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Martha in VA
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| Posted: March 26 2009 at 7:44am | IP Logged
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Elizabeth wrote:
I think that Sonlight for high school with Didache is topnotch. It's literature-based and well planned. It's my plan for my next bunch to be highschoolers. I used almost all the Sonlight booklists, with my own spin for my first child. It was too academic for my second child. I'll add Catholic saints' biographies and classics (like Chesterton), but pretty much use Sonlight for the next bunch. We'll start highschool with Patrick next fall and then have a new highschooler every two years for a long while. I've been well-pleased with doing lab sciences at the community college for dual enrollment credit, so I'll not use Apologia (I think that's what Sonlight uses). And I'll use Teaching Textbooks for math. I think they all need the high school level IEW...
..being interrupted by child who will be high school class of 2026 ( or thereabouts)... |
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I am really excited to hear that some of you are finding Sonlight to be a good option for highschool. Elizabeth, could you share which Cores you plan to do during highschool? And you just line up the Didache when each as you go?
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Bookswithtea
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MommyD wrote:
Hmmm.....
What readers would I use? My DS8 is a great reader; I had planned for him to use Readers 2 Advanced. DD6 is a motivated, struggling reader and I was planning on her using 2 Beginner, which I think she'll be ready for in the fall.
If I went with Core 1 next year (DS 3rd, DD 2nd), Core 2 next (DS 4th, DD 3rd), what readers would they use? Don't the readers start to tie in to History in Core 3 so we couldn't do Core 3 readers until we were in Core 3, right  ?? |
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When you say, "Great reader", can you give us an example of what level he's at? Readers 2 advanced is definitely 5th grade level. I think "3rd-5th" for that designation is, ummmm...not your typical 3rd or 4th grader. These books are harder than the Little House books, for example. If he's ready for 2nd Advanced, then that would work fine to do along with any core below core 3. After that, leave the sets to work with their cores.
If that means you have to fill in with other readers for a year, I have found that to be easy enough. I have had to do that more than once, as a matter of fact, as I have kids who cannot make the jump from 2nd Int. to 2nd advanced right away. I've also had one that needed a set of readers before we did core 3. I harvested from Bethlehem books extensive catalogue and used Intermediate Language Lessons with her until I was ready to start core 3. This worked just fine.
I think the one thing about Sonlight that regular SLers do a lot is tweak, add/subtract, and otherwise individualize to their children. That runs counter to SL's advertising of "never having to plan a thing" but honestly, I think its important to let prospective SLers know that most families do still need to make changes. If you spend any amount of time on the SL forums, you will see extensive lists of other curricula families use in their sig. lines.
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: March 26 2009 at 7:53am | IP Logged
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I wanted to add that I've really liked Kolbe's novel guides. As much as I can, I'd like to follow Sonlight's plan but use Kolbe's guides when the books are in common. Does that make sense? Kolbe's guides are better--more informative, more directed, more Catholic. So, whenever a Sonlight book is in a Kolbe guide, I'd use the Kolbe guide. I just can't get kolbe to fit us overall. They're changing quite a bit lately, though, so it might be that ultimately it's more Kolbe and less Sonlight.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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sarahb
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Elizabeth, what will you do for the core about church history? I think its core 200?
Im freaking out about teaching textbooks again. I just read the description for Horizons Math 6 and compared it to TT6 and thought about what the WTM people are always saying about TT being so far behind grade level... Trying to remind myself that they are not me and that they are not right and I am not wrong.
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: March 26 2009 at 8:16am | IP Logged
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Erin wrote:
Well like Mommy D, I'm looking too, I'm tired of planning.
What do you think of Sonlight for highschoolers? |
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I like it.  Its my plan for the next three children.
(Elizabeth, we should talk about this if we are planning similarly!)
I should say that I also think that its very ok to use lower level cores with high schoolers (from 6 on up) if history is not their passion.
My oldest dd is working through my slightly modified version of core 5 for 7th grade, completely independently. I'm considering using core 7 for 9th grade, core 100 for 10th, and then doing the British Lit along with some extras in order to make it a british history as well (maybe MODG?) and a year of Govt/Econ...maybe SL without the Rushdoonie/Ollie North books, but not sure. I haven't seen that one. Or I may tackle modifying core 200 with Didache, and add some British Lit into that, instead.
Elizabeth, I know you've seen most of the books/manuals. I have a question for you. The one concern I have about using SL for high school is that except for the highest 2 cores (Gov't/British Lit), the literature is still historical fiction, and its wonderful, but its not *classic* literature. Are you at all concerned about that?
