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If you switched from Sonlight..
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Hello! We are in our fourth year using Sonlight for History and Language Arts. I love all of the books, and do not feel it is too much reading overall. I do skip books as I see fit, which helps. We are currently studying early American History, and I’m considering switching to the SCM’s Modern guide to finish American History next year. My only true complaint with Sonlight history is that the spine (for this year) is textbookish, and the read aloud books, though interesting, seem to be on the more difficult end for the age range suggested. If you have switched from Sonlight to SCM, how did you feel about the spine and books suggested for the ages of your children? Do you feel they are dry or too difficult to understand compared to Sonlight? I have looked fairly extensively at the samples, and understand there are family books, in addition to age-appropriate books. I simply don’t want to switch programs to run into the same problem, because Sonlight does have a lot of great books that I’m hesitant to leave behind. The Modern books look interesting overall, but I’d also like thoughts on spines/books from other modules, as I’d like to stick with one program or the other.
Secondly, for those who have used Sonlight LA, and have switched to ULW and Spelling Wisdom, are you happy with the switch? Do you have any regrets about leaving Sonlight? I have started LA when my children started second grade, and now regret it after becoming more familiar with Charlotte’s methods. I’m seriously considering switching programs in this department, regardless of what I do with our history program. For the record, my school aged children are 8 and 10.
Thank you! 🙂
I found the spines when I looked at samples of SCM were horrible. Did you look at the spine’s samples? Geography also looked pretty dry for SCM. If you are happy overall with sonlight, maybe get some of the books that are recommended for scm to add some variety?
I have not found SCM to be dry at all. We really enjoyed Ancient Egypt and Her Neighbors. And the non-spine books have been great, too. SCM’s Geography was very engaging for my kids. But I’ve never used Sonlight. I’m more CM than classical, but I borrow books from Sonlight’s booklist. 🙂
We have thoroughly enjoyed all the SCM history guides and did not find the books dry but rather engaging. What I really like about the SCM guides is that they are fantastic as written but are not overwhelming so that there is the option to add other living books as interest leads, but other books are not necessary. My children will often pick up the suggested books from the SCM guides to read for pleasure, reading back through the younger books as they get older because they still enjoy them. Just the other day I was reading aloud to my youngest from the 1st-3rd grade section and my 9th grader came and sat with us and when I was done said “that is such a good book, I remember when you read it to me years ago mom” 🙂
Visits to… series has been a favorite as well and my children really do retain after a year of map drills in a new continent and the books suggested really tell us more about different countries and have been very interesting.
SW is a fantastic program. I wanted something with a bit more phonics reminders so we switched to Spelling U See which implements studied dictation but has more of the phonics reminders. It was just a personal preference but I really liked the SW passages for prepared dictation and had it not been for SCM my kids would have been stuck with spelling lists, which I have memories of dreading as a child.
I have not used Sonlight but have friends that did. Most switched out as their children got to older elementary because the reading load became overwhelming, but I know many others do not feel that way, once again just a personal preference for you and your children.
Now I want to look again… it looked great at first but I did lose a lot of sleep trying to decide on history lately.. we are doing SOTW and I wanted something a little more biblical. How was the Middle Ages?
Thanks for all the replies! It is such a tough decision, but thankfully I have time as we still have several weeks left in our current year that I want to finish. 🙂
For those who are currently using SCM History, or have experience with it, are you satisfied with the depth it provides for high school?
I feel that SCM is enough for high school because since it is not “overkill” it allows opportunity for the student to study interests, get in their government classes and other classes.
My oldest branched into a different history in 7th grade because she has a strong interest in missions and I found a history program that included a lot of missions work along side history, BUT I did not stop using SCM history suggestions. I chose many of the history books and used them as her literature reading for the year. It worked out great because she was solo in history but still had great conversations because her literature was tied into my other two for history. Thus year with her in 9th grade we are doing a similar set up and really like it. My younger two do SCM as written and she chimes in with her literature/history books.
I also wanted to add that I chose to combine ancients into 1 year instead of 3 years. It was a personal preference because of my and my children’s preferences and it worked well. I really like that SCM is written in such a way that you can adjust to fit your families needs.
As with any curriculum not every book is going to be a “home run” but SCM has been a great fit and the vast majority of the books have been enjoyed and informative.
I realized when my oldest was around 4th grade that I needed to stop trying to plan her education through 12th grade because things are always changing. I alwys had/have the big picture in mind, but after letting go of trying to plan out for so many years our school years have been much more pleasant. I now plan about a year at a time and see where that year leads.
Thank you so much for your response! Part of the appeal for me is having some more wiggle room to add what interests us.
I’ve seen others discuss combining ancients into one year. Do you mind sharing how you managed that? You can message me if you prefer. Thanks again!
Because we do a different study for Bible we did not do the Bible portion of the guide, BUT I did keep an eye on the margins in the guide and put people from the Bible portion in the book of centuries and would remind the kids when we were reading what was happening at the same time from the Bible. It allowed us to do 1 term each for Egypt, Greece, and Rome. My kids were not at high school level so for older children might not be able to do every book listed, but for the younger grades we got in about every book.
Ancient Egypt and her neighbors I purchased the audio book along side the book and the audio book was very well done. It really helped with challenging pronunciation and the flow of the reading.
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