Why, why, why, why??!!??

[Mrs. H.]

Why is it that every year when the new Sonlight catalog hits my mailbox, I spend two days thinking I should switch to their program...

How great it would be not to have to do all the leg work, find all the library books, write all the lesson plans....

How blissful to have all those books come to me in a large brown box, and not have to scour the globe for them...

How easy it would be to teach a 6th, 4th, and two K/1sts next year all at once, with one core...

Then I add up all the "necessary resources", almost have a coronary at the price, and sit in stunned silence for an hour.

Time to cross K language arts off the list, and we really do like R&S for the older kids. Bible is reading from the KJV, no fluff, and we are happy with our Math program. Hey, I could just use their book list and read these books to my two K/1st graders next year...that's all SL is going to suggest I do anyway, so I don't really need that core. Hmm, that combined history core for 6th/4th sure looks nice...might have to seriously consider that, and science.

And I am (almost) right back where I started. Why do I do this to myself every year? :confused:

[momofkhm]

Just because.

Because all their books look so wonderful sitting there.

Because all their books are pre-screened so you sort of know they will be ok.

Because it would all be planned and all you'd have to do is pick it up.

Because, well just because.

This is the very reason I don't get the Sonlight Catalog anymore. I don't want to be tempted!

[Jenny in Atl]

You can do like I do... just use bits and pieces. Best of both worlds :D

[Jennifer in MI]

It's for all those reasons that we switched. I was also turned off by the cost for a year or so, but then I bit the bullet. Boy am I glad we did!!! I only buy a core. I use other resources for math, grammar, writing, etc. That helps to keep the cost down. I re-sell my core at the end of the year for more than 1/2 what I bought it for, so that helps with the cost of the next core.

If you are serious about wanting to give it a try, look on the for sale boards. A number of people sell theirs at the end of the year.

(((hugs))) I get this way whenever I see a new program listed here with glowing reviews. My current temptation is Rainbow Science.

[Mrs. Readsalot]

I also received the catalogue the other day. We do use the teacher guides for the reader/read aloud guides. I make up a different sechedule because I want too. At the moment we are combining Sonlight 7 and 100 to keep things in chronological order. I have not looked at the new catalogue yet because I wasnt to be able to sit down and really enjoy it, and I won't be able to do that until I have finished with ebay for this year. I do know how you feel, I am so tempted to just get and use the 300 and 400 levels as written when I need them. Due to having to assign credits for highschool level work I may just do that.
I also used R&G , especially the English program, and liked much better than Sonlight's English program.

[LaMere Academy]

Mine came yesterday and I love it!
But we're Sonlight users...so I'm biased. I think their programs are great.

[Michelle T]

several times, and never stuck with one yet! Luckily, I've always found them used, so haven't shelled out big bucks.

I have to do so much tweaking with Sonlight, it hardly resembles what I started with once I'm done! Yet I still drool over their catalog, just received it yesterday.

I do use their catalog to get ideas for read alouds and readers, which I get at the library. I find that what they consider reading level is very inflated though, my DS reads on a 5th/6th grade level, but often cannot read the books they consider to be a 5th grade reading level. My library often labels books as junior high level that Sonlight puts as 5th grade.
Michelle T

[Jill, OK]

I've become convinced *so many times* to try Sonlight again...and I sell it/dump it/tweak it beyond recognition every durned time.

I just cannot do it, lol.

But...I've enjoyed many of their suggestions, in isolation. Titles I might not have heard of elsewhere. So, the catalog is a great treasure...now that I know I am *not* a full-on Sonlighter. ;-)

[Mrs. H.]

The tweak it beyond recognition is always what keeps me from shelling out those big bucks, lol.

First, I would ditch their Language Arts, because I really like R&S. Then, I would add in Latin, Greek, and Logic (for dd), which would extend their approximate time spent estimations by at least one hour per day, if not more, so I would have to cut back on some of the history readings, or do history and science 2-3 days per week.

I would drop everything for the K/1sters except the read alouds, phonics, and math.

Nope, it doesn't even look like Sonlight anymore...but their catalog does make an excellent book list. :001_smile:

[chiguirre]

Honestly, find a used Core K IG and give it a try. You'll either love it or hate it and you can get the bug out of your system. Your library will have a lot of the K books and what they don't have you can find fairly cheap on half.com (buy several books from 1 seller to combine shipping).

I like SL, but I do tweak it and I rarely use the IG. The questions are pretty lame in the K guides and I prefer to read from fewer books for longer chunks than they schedule.

[Mrs. H.]

I actually bought the 3rd and K cores a couple of years ago, and we gave them a good go, but that was also the year that we moved, I had a miscarriage and surgery, my mil died, we became responsible for my fil's finances and house when he worked (out of the country), so it sort of flopped, and I ended up returning everything.

I just can't decide if we would have stuck with it if it hadn't been such a bad year.