Sonlight may be your best investment to help your family love to learn. Find out if you agree.
Sonlight parents regularly share how Sonlight changed their lives, transformed their kids into avid readers, and actually enabled them to learn along with their children instead of teach at them. Based on feedback from the people who use Sonlight Curriculum® every day, we’d like to share 25 reasons customers believe Sonlight is a captivating, challenging, user-friendly, God-honoring, disciple-making curriculum.
Why are customers convinced no other curriculum is such a uniquely refined tool to combine the best things about life, God, family, great books and exciting educational experiences in a manner that actually allows families to do school the way they’ve dreamed—every day? Read on to learn a few reasons families love Sonlight. Might they become your reasons, too?
1. Great books are the foundation for Sonlight Curriculum—and a great education.
We founded Sonlight Curriculum on the principle that great books make great libraries, and great libraries are the core of great education. You won’t just get the books you need for one school year, you’ll begin a legacy by passing on a love for truly great books that inspire your kids—AND you— to be life-long learners. Sonlight will help you build a library of books your entire family will want to read again and again. The books Sonlight offers won’t just captivate your children, they’ll grab YOUR attention, too.
“I LOVE Sonlight’s books” titles at least 50 notes from satisfied Sonlight parents on the online forums… in the space of just a few days. What is it about these selections of books that draw families to them so loyally? After browsing Sonlight’s book list, parents often tell us they feel like kids in a candy store as they discover childhood favorites to cuddle up with, as well as fascinating books they may have never heard of. The fact that Sarita carefully hand picks these stories is a major gift to busy homeschool parents, and every title truly is a treasure.
Countless families write to tell us stories about their beloved Sonlight library. In almost every case, both parents AND kids (and sometimes grandparents and friends, too!) beg for “just one more chapter” from Sonlight’s Read-Alouds. For instance, Julie S of Minneapolis, MN, shared her son’s bedtime routine with one of his Sonlight books:
“I found my son trying to change into pajamas one-handed ...because his other hand was busy holding open his books? Sarita not only reads every title Sonlight carries, she reads many that don’t ever make it into the curriculum.
Sarita and her carefully selected team scavenge the shelves of public libraries, regularly access massive computer databases of books, browse the best bookstores, and devour every catalog they receive from more than 100 publishers. And Sarita always follows through when a customer suggests a book.
Her longstanding record: Sarita has read, on average, over 12 children’s books a week for the past 18 years (not to mention the hundreds of books she read prior to the start of Sonlight Curriculum).
Out of every 40 or 50 books she reads, Sarita will find only one that merits a place in our program. Only the rare books that have the depth, the beauty, the cultural sensitivity, the inspiration, or the winsome, scholarly character we look for make the cut. These quality books make up the kind of library that builds a legacy of life-long learning for your entire family.
Sonlight’s thorough book selection process wows customers on regular basis as they tell us how much they appreciate Sarita’s work to give them the best! Here’s what Julie L of Lexington, KY, had to say about Sarita’s picks:
“It’s so nice to be able to pick up the next book and snuggle on the couch and EXPECT it to be a great book. Many are books I would have never discovered on my own. If I had to pick all of them myself, I know many of the books would not hold the interest or have the educational value I find with Sonlight.”
“I could pick books from the library and learn history that way, but I would end up leaving out the interesting tidbits Sonlight highlights for me. I love how the books are intertwined. Sonlight’s great Readers and Read-Alouds complement the history so well.”
So, not only are the books truly great, they also come straight to you, strategically compiled and ready for a year of learning. Sonlight does all this research so you can spend that “hunting for books” time with your family instead.
As we’ve talked to Sonlighters, it’s clear: For a busy homeschooling parent, having fabulous books and plans for the entire year come straight to the front door translates into actual time invested in family instead of extended days of online research and book hunts. The chance to skip that frustration drew Robin W to Sonlight:
“I came to Sonlight because they provide all the books (no library trips or scouring used book stores or websites), and Sonlight schedules those books and breaks them down to what needs to be done each and every day.”
And that schedule is the very next reason so many families continue to use Sonlight year after year ...
4. Sonlight plans your complete curriculum for you—so you can focus on your kids instead of lesson plans!
Sonlight Curriculum accomplishes the lion’s share of the work for you. Not only do we locate the best books on the market, but we coordinate and schedule them for you to form a fully-planned, ready-to-use curriculum.
“Sonlight saves me so much time and frustration,” parents tell us again and again.So how does Sonlight actually save families time? Sure, Sonlight provides everything you need for a year and plans it out for you, but what does that actually involve?
