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LisaR
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| Posted: March 26 2009 at 9:11pm | IP Logged
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I don't want to intrude, but wanted to give a HUGE thumbs up for DIDACHE series.
DS Joe uses this in his Catholic High School, and we have all benefitted from these awesome books!
He used Scripture for 9th and is using Church History for 10th grade this year.
WOW. really a treasure!!
also, as a former Sonlighter, I am totally puzzled. I got the catalog today and no mention of him, just Sarita and her kids. what happened to John H.??
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
Paul 14
Thomas 11
Dominic 8
Maria Gianna 5
Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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Donna Marie
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I am so interested in what you have to say...I am trying, in my randomly distracted post-partum brain, to put together for my firstborn what should be included in a high school curricula. It is making me kinda  IYKWIM
The twins have a slight learning issue and it makes it harder to plan for them being that they are trying to "catch up" in a few areas. I am trying hard not to listen to the guilty voice in my head that always tries me to see if I am doing enough. hmmm
FWIW... I plan on using EPIC and the Didache Church History book next year....and I am plugging in many books into that...I am still trying to break things down into a reasonable workload.
Speaking of lit guides...do you recommend any of the guides for highschool that they have at CHC?
thank you for all you have shared so far...I really appreciate the conversation!
God love you,
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 8dc!!
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God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 9dc!!
Finding Elegant Simplicity
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Martha
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Quote:
| There are quite a few lectures on CD/DVD now as well and much more information on historical context. |
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see now, I feel like the only person on earth with somekids that do NOT do well with CD/DVDs? :(
I really prefer paper! 
Donna Marie wrote:
| I am so interested in what you have to say...I am trying, in my randomly distracted post-partum brain, to put together for my firstborn what should be included in a high school curricula. It is making me kinda IYKWIM |
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I know EXACTLY what you mean because I'm in the exact same boat! 
Quote:
| The twins have a slight learning issue and it makes it harder to plan for them being that they are trying to "catch up" in a few areas. I am trying hard not to listen to the guilty voice in my head that always tries me to see if I am doing enough. hmmm |
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yep. I have the same whispering going on in mine too.
and yet you tempt me with this!
Quote:
FWIW... I plan on using EPIC |
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do tell me more! have you gotten already? do you like it? how is it laid out?
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Martha
mama to 7 boys & 4 girls
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Martha
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| Posted: March 26 2009 at 10:01pm | IP Logged
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I really want the hillside great catholic books lit guides. anyone have any negatives about them? or just general suggestions?
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Martha
mama to 7 boys & 4 girls
Yes, they're all ours!
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Willa
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| Posted: March 26 2009 at 11:12pm | IP Logged
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Martha wrote:
see now, I feel like the only person on earth with some kids that do NOT do well with CD/DVDs? :(
I really prefer paper! |
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My family is the same. They dislike learning from CDs/DVDs, and I too prefer books and paper. So you're not the only ones. 
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AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
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Erin
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Would I be able to ask for a link to Didache please? My favourite booksellers have different books and I'm not sure which one I'm looking for.
Loving the discussion, actually I forgot for Americans highschool is for 9th grade up  (Highschool here is 7th-12th) Anyhow this is great as I'm considering for my 10th grader and maybe 8th. Although currently my 10th grader is using the Serendipity American History and Geography as a launching pad and pretty much designing her own curriculum. But I was really intrigued with Sonlight's literature. Has anyone experience with the British Literature core? I think it for 11th grade.
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Erin
Faith Filled Days
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Bookswithtea
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LisaR wrote:
I don't want to intrude, but wanted to give a HUGE thumbs up for DIDACHE series.
DS Joe uses this in his Catholic High School, and we have all benefitted from these awesome books!
He used Scripture for 9th and is using Church History for 10th grade this year.
WOW. really a treasure!!
also, as a former Sonlighter, I am totally puzzled. I got the catalog today and no mention of him, just Sarita and her kids. what happened to John H.?? |
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I haven't seen them yet, but I know our parish is using them for high school ccd.
Can anyone tell me if they are really textbooky, or if they bear any resemblance at all to the Fr. Laux texts???
Lisa, John's been moving out of the public eye in the catalogue for the last few years. He's still a presence on the forums (sometimes participates on LLL) but Sarita is definitely the front person now.
I enjoyed the new catalogue last night. It was streamlined and funny enough, it reminded me a lot of the old old old paper catalogues that I miss from the 90's.
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Blessings,
~Books
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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Bookswithtea wrote:
Can anyone tell me if they are really textbooky, or if they bear any resemblance at all to the Fr. Laux texts??? |
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They're big and crammed with information. And they are laid out like a textbook. What saves them and nudges them towards "living book" is that I can "hear" Scott Hahn's voice. he has definitely breathed his passion into the series.
