Hello. We are using Sonlight at present. We are thoroughly enjoy it but I do worry that it focuses on American facets of life and we live in SA.
We are wanting to start our son (6) with Grade 1 next year (2013) and were going to start with Sonlight’s Grade 1. We have now looked into your Footprints On Our Land and seen the ages 7 – 12 category. Would the Little Footprints manual be what he would start off with?
We were already familiar with the ABC Fun & 123 manual but felt that K. had already passed that stage. We like the fact that South African History is used as the foundation for teaching all subjects. One complete theme throughout the day of learning.
Do you provide a weekly or daily schedule to follow for the year?
Another question is how do you fit in with exams and tests to be recognised with the SA Education system themselves? We are not too concerned about tests, etc. at this stage but were thinking of when they eventually reach Grade 10, 11, 12. What would they receive on completion that would be recognised and accepted after school?
Thank you for your information! ~ Meg
Answer to Sonlight and Footprints
If your son is only 6 then I would suggest that you either continue with Sonlight for another year or two until he is about 8 or 9 before doing the Footprints On Our Land – South Africa’s Heritage programme. At that age he will get so much more out of it. At age 7 you will have to adapt and simplify and he’ll miss so much of the richness of it. If you had a 9 and a 7 year old, then I’d say do it with both, but you can afford to wait a bit.
…so for next year, you can either consider Little Footprints or you could continue with another Sonlight Core. You can read the full description on the link provided.
We do not provide a detailed daily schedule like Sonlight does as the structure is a little different with more discussions, activities and things to do than with Sonlight which is mainly reading aloud. Instead this is what we suggest:
For Little Footprints, you would do the lessons based on one of the story books per week. There are about 36-40 weeks in a school year and we have about 30 stories, some of which we suggest you spread over 2 weeks..so it also allows some time for doing your own thing…or just relaxing your pace.
With the Footprints On Our Land programme: – it can be completed in a year, but having used it twice each, Wendy and I have both found it better to take 18 months or even 2 years to complete it. This allows time for outings to relevant places of interest in SA, time to do projects or the lapbooks we have added and less stress to push the pace to finish.
With my kids I used Footprints for 18 months and then took the next 18 months to do the Sonlight Core D&E one year programme of American History and that worked well.
When homeschooled children reach Grade 10 -12 they have to choose a school leaving option, usually the British Cambridge International examinations, the American GED or some other course that offers a certification at the end of it. Each year there are new High School Homeschool options, so you may have more to choose from by the time your child gets to that level.
Should you want your child independently assessed from time to time, you can contact the Private Examinations Board that offers homeschool assessment testing – www.homeschool-assessment-tests.com.
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