When we asked homeschool parents what it would take for them to plan a Core curriculum for the year, here was Robin W’s feedback on planning herself versus Sonlight’s ready-to-use books, schedule, and teaching helps:
“Could I do this? Yes, I could. BUT it would require me to read each of these books in full, before I would even begin to know when to schedule them. It would also require me to CHOOSE the books, meaning I would have to read and not choose others. Can you begin to see the hours of work involved before I would even begin to make a weekly schedule?
“Then I would have to make that weekly schedule, arriving at ‘enough but not too much’ reading for each day. That is much harder than it sounds. With Sonlight I have a pace to aim for. I can rely on the Instructor’s Guide to tell me what is enough for each day, each week, each year. It’s very easy to aim for too little or too much when you have never taught a certain grade or age range before.”
I’ve already shared the lengthy search Sarita conducts to find quality literature. So, what happens once she finally finds a treasure of a book? The experts at Sonlight tackle the job of scheduling it into the curriculum—from highlighting specific characters and adding interesting historical notes to choosing where the book should fit into the year. Each Instructor’s Guide even includes notes to counteract any biased information or one-sided arguments within a book.
Whew! We invest hundreds of hours in every one of the Instructor’s Guides we publish. And Sonlight updates and improves the Instructor’s Guides each year. You will always benefit from the latest research, the best input, and the most thorough study we can provide.
I cannot think of any other company that does so much of the work for you in the way Sonlight does. We are committed to diligently gather and coordinate fascinating, well-thought-out programs for your benefit and enjoyment.
Because of the ready-to use plans and great books, Sonlight enables families like Lora D’s of Poland, IN, to stay the course of homeschooling.
Here’s Lora’s declaration to fully enjoy her family and let Sonlight do the planning:
“I am done researching, planning, etc.! I am going to enjoy my time with my children before it is too late!! I want to be a mom and a wife again. I want to have a life again. I want my children see me do other things besides research and plan homeschool stuff! I want to spend time learning with them and playing and talking and enjoying them. By sticking with Sonlight and following their plan, I can finally do that and be free.”
5. Sonlight Curriculum is biblically based, and provides your children with a truly solid intellectual and spiritual foundation.
Sonlight Curriculum’s purpose and world-view are grounded in and motivated by Scripture. We believe the Bible is a necessary foundation for all learning and we unapologetically seek to arm students with a strong understanding of their faith.
Sonlight Curriculum’s philosophical and theological foundation reflects an evangelical Christian perspective.
You should know, however, that only a portion of the books we carry are written by Christian authors or published by Christian publishers (you may want to see “Reasons NOT to Buy Sonlight” in this catalog for further explanation—pg. 148). While you won’t find Bible verses on every page of our materials (besides our Bible curriculum), you can trust Scripture as our bedrock—we seek to reflect that basis in all we produce.
If you are coming from a different perspective than ours, it’s important for you to know where we stand, but it’s also important for you to know we are committed to understand your views. We think you’ll find us open and honest as we explore the different sides of issues. It’s our prayer that we’ll offer a reasonable argument for why we steadfastly believe what we do, as well as a fair look at others’ perspectives. While our Sonlight materials are certainly not spiritually neutral, you should still be able to use our program successfully with minor adjustments.
We hope the learning process can be life-changing! Here’s what Amey F of Lindale, TX, had to say about Sonlight’s impact on her son:
“I am blown away! I am a first time homeschooler and we are using Sonlight’s P4/5 for our Kindergartner. Each day we read and discuss several pages of the Sonlight’s Children’s Everyday Bible and then read Right Choices. My son tells me almost every day ‘I just love our Bible Story time,’ ... but today was the best. After reading from the book of Luke, my son said ‘I wanna be just like Him,’ and he pointed to the Jesus figure. If this curriculum does nothing more than give my child a desire to be like Jesus … it will have done more than I ever hoped for! Thank you, Sonlight, for the great choices in children’s literature that have my son so intrigued!”
6. Sonlight Curriculum gives your children a much broader perspective on the world than any other curriculum.
Sonlight expands children’s views of the world around them. Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd. believes God’s plan from the beginning has been to acquire a people for Himself from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. His work is international in scope. Sonlight’s international emphasis stems from our commitment to raise children with a godly heart for the world.
Sonlight believes the entire world matters. But does that mean children will actually catch a spark of compassion for the world as they interact with the curriculum? We couldn’t be more confident that they will. Consider Tammy P’s thoughts from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA:
“Sonlight’s books were a huge draw for us, but when we got to Core 5, it blew our socks off. Our family will be forever changed emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually from what we learned that year. Sonlight’s concern that people matter to God, even when they are half a world away, struck a huge chord with us. There is no way you can get that kind of education in a public school nor, I doubt, in any other private school.”
