I'm thinking I will try to do them when the weather is nice so it can be outside and not in my kitchen 🤢🤣

Yes! I'm thinking American govt and geography for next year, but I don't have my plans finalized yet 🤦🏼‍♀️ soon...hopefully 🤣

That is such a good idea! I already have a coil binding machine. I would probably need some bigger coils, or maybe I could break it up into units. I'm so glad you mentioned that! I never even considered uncoiling and re-coiling in smaller sections 😊

And finishing our 12th level with Sonlight this year (insane!).

I have heard that people really love the picture book, I'm still not sure, but we will get it when the new curriculum switches over in April. I'm not sure why Sonlight doesn't include the student notebook. I ended up buying it when we did Physical Science last year because it was just too confusing without it (we had some sort of DVD course that did not work well for my daughter, she needed the physical books in front of her). Will your daughter continue with advanced sciences this coming year? What will you use?

And we love big dogs as well! We have a Great Pyrenees 😊

@@Townsendhouse1 My daughter is taking the Advanced Biology now (10th) and we plan to do Chemistry for next year. She’s taking Shormann Algebra II this year and will take Shormann Pre-Calc/Trig next. Since we have had great experience with Dr Shormann for math, I’m considering having her take his Chemistry class as well for her science instead of Sonlight/Apologia Chemistry. I just think my daughter needs more accountability. She, too, has not done well with the DVD for adv bio and really needed a lab workbook which is not offered for the advanced class. It’s been a struggle this year. She loves the information, I just don’t think she’s getting as much out of it as I’d like.

@@Townsendhouse1 That’s awesome!! We have so much in common! I love it!

I'm the opposite - I purchased the updated level in 2021 and was unhappy with the AP book as a spine. The DK picture book included in the 2022 update has a wealth of information and amazing pictures. I've updated this level with the new books and IGs for my younger kids.

It may not be very informative and possibly could be more of a comedy routine 🤣🤷🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

@@Townsendhouse1 haha - I bet! I want to know what I might have to face down the road!

🤣🤣🤣

Isn't it so fun to look through all the new books! My kids are always wanting to pull out the new ones before I even check them off the packing list 🤣

@@Townsendhouse1 so true, mine are the same way. Are your children headed into “7th and 9th?” Mine are headed into “5th and 7th.” Also did you do the Eastern Hemisphere core? I feel like we may have to skip it to remain on “track” going into middle and high school. What are your thoughts?

Yes! My kids would be 7th/9th if in public school. I also have an upcoming 2nd grader 😊 We have done every level from p3/4 through 100 except Eastern Hemisphere. I know people that really love it, but my kids weren't all that excited about the content. I have been following the ages that they used to have for all the levels, so when my oldest was 12 we actually were doing level 100 (it was a lot of work, but we really enjoyed it!). At that time I thought my middle guy would be too young to bring up to level J. And Sonlight had just come out with their K program which was also US history. So my oldest did 100, my middle guy did a combo of D + E that I had pulled off my shelves and youngest did K. This year my two older kids have been doing level J while my youngest is in level B. It has actually worked out because I think of J as a world history, and we had a lot of content that was touched on in level B as well (all of my kids listen to all of the reading - my youngest just gets up and wanders more when it is the older siblings turn). H, J and 100 have been my favorite levels so far!

I have heard a lot about Shormann. I will definitely look into it, thank you 😊

I have a pretty wide range as well - 3rd, 8th/9th, 10th/11th. When I was only homeschooling my two oldest I combined them for a lot of things - mainly catering to my oldest and adjusting down my expectations for my middle guy. As my oldest moved into high school level courses, we had to adjust a bit. One thing that helps balancing multiple levels is to be in the same type of history - so have everyone in US History. There is a lot of opportunity to combine or add extra resources for someone who is older. How old are your kids? Which levels are you looking at?

@@Townsendhouse1 thank you!! Ours are 7th, 5th, 3rd, and kindergarten. I was thinking about core d/e.

@@TheChan7 I think that is a great level to combine - you may need to add a few more books for your 7th grader and maybe grab a couple of books from Exploring American History for your youngest, just to mix it up enough for a wide range. Sonlight is great for combining though!

@@Townsendhouse1 thank you so so much. You don’t feel like it is overwhelming to get through all the reading? I have a few slower students and not sure if they’ll get overwhelmed. Our oldest devours books though. How long does it usually take your family to get through a day’s material?

