♦ We received our Sonlight order for next year! The smell of new books is wonderful. We will be studying American History {except for those in High school}. The younger set will be using Core D. The older ones will be using Core 100.
♦ We don’t have enough room for all our books! I had to buy a new bookshelf and do a bunch of rearranging which included moving books up and down the stairs. I am almost done though {{breathing a sigh of relief}} It’s exhausting hauling boxes of books around!
♦ Tomorrow is Wordfull Wednesday. It’s a silly one. Write about your favorite pair of shoes. Where have they taken you? What adventures have you had in them? Write a blog post and link up tomorrow.
♦ Here are the winners of the Edwardian Aprons! Congrats to Amy A.F and Jennifer D.T. I’ve e-mailed you both so please check your spam folders if you don’t see it in your inbox.
♦ My favorite song to listen to lately. Gratitude by Nichole Nordeman.
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So is that how you handle Sonlight – breaking the kids into 2 groups? All kids younger than high school do the same history/science/etc and the older group stays together as well? I have been struggling to figure out how you’d be doing so many different levels at one time.
Yes, I break them up into similar age groups {two at this point} and go from there to do history, science, and geography. Math and language arts are on their own grade level.
Yay!!! Thank you so much!! I’m so excited to win the apron!! It will get much usage with me!!
I love books. We are going to try out Classical Conversations for 6th grade. I am excited to learn right along beside Jake. I love the topic for tomorrows Wordfull Wednesday. 🙂 I still love the Anne of Green Gables book that is actually a little place for hidden treasures and the Anne Shirley earrings I won from you blog last year…or maybe even the year before that! You have the best give aways.
I also really like Nicole Nordeman! I remember reading and liking Johnny Tremain and I adore Sarah Tall and Plain – did you see the Hallmark remake of it? Awesome. Can I come over when you hit the Incas, Aztecs and Mayans? My dad used to share tidbits about them with us. The geologist in him really enjoyed those cultures.
Those Sonlight books look neat! That’s what I’m thinking of doing for history for my kids next year. Everything else is pretty simple, but I have no clue what to do for history- and we love to read!
Another option to look at is the Beautiful Feet history guides. Those are just history and cheaper than Sonlight.
Ooh, I’m so glad I went back and looked at this post! I’ll have to look into that. I realized that to get the history I’d have to buy the whole instructor’s guide thing too- another $67! Yikes! Do you use their guides or just do your own thing? Also, have you ever used the history books they sell for younger kids like K-3? Core D looks neat but below that I’m not really sure about the books. Maybe I don’t really need to worry about history for a 1st grader and a Kindergartener except maybe teaching them about each holiday that comes up or something. Hmmmm….I’d love to hear your thoughts as you’ve been through many small children.
Holly, we also have Core B&C {combined}. I took it slow and used it for two years. I loved it! It is perfect for the 2-4th grade crowd but my younger ones enjoyed it as well. I do use the guides. It was the main reason we started using Sonlight. It got to be too much for me to plan everything for six kids {at the time}. Everything is planned out with the guides so it made my job much, much easier.
Before Sonlight we used Beautiful Feet Study Guides. It is a wonderful program as well. You don’t do history every day but 2-3 times a week. You can also stretch the program out to cover two years. Beautiful Feet sells all the books for a guide in a complete pack at a discounted price. For instance Early American History for K-3 Guide {$17.95} goes along with the Early American History Jumbo Pack {$209.95}. That’s $200 cheaper than Sonlight because Sonlight has twice as many books in their pack. Both programs are very good.
Ok, I’m gonna try to comment once more- I’ve been having trouble with it!
Just wanted to tell you your recommendation is an answer to my prayers! I zipped over to their site and looked around for only a minute and just got that overwhelming feeling that it was the perfect fit for us! So, thanks a million for the link. I’ve already purchased the K-3 Jumbo pack and we’re looking forward to getting started. Who knows- even I may actually learn to like history!
You know, I think a lot of your readers would enjoy a post with little reviews of all the homeschool curriculum you’ve tried and what you liked/didn’t like about it. I always love to hear from others before I buy something.
You’ll love Beautiful Feet! I just love learning history through real books…not textbooks.
And you read my mind! I have some curriculum reviews set up foe June. I figure the summer months will be good for those types of homeschool posts.
I love new books a reading. Do you have any tricks for getting boys to read. My boys will read, but only what they love.
Well…..my oldest boy is only 5 and just learning to read so I haven’t really encountered that problem…yet. My friend, Meg, posted a boys’ reading list that her kids {including her boys} helped put together. That might be a place to start. You could also leave a comment there and ask her advice. She might be able to help you out!
Here’s the boys’ reading list: http://beckysonceuponatime.blogspot.com/p/reading-list-boys.html
I have 3 boys and one VERY reluctant reader. For a few years I had to let that one just read what he loved. (and let me tell you, I am NOT a fan of Graphic novels…!)
As he got older, he grew to love other things, and now will read a little of everything, going back to the things he loves but still reading pretty much everything in front of him.
I like using the booklists from Sonlight for ideas. I love the booklists from Simply Charlotte Mason too. Yay for reading history!
Oh I LOVE the sonlight books! I hope someday in the fututre they sell them on ebook. (I simply have NO more room for MORE bookshelves! lol)
I longingly look at their website each year when planning the next…..just never seem to make it in time for their payment option. (I think it’s only offered once a year?!) Those books look like you’ll be having LOTS of fun reading! 🙂
They are extending their nine month payment plan option {the one I use} until the end of May.
http://www.sonlight.com/blog/2012/04/reminder-time-payments-dont-end-today.html
I am looking into doing Sonlight next year with my girls. I have heard the Language Arts isn’t that great. Can you give me your thoughts? Do you do any other curr. besides Sonlight?
I would have thought you had all of the Sonlight Cores by now. Do you have most? How many years have you used Sonlight?
We’ve used Sonlight for the past 4 years. This year we only bought Core D. I already have Cores B&C {combined} and Core 100. I stretched Core B&C out for two years. Then traded one year with my SIL who bought a different Core. That’s one way we save a little bit. We each buy different cores than trade for the next year. 🙂
Happy Box Day! [smile]
~Luke
I am trying out Sonlight this year as well. We don’t do American History, so we are trying out the World History ones. I am actually really excited about all the books I will have to find a home for! 🙂