Sonlight’s literature brings the whole world into your home. Sonlight books will spark interest and compassion in your children for the people and cultures of many different lands. They’ll enjoy learning the rich world history of countries that spans thousands of years.
Imagine being an American missionary in China or India—countries with populations of a billion or more people each, and recorded histories that go back to ancient civilizations.
You love your home country of the United States very much, but you also realize—and your children realize, too—that there is something out of balance with the majority of homeschool curricula on the market.
Instead of spending ten of the typical thirteen school years on American history, Sonlight seeks to better balance your children’s perspective by offering eight years of world history and four of specifically American history.
Sonlight not only offers a broad perspective on the world in our curriculum, we actively support missionaries and long-term expatriates in other countries. We long for the day when people from every tribe and nation become worshippers of the one true God.
Whether you live in the United States or anywhere else around the world, you can rejoice that, when you use Sonlight Curriculum, your children will acquire an education that directs them toward God’s heart and plan for all nations.
7. Sonlight makes learning (and teaching) a pleasure.
Learning can be fun and rewarding ... not just for the kids, but for Mom and Dad, too. “My husband just learned something new!” was the excited title of one Sonlight forum post from a couple delighted to learn along with their children. And that’s no surprise. One of the benefits of homeschooling is that you as a parent have the chance to engage new ideas and make discoveries with your entire family.Sonlight wants YOU to enjoy learning as much as your kids do, and wants you to have positive memories with your family every time you learn something together. That’s why Sonlight materials are designed to engage people of every age. Whether you’re a dad learning a little-known fact about the slave trade or a 7-year-old learning about Asian culture, we seek to make the learning process not only rich in information, but fun and rewarding, too.
As we receive “success stories” from families, we find that even young children can grasp a relatively high level of knowledge with Sonlight’s curriculum. And yet, because the process is so natural and the stories families read together are so compelling, few realize how much they are actually learning—until later. One parent after another exclaims “I am amazed at how much is sinking in ... I would never have guessed—we don’t always feel like we’ve done any ‘work.’”
Not to say you won’t have hard days as you homeschool—we all meet challenges. But Sonlight’s format is a great motivator that can turn many of those potential teary-eyed days into fun-filled, “gather on the couch for another story” kinds of days.
Overall, we want you to have educational materials that will inform, challenge, and inspire you, the teaching parent, as much as they do your child. We want both you and your child to find yourselves drawn by curiosity to make new discoveries in the sciences, mathematics, geography, history and literature. Then, suddenly, it will be two people’s excitement that will intertwine and multiply the pleasure of learning.
8. Sonlight provides a friendly community of homeschoolers you can turn to for help and encouragement.
The Sonlight Forums for homeschooling parents all over the world offer warm community, great advice, and the chance to get to know kindred spirits. You can find answers to all your homeschool concerns and share your joys 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can discuss ideas on how to help your child with ADHD, how to deal with unsupportive relatives, or how to make a particular assignment come alive.
For many, the forums are a favorite part of Sonlight’s website. Where else can you learn about homeschooling, get a good cookie recipe, discuss current events, and ask advice on how to increase vocabulary skills all in one place!? Parents and students enjoy interacting with such a diverse group of people. From South Africa to Southern Alabama, these moms and dads are joined together in the mission to help their kids love to learn. Here you’ll find encouragement, practical help, and true friends. You can gather inspiration from someone who’s walked in your shoes and offer suggestions from your experience.
Want to identify with people who understand? Go to www.sonlight-forums.com.
Would your children enjoy meeting other like-minded homeschoolers their age? Introduce them to the student online forums—Sonlight offers a wide range of age-appropriate forums for students to meet and share. Your younger students might enjoy telling jokes at the “The Hangout” for students age 12 and under or your teens might like to discuss the latest books they are reading at the “The Library” or “Teen Lyceum.”
Our wonderful community of parents and students is looking forward to your visit at
www.sonlight-forums.com.
Besides Sonlight’s forums, you’ll find a warm and caring community of support through Sonlight’s Ambassadors and Curriculum Advisors. These experienced homeschool moms are ready to answer your questions, offer teaching or curriculum suggestions, share in your victories and struggles—even offer up prayers on your behalf. We at Sonlight count it an honor to meet as a staff every morning to pray for you and your family.