I will say that I *love* the integrated language arts in the high school levels. Actually, I really disliked the old SL language arts, but I like the newer Ruth Beechick modified sets quite a lot, even at the lower levels. DD is using LA 5 right now and we are doing it exactly as written (something I've never done before). As a strong reader and student who is 12, she is able to do most of it on her own and likes it much better than ILL/Lingua Mater, which are the other programs I use for middle school. I like John's focus on writing style *much* better than what ds did for Seton (just not my style), and dd likes the variety from day to day. Ds likes tests and wants to feel that his school measures up to what traditionally schooled children are doing (as in, it *looks* the same ). DD is happy with something that has that out of the box feel.
I owned core 300 for a month or two before we went it back as ds did Seton 10 instead (I also love SL's return policy!  ). I preread several books and poured over the manual for many hours. I love love love history, and I really liked the whole thing. But I would caution with this core if you have sensitive children. The focus on atrocity is tremendous, including women's fears of r@pe in times of war.  The reader on Vietnam was extremely profane, graphic, and realistic. Personally, I would have happily let ds read the books for this core. He has an interest in the military and is very much an outdoorsy type. He would have been fine and I was very happy with what was in the manual. But I am not excited about my dd's reading these books. I think I'd rather have them do core 7, which covers the same material but not at that graphic level. I hope it doesn't sound terribly gender stereotypical  , but I would almost feel comfortable saying, core 300 for most boys/core 7 for most girls.
I have also found the forums to be incredibly useful when I am using a core. They have discussion forums for each core, and by reading along, other moms will warn you about boring or explicit books, tell you when pbs is running a special that will go along great with week 23, give you recipes for the countries you are studying, and generally make using the core much easier. I'm not a high post-er over there like Cactus Mouse, but I do visit weekly.
We use either Teaching Textbooks or Math U See for high school math, and we won't be using SL's high school science since they use Apologia, which we really dislike. I am still looking for the perfect high school science curriculum...
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Blessings,
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Bookswithtea
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sarahb wrote:
Elizabeth, what will you do for the core about church history? I think its core 200?
Im freaking out about teaching textbooks again. I just read the description for Horizons Math 6 and compared it to TT6 and thought about what the WTM people are always saying about TT being so far behind grade level... Trying to remind myself that they are not me and that they are not right and I am not wrong. |
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Not Elizabeth, and I don't read at WTM, but I have read the extensive criticisms of TT at SL, so I am guessing they are similar. If your child is geared to a math career, then I guess TT might not be the best choice? But I don't think its as bad as those folks make it out to be. Ds just took our state's math graduation standardized test, and he passed every practice test online with flying colors. He has completed Alg 1 and is 2/3's the way through geometry. I have noticed that most of the moms who are especially critical of TT are math geniuses in their own right, which is something I think is worth keeping in mind. 
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Natalia
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| Posted: March 26 2009 at 8:24am | IP Logged
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Bookswithtea wrote:
| I am still looking for the perfect high school science curriculum... |
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Let me know if you find it. We dislike Apologia here too but the program we are using uses it (sigh). We haven't substitute because I haven't found anything else. For next year, I am thinking about sending our dd to the community college for her science and math.
We used TT with her and I am just not sure that she knows her math well. (not sure whose fault is that, the program's, the student's or her mom's)
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: March 26 2009 at 8:31am | IP Logged
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Natalia wrote:
Let me know if you find it. We dislike Apologia here too but the program we are using uses it (sigh). We haven't substitute because I haven't found anything else. For next year, I am thinking about sending our dd to the community college for her science and math.
We used TT with her and I am just not sure that she knows her math well. (not sure whose fault is that, the program's, the student's or her mom's) |
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http://www.scienceforhighschool.com/
I'm thinking about trying this. I talked with the author via email a few times and liked what I heard. I wish I was the type who could put something together with some good dvd's, a ton of field trips and literature, but alas, I do not have enough enthusiasm for science to even try. Its not a favorite subject of mine. I keep hoping MacBeth will write the perfect science curriculum! 
Nice to e-see you, Natalia!
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Blessings,
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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sarahb
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| Posted: March 26 2009 at 8:39am | IP Logged
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Thanks for the reassurance about TT. I need it!
I didnt address the OP at all and I wanted to say that we have loved every SL core we have done- 1+2 with a 8 and 5 yo, 3 with a 9 and 6, 4 with 10 and 7 yos. and now a modified core 5 with 8 and 11.
Until this year we have needed minimal tweaking and it has been very much open and go. We always add stuff from the library and a few minutes on the net yield wonderful ideas on how to make it work for the whole family. I haevnt found it to be hard to keep up at all, except core 4 and we moved twice while doing that core.
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Elizabeth
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Bookswithtea wrote:
I like it. Its my plan for the next three children.
(Elizabeth, we should talk about this if we are planning similarly!) |
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Let's move this part of the discussion to the high school forum. I love to talk Sonlight with Bookswithtea--we've a lot of history together and it's all good.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: March 26 2009 at 11:40am | IP Logged
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Elizabeth wrote:
Bookswithtea wrote:
I like it. Its my plan for the next three children.
