Curriculum decision revisited...

[Sara]

Okay, I'm having a hard time deciding again! I've added more options now and I'm really having a hard time deciding. Here's what I'm looking at for first grade:

All options (except My Father’s World) assume use of Simply Numbers for Math and Simply Phonics (both of which I own) and Simply English (which I would need to purchase) for Language Arts.

Sonlight
$475
* Cost is the #1 issue holding me back from buying Sonlight. I love the books, though, and feel like the money is a good investment. I also like the somewhat chronological approach to history. I thought about ordering SL's Language Arts and Singapore Math, but I just can't get past the stick shock at this point. I'm also kicking myself for not ordering prior to 3/31 because an identical order would have been about $70 less and I'm having a hard time swallowing the new higher price.

My Father’s World
$245
* I love MFW K and the new MFW for 2nd and 3rd graders, but their 1st grade program doesn’t appeal to me quite as much, I *think* because it doesn’t come with many books. But it still ooks great - it just isn't as appealing as the other two grade levels I mentioned. I'm also worried that it might require many trips to the library (see my note below about the library, LOL!) and that isn't going to happen.

Five in a Row
$195
* Worried about the level of planning that I’ll have to do on the one hand. We are using FIAR this year and some weeks just aren't very great when I don't have time to quite a bit of planning. Also worried that the science and history lessons are too random and don't build on each other. Although maybe that doesn't matter at the first grade level!? On the other hand, Taylor has had a lot of fun with this curriculum.

Story of the World (History) and Considering God’s Creation (Science)
$102
* This is obviously the cheapest option, but I don’t want money to be the only deciding factor here. I finally got to see and touch both of these books at a bookstore the other day and I really liked both. FIAR and these two books are the only ones I've been able to see - I'd be buying MFW and Sonlight sight unseen (but both do have return policies). If I went with this option, I would also use Artistic Pursuits and Power Glide Spanish (both of which we already own) maybe doing the basics every day plus one subject each day of the week!? Also, if I went with this option I could spend some additional money on other resources.

My biggest concerns with the MFW option and the SOTW option is that they don’t give us lots of great books. And I’m not going to kid myself – we just do not make it to the library on a regular basis so I cannot count on doing that. I pretty much need to have what the majority of resources here at home. With SOTW, for example, I would be willing to buy some of the their recommended books, but I wouldn’t be very likely to go pick them up at the library.

Any thoughts? I just thought discussing it might help me evaluate things. :)

[Mothering by Heart]

Well, I love SOTW. IKWYM about not getting to the library, though. Could you get the SOTW and spend the extra money on the recommended books?

[Sara]

That is certainly a possibility. Do you do the activities that go with SOTW? Do they require a lot of prep time? Is there a list of recommended books somewhere or are many of the books recommendations just sprinkled throughout the activity book?

[LikeADimMirror]

What age(s) are you teaching? Some years of Sonlight use SOTW (I think 7th & 8th grade?).

[Sara]

1st grade.

[Sara]

I'm trying to do the search inside feature on Amazon.com for SOTW and it looks like some helpful reference books to have would be The Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World, The Kingfisher History Encycolopedia, The Usborne Book of World History, and The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopeia of World History.

It still looks like I might need to rely a lot on the libaray, though...

[Sandy]

Have you looked at Biblioplan? I understand it's a supplement to SOTW that gives a reading list to make SOTW more Christian...I haven't actually received it, but I recently picked up the ancient period one on Vegsource. It sounds good.

[Mothering by Heart]

Do you do the activities that go with SOTW? Do they require a lot of prep time? Is there a list of recommended books somewhere or are many of the books recommendations just sprinkled throughout the activity book?


We do manyof them, if I have the materials on hand. I don't make any special trips to get things. I'm not a major crafty mom, so the ones that look like too much, we skip :shrug

The recommended books are listed in the activity guide in each chapter.

[Mothering by Heart]

Sara, did you see this post in swap 'n shop (http://www.gentlechristianmothers.com/mb/index.php?topic=2998.0)?

[Sara]

Thanks, Amy! I didn't see that. :tu

Sandy, I have not heard of Biblioplan but I will do a search and see what I come up with. Thanks! :)

[2TMama]

Sara~ I *feel* your pain ;) there's SO much out there. I'm w/ you on "if I have to make a lot of trips to the library/lots of planning......it just might not happen" and also "I love great books" :)

Search and Pray and let us all know what you come up with!

p.s. I know this is off-topic, but what have you used thus far for phonics/reading instruction???

