Hi, I will be hs my dd next year for 1st grade. I plan on using the Sonlight Core and all along I have been planning on starting with Core 1. Well I started looking at the Core K and now I am wondering if I should start with that. She would still be using the Readers 2 and everything else would be at the 1st grade level. I just thought it would all still be very interesting to her and maybe a little more easy to follow. She will be 6 in June. So, I'm just not sure. I want her to be interested but also challenged. Has anyone been in a similar situation?
I did core K and it isn't necessarily for a Kindergarten aged student. I think the read alouds are totally appropriate for a first grader. The only issue is that Core 3 goes with Readers 3 so you may have to supplement with other readers if your child needs an additional year or two of readers before you get to Core 3.
So you mean if I do core 1 or 2 later I won't have readers to go along with it because we have to wait and do readers 3 with Core 3?
I'm not sure which Grade 2 readers you are using. I believe there are 3 levels of readers in the Grade 2 section. If you are doing the first level you could do the other two levels before you get to core 3. By the time you get to core 3 the child is mostly reading to learn instead of learning to read and they have the readers matched with the content of the core. So you want to use core 3 with readers 3. But content wise Core K would be totally appropriate for a first grader. If she is using the intermediate or advanced grade 2 readers next school year then you may have a problem with readers in the future. I hope that makes sense.
I've used Core 3 and Core 4 with my oldest and am using Core 1+2 with my younger 2 now. My only recommendation would be to time it so that you are not using Core 3 before 4th grade unless you just have a very mature student. The subject matter/books for Core 4 (Civil War) need to have a slightly older child (in my opinion at least). They are all wonderful books. I read and enjoyed them. I don't think that my 2nd grade son would enjoy them as much next year as a 3rd grader (who currently reads at a 6th grade level but comprehends about 4th/early 5th) as my oldest did as a 4th and then 5th grader. I love Core 3 and Core 4! The reading selections really inspired my oldest. As a matter of fact, she is re-reading some of them this year for fun because it's been almost 3 years since she's read some of them. (She did read all the read-alouds herself....as she didn't like to wait for me...lol). Core 1+2 is going well. I've decided to stretch it out into 1 1/2 years (maybe 2) rather than just the one...which means my youngest will start Core 3 either mid-3rd grade or more likely 4th grade. I haven't liked the fact that the readers for the younger cores don't tie into the history. I was spoiled by starting our Sonlight adventure with Core 3...lol. My daughter has enjoyed the Advanced Readers and my son has liked most of the Intermediate and Advanced Readers that I've had him read (he reads as well as my 10 year old so I've had him read some of the same but not all of them...we use other books for reading time as well). But I'm not unhappy with the SL younger readers...I just really enjoyed Core 3 and Core 4 and the tie in of the readers. I realize this would be hard for the younger years.
With dd who is officially in 1st grade I used Core 1 with 2nd grade readers this year and it has been perfect for her. She has learned so much and really enjoyed almost all the read alouds. The read alouds for k were good too but I think she would have gotten a little bored with some of them and some we had already done.
Dd turned 7 in Dec. A bunch of the books in the k program are ones that she heard during K at the public school or I had read to her at home already. She really liked the meatier stories and loves learning about Egypt, Greece and now China.
