I didn’t read all of the responses, but from what I have observed the attitude that AO is ‘more rigorous’ has to do with the fact that AO recommendations are the OLD books, and therefore perceived as BETTER books.
I will say that my major in college was English literature, and I love the OLD books! But that doesn’t mean that they are the ONLY good books, and I believe that Charlotte would be assigning quality, living books (both OLD and NEW) if she were with us today.
I knew one family in particular who pulled their 5th grade son out of PS, and put him on this rigorous schedule of AO selections. His previous reading experience was akin to, “The Hardy Boys” and the like. Obviously, he was frustrated and hated to read, and therefore hated homeschooling.
It was very sad to watch, because the attitude surrounding this family was that only the OLD books were valuable and would teach their son to love literature. Not true, and quite frankly, it didn’t seem fair to ‘throw him in the deep end’ like that. One of the things I love about SCM is that they teach that the child has to love the book to learn from it!
I use some of the recommendations from AO, some from Sonlight, some from MFW, some from Veritas Press…
But SCM is our backbone because of the ease of using the teaching materials, and that they are not dogmatic about using their resources only. I think this is the best place to learn how to implement a CM education and how to find living books for yourself and your children.
Just an opinion, for what it is worth ;0).