[Sara]

Hi! I have been using Simply Phonics from Shoelace Books (http://www.shoelacebooks.com). I plan to add Simply English as well for 1st grade. It is supposed to be a very gentle, Charlotte Mason-ish approach. I keep thinking that we need to find something more flashy or with more color or that is more complicated (like SL) but then I keep coming back to the same conclusion - this are affordable, dd enjoys it, and she is learning something. Why fix something that isn't broke!? When I look at some of the other phonics programs out there, they honestly make my head spin. Simply Phonics has been super easy for me to teach!

[3BlueArrows4Us]

I know it is a tough decision. My only experience is with SL so I'm not much help, but I can surely be a cheerleader!!!!


****Go, Sara, Go!**** :jump :jump

[Booklover]

We use SoTW. Partly because of price, but mostly because we like it. I haven't found using the library to be that hard, but I would use it anyway, because I read all the time (having no more productive habits). You can do it without most of the recommended books. I would get a good history encyclopedia, and maybe the Usborne Book of the Ancient World. Then you could just fill in with other books as you are able to get them from the library.

[Booklover]

I forgot to add there are so many good websites to use for pictures which is a lot of what the extra books are use for at that stage, since most of the books are above a first grade level (I'm finding that even with a third grader). I'll have to think about what our favorite books were at that level...

[Sara]

Thanks, Marcia! My curriculum order changes on a daily basis, LOL! I really did think I had it all figured out until I saw the new Sonlight prices.

Booklover - I read a lot, too, but I buy most of our books. Our library doesn't have a very good selection, the librarians are crabby, and my 2yo always acts like a cave person when we go to the library. So it isn't a very pleasant experience, LOL!

[lenswyf]

I don't know about your library, but I can choose my books on-line and place a hold on them. They send me an e-mail when they are available, and all I have to do is go to the reserved books shelf, pick up the stack with my name on it and check them out. It makes library visits very fast and pain-free.

We use Sonlight and I rely heavily on the library. If the library has it, I don't buy it. Helps with the sticker shock a lot! I spent yesterday looking at the CorePlus1 curriculum, and I've got the sticker down from $598 to $395. I'm bidding on a couple of Ebay auctions that will get the price down even further if I win. (We use the whole Sonlight shebang right now -- Core, language arts and science.)

I look at it through the lens of having paid tuition for my dd to attend a private Christian school for the past 13 years. Education is already a budget category for us. Her senior year tuition was $5700. First grade tuition, if we sent ds there, would be $4860 -- compared to that, $400-600 doesn't sound bad at all.

[Sara]

Lenswyf, You are absolutely right that $400-600 doesn't seem like much in comparison with private tuition costs. If we sent dd to the Christian school here, it would cost us $3500, so I guess I could look at it as though we are saving $3000. :D

I wish I could just order everything, LOL! :)

[TestifyToLove]

We're going to be ordering Sonlight this summer. We have 5 children (right now). I spent as much on Calvert as Sonlight costs, and Calvert was NOT set up for being re-usable.

But, I went looking at the price for even the cheapest private school in our area (because the public school down the road has a 32% rate of 6th graders who can read at their level and that's not an option for us). The cheapest I could find was $2000 per school year.

Like Lenswfy said, when you compare those two, it puts the Sonlight into perspective. We'll be ordering the books with Sonlight (Dh would prefer to start with new, excellent shape books so they will last through all of our children). But, when I purchase the materials, that will cover all 5 of my children, plus any others we might have. All I will need to replace is consumables for each child--a far cry cheaper than the program.

[Sara]

Yes, that is a big draw for me with Sonlight. Aside from the consumables and possibly updating the instructor guides, we're pretty much set for all children and when you look at it that way, it is a very good investment.

I am leaning toward Sonlight again (subject to change at any given moment, LOL!). I just need to keep reminding myself that it is an investment! :)

[Krystyne]

Sara, I am not a lirary person. I just can't handle our lirary and the kids. I used MFW and other books. Wghat I do is call my library and tell the librarian what I want and she pulls my books. My husband goes to the library and picks up the books that have been set aside for me. Now my library doesn't openely do this, but I told the libraraian my situation and she was very happy to help me out!

Just a thought to throw out there.

