Mixed Bag

by Kelly
(NW Oregon)

Product: Sonlight Alt 7 & Sonlight 3/4
Subject: History, LA, & Lit.
Levels Used: Grade 3 & Grade 6
Dates Used: 2007/2008

Likes: What a way to inspire your children to love books! Sonlight's reading list will definitely hook children on books. It's a great open & go program. It's very easy for Mom to use with little to no prep work. It's beautifully laid out for each day. It uses interesting books. It's done in a chronological order. Its binder is small and easy to store. It wraps literature and history together. This is a VERY easy program for a child to become self sufficient on.

Dislikes: It has a STRONG foundation on fiction. We didn't feel there was enough non-fiction history worked into this program to actually consider it a history program - simply too much fiction. It is a day to day program. This is both a benefit and a negative. It works well for someone who WANTS day by day instruction and less flexibility. We felt the books were below grade level.

In the end: While I feel that Sonlight is a beautiful program for K-6, I do not feel it is remotely challenging enough for grades six and above. The high school level is NOT enough for college preparatory work. It is simply not demanding enough in 8-12 to be considered "classical" education.