a curriculum that met the following thoughts what would you suggest:

*I have used Sonlight and thought of going back to them. My kids love them. I Love the literature. I love the academic rigor of it. As a Christian I am unsure about some of the emphasis of various topics. My children are still young ~ 4 of them ages 8 and under.

*I have used MFW and like many aspects of it, but the learning style wasn't a good fit for our family. I do use their phonics.

*I tried HOD briefly, but I didn't like the devotional emphasis, versus scripture, or the TMs.

We love to read books aloud, we enjoy Apologia immensely (w/ note books), R&S for English, All About Spelling for spelling, Reason for Handwriting for Cursive, Singapore for math & this year have been using MFW for History and Bible.

So I guess I am trying to figure out what to do next for Bible and History. I also need to be thinking more about writing for my oldest. I wish MFW was a better fit for us, but it really isn't.

Are there any literature based programs for History that are more conservative than Sonlight?

Any Suggestions? Thank you!

This post was edited on Apr 28, 2012 09:59 PM

You might take a look at Veritas Press

Biblioplan? I'm not sure if it is more conservative then SL but you may want to take a look at it. It uses either (you get to choose) SOTW or MOH as a spine.

Sarah

Truthquest?

For Early American History: Beautiful Feet books, either just read for fun or use them along with the guide.

For Ancient History with a Bible emphasis: MOH vol. 1 (I personally think it's better to start with American History for the littles)

For Worldview training: Apologia's WV series

For Character training: thelearningparent.com

More for that age that I like:

Leading Little One's to God
CLP readers
Vos Story Bible
A Beka's 3rd grade history reader

With that age, it's really unnecessary to go too formal with those information subjects, IMO. However, if you're going to put forth some money, the above products are fairly reasonable. Most of the BF books can be found at most libraries, and if you already own some of them but want to purchase their kits, you can call them and they'll work with you on price. CLP is always cheap with great book choices. Sometimes readers on their "grade level" are nice for building history/science vocabulary while practicing their reading skills. (This is where CLP and A beka come in handy over here).

If you're just looking for history and Bible, it would be very easy to pull together your own book list for this age and not be tied to a guide. I personally would not use Sonlight if you paid me. Way, way, way too much, IMO, and I don't pass their I don't remember how many reasons not to use their program. LOL. They also emphasize old earth creationism, which we strongly oppose. ...Well, at least you know where I stand on that one, eh?

I'll have a 2nd grader next year, and this is what we plan to do with him. I have high schoolers and middle schoolers around here who are learning about lots of topics that are just not age appropriate for him to learn beyond the basics.

For lit. based and kids that young, I would recommend Truthquest.

fun@home

Can you modify SL to fit your needs?

I totally get what you are saying about loving the lit. approach and SL seems so adaptable as far as pulling-in or removing components that suit (or don't suit) you.

I personally think SL is a good base as long as you are willing to fine-tune it for your family's specific needs. I like that it doesn't lean too heavily in one direction, allowing our family's interpretation of history and Bible to be easily implemented.

I also like the discussion that can be had.
With some other programs I have felt that I had to "follow along" with the Author's plan and overall beliefs, and that was just too close for comfort for me. I do not like teacher manuals that are so scripted that they feel "canned" and do not allow *me* to be the teacher.

Nancy, I love your experience that comes through your response. So helpful. You sound relaxed about 2nd grade the way I feel about toddlers, baby, and the ease of Kindergarten. LOL.

The emphasis on old earth creationism is what drove me away from SL to MFW at the end of my oldest K year. It didn't work for us either! Love the missionary emphasis and literature.

Candicse, I don't like the overly scripted TMs either. It has been my main problem with the other two programs. I have thought of fine tuning SL, but would also love to find something that took less tweaking if I could.

Thank you for the suggestions ladies! I will also be glad to read any more that may come.

This post was edited on Apr 28, 2012 11:15 PM