[3BlueArrows4Us]

Sara...I think there was a note on my catalog cover sheet that talked about "time payments". I don't know if this is an option for you or not...but worth checking out. www.sonlight.com/timepayments.html.

(((Hugs))) on the hard decision. Praying that God will direct you to exactly what you need. :)

[ChristineG]

Although I have never used Sonlight, I have looked (obsessed over) their catalogue on a number of occasions. I think it looks like an absolutely fantastic program and I think their guarantee is very good, particularly considering the cost of the curriculum. I just recently picked up the new catalogue at a hs conference and thought it was amazing, but insanely expensive. I do agree that, in general, books are a good investment, but many, many books will not be re-read by your children and may be better off simply taken out from the library. The other itty bitty problem with any curriculum that offers a full package with all the books included is that, invariably, you will have a couple of the books already. Then, you have to decide whether to just end up with duplicates or to pay extra to not buy the whole package, so that you just get what you need.

I know that, for me, I can easily rationalize overspending in a couple of areas of my life. The first is anything pertaining to the children, especially homeschool materials. I can tell myself what it would cost to send them to private school (as if we'd have the $$ for that!! :)), that this is for their FUTURE (as if they can't grow and learn without X product), etc. The other area is groceries, by the way. Otherwise, dh and I are quite frugal with our money. Now, I am not saying anyone here is rationalizing...even with my comment about the private school cost. I have a friend who is considering hsing and they DO send their children to private school, so this comparison is very relevant for them. I just know it isn't really relevant for me. For us, hsing is not an alternative to private school, but what we have chosen no matter what. Does that make sense?

I just wanted to encourage you, with lots of love :heart :heart :heart, to make wise decisions with your family's money. Is this the best way to spend it? Is there something else you could use this money for where it would be better spent? Maybe the answers reflect that a packaged one-stop shopping curriculum IS the best for you, I have no idea. I also encourage you to talk it over with your dh as he will probably really appreciate being consulted and, if he is like my dh, can give you good perspective. Please don't take any of my comments the wrong way...I am not judging at all. I have no idea of anyone else's financial or family situations. :heart

I also wanted to suggest one more thing, just to throw another thing onto your full plate!! :) Have you checked out www.amblesideonline.org ? Ambleside is a free curriculum available online. It is Charlotte Mason style, so it is literature-based, very like Sonlight. They have several yahoogroups, including one for schedules. It is not detailed by the day, like Sonlight, but it does go week-by-week so that you know exactly what needs to be covered when. We have been using it for years and LOVE it. Many of the books are available online (print and have bound inexpensively) or at the library, making the number of books that need to be purchased fairly minimal. They also include picture study, nature study, composer study, etc. My friend and I were just talking on the way home from a hs conference about this particular topic. We both said that one thing we absolutely LOVE about Charlotte Mason style (and using Ambleside) is that we don't have to worry about spending a lot of money on expensive things. Our kids are getting a complete education and when we go to the conferences and someone has come out with a new, fancy program to teach writing or history, we aren't swayed.

Good luck!! It is so good to be homeschooling during these years where one of our major problems is TOO MANY choices!! :)

[Joanne]

I am a Sonlight loser. I have purchased and sold not one but 2 complete Cores and sold them. I love the concept. And if I were to write a curriculum, it would be just like Sonlight.

And, yes, I'm looking at it again.

I did want to add that Sonlight has an excellent re-sale value.

[Leslie]

Ambleside is a free curriculum available online. It is Charlotte Mason style, so it is literature-based, very like Sonlight. They have several yahoogroups, including one for schedules. It is not detailed by the day, like Sonlight, but it does go week-by-week so that you know exactly what needs to be covered when.


We used Sonlight and now we use Ambleside Online. We found that Ambleside has a "less is more" philosophy, using less books, but the books are more of a challenge and 'meatier.' That's not for everyone, but we've found that it has really helped in language development by stretching our children's comprehension abilities. And the books seem to stick with them better.

I break down the week-by-week schedule into days at the beginning of the school year so that we have a daily schedule. We spend less on paperback books by printing off etexts of the free books, and I put the money we save into cultural education by investing in classical music CD's, art books and books with really nice illustrations.

[Quietspirit]

Joanne,

I have to chuckle at your post. I too am a Sonlight loser. :rolleyes I so WANT to like the curriculum. I love the concept. But then I get into looking at the Core and get hopelessly confused. :/ :lol :think :shifty :doh (that's me looking at Core 4 the other day :lol)