Kelly, Lisa, anyone else who has used it...

How is it different than Sonlight? What did you like about it? I've got an "extra" year for Erik, and if it's a good program, I might do this instead of Sonlight K next year.

Is the goal just to teach to read? Would a child who is already reading still benefit from it? Is there history learned from it as well?

Thank you, I briefly checked out the website, and the info wasn't that detailed, but I was intrigued.

Heather - It's been a while since we finished it, so I need to look back through it to better tell you about it. Jacob was actually a very early reader (I think I've seen you on the AL forum at Sonlight. :) ) We ended up skipping the kindergarten portion and going straight to the first grade just before he turned 5.

The main thing I liked about the phonics museum is that it really matched the way Jacob thinks. They do a very good job of explaining the phonics rules - Jacob liked that a lot and he learned them well because of the way it was presented. We actually used it along with Sonlight K and Sonlight Science K. We used VP instead of their LA. I was really worried about what to do next, since the program doesn't extend beyond 1st grade, but I've found that going to Core 1 with the advanced readers from Sonlight is a good continuation. The readers themselves are pretty easy for him, but the LA that goes along with them is a good fit for after the VP. Does that make any sense?

VP is a more classical approach. The readers themselves focus mostly on events throughout history. Definitely not your basic 'see Spot run' type of readers.

Here's a link to a really good description by Rainbow resource

http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?sid=1114012424-991787&id=016187

We are doing Kindergarden right now(thought I bought the K and 1st set). It's goal is to teach kids to read so if he's reading really really well it might not suit you. I'll have to drag out the 1st grade books and see what kinds of things they do...It's an awesome program, centered around a museum theme. They have 2-3 easy and fun worksheets each day. They encorporate art, games, writing and singing and it's all planned out for me (which I love) :heart: The readers are awesome definilely not your average reader. They are all about history with awesome pictures and illustrations. If you want I could type out of the the k and 1st grade books so you could get an idea if these would be too easy for him or not.

I'm doing a reading assessment with him now, but my guess is he's reading at almost a 2nd grade level, with his sight words being much higher, and his phonics a little lower (he has a huge sight word vocab, and he doesn't like to take the time to sound things out).

It sounds like a cool program... Lisa, have you ever seen First Language Lessons? Kelly recommended that as a LA I might like, and I think that looks good. My initial plan was to do SL K and FLL this fall, and SL K science.

OK, so the overall goal of the program is to teach phonics? I liked the concept of more interesting readers, as I'm finding a lot of what I'm getting from the library is boring. And like I said, Erik's phonics rules aren't as strong as his reading and comprehension. I don't know if that's because he hasn't learned them all yet, or if it's just because he doesn't have need to do a lot of phonics since his sight word vocabulary is so huge.

Yes, the overall goal of the program is to teach phonics.
I dragged out my 1st grade materials (I bought the k & 1 combo kit). The first book they read in the 1st grade program is,

"Ella Sings Jazz" (each line I typed is one page)

Ella had fun singing

When Ella was set to sing she sang with Chick Webb. Chick was the King of "swing"

He and Ella got the hall hopping. All the gang were huffing and puffing, dipping and rocking to the swinging songs. There was no napping when Ella was singing.

It was not long and Ella was getting to sing "jazz" songs. Ella sang jazz songs in big and not-so-big halls.

Then Ella sang "pop" songs. Ellas pop songs set the fans to buzzing. Then fans were begging for Ellas pop singing.

Ella was itching to go back to "jazz" singing. Ella got a job singing the buddin jazz of "bebop".

Bebop was not like jazz or swing Ellas sang bebop songs by singing,"bah bah bah nop do bo de do."

ok so that's up to page 20 and there are 30 pages in the book (only 5 more have words to read)




"Red Hood" is about 1/2 way thru the year

The spy took tools from the boot of his car. He had to screw parts onto a small rack.

IT was an odd job to do by the moons gleam.WHen he did finish he fit the pack on his back. The pack blew smoke and fire from a scoop and soon the spy flew.

He cut across the dark sky, landing by a brook. He threw the hot flying pack in the brook to cool.

