Have you ever changed curriculums mid-late year?

[browneyedgirl]

I am contemplating changing the curriculum I am using with my 6th grader.....we are using Sonlight Alt. 6 and I hate it. This is our first year homeschooling and it is way to busy for her. She loves to read but I just don't have the time to sit and read with her and she doesn't like reading outloud. There are no tests, quizes etc for this so I don't if she is getting what she needs out of it.

So if I change now that she is over half way thru the year should I move up to a 7th grade level? with a different curriculum of course *G*

[Lisawa]

I am contemplating changing the curriculum I am using with my 6th grader.....we are using Sonlight Alt. 6 and I hate it. There are no tests, quizes etc for this so I don't if she is getting what she needs out of it.

So if I change now that she is over half way thru the year should I move up to a 7th grade level? with a different curriculum of course *G*

I guess that would depend.... you can move to 7th grade if you want and she is ready... Is it only SL you are changing?? Is it just literature and history?? If so, I would say its fine....*Ü*

HTH~

[Rhondabee]

I am contemplating changing the curriculum I am using with my 6th grader.....we are using Sonlight Alt. 6 and I hate it. This is our first year homeschooling and it is way to busy for her. She loves to read but I just don't have the time to sit and read with her and she doesn't like reading outloud. There are no tests, quizes etc for this so I don't if she is getting what she needs out of it.

So if I change now that she is over half way thru the year should I move up to a 7th grade level? with a different curriculum of course *G*


SL is a very teacher-intensive method.

A few questions:

I don't quite understand your statement, "she doesn't like reading out loud"? Do you mean she doesn't like for *you* to read out loud? (SL doesn't expect the student to read out loud.)

Re: tests, quizzes, etc. for History - Have you tried getting your dd to write a short summary (1/2 to 1 page long at most) about what she's read? Then, you simply have to read over it. (I would pre-read the history over the weekend, so I knew if there were any major misunderstandings. I didn't worry about little, piddly things.)

Also, feel free to drop some things from it if it's too busy. We never did the poetry or the bible or the writing.... Actually, it would be better to say we did the history spine readings (Core 6 was SOTW/UILE), the Timeline, the Readers and the Read-Alouds and that was it.

Unfortunately, it does take some time to discuss what they're reading - but this is true no matter what curriculum you use. The Teacher's Notes should really help you with those discussions - I think we only took 5 - maybe 10 minutes at the most to discuss the Readers.

I did take more time discussing the Read-Alouds, (with the vocabulary, research questions, etc. - that's why I dropped so much other stuff out of the Core). But, alot of people don't discuss the Read-Alouds at all. (And, you can always do them slower than is scheduled - some people drop whole books, or do them over the summer.)

We did do a lot of the Read-Alouds at night before bed.

But, you know, if you really hate SL, then by all means do something else!:D

[training5]

I have done that twice now. Not with Sonlight but using Calvert. I agree with Lisa, if you feel she is ready, go for it. If not, consider switching to another grade 6 program to be sure she has caught all the skills.

[Rebecca in GA]

Yep. Often. And I have regretted it.

Maybe it's just the format of Sonlight you don't like? We tried using Sonlight 1 in second grade and we hated it. I wish we had stuck with it, though. Now our eldest is in Sonlight 5 and we really like it.

When we went back to Sonlight this year, it was with the clear plan to use it over two years, for sixth and seventh grades. We're comfortable with our math (A Beka 6 for eldest and Rod & Staff 2-3 for littles), because they're not very teacher-intensive.

Ask yourself what it is you and your daughter really want from a curriculum, or if it's a curriculum you want at all, especially something as intensive (and expensive!) as Sonlight. Maybe you could cut back on the scheduling and plan to work the curriculum over two years. Remember that Sonlight levels don't correspond to grade levels.

As a reformed curriculum-jumper, I really would advise you to figure out a way to make the Sonlight you have work for you rather than look for something else right now. Re-evaluate next year if necessary.

[Jenny in Atl]

I'm using SL 6 as a supplement to HO this year. I really don't do too many read-alouds to my dd12 anymore. She likes to read them on her own, and then we discuss them along the way, and at the end. But, I do still read out loud for my dd7.

It's very easy to take the questions about the readers and test with those if you are worried about retention. Is it just the history part you don't like? Are you using the LA, science, etc as well?