@@TheChan7 We are doing 3 different levels, so it definitely takes us a while to get through the reading. I am not afraid to drop books/change books if needed. There is A LOT in the instructor's guide as far as questions and information. I pick and choose what I find most valuable. I am using level D with my youngest right now, and it takes us about 2 hours to get through all of her school - she needs the most help from me. I spend probably 1-2 hours with each of my older two kids working on history/discussion/etc. So, it is quite a bit of time. Some days are shorter than others. I have a playlist on homeschool planning for this current year which you may be interested in - kzfaq.info/sun/PLOUJNGjWZBF_sStUzH7GJ854wixrOwoei it goes through all of the things that I do, how I manage our time, how I set up our school year etc.

I just compared the levels we want to do. Sonlight is so much less expensive! I’m not sure why that is. They are the same company I thought.

I try to buy right at the beginning of March when the all subject packages have a 30% off discount. But, we definitely scrimp and save all year to make sure I can buy what we need. Because I usually only buy Emma's stuff new, I am OK with the cost. I know that I will use the books again with Jack and then eventually with Lucy as well. I definitely make some hard choices throughout the year so that we can afford the curriculum though 😊

It may be that you aren't looking at the full packages? I think that most Sonlight levels are only History/Bible/Literature and don't come with the language arts or any other subjects. Although, it is possible the all subject packages might be a little less expensive.

@@Townsendhouse1 look at the full package cost of Sonlight vs Bookshark for levels B and G. Both are world history 1. Sonlight is much less money.

@@klevesque you are right! I have no idea why it would be less unless the books that are replaced from Sonlight for bookshark are more expensive 🤷🏼‍♀️ or maybe it is the science portion? I'm not sure!

Yeah, I really didn't like that either.

I absolutely agree that 1984 is a better choice for younger high schoolers. My oldest son read Animal Farm this last year (he really loved it), and then read a graphic novel version of 1984 afterwards.

The planner is a physical planner, and there are printable sheets in case you need extras. I will have a full walkthrough on Friday so stay tuned!

You can find the planner here: www.sonlight.com/homeschool-planner So sorry that the flip through didn't meet your needs. Would appreciate any feedback so we can make it better. 💛

@@Townsendhouse1 oh great! That gives me enough time to decide when to buy! 😂😂❤️❤️ Thanks so much!!!

@@sonlight I just would have expected to see a page by page flip through. I am the type that wants to really get a good sense of what it’s going to be like and how its laid out etc.

Here is the link to the Homeschool Planner page-by-page video that was posted in the Sonlight App. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kLqcnNZ73rGckac.html

If you are talking about level 430, no we have not done that level. We have gone through level 100 twice at this point though and loved it. My oldest wasn't interested in 430 for this coming year - 2024/2025 - she wanted to do the British Lit course (630) so that is what we are going with. It looks like an amazing English level though! Are you planning to do the gov/econ courses that are also part of 400?

@@Townsendhouse1 No, we're just using Sonlight for his English credit this year. He is using Notgrass for American history... it's just his preference.

The Apologia Biology is definitely a beast. We struggled in the first semester with it actually. My oldest had wanted to be a vet, but after she started the Biology course decided she no longer wanted to pursue science 🤣 I ended up purchasing the USB drive that Apologia sells, and it definitely turned things around for us. I think that we would have been better off to start with the USB drive, but Sonlight didn't recommend it and I purchased everything through Sonlight. So, we are a bit behind on Biology at this point in the year, and will go a bit farther into the spring than I hoped, but she is enjoying it much more now that she has the USB drive. I'm not sure if that helps! It is a bit dry though, you are correct. But, I think overall it is a pretty good program, just very robust. If your son is not a huge science fan, I have heard amazing things about the Friendly science resources as well as Guest Hollow. We use BJU for Spanish. I think that it is a great course. This is our second year using it. I have heard others who use BJU for science as well, but Spanish is a very big class, and science is the same. 180 lessons - so we have to double up some otherwise it is a very long course. I'm not sure how it would be to double up on Science, unless you were really committed to doing science every single day of your homeschool. The Spanish classes are about an hour or so if you include video lessons and work. So when Emma doubles up she is spending a couple of hours on Spanish in the day. I try to double up shorter days for her. My oldest will be using Sonlight 300 for history/literature next year. We did level 100 a couple of years ago, and this year she is doing 230 for classical literature, but we decided against the Church history in favor of government and a full geography course. We don't usually use the Bible portion of Sonlight in favor of our own personal Bible study, so it is relatively easy to remove that from the curriculum. There will be notes in the instructor's guide from a Christian worldview though, so you may want to be aware of that, but obviously you can adjust or not use the notes as needed.