He then speed to that spooky fort that was looming in the gloom.

The spy had to be quick. The crook Red Hood was planning to let loose doom at noon. The spy had to stoop to get under the watch of Red Hood's troops.

that's up to page 11, there are 31 pages in the book and all of them have 2 or more sentences on them (really cool pictures too LOL)

In the teachers manual...
Lesson 27 is TW/DW blends (twig, dwell, swell, swig)
Lesson 41 is "Silent E"
Lesson 103 is OUL as short OO (should, would, could)
Lesson 143 is Final ED (sounded, acted, blasted, painted)

So there you go. I hope that helps to give you a better idea of the subject matter. It's not a typical 1st grade program IMO. Like I said before, all interspered thru it is games, crafts, music, etc..That makes it a really well rounded program and frankly really really fun.

It sounds like a cool program... Lisa, have you ever seen First Language Lessons? Kelly recommended that as a LA I might like, and I think that looks good. My initial plan was to do SL K and FLL this fall, and SL K science.


I don't believe I've seen that to compare. I thought the phonics museum did a really good job of presenting the phonetic rules. Jacob is really into rules, so it suited him well. I remember once he asked me to tell him all the words that didn't follow the rules. Uh..this is English, that list would take a while, LOL.

I was worried because the VP program only goes through first grade. It was such a good fit for Jacob that I didn't know where to go next. I tried Sonlight's LA 1 with advanced readers and have been really pleased with it. It works well with the VP.

Kelly, thanks, that's helpful. He could really benefit from that. hmmm, now to decide! But it is helpful to see the story, and see that it's so much better than the typical early readers, which are so boring, and sometimes just so contrived it drives me crazy ;)

(I was about right with his reading assessment. His sight words are at 3.5 grade level. His comprehension is at early 1st, along with his phonics)

But it is helpful to see the story, and see that it's so much better than the typical early readers, which are so boring, and sometimes just so contrived it drives me crazy ;)

(I was about right with his reading assessment. His sight words are at 3.5 grade level. His comprehension is at early 1st, along with his phonics)


Yes these stories are awesome, great illustrations and very unusual story lines. So it sounds like it might be helpful to him then. It is a pricey program. I bought the combo kit which was $195 I think. When I added int he cost of 2 more workbooks (for Marlie when she gets older) and divided it by 4, (the number of times I'd be using the program), it fell within a more reasonable price range.

The beauty of our situation is that the ILs are paying for schooling, whatever we choose... so we could choose private and they would pay for it--or they will pay for the homeschool curriculum we use. It does make me want to make exceptionally wise choices, as I don't want to waste their money. But it's nice to be able to choose whatever I think will work best for Erik.

We're not ready to order anything yet, but it's on my list now. Now to determine what math to get next.....

We're not ready to order anything yet, but it's on my list now. Now to determine what math to get next.....

LOL just let me know when you need math info...I've used a few...

Just bumping this up!

This looks great. I am guessing Whitley is at a mid-kindergarten level - how would I determine this? I mean she can read words like sheep, trust, game, etc. but is definately not fluent. So would I get the K program?

Reading is very important to me. I really want her to have a very solid foundation so I think this would be great. LOVE the content of the readers too! That's awesome. thanks

This looks great. I am guessing Whitley is at a mid-kindergarten level - how would I determine this? I mean she can read words like sheep, trust, game, etc. but is definately not fluent. So would I get the K program?

You are looking at materials for September right? If so, then she'd probably be ok with the 1st grade program.

You are looking at materials for September right? If so, then she'd probably be ok with the 1st grade program.

Yes, okay great, thanks!

I did an online reading assessment with Erik--off of the Sonlight site. I think it is $20? Anyway, it was really helpful to me, and really gave me direction.

We decided not to do phonics museum with Erik this fall. He seemed to be doing just fine in phonics, and we decided to keep it to the core, math, and chemistry, and spend the other time on his areas of weakness. He was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome in August, so extra things like this got put on the back. And now he's fluently reading at 3rd grade and above.

Anyway, I still think it's an amazing looking program, and plan to do it with Anders, when the time is right.