A Glimpse of Sonlight's Philosophy and Goals

At Sonlight, we believe that homeschooling is a way of life and an overarching attitude toward the world. The world is out there to be marveled at, enjoyed, explored, and learned from. Once you catch on to this idea, you will find it easy to see educational value in almost everything you do.

Sonlight's "Secret": No More Boring Textbooks!

Use quality books that present content in a highly engaging fashion.

Sonlight's "secret" really comes down to this: we believe that most children respond more positively to great literature than they do to textbooks. Books — quality books — can distill the wisdom of an entire life into the span of a few pages. They can feed us with spiritual insight beyond imagination. Whether written by Christians or non- Christians, great books help us to develop critical thinking skills. They cause us to question the validity of our own values and beliefs in light of the author's perspective.

These benefits of great literature have inspired us to build our curriculum on quality books that present content in a highly engaging fashion. Once a good book grabs your child's attention, you'll find that the educational process becomes relatively painless — because your child will actually want to read!

Moreover, you'll find we've made your life even easier with our Instructor's Guides. They include reading schedules that coordinate and integrate study across subjects, instructor's notes, study guides, student activity sheets and much more.

The Instructor's Guide allows you to minimize the time you spend preparing lessons and maximize the time you spend interacting with your children.

The Instructor's Guides really make Sonlight what it is. When you use one, you can expect to save hours of time and frustration because we've done most of the work for you.

Explore the Wonder of the World

Though Sonlight has specific times set aside for concentrated reading of books, writing of papers, and working through math texts, our curriculum encourages parents to look for "teaching moments" throughout the day.

Our world is a place of wonder and exploration. Just take a look around — potential learning experiences can be found at every turn.

Use your daily encounters with the unfamiliar to teach your children.

If they (or you) don't understand something, look it up. Use a dictionary or encyclopedia. Go to the library. Use the Internet. Do some research! Search for the answer together. Make it an adventure.

After you find an answer, expand the learning experience by looking for a practical application to reinforce the lesson. Remember: not everything your children need to know can be learned in books. Some things can only be learned by doing.

The World Needs the Gospel

Sonlight was defined from the outset by an evangelical Christian missions worldview. We wanted to encourage children to honor God's "Great Commission" (Matthew 28:18 — 20) by acquiring an international perspective and a godly heart for the world. It is this missionary concern — the desire that God's name should be known and His glories revealed throughout the world among all peoples — that motivated our decision to encourage the study of history from an international perspective.

Although God's plans are for all peoples, most children can't imagine that anyone lives differently than they do. Most have no idea that there is a big world around them filled with people who have completely different experiences from their own. We want to help children understand history as it looks from the perspective of these people who, for social or cultural reasons, see things differently than we do.

Balanced Perspectives

Sonlight actively seeks authors who can speak authentically and authoritatively for other groups whose perspectives are different than our own. Why? Because we can only speak persuasively to members of other groups if they are convinced that (1) we have listened to them, (2) we have understood what they are saying, and (3) we have empathized with their perspectives. Then, if we still hold a different perspective, it is despite our obvious understanding of and empathy with who they are and what they have said.

Our goal at Sonlight is to produce a curriculum that will teach children (and parents) to learn to understand first and judge second. More importantly, we want children to know that God is faithful — they can listen to other perspectives without having their faith destroyed. If our children can lead others to begin questioning their beliefs, they will have no shortage of people asking them "to give the reason for the hope that [they] have" (1 Peter 3:15). They can then approach a new and unfamiliar situation with the humility and grace that is appropriate to an ambassador of Christ.

They will have no need to fear because they will learn that the truth — God's truth — will prevail. He who is in us truly is greater than he who is in the world (cf. 1 John 4:4). And He who is by our side really will give us the right words to say when the time comes (cf. Matthew 10:18 — 20). Children come to know this not just in their heads, but also in their hearts, through experience.

Natural Learning

Sonlight's Language Arts programs are based on the "natural learning" approach. "Natural learning" means children learn by discovery. They observe, analyze, and then seek to emulate what they have seen a master wordsmith do before them.

As Dr. Beechick has so strongly noted, this is the method by which Benjamin Franklin taught himself to write. It is the method by which many of the world's greatest authors have learned to put their words together.

The "natural learning" method is not as obviously logical as standard workbook methods. In "natural learning," children will make a discovery; we will reinforce it for them; but they won't find 50 similar "problems" neatly laid out for them to "solve." This method is, in some ways, slower than the traditional workbook method, and for a person who demands a linear path from one topic to another, it can certainly frustrate.

Children have to really puzzle things through and figure them out. They often have to use external resources to help. However, when they finally "get" a principle that they've been struggling to master, they will never forget it! They will understand it thoroughly and be able to apply it in almost any context.