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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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stellamaris
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Erin,you can go to Ignatius Press to buy Understanding the Scriptures. Lurking here, but we've used Sonlight during highschool in the past. I love their real books and discussion ideas, but I think in general the level of reading for the upper high school grades is too low. There's a lot of contemporary material, and not enough serious classical material. Drawing from Kolbe's literature/history curriculum would really beef it up. Has anyone ever considered putting together something like Kolbe, but with a more detailed and unified plan and a few high-interest books such as Sonlight uses?
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In Christ,
Caroline
Wife to dh 30+ yrs,ds's 83,85,89,dd's 91,95,ds's 01,01,02,grammy to 4
Flowing Streams
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Bookswithtea
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Donna Marie wrote:
I am trying hard not to listen to the guilty voice in my head that always tries me to see if I am doing enough. hmmm |
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No guilt allowed. 
If you decide you want to give Sonlight a try, I think using SL with children who are struggling is sometimes a great option, because of the wide age range for each core. Core 6 could be very stressful to a 6th grader, but really instill confidence in a high schooler because it wouldn't feel overwhelming, and the content is still high school level. What drew me into considering SL for high school was one of my girls who read late and just struggles more than my others. She may do 6, 7, and 100 for her high school years, if it turns out she doesn't make a jump. I would feel confident that she knew what she needed to know using those three (Catholicizing them, of course).
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Carole N.
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I am following this discussion with great interest. I have not used SL or Kolbe, but I am acquainted with both programs.
Books, we also use the Didache. All I can say is that my ds (16) loves it. He loves history/theology anyway, so this just adds to his enjoyment of learning. Scott Hahn did an excellent job. We completed Scriptures in the 9th grade and are now working through Church History. I am taking this more slowly. It is jam packed with information and the chapters are quite long, but they are divided into manageable sections. My ds looks forward to reading and discussing each section, then I test him after he completes the chapter (mostly so I can give him a grade).
Since I am a convert to the faith, I have also learned a lot from these books. They are well written and beautifully illustrated. I cannot recommend them highly enough.
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stellamaris
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One of the great aspects of Sonlight in the lower grades is the option to have more or less advanced reading choices. My twins have some learning issues, and I would love it if the upper grades had that same option. It would be great to cover the same material, but with slightly easier or harder books, depending on the child.
Elizabeth, the Didache books are textbook-y in that they cover a lot of material in an overview style. But they also have tons of pictures, maps, timelines, and great discussion/thinking questions that can be used as starters. They have a lot of reference to the CCC. They would be useful as a spine for basic reference info and orientation to the subject, and if you couldn't add anything to them, they would still be a sufficiently thorough coverage of the subject. I wouldn't compare them to Fr. Laux's books at all-much more interesting, engaging, and current.
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In Christ,
Caroline
Wife to dh 30+ yrs,ds's 83,85,89,dd's 91,95,ds's 01,01,02,grammy to 4
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Bookswithtea
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Well, I am a huge Hahn fan. It was his conversion story that originally sparked dh's and mine. I'm going to see if I can find someone at church who wouldn't mind letting me take a look at a copy.
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Blessings,
~Books
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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stellamaris wrote:
| One of the great aspects of Sonlight in the lower grades is the option to have more or less advanced reading choices. My twins have some learning issues, and I would love it if the upper grades had that same option. It would be great to cover the same material, but with slightly easier or harder books, depending on the child. . |
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You can do that, though, by using a lower core. 7 covers a broader time period than 300, but both cover the 20th century, for example.
stellamaris wrote:
| I wouldn't compare them to Fr. Laux's books at all-much more interesting, engaging, and current. |
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Well, that's a relief. I know these books are popular, but I just don't care for them at all.
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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KackyK
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My dd 8th grade is using the Intro to Catholicism book in a weekly homeschool co-op class. She says it's very informative, but is a bit dry, as she said, like a textbook. We purchased our copy (and there are workbooks but she didn't use that in her class) from Adoremus You can usually find a coupon for them (like 10% off or free shipping).
We've done Kolbe for the middle school years. I do a lot of changing it up. I wanted to continue into high school but I've been really nervous about Kolbe's literature and history. My dd can be hard to motivate sometimes, the mere fact that something is assigned doesn't do it for her , and what Kolbe has for the hs years in those subjects seem daunting. I hadn't considered SL until seeing this thread.
So here are my questions:
1-has anyone done the SL plans (or at least some of them) and still recorded the grade with Kolbe? did that make sense? We will stick with Kolbe science (we've really liked that and dh is a scientist and the Prentice Hall books are right up his alley, he has pretty much disliked everything else we have ever shown him) and math
2-I've never done any SL before, so do the guides lay it out like do this on Monday, this on Tuesday, so on and so forth...or is it do this over the course of week 3?