Ultimately, we want you to know you’re not alone. As a parent, you guided your children’s first steps and delighted in their first words. You ARE the right person for the job of teaching your children, and we want to help you do what you do best: inspire your family to learn and grow. We seek to offer the community of support you need.
9. Sonlight Curriculum’s multiplied value makes it a good deal—for your entire family.
Ignore the 10% across-the-board discount you receive when you purchase a Core package. Ignore Sonlight's 18-week risk-free trial. Ignore the free shipping (or in certain cases, deep discounts) that come with your Sonlight package. Ignore Sonlight's college scholarship opportunities and the free gifts you receive when you purchase from us. Sonlight Curriculum is still an excellent value.
Because Sonlight is a literature based-program, very few of its materials are consumable, so you can reuse them with multiple children and double, triple, or even more than quadruple your investment in our books, depending on the number of children in your family. Some customers report that as much as 80% to 90% of their Sonlight materials are reusable!
Your children are your greatest investment and Sonlight curriculum offers you the opportunity to pour directly into them by giving them the best education possible… and freeing you up to give them yourself.
Your investment in Sonlight Curriculum is not just an investment for your kids, it’s an investment for you (because you will want to read many of the books for your pleasure and education).
Put it all together and your investment in Sonlight is not just good for a single year and a single year’s education, but over the life of your family’s library. And a home library full of great books--books you can pass down to your children--is valuable indeed.
On top of it all, you’ll enjoy the peace of mind that you are giving your children the best resources to develop their minds and hearts, and they gain a priceless love of learning. Can you imagine a better use of your family’s funds?
Mary C couldn't. Here's what she said about her investment in Sonlight:
"Sonlight’s literature is the reason I use this curriculum. After seeing the quality of Sonlight's literature, I now think it's an excellent value. I want those books on my shelves when my 7-year-old son is old enough to read them himself; I want them in my home library for myself, too!"
10. Sonlight trains students to listen to others' points of view with gracious humility and careful thought.
Sonlight strives to develop students who listen carefully and seek to understand people who hold different opinions than they do. Sonlight also seeks to teach students to express their opinions with gracious humility. Put another way, Sonlight teaches students to seek first to understand, and only then (secondarily) to be understood.
Too often, when the only thing we have heard is one side of an argument, we become overconfident and get taken completely by surprise by an effective thinker from another point of view.
A lot of education, intentionally or not, is filled with one-sided instruction; we present so much on one side of an issue that it distorts the truth or incompletely informs, and thus places "the other side" in a bad light. We at Sonlight Curriculum believe such instruction is destructive on a number of levels.
First, it's just plain wrong. We ought to teach our children the truth, not "white lies."
But one-sided presentations are also destructive when, instead of opening lines of communication, they keep students from understanding or being able to communicate with people who believe differently than they do. (Misunderstandings and false assumptions can create insurmountable barriers to effective communication).
Finally, in the educational process itself, narrow viewpoints offer students mere line-drawing caricatures of history, when the true tapestry is far more interesting,
So why not let students study the tapestry?
You'll find out how we achieve that balanced perspective in the next "reason."
11. Sonlight gives you confidence your children will gain a balanced perspective. We do the research necessary to reduce one-sided arguments to a minimum and provide responsible answers wherever possible to the biases present in any book.
By basing our instruction on literature written by hundreds of different authors, we get a broad range of views to begin with. But since Sonlight seeks to train students to become effective communicators; since it is concerned to help students understand the world around them; since it seeks to be interesting and to provoke deep thought; it also includes the results of large quantities of research we have done in order to counteract one-sided presentations wherever they may be found in the books we carry.
For example: when a text gives the impression that Lincoln “freed the slaves," we show students the practical effects of the Emancipation Proclamation, but we also show them the political nature of the document. (Lincoln proclaimed freedom only for those slaves who were outside his jurisdiction! Union General Ulysses S. Grant's wife owned slaves, and they were not freed until after the Civil War was over!)
When dealing with Church History, we make sure kids not only hear a Protestant perspective, but that they hear Catholic and Orthodox apologists speak forthrightly for themselves.
You will find notes and comments like these throughout our curriculum—from the earliest grades through high school.
That’s why we receive letters like this, from Cheree D of LaCanada, CA: "I love that Sonlight teaches my children to think. All authors have a bias; Sonlight not only acknowledges this, but teaches my children to recognize and analyze different views from a Christian perspective. I want my children to be well prepared for the viewpoints they will encounter as they go out into the world, and to be able to apply the truth of God's Word as they encounter different beliefs. Sonlight supports this goal."
