Core F - 5-Day

Will this Core be your favorite, too?

This beloved Core is unique among Sonlight programs. Its subject matter stands out from homeschool programs available anywhere.

Where else can you get a full year's exploration of Australia, Asia, the Middle East and Africa? A huge percentage of the world's population call the Eastern Hemisphere home. Ninety percent of all unevangelized people live there. If we want our children to understand this increasingly interconnected globe, if we want them to embrace God's heart for the whole world, let's take a learning journey to the East!

We've prepared a rich year of adventure and discovery for you and your kids. I've lost track of all the customers who say this is their favorite year. As one mom said last September, "What an utterly fabulous, not-to-be-missed adventure Core F is! It is (like all the others before it) my new favorite Core." Will it be yours too?

Core F is perfect for 11-, 12- and 13-year-olds and advanced 10-year-olds. But I wouldn't be surprised if the entire family wants to listen in!

Take a cultural adventure

I created Core F to fill a gap in education. In public schools and homeschools, students study Western history and culture year after year after year. So Core F is a cultural and historical journey through the often-overlooked lands of the Eastern hemisphere.

Unlike the other Cores, this one doesn't focus on one set period of history. Instead, it's a cultural study that acquaints your children with the fascinating peoples and nations of the East. As you move from region to region, you'll study a subset of history at each stop.

This year's cross-continental itinerary

Take an ambling trek from the South Pacific, through Australia, up to Japan, through southeast Asia, India, China, the Middle East and, eventually, to North Africa. Learn to know and love the people you meet!

Because this is such a novel part of the world (to us Westerners, at least!), the history spine for this Core is quite distinctive as well. You'll use the kid-friendly and uncommonly interesting World Book Encyclopedia as a point of departure for each country you visit. The Eastern Hemisphere Explorer coordinates with your encyclopedia readings and adds structure, dimension, relevant hands-on activities and lots of fun.

These tools specifically help your children develop their research skills. The Eastern Hemisphere Explorer helps kids use the World Book Encyclopedia and find answers to various questions. They'll also learn to do some basic (supervised) internet research.

Big-picture goals

My hope for this Core is that children will understand that there's a big part of the world we're often unaware of, but that these nations are not forgotten or lost to God.

I want kids to grasp the fact that not everyone lives like we do in the West. All over the world, people eat, dress, work, play and see the world very differently. But we're also the same in key ways: God loves all of us and we all need Jesus. Families all over the world love each other; children like to play, learn and explore; we all have to work hard; we all want to be loved and appreciated; we can all overcome obstacles.

I want children to be inspired toward greater compassion and courage through the many missionary biographies featured in this Core. I want them to gain God's heart for lost people everywhere. I want them to understand that we don't need to be afraid of other cultures. At the same time, we don't have to pretend that every aspect of every culture is wonderful.

As children see Christianity compared to religions of the East this year, they will appreciate even more what a great God we serve. We do not pray to lifeless idols; we are not stuck in an endless cycle of reincarnation. Our God is alive, loving and powerful!

Your Core F package includes:

Instructor's Guide

Like an expert tour guide, your Instructor's Guide (IG) gives you confidence to explore these new lands. You can follow the IG exactly each day, or take detours and reroute your trip as you please. With all your lesson plans already done, your guide makes your books, activities and timeline all fit together to reinforce concepts and allow for effective learning. The riveting discussion questions and study guides help you get the most from your time with your children. Request the first three weeks of this guide for free.

History & Geography

Get a splendid store of books and interactive materials this year. You'll even get a China Kit with fun (replicated) artifacts such as a black ink stick and stone for making ink.

Look for many inspiring biographies of people through whom God did extraordinary things: from Mother Teresa in India to Eric Liddell in China, to David Livingstone in Africa. You'll get beautifully illustrated introductions to India, a DVD with live footage of the least evangelized peoples in the Eastern Hemisphere, and timeline figures to pull all your learning together.

Bible

Bible readings in Core F include the Gospel of Matthew, the letter of Hebrews, James' epistle, Paul's letters to the Corinthians, the Old Testament history books 1st and 2nd Kings, Daniel and some Psalms. You'll also memorize Scripture each week. In keeping with the spirit of Core F, you'll focus on God's heart for the world this year.

For even more Bible study, pick up the Additional Bible F Study Package. Get a CD with all the memory verses from Core F set to music and embark on a "unit study" approach to Genesis and Exodus.

Read-Alouds

I'll never forget the night I was reading The Wolves of Willoughby Chase to my kids in the living room. I paused for breath and John ran in from the office where he had been "working" (i.e., listening in) and exclaimed his excitement at the gripping story.

You'll share this and many other adventures of life overseas with your children. I've also included a few classics from our own culture. You get to:

• See cultures with new eyes as you walk from Tibet to Calcutta with a young Tibetan girl.
• Read my all-time favorite story: The Horse and His Boy, one of C. S. Lewis' marvelous tales of Narnia.
• Shuffle behind Marjan, a crippled Persian girl, as she risks her life to collect stories for the Sultan's wife, who must tell him a new tale every night--or be killed.

Readers

Your children will get more glimpses into life in the Eastern Hemisphere through their Readers this year. They'll meet characters who inspire courage, curiosity, strength and lots of fun!

An eye-opening journey

May you enjoy Core F as much as countless other Sonlighters have. And may God open our eyes to people who live so differently from us, and whom God loves as much as he loves you and me.

• FCG-sample.pdf | 3 MB

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