3-Books, my whole family, is strongly Protestant. I liked what you mentioned above (sorry I'm not good at figuring out the quote thing) working through the more Protestant books so as to be able to juxtapose them with Catholic teaching. I'm very interested in doing that as well. My family seems to have one of everyone (hehe) strong Methodists, Episcopals, Presbyterians and strongest of all So.Baptists who won't even let me talk about how to cook let alone mention religion. My oldest dc are seeing this and I can tell get a bit nervous around them. My dc have done a good job with apologetics, but I think it is really important too to understand where the Protestants are coming from too. kwim?
Okay, long enough for now...I'll be back with more ???s I'm sure!
Thanks ladies for this thread!
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KackyK
Mom to 8 - 3 dd, 5ds & 4 babes in heaven
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Natalia
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Re. the Didache series, we used the Understanding Scripture last year and it is a great textbook but, it is still a textbook. I liked it but my dd found it pretty but dry.We have done a lot better with using Elizabeth's confirmation list.
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Natalia
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MarilynW
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KackyK wrote:
1-has anyone done the SL plans (or at least some of them) and still recorded the grade with Kolbe? |
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Kacky - as far as I know Kolbe is very flexible. I have a friend who does a mixture of Kolbe, MODG, Sonlight and NOVA classes - and her dd is graduating with a Kolbe transcript.
Everyone LOVES Sonlight in our home. I am happy for the elementary grades - but have some reservations for high school. We always use their reading lists through the year. BUT I am learning in all humility that I may need some handholding through the high school years - I am realizing that next year with a newborn, toddler, 5 year old as well as older children, I cannot spend hours and hours planning and writing up schedules. I also think that for high school I need my children to be strong in the basics of Math, Writing and Grammar. They are all avid readers - would do this all day long if left to their own devices. But they need to focus on a lot of the other disciplines - and then there is the college question - they need to be equipped to enter college.
My dd will most probably be starting high school next year - she has been very proactive - has done a spreadsheet comparing the major high school options - Kolbe, Seton, MODG, Sonlight, STAA - and then discussed with me what she wants to do. I think I have made the decision not to do the transcript by myself. So we are going to enroll somewhere. DD has written herself a plan which has structured programs for Math, Relgion, Grammar and Writing - but leaves her a lot of room for electives and reading.
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Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God
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Elizabeth
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stellamaris wrote:
Elizabeth, the Didache books are textbook-y in that they cover a lot of material in an overview style. But they also have tons of pictures, maps, timelines, and great discussion/thinking questions that can be used as starters. They have a lot of reference to the CCC. They would be useful as a spine for basic reference info and orientation to the subject, and if you couldn't add anything to them, they would still be a sufficiently thorough coverage of the subject. I wouldn't compare them to Fr. Laux's books at all-much more interesting, engaging, and current. |
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I don't think they're at all like Fr. Laux's books. Bookswithtea asked me to compare the two. I do think they're like textbooks in that they are fairly encyclopedic in scope, but I said that they read like a living book. One of the hallmarks of a living books is that the author is passionate and you can hear his voice. As I said, you can hear Scott Hahn and there's not doubt he's passionate.
Sorry if my earlier post didn't make that clear.
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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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LisaR
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Elizabeth wrote:
One of the hallmarks of a living books is that the author is passionate and you can hear his voice. As I said, you can hear Scott Hahn and there's not doubt he's passionate.
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passionate is a great way to describe the voice.
my sons are visual learners and passionate, and this text has sparked some great enthusiasm at the dinner table with their dad, and they enjoy the lavish artwork, maps, etc.
we own the texts at home (they are large!) and ds keeps his school-issued one in his locker, as do some other kids, so our home also ends up being "homework central" for the neighbor kids who were too lazy to lug their own book home!!
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
Paul 14
Thomas 11
Dominic 8
Maria Gianna 5
Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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stellamaris
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Oops, Elizabeth, I directed my comments on the Didache series to you but I was actually responding to Books! Thanks for the further discussion, though.
On transcripts for high school, I have found this pretty difficult to do. It is really important to keep a careful record of courses, texts/books used, grades,etc. Some colleges asked for a reading list for the entire high school period, others wanted detailed syllabi for the courses we did. I can't emphasize enough keeping the records carefully! If you can get a transcript through Kolbe, Seton, or some other acknowledged organization, it would be a huge help when it is time to apply to colleges.
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In Christ,
Caroline
Wife to dh 30+ yrs,ds's 83,85,89,dd's 91,95,ds's 01,01,02,grammy to 4
Flowing Streams
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4Real Forums : High School Years and Beyond
Topic: Sonlight for High School