12. Sonlight Curriculum maximizes economy and efficiency by helping you teach two or more students at the same time with the same curriculum.
“Make my job easy!” our customers say. “And if you can save me money in the process, I’d be delighted.”“That’s our goal,” we reply.
You have two students who are within a couple of years of each other? Why should you have to buy two completely different curricula? Why not combine them for the most efficient use of your time?
Because our programs are literature based, you won’t have the same problems you would if you used someone else’s program based on textbooks or readers. Thus, for example, our second grade books don’t sound like they were written for second graders. They are books even adults can read and enjoy. Adults not only appreciate the manner of presentation, but they actually learn new things.
And if adults come away with such impressions, imagine how your children will feel—your second grader, for example, if you decide to teach him based on our first grade program, or your eighth grader if you decide to use our fifth year program. You won’t get complaints. Instead, you’ll hear, “This is interesting, Mom!”
Conversely, because in the elementary grades you are reading the History and Read-Aloud books out loud to your children, a third grader should have few problems keeping up with the materials presented in her older sister’s sixth year curriculum.
The fact that you can use our program with more than one child frees you from having to prepare or teach multiple lessons . . . or having to spend money on multiple programs. Instead of spending the time and money necessary to prepare separate lessons for each one of your children, you will have the resources to pour into face-to-face interaction with your kids.
13. We at Sonlight want to do everything possible to get you whatever you need in the way of homeschooling services and supplies. We truly listen to your suggestions!
We at Sonlight want to know your needs so we can make your homeschool experience even better. So we offer lots of ways for you to give us feedback or ask for help.
Clearly, some things about Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd. will never change. For example, we will not change our basic commitment to a “great books,” literature-based approach to education. We have no intention of abandoning our community of customers living overseas. We will not abandon our commitment to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. Nor will we intentionally fail to present honest evaluations of conflicting viewpoints on matters our curriculum engages.
But beyond and outside of these bedrock commitments upon which our company is founded and toward which we aspire, we want to do whatever we can to meet the entire range of needs our customers may experience in the area of teaching their children at home.
When our customers tell us about books we carry that they think we ought to drop, we listen to them! And when they recommend a new title, we “get right on it” and evaluate it for possible inclusion in the curriculum.
But beyond the basic curricular materials themselves, we seek to provide you those resources—and only those resources—that we think will make your job easier, give you more confidence in the task, help you overcome obstacles to fulfilling your role as a homeschooling parent, or protect your own and your children’s interests as homeschoolers.
A customer's suggestion long ago sparked the idea to add the Vis-a-Vis© pens to our Mark-It® Map set. That's why we include the special packets of wide-lined paper and oversize pencils for primary grades. In response to customers' needs, we now offer pre-made flashcards and a daily schedule with our math manipulatives. Our customers are the reason we put together a complete Economics course for high school credit and created a College and Career Planning Kit to help homeschoolers transition into the next steps after graduation. All of these items were specially requested by customers in need, and we realized we could help you. In every one of our Instructor's Guides, we place a feedback sheet looking for your input—and we read every comment we receive. Your wants and needs drive our work!
That’s also why . . .
14. Sonlight Curriculum offers one-stop shopping convenience.
Sure. You can purchase many of the books we carry elsewhere. Some of those sources will even offer you better prices on some items.
But you won’t find all the components of our curriculum in any one place—not in any one place besides Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.!
Remember: we do the work for you. We pay the import fees. We underwrite the shipping expenses. We gather your materials together, package them, and ship them to you FREE (or in certain circumstances, at deep discounts).
And you can enjoy the benefit of more time with your family and less time "book hunting" because we've designed your collection of books to work together, intertwined and scheduled for an ideal learning experience.
You just can’t beat the convenient, friendly, helpful service you’ll find when you purchase a Core curriculum package from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.!
15. Sonlight Curriculum purposes to provide homeschool help where you need it.
We at Sonlight want to support you. We believe the work you do to teach your children is important. You are making a difference in their lives forever. We’re so committed to help you have the best homeschool experience possible, we are ready to coach you through the process when you need it or make your life easier in every way we can.
Want to get expert advice from an experienced homeschool mom?
You can chat one on one with our Sonlight Curriculum Advisors. Whether you want help organizing your day, choosing your curriculum, figuring out your children's learning styles, or just want some encouragement, these moms delight to offer their help in uncovering solutions. You can chat live online with these advisors, talk by phone, or email whenever the need arises.
Want mentors and homeschool friends you can talk to anytime?
Tap into Sonlight's online forums for encouragement and advice, kindred spirits and warm conversation 24/7.
