Sonlight or k12?

Question

which home schooling program would you prefer? I have read about them both but im not sure which one would be better. i only want to do the rest of this school year.

Answer 1

I chose K12 over Sonlight five years ago.  The main reason is that Sonlight doesn't fit my son's learning style - or mine.  It's also weak with science, which is my son's strength.

If you want a Christian curriculum, with a global worldview, then you need to choose Sonlight.  If you want lots of depth and breadth, and something that caters to many types of learners, then you want K12.  K12 is secular, but it has a LOT of moral/character learning built in.  Think William Bennett's (founder of K12) Book of Virtues and Adventures from the Book of Virtues.

K12 is based on the Core Knowledge Foundation scope & sequence with a little adapting.  History 1-4 are very similar to Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World series.  In fact, she helped develop History 1 & 2 before moving on to finish her own books.

You can attend a virtual information session about K12 and gain access to a one-week free trial of the online system to see if it's for you.  You won't get to see the wonderful materials (many of the same are used in Sonlight!), but you'll see the ins and outs of the online portion - including my favorite - the online, dynamic, planning and progress tools.  That is one of my favorite things.  I'd go completely NUTS if I had a static, printed teacher's plan/guide!

Some people have the impression that K12 is done completely online.  That's not true.  There are a lot of offline activities and work.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions for you.  You might also want to join the "main" K12 Yahoo Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/k12users/

Answer 2

If you want to home school your child(ren) then I will give Son-light my vote.

We did use Son-light World History; many moons ago; their books are very good, but we found the schedule was not working for us, so we simply adapted it to our needs.

We still own the readers today, and they are well worn.

They have since changed their layout, and added a lot of materials; they are a great company to work with, and the materials are very nice, and in-dept.

Hope this helps a bit.

Answer 3

Sonlight.

K12 is a public charter school. Your only recourse if the school choose to override your educational decisions would be to withdraw your child. You could also be required to return or pay for any materials used if the school decides that you are injecting religious viewpoints into your teaching.

Answer 4

I'm currently using and loving Sonlight, so that's my vote.  I had looked into K12, but choose to go with something that would include a Christian world view.  

I love the books we use with Sonlight and my kids didn't realize we were doing school this year until someone asked about school and I had to break it to them (we had been with a charter).  I even have a friend who has the core we are using plus the next couple years, so she loaned them to us.  I got all  my books from her or Amazon or some used curriculum sites or the library.  So really, I've spent less than $100 on school for 2 kids for the year.

I know a couple families that have used K12 and they all say it's labor intensive.  If my kids understand something, we move on, no busy work.  I guess if you don't pass the challenge option at the beginning of a unit, you get stuck doing LOTS of work to be sure you've learned it.  That's not my style, but I'm sure it works for some people.

Both programs give a strong education, so you can't go wrong either way.

Happy homeschooling!!

Added:  I just read another post saying the Sonlight science is weak.   That may be, but you can choose which level you use separately from the basic core.  We're doing Core 1 with my 1st and 2nd grade sons, but doing Science 3, Intro to biology, with them.  It's awesome.  We're learning about seed sprouting and labeling the parts on sprouting seeds, doing experiements to understand what kind of environment it takes to sprout seeds, etc.  It's fun and challenging.  

Also, my sons are strong readers so we use the advanced readers a grade above.

You can custom tailor the subjects, so you get the optimal education for your child. So just because your child is in one grade, he doesn't have to only do that level in every subject.  

I think K12 does that too.

Answer 5

K12.

Answer 6

I have used k12 for four years and like it.  it's way intense and needs to be adapted.  i don't think there is a person alive on the planet that could do the entire curriculum, all activities, etc. and not have a short circuit.  but then it's really designed to be adapted to your child's learning style.  you choose the parts that work for you.

Answer 7

Sonlight is an awesome curriculum! But you have to be prepared to read a lot! my sister loses her voice the first weeks of school every year because of the amount she reads! but she's reading to 4 kids all different books!