Sonlight Readers….Opinions

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  • November 14, 2010 at 4:23 am
    amandajhilburn
    Participant

    I was wondering what you all think about the books listed on the Sonlight site for reading. I am always looking for titles for my children to check out at the library. Especially new books for my daughter who reads a lot.

    I am always concerned about the content of the books. We have to stop reading some because of too much slang, disrespective attitudes, and too much “lovie dovie” stuff (as my kids say).

    We have books to read for “school time”, but they love fun reading in the afternoons. So, what about these Sonlight titles? Or any other book lists that have good “fun” books for kids that would help me discern before they check them out.

    November 14, 2010 at 4:38 pm
    csmamma
    Participant

    The past 9 years we’ve been homeschooling, we’ve used Sonlight readers & readalouds! Most have been wonderful for us. For the younger grades I can’t remember anything being objectional (though I know every family has different standards), however we’ve chosen to not use a few of the books on fairy tales, etc. So far, Sonlights catalog has been one of the most valuable tools for us – next to SCM guide here!

    November 15, 2010 at 2:06 am
    Jimmie
    Member

    My objections to the SL readers are different. I find the majority of them too heart-wrenching. We have enough of that in day to day life. We don’t need to read it too.

    November 15, 2010 at 4:32 am
    MamaSnow
    Participant

    I also like to use the booklists in the Sonlight catalog as a supplementary resource.  However, my kids are quite young so at this point we’ve really only chosen books from about the Preschool-Grade 1 levels.  Some of the books are ones I remember enjoying as a child, and others have become new favorites.

    Another booklist I like to refer to for new ideas is this one: http://classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html , although again my kids are still quite young so we’ve only picked and chosen among the titles for primary level children – particularly the picture books and beginning readers.

    HTH!

    November 15, 2010 at 12:56 pm
    jeaninpa
    Participant

    We’ve used Sonlight for five years and have really enjoyed the literature selections, both the readers and the read-alouds.  As far as I remember, we only had objections to one book; “Cheaper by the Dozen” because God’s name was not used with reverence.  I think there are different versions of the book though, because I brought up that issue on the SL forums and other people had not come across that. 

    Last year at Thanksgiving we read “The Great Turkey Walk”.  What a fun book! 

    I think SL does a good job of choosing a variety.

    November 15, 2010 at 5:20 pm
    amandajhilburn
    Participant

    Eeeekkk! My computer is driving me crazy! I just typed a comment and the internet had an issue!

    Thank you all for your opinions. I also re-read Honey for a Child’s Heart yesterday. I plan to compile a list of good books for my children to use when we take our library trips. I hope that will help us avoid checking out duds in the future 🙂

    Thanks again,

    Amanda

    November 17, 2010 at 12:30 am
    Shawnab
    Participant

    I have been using SL booklists for several years now. I glean titles from both their “Read Aloud” and “Readers” lists. There are pros and cons, in my opinion:

    Cons:

    As Jimmie stated, many of them are heart-wrenching, they can also be a little ‘girl-oriented’, so I would just say to pick and choose. I would not recommend buying an entire package.

    There are titles that could/should be considered twaddle, particularly in the area of science, intermixed with lots of excellent reads. Don’t expect everything on the SL lists to be a living book.

    I think there are better “spines” out there for history than those sold by Sonlight.

    Be aware that although SL is a “literature based” curriculum, it is not CM. The curriculum is not designed for the books to be used in a CM way, although many can be Charlotte Masonized of course.

    Pros:

    Most have little or no objectionable material.

    The “Readers” lists can be very helpful for new, voracious readers. It is sometimes difficult to find twaddle-free reading for newbie readers who devour short chapter books in a single gulp. The Core 2 Reader’s lists have been very useful for me.

    Sonlight introduces more “modern” literature than I find on other lists, but modern lit. that has been carefully evaluated. I like the diversity that the SL lists bring, when I add their titles to other lists like Ambleside and SCM.

    The history readers and read-aloud lists can be very enjoyable.

    One final tip, cross reference the SL lists with other lists, such as Elizabeth Foss’ Real Learning Booklist, the Classical Education “1000 Good Books” list, SCM, Ambleside, etc to sift for the better titles. There is a lot of overlap.

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