Want help choosing your curriculum on Sonlight's website?
Sonlight's automated internet advisor, SONIA can guide you as you choose everything you need to homeschool your children. To begin, just tell her your children's ages, or what you'd like to study. She's ready with options to fit your varied needs.
Want great homeschooling tips and "insider" Sonlight info from Sarita and John and the Sonlight team?
You can sign up for any of Sonlight's email series at the bottom of our homepage, including: Homeschooling with Excellence and The Seven Essentials That Will Inspire Your Children to Learn (great tips on helping your children love to learn), "Special Offers," (occasional sales and new products you can see before anyone else), or the Beam of Sonlight newsletter (highlights from the forums, heartwarming and humorous stories from fellow homeschoolers).
You can offer feedback or contact us via telephone, fax, e-mail, regular mail, or even write reviews of our products at Sonlight.com.
We are committed to getting to know your needs and meeting them! Please tell us what you would like to see.
16. Sonlight Curriculum’s assignments are easy to modify for a broad range of academic needs.
Our programs provide ready-made academic challenges for advanced students, yet average students and others with learning disabilities use Sonlight with good success.
Parents and children differ greatly in their expectations and demands for early grades (Pre-K through Third). Sonlight Curriculum sets a modest pace for these early years.
If your children are chomping at the bit to set a pace faster than Sonlight's, you can still give them all the challenge they require. Simply choose a more difficult option: substitute the readers 1 program for K, the readers 2 advanced for 2 . . . and so forth.
By the latter part of third grade, Sonlight’s pace quickens noticeably, and by fourth grade we provide more than enough material to challenge even the brightest student.
The bottom line: if your son or daughter is intellectually gifted, you needn’t try to piece together a more challenging program.
But if your child is closer to average, or is heavily involved in dance, music, or some other non-academic pursuit—or even if your child has a learning disability—you will find you can readily adjust our program to meet your needs.
In other words, most of the hard part has been done for you. You don’t have to waste extra time, energy, or frustration planning and coordinating an academically appropriate program from scratch. You can use your energy to interact with your children, instead!
17. Sonlight Curriculum offers a four or five day schedule that's easy to modify for your specific preferences.
Sure. You can adapt any program. But what program is easier to modify than Sonlight?
The entire week’s schedule for each subject is outlined for you on a single page.If you or your children prefer “nibbling” on a subject a little each day, so be it. That’s the way the schedule is divided.
However, if you or your child prefer a heavier intake of Language Arts, Math or History—for instance, maybe you want to do all your Math on Monday with History on Tuesday and Language Arts on Thursday: no problem!
You can see the entire week’s assignments in a single glance, and rearrange your schedule on the spot.
In other words, we’ve reduced your time commitment and frustration to a minimum by eliminating the need to skim through pages of text to locate each assignment.
18. Sonlight Curriculum maximizes educational value by working strategically with children’s developmental needs.
In the early grades, especially, children can understand far more than they are able to read. Studies have demonstrated that early elementary-age children are at a developmental disadvantage when it comes to fine print and reading lengthy portions on their own.
That’s why Sonlight Curriculum carefully designs child-friendly type size and layout in books children will read for themselves. That’s also why we urge parents to do the History, Read-Aloud and Science readings for their younger children. That way, even kindergarteners can participate in fascinating science experiments and make “unbelievable” discoveries about their world.
That’s what we call maximizing educational value.
19. Because of its strong liberal arts and hard sciences emphases, Sonlight Curriculum gives your children the tools they need to be cultural leaders.
Traditionally, the best training for cultural leaders and professionals has been the scholarly pursuit of the sciences and liberal arts.
Scriptural examples of influential “lettered” men include Moses (Acts 7:22) and Daniel (Daniel 1:4-5). The Apostle Paul certainly used his legal and literary training (Acts 22:3) to good effect even though he seems to disparage the need for “worldly” training (1 Corinthians 2:12-16; Philippians 3:7-11).
The liberal arts and sciences are our focus at Sonlight Curriculum.
If your goal is to raise up culture-changers, leaders, men and women who will impact the world around them for the cause of Christ, we don’t believe you can do better than to use Sonlight Curriculum.
20. Sonlight Curriculum directs your children toward worthy life goals by focusing their attention on the lives and work of strong and godly heroes.
From a biblical perspective, it seems the greatest men and women are those who, in the power of God and in His righteousness, destroy the works of the wicked one.
The greatest heroes are those who overcome not only their own personal limitations and physical challenges, but who put an end to great evils, and who stand up to fearsome foes.