(Elizabeth, we should talk about this if we are planning similarly!) |
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Let's move this part of the discussion to the high school forum. I love to talk Sonlight with Bookswithtea--we've a lot of history together and it's all good. |
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OK, I'm starting a new thread...
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Blessings,
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Martha
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| Posted: March 26 2009 at 11:40am | IP Logged
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Quote:
| I wanted to add that I've really liked Kolbe's novel guides. As much as I can, |
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do you mean the course plans of rlit and history? i just bought 9th grade kolbe history and lit and didn't see any guides mentioned? it comes with this skinny little test booklet thingy, but surely that is not a "guide"?
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: March 26 2009 at 11:47am | IP Logged
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Martha wrote:
Quote:
| I wanted to add that I've really liked Kolbe's novel guides. As much as I can, |
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do you mean the course plans of rlit and history? i just bought 9th grade kolbe history and lit and didn't see any guides mentioned? it comes with this skinny little test booklet thingy, but surely that is not a "guide"? |
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nak
no i mean the jr. high lit guide and the saints bio guide. many of those books are easily high school level. sorry for my lack of clarity. i hope kolbe comes up with similar literature guides for high school.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Martha
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Quote:
nak
no i mean the jr. high lit guide and the saints bio guide. many of those books are easily high school level. sorry for my lack of clarity. i hope kolbe comes up with similar literature guides for high school. |
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ahhh. enlightened now. thanks. 
what is you like about the middle school lit guides? I saw the online sample and didn't think it was really all that much for the price, but sometimes the samples really aren't the best.
I didn't get the 9th grade lit course plans, but if they are anything like the history plans, I regret it. The greek history plans are very much in depth guides to the books he will be reading. And the writing assignments are very good imho.
oh and kolbe is revamping and updating their entire program for highschool and middle school. this is the first time I've ever given them a second look, much less left like spending my money there. so far it looks like they are really going to be an amazing highschool program.
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Martha
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Elizabeth
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Martha wrote:
Quote:
nak
no i mean the jr. high lit guide and the saints bio guide. many of those books are easily high school level. sorry for my lack of clarity. i hope kolbe comes up with similar literature guides for high school. |
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ahhh. enlightened now. thanks.
what is you like about the middle school lit guides? I saw the online sample and didn't think it was really all that much for the price, but sometimes the samples really aren't the best.
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Martha,
I answered you here
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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amarytbc
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| Posted: March 27 2009 at 8:11am | IP Logged
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Elizabeth wrote:
| I wanted to add that I've really liked Kolbe's novel guides. As much as I can, I'd like to follow Sonlight's plan but use Kolbe's guides when the books are in common. |
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Which books/guides? We bought some of Kolbe's guides for 11th and 12th this year on another recommendation and were terribly disappointed not to mentioned surprised. I was expecting something socratic and with a little philosophical depth. They were almost entirely comprehension based with no real depth. Although I'm not a big fan of Seton, the discussion questions in their high school literature plans have much more depth and more of a socratic approach than Kolbe's. We found NI for high school sold by Hillside to be a much higher quality than Kolbe too.
edited to add: I just saw the last post about the jr. high guides. No need to respond.
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stacykay
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sarahb wrote:
Thanks for the reassurance about TT. I need it!.............
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I am really enjoying this thread, because I am joining the ranks of not wanting to do all the planning on my own, but have been plain-old confused when searching SL's catalogue and trying to figure it all out. I have been vacillating b/t that and WP.
But, the reason I am jumping in here, is the TT- my 14ds did the 7th grade TT last year, after finishing Saxon 6/5 and being totally tired of it. He placed at a 10.6 grade level on the high school placement test this past fall. So, I am not sure if it was the years of ABeka (k-2,) Saxon (3-6,) or the TT 7, but he is doing well. Also, he thinks that TT does a better job explaining than he thought Saxon did.
Now I am going to print out the SL info, jump over to Kolbe, and sit with all that and WP to figure out our next year. That's all the planning I can handle!
God Bless,
Stacy in MI
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: March 27 2009 at 9:29am | IP Logged
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stacykay wrote:
But, the reason I am jumping in here, is the TT- my 14ds did the 7th grade TT last year, after finishing Saxon 6/5 and being totally tired of it. He placed at a 10.6 grade level on the high school placement test this past fall. So, I am not sure if it was the years of ABeka (k-2,) Saxon (3-6,) or the TT 7, but he is doing well. Also, he thinks that TT does a better job explaining than he thought Saxon did.
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Thanks Stacy! You just made the day of my TT 7 kid
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Looking for Catholic, lit. based, boxed
