Anyone know of a sonlight like curriculum that

[Alison in KY]

has less progressive/mature RA's than Sonlight?

I like the concept behind sonlight and use alot of their books for reading, but for RA's I'm increasingly disappointed by the subject material being more mature than what I want my kids to hear about at their age....It began in pre-k with the books like the girl being beaten and locked in a goat shed for talking about Jesus...not something I wanted my 5 yr old to hear about. Then a month ago we started doing the RA Gladys Aylward to my 8 1/2 yr old and one of the early chapters mentioned she was a missionary to the prostitues working on the streets...that's a level 1 RA and I just don't think I will be discussing a prostitute until my kids hit puberty and we have "the talk"....so

Every RA that I have of theirs I'm paranoid to start reading because then I have to kinda look ahead and change the wording...I'd rather not have to worry with that. Any ideas.

Alison in KY

[OnTheBrink]

Have you looked at My Father's World or Winter Promise? Also, you could check out Amblesideonline.org and see what their read alouds are and just read those instead of what SL has for RA.

[Shelbelle7]

I think Tapestry of Grace is a lot like Sonlight. I used to use SL and now use TOG. I love it! They have just started adding in RA's, but those tend to be history non-fiction type books. Sometimes I use them and sometimes I don't. If I want a literature RA, I will look at the week's lit selections and choose one. Sometimes I choose the lit for my boys and read that aloud. Sometimes I might choose a lit book one level down from my boys and read that aloud. I always read aloud to my little girls (all their books). OR, you could look at their alternate resources and pick a book from that to RA. There are lots of options for RA's with TOG.

Here's a link to their free 3 week mini-unit for Year 2:
http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/newworld/index.htm
It's the first 3 weeks of their Year 2 Unit 3 where they begin studies of Colonial America. This is exactly what you would receive if you were to buy it from them, plus there are great little stickies that help you figure out how the curriculum might work for your family! :001_smile:

[Alison in KY]

I did go to Tapestry of Grace several years ago but it was a turn off because I couldn't figure the website out and even understand what kind of curriculum it was. I'll go look again and see if it's improved. Is it a fulll curric., or just history??

[Shelbelle7]

I did go to Tapestry of Grace several years ago but it was a turn off because I couldn't figure the website out and even understand what kind of curriculum it was. I'll go look again and see if it's improved. Is it a fulll curric., or just history??
They have been redesigning it for the last couple of years and I think it's so much better! It includes: history, literature, fine arts, worldview/church history/bible, geography, writing, government, philosophy and lots of hands-on activities. You would need to add in science, math and grammar/language arts. The link that I gave you shows you exactly how it is laid out now. They have been working hard to improve their website and make it easier to navigate. I think it's getting better. When I switched from SL to TOG, I chose to use TOG the same way I used SL. I think the biggest major difference in the way they are both laid out is that SL plans out every single day for you. TOG gives you the assignments for the week for you to break down as you choose. SL is also one level of difficulty (that you can adapt for multiple kids) while TOG's assignment sheet will show you the assignments for 4 different levels of difficulty. You may not need all four levels in any given year. This year I have 2 little girls in the lowest level (lower grammar) and 2 boys in an upper level (dialectic). I never even look at the other two levels of assignments because I don't need them this year. However, when I come back to this rotation in 4 years, I will probably need the two levels that I am currently not using this year. Make sense? Definitely look at the link I gave you. That might be more clear than all my rambling! :D

[SnowWhite]

I second the WinterPromise recommendation.

[Shannon831]

Check out WinterPromise. Their catalog is easier to understand than their website, so I'd either download or order one.

[Lori in MS]

I love MFW's progression from K to 2nd grade. It is very age appropriate.

[mommaduck]

I second MFW.

[marypoppins]

Heart of Dakota!
www.heartofdakota.com

[Penny]

Biblioplan is cheap and recommends wonderful literature. We've enjoyed it all and there has been no controversial subjects.

That said, Sonlight does have some wonderful literature, but I agree Mom must be careful to preread and eliminate where inappropriate for her children.

Penny

[Leslie in TN]

My top two choices for this would be Heart of Dakota (one of the most underrated curriculum choices out there!) or My Father's World.

[chiguirre]

You could still use SL, but use it at the upper end of the age ranges they list. Winterpromise is set up a lot like SL, but their read-alouds are definitely more kid friendly.

[Hen Jen]

I went from Sl to TOG, it seems to work better for me, having it all laid out and then I can choose which books to use which days. Saying that, my older girls read like crazy and I am thinking I might add some sonlight books for reading or ambleside.

I feel the same way about many of the SL books, I think personally I can only read so many gut-wrenching, hard or sad books in a time frame...