I am seriosly considering using Sonlight next year. Has anyone used it? If so, tell me what you think. I have been looking at a lot of different curriculiums lately. We are using BJU this year and I love it. No complaints, at all but, my children are weak in reading. They breeze throught the work books in a blink of an eye. So, I am thinking of getting something that would be more of a challenge for them. If you have used it I am considering Core 5 or Core 6. Please give me any input you have on it.
Since you love BJU, have you considered keeping everything except reading? Just pull that one from another publisher?
I have to admit I love Sonlight! We are not up to core 5 or 6 yet but I have a friend who has done those. Sonlight does require daily reading from the kids and also read alouds from you. The program is not a hands off program and requires the parent to read material to the kids up to core 100. You can go online and see the new catalog at http://www.dpub.us/Sonlight/Sonlight-2011.html Dd loves our Sonlight work and she retains so much of the information. It is really starting to instill a love of books in her (although she will not admit it, but she asks to go to the library alot more and loves choosing books to read.)
I have read quite a bit on the Sonlight forums. I like the idea of the program, other than the fact that it is not at all Canadian. If your kids ages in your siggy are current (9 & 10), then I would not start with core 5 or 6. I'd probably start with Core 3 (Introduction to America History Part 1) which is roughly for ages 8-11.
I had someone tell me yesterday that Sonlight 5 is their favorite. I also called Sonlight and they recommended that I begin with Core 3 or 4. But, I need to to look into it more because my children have already done American History. Which I am sure this one is different but I don't want to keep repeating myself, or have them get the additude of we already done this. I find it really really hard to figure this out! The cores I think are what getting me because when you say Core 3 I am thinking third grade. urg...
Cherry, that's exactly why they changed the Core names this year. Core 3 is now called Core D because they wanted people to know that it can be used with a range of ages. I started using Sonlight this year for history and literature and I love it and it's my son's favorite part of the day. I recently met a woman with 10 children who said she has used Sonlight for years and she is using Core 5 (F) for the first time and they are enjoying it.
We love sonlight. This year we are using 2 of the high school cores. Our first core was the 3/4 combo core which was a one year introduction to American history My youngest was in 4th grade for this one and was a slow reader used Abeka prior to that year. He loved loved loved that school year. He is 14 now and it really is still his favorite. Its turned school around for him. He loves reading. He reads all the time and he reads advance stuff now. He was a slow reader and hated reading prior to that school year. I really don't think had we continued with Abeka he would love reading or school. I have supplemented and changed out books for different cores. We have done a traditional grammar course. The sonlight language just didn't work for us but as a whole Sonlight is a great curriculum
I have looked into Sonlight as well but it is just so expensive. I'd love to hear more from those who have used it too. My son will be in 2nd grade and I will also have one who will be turning 4. I would like to be able to incorporate him in as much as we can.
Maria what type of questions do you have? I love Sonlight. I think though that it would be hard to use one core for both your kids due to the age difference. I know it does seem pricey but when you look at all the books you get it really is not bad. The instructors guides are really reasonable and the bulk of the cost is the actually books.
I've liked the looks of Sonlight but shied away for a long time. It is very expensive. Now that we have a few years of homeschooling under our belt, my husband is on board for investing a little more money. So we started budgeting for it. You could do Sonlight if you had a good library system and save money, but I will admit that having the books on hand is a huge plus. We can go to the library when we want to... but we don't have to. I love that we are building a fabulous library also. We haven't started Sonlight yet (we have purchased it though), but I'm a serious over planner so I've been devouring the Instructor's Guide, prereading some of the books, etc. I think this is going to be our most solid year yet, and I think we're going to accomplish it in less time per day. It's just so darn efficiently organized, IMO. I will be using Core 1 for both boys (who will be 9 and 5). I struggled with the decision, wondering if core 1 would be too easy, but I don't think it is. They will have different reader and LA levels. The history at Core 1 (now Core B) is more than I ever got in school.
