We have all of the books for Sonlight Reading at our library. I noticed that Sonlight sells just their Schedule and Reading Guide. What is in the Reading Guide? Is it worth buying?
The Sonlight IG has the schedule, plus questions for Readers and Read-alouds, maps that relate to the books and notes for parents. I always buy - and use - the IGs as I don't want to figure out the schedule, and I use the Reader questions to make sure my kids are reading and comprehending and can answer questions properly. The notes are also useful - they do warn if there are parts of books coming up that you need to be aware of, or they will give different perspectives on history books etc. I definitely think it is worth getting the IG.
i love Sonlights reading lists! I've heard you can buy just the IG separately. My friend says the IG is great to use.
The readers guide is for the readers in the LA packages only and you can buy those separate. They are not the same as the IG. Though the IG can also be purchased alone as well. The readers guide has a 36 week schedule of just the LA readers with questions as well. I think that schedule is about $12 or so. Also if you buy an IG you get free SL forum access for a year. And you get a repurchase discount on that IG when you wish to upgrade, so it's then half price. Just some of the SL perks I've found. Though I'm not using a core any longer I have bought my fair share of IG's over the years LOL. I do use their booklists in our homeschooling now even though we are not using a full core. edited to add that the lower level cores, below 3, the readers guide info is not in the IG as the LA at the lower levels is mix and match. So either you would use the LA IG for the readers schedule or for those not using SL's LA they have the reader schedule. Hope that makes sense.
Actually the Readers and Reader-Alouds and the questions for them are part of the main core IG. They are all part of the schedule together with the History books. The Language IG is separate. It contains the 'grammar' portion which is based on the readers, and the Creative Writing Assignments. I buy that too as it all fits together so well. I am currently using 3 cores with 3 kids - and have over the years used every single core. I am a HUGE fan! My kids love Sonlight and my oldest 2 have already done very well in ACT, SAT, PSAT and AP exams after using Sonlight as our main curriculum.
I'm sorry, I don't mean to disagree. I have used SL for a long time as well but lower cores. I just pulled up samples to double check on the SL site as I'm not in our school room, to double check the actual IG's. The readers (which are part of LA up until Core 3, are not included in the Core IG until you hit level 3). So at level 3 yes it's all in one. So technically we are both right, as once Core 3 hits it's all in one (warm smile) http://www.sonlight.com/3TB.html#attachments-samples-list (with readers scheduled) http://www.sonlight.com/2TB.html#attachments-samples-list (Core 2 no readers scheduled). No disrespect meant, I mostly went to check to make sure I was advising correctly.
Now I'm confused! What is the IG? I'm wanting something to go with the read-alouds and the stand alone readers for 2nd grade.
Oh goodness I'm sorry. Read alouds have the schedule and notes in the IG (which is the Core Instructors guide). So read alouds are part of the Core. You cannot buy a schedule for read alouds separately for any of the Cores. But readers, are not part of the Core until you reach core 3. Readers are what the child reads themselves. Only at Core 3 and above is the reader schedule actually in the actual Core Instructors Guide. But prior to Core 3, readers are a separate purchase and fall under Sonlight's Language Arts program. And you can find the schedule for the readers in either the Language arts IG or the stand alone readers schedule that they sell. Here are the reader packages: http://www.sonlight.com/readers.html So essentially to cover read alouds (that which parents read to student (which is classified as part of the Core), if you want that scheduled out for you, you'd have to purchase whichever Core instructors guide for the Core you want to take your read alouds from). To have the readers (that which student is reading themself) you'd either - get the Language Arts Instructor guide (only needed if you are doing SL's LA) or the cheaper route, buy only the reader schedule, which is just a schedule of the readers with questions for you to go over with the student. Is that better or did I still muddle that up?
Much better! I'm wanting to go through the list of Grade 2 books that my child reads on her own. I can find all of those books at the library. I would just need to buy reader schedule for the area I'm wanting her to read, correct?
Sounds like a perfect plan. Sure you can use the library to get those. Sonlight has 3 levels of Level 2 books, broken down by advanced, regular and an intermediate. So just look at which set fits her reading level and get the reader schedule to match (or all three LOL). They are inexpensive enough
Twilight Mom ... I had forgotten about the fact that before core 3 the readers are separate (my youngest is just finishing core 4) - but of course, you are right. I remember now - my youngest loved to read so much she went through all the different levels. It is real neat the way Sonlight lets you pick readers according to your kids reading abilities - it worked very well for us!!
