Homeschooling: My Fathers World vs. Sonlight

[jengerbread88]

Hey, homeschoolers! I need some opinions!

We have a student going into 6th grade next year. He is very hands-on, very kinesthetic, not so fond of reading. For our first semester homeschooling (second semester, fifth grade), we put together our own curriculum, but starting in 6th, we want something a little more... put together.

We're kind of debating between My Father's World, and Sonlight.

So. Pros and cons of each. Which do you like better? Why? Have you tried both? Just one? What made you choose the one you chose? What are they like? ANY info you could give me would be crazy-awesome, because we feel so lost and overwhelmed... We're really trying to figure out what's best, and we're so confused...

Help?

[Lauren]

When I homeschooled one of my sons part of last year, we did K-12, so I'm not familiar w/ these, but I believe Darcy Baldwin uses My Father's World.... Sounds familiar at least! Good luck!

[Patti]

I'm no help either, good luck

[carolat]

I am also trying k12, but Crystal Livesay is going with Sonlight, so you might want to check with her.

[carolat]

BTW, info about k12 is at www.k12.com and we chose it because they do seem to be a put - together system while offering a lot of freedom for your own views. One more thing - we weren't looking to reinvent the wheel and the idea that they send all supplies to your door sounds awesome!

[Lauren]

Yes, you get a LOT of boxes of stuff! From paints for art, to beakers for science!

[4noisyboys]

When I was homeschooling years ago, I would've preferred a curriculum that offered more freedom for peoples views. That k12 one sounds fabulous.

[mrsaboyer]

I think Nicole Seitler uses Sonlight, too.

[sarahbhb]

I'm a secular homeschooler and I totally considered Sonlight because even though it's a Christian curriculum they introduce other viewpoints, which I appreciated.

This year I've been using Moving Beyond the Page (just the language arts books not the science/social studies books) MBTP is a very hands on secular based curriculum, My daughter hates to write but something about their writing prompts and questions gets her writing without too much complaint.

[jengerbread88]

We decided against K12 because we don't want anything that involves the school system or has other people's... stuff... in our stuff? If that makes sense? As in, we wanted to do it without the help of teachers, etc. I don't know how to explain it (sorry, brain fried).

After reading your guys' responses, reading responses from some other scrap and homeschool forums, visiting both of the booths (multiple times!) at a conference, and praying about it, I think we're going with My Father's World. It just suited his hands-on needs a little better. We're supplementing with a different math program and a different Language Arts (spelling/grammar) program.

Thanks for all of the advice and opinions.