended textbooks. Biology, Algebra, Calculus are also available, along with many college courses. I do hope this might be useful to someone.

[Veronica in VA]

How does this sound?

 

Core 100 with Lightning Lit early American lit and mid-late 19th century American lit, taking out some of the middle school books from Core 100 to make room for the books in Lightning Lit. But if we do something like IEW or Wordsmith Craftsman, will Lightning Lit be overkill in the writing department?

 

I was also looking at Trail Guide to U.S. Geography with the notebooking, but is it really appropriate for high school? Any other geography suggestions?

 

I looked at some of the books for TOG yr 3 on Amazon and think they look fascinating. I love how TOG incorporates art history and music appreciation. But I don't think my son, who has not been classically educated, is ready for that quantity of rhetoric level reading.

 

Trisms is going to be at my hs book fair so I'm taking a look at AoR closer then, along with looking at the Core 100 guide more closely.

 

Lightning Lit doesn't have guidance on writing, just writing assignments, and you can pick and choose. So IEW could work here nicely. IEW has the US History based lessons vol 1 and 2.

 

Veronica

[coopers5]

TOG is an excellently put together curriculum.

 

I've used both. (SL & TOG)

 

TOG is thorough and you can cut/keep what you want/don't have time for.

There is no guesswork.

And, I think overall, difficulty of materials used is higher with TOG.

 

HTH.

 

Jo

[Annie Laurie]

Now I'm thinking of switching her to Oak Meadow's American history program. They get to the Civil War by the 11th week (vs 17th for Core 100).

 

I've actually looked at that program myself. The textbook they use actually looks interesting from the online samples I saw. It's just a text though. If I'm remembering correctly, I'd have to add their English program to get any literature with it.

 

The second half of Year 2 TOG is almost all early US History. You could begin TOG with Year 2 Unit 3 & Unit 4, and count a 1/2 credit towards Early US History. Then, you could continue on and do all of Year 3 TOG, which according to the TOG website can count as 1/2 Western Civilizations and 1/2 US History. The preliminary info about Year 4 will be released in early May, so I'm not sure yet how those credits will play out, but I'd be willing to bet you could also do a 1/2 credit of Modern US History with it too.

 

I've been looking very closely at TOG, thinking of doing something like this. I looked up many of the books they use at the rhetoric level on Amazon, and am not sure my son is ready for that amount of higher level reading, so now I'm not sure TOG will work for us at this point.

 

For geography we used a map book for US history. It worked well (until we lost it and it didn't show up until May.:blink:) My dd has used Sonlight almost exclusively but for US history we looked for other resources for the same reason you mentioned. We used Notgrass, the US map book, and American Lit Lightning Lit. I liked it and thought it worked well, but my dd tells me she didn't learn anything. If I had to do it again, I would put aside a few of the lighter books for fun reading and do Sonlight 100 with Lightning LIt and do some but not all of the books in there.

 

Just my opinion though,

 

Veronica

 

What map book did you use? I agree with you, my son has always used SL and he remembers so much that we've read. I'm leaning toward doing core 100, dropping some of the middle school books and adding others in.

 

Have you considered picking up a well written AP or college level American history text (Yes, they do exist.) and adding the best of Sonlight's America Lit (by that I mean the lit portion of Core 400) to that?

 

Someone on the SL forums did have a good suggestion of a well written text that I've been looking at also, so that's one possibility. Doing my own planning is not one of my strengths however.

 

 

For literature we're using an old Prentice-Hall AmLit anthology; found the text at a library sale and then bought the teacher guide online. It has a lot of art in it, too. In addition, we're doing three plays and several novellas/novels with SG's drawn from various places.

 

 

I like the idea of including art history and wish SL added that in their guides.

 

I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but I wanted to share this information. The National Repository for Online Courses (Google - NROC) has AP US History I and AP US History II courses on their website. These are free online courses. They have a section on recommended textbooks. Biology, Algebra, Calculus are also available, along with many college courses. I do hope this might be useful to someone.

 

Thanks! I'll check that out.

 

Lightning Lit doesn't have guidance on writing, just writing assignments, and you can pick and choose. So IEW could work here nicely. IEW has the US History based lessons vol 1 and 2.

 

Veronica

 

Can you use the history based writing lessons if you haven't used IEW? Is it best to still get the TWSS dvds?

 

TOG is an excellently put together curriculum.

 

I've used both. (SL & TOG)

 

TOG is thorough and you can cut/keep what you want/don't have time for.

There is no guesswork.

And, I think overall, difficulty of materials used is higher with TOG.

 

HTH.

 

Jo

 

I've definitely been impressed with the TOG samples and am thinking of purchasing just one unit to try out without being out a lot of money if it's not a good fit.

Edited April 20, 2009 by Annie Laurie

[Veronica in VA]

The map book I used is called U.S. History Map Activities. I ordered it through Rainbow Resource. As we did a period in history, I assigned the map that went with it. They also have one for world history that was pretty good, too.

 

Technically, you do need the dvd's. I didn't find I needed the IEW tapes to use the US History based books. But we had used IEW before though it was a number of years ago.

 

Veronica

[Annie Laurie]

Thanks! Those look great.

[jananc]

 

I've been looking very closely at TOG, thinking of doing something like this. I looked up many of the books they use at the rhetoric level on Amazon, and am not sure my son is ready for that amount of higher level reading, so now I'm not sure TOG will work for us at this point.

 

 

 

You know, if you assign all the work on the Dialectic level it's perfectly ok to count that as high school credit. In fact, if you were to assign *all* the rhetoric work, that would count as Honors history. Three-fourths of the rhetoric work is considered a regular high school credit. There's no need to force a 9th or 10th grader into doing all of the TOG assignments unless he's already used to the classical approach and you really want those honors credits! Also, you could start the year as dialectic and work your way up to the rhetoric level as your son gets a better footing with the work load.

[Annie Laurie]

You know, if you assign all the work on the Dialectic level it's perfectly ok to count that as high school credit. In fact, if you were to assign *all* the rhetoric work, that would count as Honors history. Three-fourths of the rhetoric work is considered a regular high school credit. There's no need to force a 9th or 10th grader into doing all of the TOG assignments unless he's already used to the classical approach and you really want those honors credits! Also, you could start the year as dialectic and work your way up to the rhetoric level as your son gets a better footing with the work load.

 

Good ideas, thanks. I may buy one TOG unit and see if it would work for us.

[HappyCrazyMama]

You know, if you assign all the work on the Dialectic level it's perfectly ok to count that as high school credit. In fact, if you were to assign *all* the rhetoric work, that would count as Honors history. Three-fourths of the rhetoric work is considered a regular high school credit. There's no need to force a 9th or 10th grader into doing all of the TOG assignments unless he's already used to the classical approach and you really want those honors credits! Also, you could start the year as dialectic and work your way up to the rhetoric level as your son gets a better footing with the work load.

 

:iagree:. I was thinking of posting the same thing.:)