Sonlight Curriculum specializes in providing biographies of these kinds of heroes of the faith.
We do this to direct students to purposeful living and godly life goals. But we also do this because . . .
Sonlight Curriculum seeks to encourage students to “expect great things from God and attempt great things for God”—in other words, to trust and obey Him through thick and thin. We seek to place before our students the biographies of men and women who have seen both the beautiful and the ugly in the world and who, despite great opposition, have sought, in word and deed, God’s Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.”
Though our curriculum also includes stories about men and women who were heroes in movements that have had no godly motivation, we emphasize portraits of men and women of God who, through the power of the Holy Spirit, have been effective ambassadors of Christ wherever they lived and in whatever professions they engaged. If you desire great things for your children and from your children, Sonlight Curriculum, by God’s grace, ought to give them the inspiration they need!
21. Sonlight Curriculum is designed for YOU the parent to enjoy more interaction with your children.
Sonlight Curriculum minimizes your anxiety, minimizes your work, and maximizes your time for real interaction with your children . . . because we designed the materials for your use as a parent in your home, with your children, rather than for a harried classroom teacher with 25 or 30 students clamoring for her attention.If you’ve used a textbook-based or classroom-oriented curriculum, you know what we’re talking about: they have pages of “teaching ideas” that work wonders when you’re trying to keep 30 over-energized children occupied while you try to imbue them with some academic content.
But you are a homeschooler! You have a much smaller group of "students." And your primary goal is not to “keep them busy,” or, as in far too many classroom schools, to “avoid chaos” through “classroom management.”
You and your kids are a bit more focused. You want to convey the content, discuss its significance, and free your children to engage in other worthwhile activities beyond the classroom.
As one mom expressed it: “Last year I ‘tried’ to do [another company’s] Kindergarten with my 5-year-old girl. . . . As beautiful as the books look, I found the whole curriculum to be overwhelming, and the teacher’s manuals (written for a classroom setting) had too many ‘class’ directions to weed out, making them overwhelming.”
That was our experience, too. So we asked: why should we have to shuffle through reams of classroom-oriented teaching ideas and management techniques in order to locate the two or three nuggets of wisdom with which you might bless your children?
Instead of spending precious minutes every day skimming through a classroom teacher’s manual trying to figure out what you’re “supposed to” say, how you’re “supposed to” say it, and what you’re “supposed to” do; instead of assigning lots of worksheets, workbooks, and weekly or daily tests and quizzes: wouldn’t you rather take the time to cuddle up with your kids and read them great books that will have them pleading, “Mom! Mom! Keep reading!”? Or, when they are older—wouldn’t you rather have them curl up with a great book and be transported back in time and halfway around the world . . . only to have them come to you an hour or two later and say, “Mom, I was reading ____, and I’m curious. What do you think…?”
Yes there is a place for seat work. Yes our students must write. Yes, sometimes we do need suggestions to maintain the lid on chaos and our hearts and minds in the land of the sane.
But let us make our preparatory time as focused on true education as possible, and let us make our school assignments really count . . . for more than classroom credit.
That’s the goal—and reality—for those who use Sonlight Curriculum!
22. We designed Sonlight Curriculum Instructor's Guides to speak to you personally—like a friend walking alongside you, ready to help when and as needed.
You’ll find no formal, passive-voiced “education-alese” in our Instructor's Guides. No heavy-handed statements about “the” right way for you to teach your kids.
What you’ll find instead is a knowledgeable and experienced friend walking along beside you, speaking your language, speaking to your concerns, offering suggestions. You’ll even find a joke here and there.
That’s what home education should be about, don’t you think? Friends helping friends, speaking in friendly, understandable words, with a note of joy on top of the serious business we’re involved in. And Sonlight Curriculum's Instructor's Guides are not only friendly, but concise, thorough, and easy for you to use.
Sue E wrote, “Sonlight gave me so much confidence to homeschool my children! I was a new homeschooler with no teaching background. Now I can open my Instructor’s Guide and in five minutes choose exactly what to do.”
Sarita Holzmann herself, the original author of our Instructor's Guides, has said many, many times: “When I was homeschooling, I used my Instructor's Guide every day. I relied on it completely. It’s the only way I could possibly have taught my kids the way I did.” So she's made sure Sonlight's Instructor's Guides offer that kind of true support.
Easy to use?
The Sonlight Curriculum Instructor's Guides schedule every Core subject (History, Readers, Read-Alouds, and Bible) for you. You can also easily add our separate and complete Instructor's Guides for Science, and Language Arts to tie in with your Core.
