Sonlight Core F's Add-In's BOOK LIST
Core F was our sixth core with Sonlight (SL). We started in 2008 with Core "K"- (our Kindergarten) but I think the title has changed to Core A. I should start off first by explaining that we are the type of Sonlighter's that do the core a bit differently than assigned. We can take as little as 36 weeks to do a core, or (like with Core D) take up to 72 weeks to complete a core! It might take us 2 weeks to complete one week, or we might add-in more books to help achieve a thorough saturation with our subjects and time periods. I like how SL is my spine, and I can slip in other materials along with SL's materials to personalize it for us. We do pretty much everything the Instructor's Guide tells us to do with each core, and add more things to enrich it. I understand a lot of people don't connect with some of SL's books, and drop some here and there---but, for some reason we have never had a problem with our SL books or assignments. I have had to edit a bit here or there if the material was too gory or inappropriate for us; but not much.
Some of the books and things that we found helpful while doing Core F:
CNN STUDENT NEWS (for our current events assignments each day) can be found at: http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/
*One thing we didn't do until the very end, but wish I had thought of earlier, was to give my child a spiral notebook and ask her to write at least one sentence about what we saw on each day's video. It would be really interesting to see 36 weeks of her comments regarding the recent current events. I saw this suggestion on Ambleside Online's website.
YOUTUBE.COM
We used Youtube on most of the country's we studied. I didn't keep track of all the video's we watched, and some we only watched parts of. But, my point is that we really appreciated being able to go to youtube and search "China", "Aboriginal Art", "New Zealand", etc. etc. and SEE the countries for ourselves in action. There were documentary shows and travel shows on every place we looked up! It really is a treasure trove of visuals to go along with all the written materials we had. I finally figured out to write down which video's we watched at the end of the core.
GOOGLE EARTH is another wonderful resource that we really enjoyed and used frequently.
This core, more than any other core previously, Dd wanted to spend a lot of her reading time on books that didn't pertain to our core---like Lamplighter books, a lot of "Classics", Greek Mythology, and other personal interest books. I'm not going to list our family books, just the books that might give you some suggestions on books to add to Core F. All of our non-core related books are listed in each week that we read them; like usual. This is just a specific post about some of the add-in's we added.
There were a few books we used almost every week.
For Geography--which was very much part of this core!
(I also made a few copies of the blank maps for each section so we could fill them out a few times, instead of just doing them one time. I found we remembered more by doing them a few times over the time we were in each section. A place that we were only at for one week, we only did one map. A place that we stayed at for a few weeks we did those maps 1-2 times per week.)
*National Geographic Atlas of the World
Google Earth online
With books like Material World, Hungry Planet...etc. They have spreads about lots of different places around the world. As we would move from one country to the next, we would look up how each country compared to each other and to us. We would use this section of books repeatedly throughout the core with each place we studied.
*What the World Eats
Here are some of the add-in's and which week we used them:
Week 4:
Week 6:
There were a few books we used almost every week.
For Geography--which was very much part of this core!
(I also made a few copies of the blank maps for each section so we could fill them out a few times, instead of just doing them one time. I found we remembered more by doing them a few times over the time we were in each section. A place that we were only at for one week, we only did one map. A place that we stayed at for a few weeks we did those maps 1-2 times per week.)
National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition by National Geographic
*National Geographic Atlas of the World
Google Earth online
Material World: A Global Family Portrait by Peter Menzel, Charles C. Mann
*Material WorldWith books like Material World, Hungry Planet...etc. They have spreads about lots of different places around the world. As we would move from one country to the next, we would look up how each country compared to each other and to us. We would use this section of books repeatedly throughout the core with each place we studied.
A Life Like Mine: How Children Live Around the World by DK Publishing
*A Life Like Mine
What the World Eats by Faith D'Aluisio and Peter Menzel
*What the World Eats
Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio
*Hungry Planet
How People Live by DK Publishing and Dena Freeman
*How People Live
Children from Australia to Zimbabwe: A Photographic Journey around the World by Maya Ajmera, Anna Rhesa Versola and Marian Wright Edelman
Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the World by Anabel Kindersley, Barnabas Kindersley and UNICEF
Our Living Earth: A Story of People, Ecology, and Preservation by Isabelle Delannoy and Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Religions of the World (12th Edition) by Lewis M. Hopfe and Mark R. Woodward
Religions of the World
Here are some of the add-in's and which week we used them:
Week 4:
The Silk Route: 7,000 Miles of History by John S. Major and Stephen Fiese
The Silk Route 7,000 MilesWeek 6:
Through Time: Beijing by Richard Platt and Cappon Manuela
Through Time BejingWeek 11: Russia
Eyewitness: Russia by Kathleen Berton Murrell
Week 12:
Kubla Khan: The Emperor of Everything by Kathleen Krull and Robert Byrd
Week 15:
The Gold-Threaded Dress by Carolyn Marsden
Week 16: India
India: The Land (Lands, Peoples, & Cultures) by Bobbie Kalman
Teens in India (Global Connections) by Lori Shores and Anu Taranath
Mother Teresa by Demi
Gandhi: The Peaceful Revolutionary (Famous Lives) by Anna Claybourne (Feb 12, 2004)
Week 21: India
Snake Charmer by Ann Whitehead Nagda
I Is for India (World Alphabets) by Prodeepta Das
Week 22:
Iqbal by Francesco D'Adamo and Ann Leonori
(This book was very emotional, so we stopped reading it. I have decided to wait a bit longer before we finish it--maybe another year or two from now.)
Week 25: Middle East
youtube.com "The Powerful Ottoman's Caliphate: History of Islam" 52:57
and general searches for understanding Islam
May 28: Africa
youtube.com: One More River-The Mary Slessor Story
African Art: Its Background and Traditions by R.S. Wassing (1968)
African Art
Jacques Cousteau's Amazon Journey by Jacques Yves Cousteau and Mose Richards
Jacques Cousteau's Amazon Journey
Cultural Atlas of Africa, Revised Edition by Jocelyn Murray (Sep 1998)
Cultural Atlas of Africa - Murray
The Tree Where Man Was Born and The African Experience by Peter and Porter, Eliot Matthiessen
The African Experience- Eliot Porter
Come With Me To Africa by gregory scott kreikemeier (1993)
Come With Me to Africa
Exploration into Africa by Isimeme Ibazebo
Explorations into Africa-IbazeboWeek 34: Australia
youtube.com: "Aboriginal Art" search was very abundant in video's--we watched quite a few different aborigine artist's do their paintings.
youtube: "Our Generation" 1:13:42
youtube: "The Men of the Fifth World" 52:15
Added in a book that use to be in Core F, but currently was taken out: Incredible Journey
The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
Australia (Changing Face Of...) by Margot Richardson (Apr 2003
The Changing Face of Australia-Richardson
Australia by Dayls Newman
Made Aussie Cumin Potatoes from online recipe
Week 35: New Zealand
youtube.com: Is New Zealand For You? 9:24
youtube.com: various showings of "Walzing Matilda"
youtube: Australia's Great Barrier Reef by Travel Channel 4:42
Week 36: Antarctica
youtube: Antarctica Documentary: 1:27:35
youtube: Penguins of the Antarctica 'Nature Documentary' 48:50
....
