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Oct. 15, 2008

Product review--Sonlight Cores (Bible, history, literature)

Posted in Reviews
Sonlight—Cores (Bible, History, Literature) an overview

Our main curriculum is Sonlight.  We have been using SL from the very beginning, back when K was only 2.5 years old.  I had done some reading and research and knew that I liked the classical and Charlotte Mason type style, something with a strong emphasis on reading and writing.  Something that did not involve a lot of workbooks or textbooky type things.  Something academically strong.

I had originally been sold on The Well Trained Mind method in theory but in real life, it was just daunting to have to gather up all those materials and make up your own schedule and do everything from scratch.  Somehow, I ended up with a SL catalog, from 2001, and after just browsing at it, I was sold. 

What sold me?  First off, just peeking at all the great books that I would be able to read to my kids throughout the years, in particular, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, The Wheel on the School, and To Kill a Mockingbird among others.  And the opportunity to read books that I had always wanted to read growing up but never had a chance to.   Then there was the fact that everything was all put together—instructor’s guides with full schedules for every subject plus all the books that you need.  It seemed to me that it was the best of everything for me—the living books/classical/CM approach without the work of having to piece it all together myself!!

So after using SL for nearly 7 years, and having gone through Cores PreK through Core 3 (and in the midst of doing Core 4), what do I think about SL?

It has been everything that we had wanted and more!  The books that I had wanted to read were phenomenal, but best of all, there have been books completely unknown to me that I fell in love with.  Titles like Understood Betsy, The Year of Miss Agnes, Moccasin Trail, Detectives in Yogas, and  Red Sails to Capri.  And again, those are just a few!  We have read great classics and high quality fun books and there really have not been any that we didn’t at least like and most we loved.  The history books are also fantastic and the “texts” used are not too textbooky. 

We have also really loved the “warts and all” approach—reading many different perspectives on historical events.  We have had many wonderful discussions about racism, classicism, what a Christian view would be, and how the past relates to the present and future.  I have been so impressed by how much the kids retain, the stories they remember, and more importantly, the richness of their education. 

And interestingly enough, Daddy has gotten into the books as well!  He does about a third of the schooling for the kids and has read and enjoyed quite a few of the books.  He had always said that he never liked history, and yet, when we were doing Child’s History of the World, he liked it so much that he started reading it from the beginning for himself.

So needless to say, this is a raving review of SL’s Cores!   

Go check them out!  The website has great information and includes user forums which have proven to be an invaluable source of information and support for me!

God bless,
A.H.
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HELLO!!! This blog is a place for us to publish some of our children's work and just to journal our amazing educational journey.

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