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.

I discovered Sonlight 16 years ago and boy, am I glad I did! The high interest level of Sonlight books have given my active boys (and my more tranquil daughter) the opportunity to hear and learn from great books even if they couldn't sit still very long. Even in high school, we choose some books to read aloud because we enjoy books together and it has become part of our DNA. Although this photo is staged, 17-year-old Nathaniel really can maneuver a soccer ball while he reads or listens to Christie read. He is studying Core 300 and British Literature in his twelfth and final year of Sonlight. His three older siblings all used Sonlight from 6th grade through high school, graduated college, and are now working.  

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.