Wednesday, June 01, 2011

A big change for next year's curriculum

I have been considering it for a while, but I'm finally going to make the break from Sonlight in the fall.  In a lot of ways, I will miss it, but we are all ready for something new.  As the years have gone by, I have removed bits and pieces here and there (bible section, etc) and added what is a better fit for our family.  I became very unhappy with their revised language arts, the new one not being what my oldest child needs at all.  So I was down to history and science, and the science jumps all over the place, something that has become less and less tolerable for me, feeling that I'm not providing a sufficiently solid base on which to build.    I loved it in the lower cores for sure, such fun memories of those books.  I'm even still happy with the history selections, enjoying the nonfiction spine mixed in with tons of historical fiction and nonfiction to really bring history alive.  That is truly where Sonlight shines for sure.  

So, you ask, what are we doing in the fall?  Okay, so maybe you didn't ask but I'll tell you anyway.  After trying out one unit of Tapestry of Grace last year (and deciding it was not for me), we are going to just go with the classical education 4-year history cycle, and rely heavily on topics and recommendations in The Well Trained Mind.  I have to tell you, it feels rather odd to think of flying along without my humongous binders full of resources and schedules from Sonlight.  I don't think I would have felt nearly so grounded as a new homeschooler without those.  But I put in my order, and I anxiously await my materials for fall, some of which I have never seen in person due to not being able to find them locally.  I have my core subject spines ordered, but I will be adding in lots and lots of the historical fiction we so love here, ala Sonlight style.  We will probably be trolling the internet for good recommendations to correlate with our time period being studied (cycle year 4 by the way, modern times).  Anyone with good blog recommendations for me?  :)

1 comment:

Luke Holzmann said...

May your curriculum for next year be exactly what your family needs.

~Luke