The guides also include pages of practical teaching tips, information, and comments and quotes that counter-balance any one-sided views presented in the books your children study.
Talk about easy . . . and thorough!
23. Sonlight Curriculum “does the work for you” by locating, acquiring, and putting together all the unique science supplies you need for each year’s science program.
Have you ever been stymied from doing your science experiments by the lack of three washers? Or the need for a wintergreen mint? A copper-coated nail? How about a one-inch square ceramic tile? A couple of tablespoonfuls of grass seed? Crushed char-coal? Copper sulfate?
We have!
And that’s why we have gone to extraordinary lengths to locate sources for all the little things that our experiment books require that are not usually on hand in most households.
After we acquire the pieces, the Sonlight science team breaks them down into the quantities necessary for use in your experiments.
As with our Instructor's Guides, the time we’ve spent collecting these materials and putting them together will save you dozens of hours.
No more running around to party stores, pharmacies, hardware and garden centers, sporting good shops and the like hoping to dig up the stray items you need.
Sonlight Curriculum has shouldered these responsibilities and frustrations for you.
24. Sonlight Curriculum saves you time by eliminating the unnecessary busy work and inefficient “learning activities” of many programs developed specifically for the homeschool market.
No question about it: unit study programs can be loads of fun. But they can also chew up your time without mercy. You may tap into Sonlight's online forums where many homeschool parents share activity ideas you can use to supplement your curriculum if you choose. However…
We here at Sonlight Curriculum have carefully screened out materials that require unnecessary effort or which feature “learning” activities that, in our opinion, involve more preparation than their educational benefits merit. In other words, we save you time. You can read more about our take on outlined daily learning activities in the article "27 Reasons NOT to Buy Sonlight."
25. Sonlight Curriculum provides a "real-life" way to decide if our curriculum is right for you. Try Sonlight for up to half a school year, risk free.
No other homeschool curriculum has such a generous, comprehensive guarantee: Try a Core curriculum package (History, Readers and Read-Alouds) for up 18 weeks. If it does not surpass all your expectations and desires, please return it (used books and all) for a full refund.This guarantee gives you a chance to find out how your children interact with the curriculum. You can gather the family around for Read-Aloud stories without worrying about dog-eared pages. You can allow your children to jump into a book about nature without fear of a mud stain down the spine from reading it outside. We offer you the chance to truly use these materials, in your family's context, without risk. And not only do we offer an 18-week risk-free trial, but we've just added to it.
We've extended our full refund to cover the Language Arts, Math, Science, Bible, and/or Required Resources packages you select to complete one child's program, when purchased on the same order as a Core (packaged set that includes History, Readers and Read-Alouds). This means you can test drive one package of each subject (LA, Math, Science, Bible, and/or Required Resources) per Core, when purchased at the same time.
Try all the components for 18 weeks. If they're not a perfect fit for your family, you can return them for a full refund--used books and all.
Who else encourages you to actually use a curriculum for half a school year and still have the option to return it if it doesn't thrill your family!
A bonus reason to try Sonlight…
26. All Core curriculum purchasers in the lower 48 states and Canada get FREE shipping! And we make shipping more affordable than any outside option for all our customers, even if they're overseas.
Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd. also offers FREE FedEx® three to five day shipping on orders over $100 shipped in the lower 48 United States and Canada, and at least 5% off our low shipping rates on orders shipped anywhere else in the world. You don't have to worry that we'll give big discounts and then take it all back in hidden shipping fees--what you see is what you’re charged at Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.!
Liz, one of our kind-hearted customer service reps, is great at explaining how international orders are cheaper through us than they would be otherwise. Here's the example she gives:
"Let’s say a customer wants her 10 lb order shipped to China. Sonlight would charge $62 to ship via FedEx. If a customer went to a FedEx location to send the box herself from the U.S. to China, she would pay $150.64 for the same service.
Shipping with Sonlight via FedEx means you enjoy the fastest shipping and the confidence to know you can track your order. If you were to ship through the post office on your own, you would actually have to wait much longer for your order without the guarantee of a tracking code. At Sonlight, we do everything possible to ensure your order arrives—safe and on time.
We're committed to make a quality education affordable and accessible for your family.
We’re here to serve you.
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Thanks for reading a few of the reasons families love Sonlight. If any of these reasons appeal to you, I encourage you to give Sonlight a try. With our risk-free guarantee, you have nothing to lose and a whole world of learning to gain.
If you decide to give Sonlight a try, let us know why YOU love Sonlight. We'd love to share your part of the Sonlight story. God bless you as you choose which curriculum will help you mold and shape your children into life-long learners.