Name: CHEC Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-12T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-14T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Denver, CO

Tagged: combining curriculums, History, Sonlight

This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 7 months ago by Janna McPhee.

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

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November 6, 2013 at 7:11 am
Janna McPhee
Participant
Hello! I am currently using Sonlight Core A with my ds7 and dd(4.5). I also have a dd(2.5) and would like to study history as a family, instead of having my youngest end up doing a core separately from her siblings. I LOVE SCM & have been checking out the history module samples this past week – I would definitely be excited to use them for our family! I also love the Sonlight book selections – history, read-alouds & readers. Does anyone add SL to SCM? How do you do it? Any tips or insights? Thanks so much!
November 6, 2013 at 3:05 pm
sheraz
Participant
I don’t use Sonlight, but enjoy looking at their lists. 😉
I have found in the last few years that adding things in is easier if I choose one book (like the SCM guide) to be my “spine” or main book we use. Then, using the lesson titles and subject matter, I simply pencil in books/dvds that fit that lesson or topic.
It makes it easy to remind myself of the books we have and when to use them.
November 6, 2013 at 4:43 pm
momto2blessings
Participant
I agree w/Sheraz. I use the SCM Handbook as my guide…it’s laid out very well and is cheap:) And there’s plenty of space in the margins to jot down notes of what you’d like to add. I add in Truthquest commentary pages or history movies in the correlating margins and it’s easy to plan and not overwhelming on the schedule. I also scan other literature lists and pick favorites from SCM and those lists..so there’s definitely room to adjust books to meet your families needs!
November 6, 2013 at 8:07 pm
blue j
Participant
I use SL’s lists to add in where I want them. Many of the books become our family read-aloud which is separate from the family history, etc. of CM for us. I also add in a book here or there for history, re-arranging the reading schedule slightly at times or simply adding in a bit of additional reading depending upon the book and the child. I also add in “readers” which are different from the history reading they do on their own. The additional reading, in our home, often involves books that I will use to for graduation requirements like Brit Lit., English Lit., etc. as well as/ or adding more to their history studies.
Does that help?
November 7, 2013 at 1:20 pm
Janna McPhee
Participant
Thank you ladies!! Very helpful to hear your responses! I like the idea of penciling in extra book/dvd options in the margins & it’s encouraging to hear of others that supplement SCM with SL books.
So… are you happy with the reading selections in the SCM guides? I honestly had thought I’d be “Sonlighting it” for the whole of our homeschool journey, so I’ve pretty thoroughly checked out their book lists & feel like I’d really enjoy using their picks. I haven’t come across a lot of the titles that SCM uses, so I’d love some opinions from those who have used the history guides – what titles you really like/don’t like & why, etc.
I *think* I’d plan on starting with Module 1 – Ancient Egypt, etc. for next year. My son will be in gr. 3 and my daughter will be in gr. 1. I’ve already bought SL Core B (pre-purchased because we are serving overseas), & I think a lot of the history books in this core could be added to Modules 1-3 since it covers Creation to the fall of Rome. Would Hillyer’s “A Child’s History of the World” be a good addition to Modules 1-3? (I haven’t checked this one out yet, but it is the spine for SL cores B & C.)
For the SL read-alouds, I’m guessing that we’d just read these at our own pace or switch some out for other literature titles that we’d like instead – I’m liking the idea of that freedom/flexibility! And for the readers, I’ve already moved from following SL’s LA to more CM methods – having ds7 read & narrate daily, as well as practice handwriting & do copywork/transcription for the writing element of LA… Am I on track? Does it sound like switching over to SCM & still using a lot of SL books will work for us?? Thanks for your input!! 🙂

November 7, 2013 at 3:31 pm
sheraz
Participant
While I personally haven’t run across a book that we disliked enough not to use from SCM – we love most of them, I will be honest about what you are talking about in your last post.
If you already like and have the Sonlight selections, don’t complicate your life trying to do two spines. It adds unnecessary stress to your homeschool life. Charlotte’s methods are not resticted to one set of books. If you have living books that you like, simply create your list to read and use the methods to make it work and be enjoyable for you. Trying to cram two complete programs together is going to suck the joy of school (and potentially out of studying history) for your family.
There are two ways that I have done it:
1. Make a list of all available books, try to keep them in chronological order.
OR
2. Simply make a list of the Table of Content (chapter titles) in a computer document.
- Gather all pertinent books, art, movies, etc. that could be used to enhance our studies.
- With the TOC document open, I take one additional resource and type in where and how to use it based on the subject of the chapters. I will continue until I have listed all the resources that would make a good study for each chapter in the spine. This is when I discover what is a good resource and what isn’t going to work as well as I thought. Those become extra books. Also, some spine chapters will not have additional stuff. That’s okay, too.
- I will save and print the document. Each time we do the subject, I will pull it out and refresh my mind of the resources I have. Sometimes I use them all, sometimes I only pull one thing from my list – but I know that I am not missing something I really wanted to share.
My youngest set of kids are 5 and 6 yo. I could do the first suggestion with them easily and they would learn a lot.
My older set of kids are 12 and 13. I could do either suggestion with CM methods.
However, for me, while the second suggestion is a little more time consuming, it is so helpful to use with my older kids because all my reources are lined up in a row to be used in interest-led questions, for additional clarification, or to help them realise that history is neat, real, important, and relavent to us today. Plus, I can re-use it for my younger set, lol.
November 8, 2013 at 12:51 pm
Janna McPhee
Participant
Thank you Sheraz! I like your ideas of how to organize the available books, etc. I’ll definitely be doing this!
I want to switch over to SCM because I want to school all my children as a family as much as I can, but also because I want “less to do” (and in a sense “more to do”, having time for enjoying art, language, music, etc.)- the simpler but rich education that CM style offers…
The more time passes & the more I think through everything, I’m feeling more comfortable with letting SL go – not completely, because I still love their book selections, but just relaxing in a CM education & pullling in extras when it works for our family. I think a little work on the front end – writing in what extras I’d like to have on hand in the Table of Contents is a great way to make sure I have what I’d like available. When it comes to those actual lessons, I can bring in extras if we’re feeling up for more that week, or I can just be satisfied with what SCM offers us & enjoy rolling with whatever life is bringing us at that time… *Exhale* Loving His leading… 🙂