We started Monday and I feel overwhelmed already...

[hsmom]

Well this is our first year using sonlight. Well we are using core 6. Now I love the IG and everything, my problem is that my son is a really really slow reader. So, we have yet to get through all of this weeks readings. We have totally skipped Mara daughter of the Nile. I have been doing "pop" reading with him with the Golden Goblet. (you know he reads some I read some, all out loud).

Anyone else have this problem? I think a lot has to deal with the names of some of the people and such. I even have a few that I struggled with, so I told him lets just call that one ______. I really would love to work through this, but I am just overwhelmed that on the first day we were already off track. Now I feel as if we should take today to just step back (already) and take to today to catch up on reading. Any suggestions?

Also what do you do with the map work? I do not have an atlas, only wall maps and such. Should I invest in an atlas? Also do you keep all the markings on the map? Or do you erase them daily?

Thank you for any help!

[OhElizabeth]

Are you the Joanna who has already tried SWR? That would be my suggestion, that you do something to improve his phonics and reading. Slow reading speed is going to be a problem all his life, so it's definitely something to work on.

[Janice in NJ]

We were following TOG's Ancient 1 schedule, but I own the SL 6 guide so I tried working through G Goblet & Mara as scheduled. Mara was a BIG thumbs down with my youngest boy. We ditched it. My 7th grade dd loved it, so she read it. My youngest and I worked through Golden Goblet taking turns reading aloud and then I "pretended" that I was too busy to do a RA a couple days in a row and he enthusiastically finished the book on his own; he wanted to find out what happened. ;)

Teach to the child; the curriculum will take care of itself, eh? :001_smile::001_smile:

Peace,
Janice

Enjoy your little people
Enjoy your journey

[hsmom]

Are you the Joanna who has already tried SWR? That would be my suggestion, that you do something to improve his phonics and reading. Slow reading speed is going to be a problem all his life, so it's definitely something to work on.

No, not that Joanna. SWR???

[ChemMommy]

Jumping in at SL 6 would scare me! At least, I started with SLK!!

I'd recommend doing one week of the IG over two weeks of the calendar at first. Also, you have to be willing, with SL, to skip what isn't working with you.

Also, with some resources, it isn't a deal-breaker if you don't use it every week. In some of the cores, they have a "pray for a country" book. Some weeks we did it; some weeks we didn't. No big deal.

We also did some books-on-tape for some read-alouds because mom and dad were busy.

Map work: hey, if we were busy that week, we did nothing more than look at the map.

I would work with you son on reading speed, but read aloud to a child is a great way to get them interested enough in books to pick one up themselves!

Hang in there!

Oh, and here's a secret: you don't have to finish all 36 weeks to have a great education and a great SL experience!!!

[susie in tx]

We started with SL6 last year and I slowed the Core down so that we were doing 1/2 of it in one year. My eldest dd is also a slow reader. In fact, we struggled with that all of last year, even after we ditched SL.

This summer, a friend of mine lent me a SRA box. I had my dd go through much of it. In all reality, I would like her to finish it, but I don't think it's going to happen. With the SRA, she learned to look for key phrases and words to help her comprehension. At the same time, she also started to read a bit more quickly. She still doesn't read as fast as I would like, nor as fast as I think she needs to, but we are working on it.

The first week always seems to be overwhelming, with any curriculum. Use what you can and go from there. If it's too much, then take out something - maps for example - and don't do it for a week or so. Then, when you get more of a groove going, add the mapwork back in.

[Stacy in NJ]

I think SL6 would be difficult to do with a struggling reader. Since they have a money back return policy, I think I'd return it. If you haven't already done American History, how about Cores 3 or 4? The reading is at a bit lower level but still interesting.

Just a thought.

[HollyDay]

I dont use Sonlight so I cant offer much constructive advice, but I can tell you I started Mon and I am so overwhelmed!!!!!

[hsmom]

I think SL6 would be difficult to do with a struggling reader. Since they have a money back return policy, I think I'd return it. If you haven't already done American History, how about Cores 3 or 4? The reading is at a bit lower level but still interesting.

Just a thought.

I bought it used, so I cannot return it.

I will figure something out. Maybe we will stretch it out over 1 1/2 yrs. or something.

[Alana in Canada]

Hsmom--You wondered what ohelizabeth meant by SWR?

It's called Spell to Write and Read--a spelling, reading, writing, phonics based program by Wanda Sanseri which I cannot recommend highly enough.

Do a few searches or it here--and on Google. It can greatly help with reading difficulties. There's a great Yahoo group for resolving issues as well.

Good luck.
And take your time.

[Just a Jen in Mississippi]

Is it just the readers that is the problem? If so, I'd just pick a few that interest him and go with that. My daughter loves to read but she wasn't crazy about the core 6 readers. So, this year, I didn't order any. I still love, love the read-alouds and history books and wanted to stick with that. I also love having the Bible schedule. But for books that my kids read independently, I've been going to the library and letting them pick out books that interest them.

[hsmom]

Is it just the readers that is the problem? If so, I'd just pick a few that interest him and go with that. My daughter loves to read but she wasn't crazy about the core 6 readers. So, this year, I didn't order any. I still love, love the read-alouds and history books and wanted to stick with that. I also love having the Bible schedule. But for books that my kids read independently, I've been going to the library and letting them pick out books that interest them.


Thank you for the idea. That really is a good one.

[LaMere Academy]

Joanna,
I've been wanting to start a thread like this myself. I'm already stressed and we haven't even started yet. And guess what? I don't want to start! No, I want summer to just keep going and going and going. I'm reading the book Christian Unschooling right now and I so wish I could be an unschooler. I bought it to help me learn to relax. I don't think it's helping

[LaMere Academy]

I read your post again. We're starting Core 6 Monday. With the mark-it map we would leave things as long as we could, at least while we were reading that particular book. When necessary we would erase, does that make sense?

I love reading aloud but last year ds did Core 5 independently and I did a WP program with the other 3 so I feel like this will be a change, going back to SL. My younger 2 don't always like listening to me read and I'm hoping the RA's keep everyone's attention.
Hang in there. If Sonlight is new to you it takes some time to get into a groove.

[LaMere Academy]

I think SL6 would be difficult to do with a struggling reader. Since they have a money back return policy, I think I'd return it. If you haven't already done American History, how about Cores 3 or 4? The reading is at a bit lower level but still interesting.

Just a thought.

That's a good idea. My 12 year old isn't a very strong reader herself and I'm worried if she can handle some of the readers too, so I plan to read aloud some of the harder ones. I like the idea of me reading a chapter, her reading a chapter too. We'll have to see how it goes.
With Cores 1-4 I read ALL the books aloud to my kids because my dd was always behind in reading. This will be her first year that I require her to read some of the readers on her own.

[Tami]

I would not use Sonlight as written with a struggling reader. Don't feel like you have to use the schedule as written! If you discourage and pressure your child, his reading will only get worse. I don't think it's any program you've used or not used, or anything else you have/haven't done - some children take longer to get fluent in reading, and some are never fast readers.

I would cut the reading by 50% and especially cut the historical fiction. Read SOTW aloud. Please make it work for you, instead of getting overwhelmed. It would be ok to skip the geography for now, or greatly simplify it by keeping it to once a week.

Blessings!
Tami