Sonlight uses copying and dictating as the two basic lesson activities in the "natural learning" method. Just as your children learned to speak by copying your correct speech, so they will learn to write by copying fine writing.

These exercises imprint in a child's mind "the flow, sentence structure and sequence of information" a professional writer might use. They also provide relatively easy and interesting practice in correct spelling, grammar, and handwriting.

Sonlight also uses "natural language"-oriented student activity sheets to provide additional instruction in grammar. To help children puzzling through grammar issues, Sonlight has also created a comprehensive grammar guide that defines grammatical terms and provides examples of their proper use.

An Engaging Process

Sonlight requires significant parental involvement. Although some things — basic math facts, for instance — are best learned through rote memorization and raw repetition, most other subjects profit greatly from the presence and involvement of an older, more experienced person. You bring your own knowledge and values to the learning process. You can inject your insights into the discussion.

In fact, one of the prime reasons you should want to homeschool is to stay engaged with your children and their educational process... to pass along to your children your specific intellectual and cultural heritage.

Don't ask the questions in Sonlight's Instructor's Guides unthinkingly. If you're going to use them, ask them in such a way that you can discern the true import of what your child is saying. Ask follow-up questions of your own. Dig out the meaning of what they're reading.

You have the opportunity to serve as mentor to your own children. Don't waste the opportunity! Interact with your children. Ask questions. Point out similarities and contrasts between what you read in one book with what you read in another. If you find that two books disagree, point out the disagreement — and pursue a solution to the problem. Show your children by example how mature, well — educated people interact with materials they disagree with.

There are areas of life — skills, perspectives, attitudes — that can never be passed on to our children through words alone. These are the intangible qualities and elusive blessings we want our children to enjoy: things like a positive self-esteem; a sense of belonging and of being loved; a love for learning; and an appreciation for beauty. All of these are attitudes, values and methods you can pass on to your children that they will easily miss if you simply hand them a stack of books.

Testing

Many parents worry about testing (or not testing) their children. For many of us, it feels uncomfortable to educate without tests!

Sonlight is dedicated to meeting the needs of homeschoolers. We believe the homeschool environment (especially in the early grades when you are reading alongside your children) eliminates the need for written tests.

Classroom teachers with 25 or 30 students can't possibly listen to all of their students expound on what they have learned. You, however, with only one or two — or even three, four, or five — children, can quickly judge their grasp of what they have read.

And, instead of putting your children on the defensive to artificially "prove" their academic skills, you can encourage them to play the role of a teacher. What you are doing is providing your children with an opportunity to teach you what they have learned. It is far better that your children should learn to be skilled educators than excellent test-takers!

Sonlight's Educational Goals

Seek First God's Kingdom
Sonlight believes the primary goal Jesus set before all of us who claim to be His disciples is to "seek first His [God's] kingdom and His righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). We want to keep that goal in front of ourselves and our students at all times.

A Learner's Heart
What good does it do to fill children's minds with information if they never learn how to learn, or if they never acquire a heartfelt desire for education?

We want our children to grow up with the same attitude and conviction Solomon had: "[Wisdom] is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her" (Proverbs 3:13-15).

Honor Christ Boldly
Sonlight believes the Christian faith is not merely intended to grant us eternal personal comfort; it is meant to change the way we live and, through us, to alter the world around us. That's why, from the earliest years, we include materials that help children memorize Scripture and understand what the Bible is all about.

But the legacy of God's people extends far beyond the Scriptures. We want children to sense the excitement and challenge of following Jesus in big and little things — to see, know, understand, and be willing to make the sacrifices that they may be called upon to make if they are to fulfill God's purposes in their lives.

Ambassadors for Christ
Most curricula (especially Christian curricula) seem to focus entirely on "message" content — what children need to know and believe so they will quickly recognize and reject whatever is false.

But the Apostle Paul speaks of ambassadors for Christ — and ambassadors don't merely identify that which is foreign. They engage and interact with whatever is not part of "their own." Ambassadors for Christ must be taught not only to recognize what is false; they must be taught to discover the peculiar strengths and weaknesses of opposing views.

True Scholars
Through the books we have chosen and through our Instructor's Guides, Sonlight seeks to "walk its talk" and demonstrate true scholarship. Some people may question the value of quality scholarship. We believe it has a direct and valuable impact on a person's ambassadorship. The person who has "done his homework" is in a far better position to communicate effectively with a person who is coming from a very different perspective than he who has not.

Cultural Literacy
There is a certain basic set of background information people must know if they are to get along in a culture — let alone to influence that culture. Sonlight seeks to help its students move far beyond the basics. We want to raise world — changers: people who will make a difference — for good.

That's why you'll find so many famous books — some of which, especially in the older years, are quite un-Christian in our curriculum. We believe our children must be made aware of these books and their content so that they have a foundational base of knowledge and, more importantly, so that they will be prepared to respond to these cultural influences in a strong and Godly fashion.