Sonlight has been a life-changing curriculum for our family. Five of our children have graduated and our younger children are fortunate to have older siblings who can relate and fellowship over the books they're using. They have a bond through Sonlight books that will last when their families someday visit each other. My 22-year-old daughter recently said, 'Mom, make sure the kids take care of those [books], I want them for my kids one day.' What powerful words; I've never heard any of my children say that about the dry, daunting texts we previously used! Isaiah's (9, Core D+E) interest in and knowledge of railroads broadened immensely through The Landmark History of the American People.

Thanks to Sonlight's training, my daughter Rachel is in the habit of integrating everything she learns into the 'big picture' of time and place. Before she can read anything, she looks at her timeline to understand where the story takes place in the context of history. She'll also find the story's location on the map. She loves to peruse The Timeline Book [RR120] from beginning to end. I feel she has a great grasp on the big picture. In her fourth year of Sonlight, Rachel (7) uses Google to locate where Little Pear (from Core B) took place.

The Instructor's Guide helps me to be prepared each day, with lessons that I'm confident of and interested in teaching. The Markable Maps and the History Timeline Figures have given me a big-picture view of world history and geography that I lacked after all my schooling, including college! The characters in the Read-Alouds feel like family and become part of our daily discussion, teaching and training. Hanna (4, P4/5 Multi-Subject), Claire (7, Core B) and Dad observe tadpoles scooped from a neighbor's pond on a rainy day.