Parents often rave about their History / Bible / Literature, Language Arts and Science Instructor's Guides! Take a look and see what the excitement is all about … Or skip ahead to learn more about each guide by clicking the links below:

• History / Bible / Literature
• Language Arts
• Science

Imagine having a personal homeschool mentor who plans and organizes your entire homeschool year. What if she gave you customizable schedules, complete lesson plans, pertinent activities, and thoughtful questions to aid your students' comprehension? What if she left you handy tips and pointers to help you relax and homeschool with confidence all year long? This is exactly the support you get with a Sonlight IG.

You just open-and-go, knowing exactly what to teach each day … without any prep work!

IGs show you the way every day, all year long:

Your Instructor's Guide (IG) is a road map for the entire school year ... with virtually all the planning done for you. You get:

• Complete 36-week lesson plans that integrate your children's various subjects into an exciting, unified learning experience.
• Activities, teaching tips, vocabulary, discussion questions, mapping topics, counter-balancing commentary and more to help you and your child interact with the reading and make lasting connections among the people, places, and events you study.
• Two schedule options (4- or 5-Day) to fit your needs. Choose a full 5-Day schedule, or pick the 4-Day option (where available) to reserve time for co-op or extracurricular activities.

IGs eliminate the stress of everyday planning:

Imagine falling asleep tonight relaxed, with no worry about what you're going to teach in the morning. That's what an IG does for you. It does the planning for you. Put simply, these guides just make your life easier. As Lois M writes:

"Everything is put together and organized better than I could have done in a million years. Sonlight helped save me loads of time so I could focus on teaching instead of planning. The kids have my time instead of my stress!"

Curriculum experts develop each IG … so you are free to focus on your unique role: teaching, guiding, and enjoying your children.

Each Sonlight Instructor's Guide is the result of hundreds of hours of research and experience. This expert work saves you significant time, stress and frustration so you can spend time reading enticing books, teaching, and enjoying your kids.

Don't spend your time planning homeschool lessons. With Sonlight's Instructor’s Guides, that's been done for you.

IGs turn your books into curriculum

Each History / Bible / Literature program, Language Arts program and Science program includes an Instructor's Guide. That IG weaves your books and supplies together into a cohesive full-year curriculum.

Sonlight Instructor's Guides Will Make Your Day (Easier)

How? Take a look at some of the noteworthy benefits you'll realize with Sonlight IGs.

Easy to use

• Get started quickly. At the beginning of your school year, read the essential "how" and "why" information for your History / Bible / Lit, located at the front of your IG. This will ensure a good start.
• Everything you need is in one place. Find each week's schedule, notes, discussion questions, timeline and map activities, vocabulary and teaching tips, all in one section. Your daily notes for subjects are all right behind your weekly schedule.
• Take school with you on the go. Want to do Sonlight outside or on a road trip? Just pull out that week's section of the IG, grab the scheduled books, and enjoy your adventure.

An intuitive setup

The IG setup makes sense. You can find what you need quickly and follow along. For example:

• Mapping helps you incorporate geography seamlessly into the school day. Younger students use their Markable Maps to locate places they read about. Parents get full color maps with answers to the assigned map points. These hole-punched, laminated maps fold into your IG and also serve as a bookmark to hold your place. With clear location names, students make a visual connection to how all their Readers, History books, and Read-Alouds relate geographically. Parent notes provide place names and coordinates, so you can easily find and check each map point. High schoolers' black-and-white maps are included in their Student Guide, while the Parent Guide has identical answer keys. Just watch your students' geography knowledge soar!

Comprehensive and effective

• Q&A format helps you focus on what's important. Discussion questions with answers for each day's reading hone in on the key points. They help your kids get more meaning out of their reading and allow you to assess how well your children understand what they're learning.
• Understand the rationale behind scheduled activities and methods. We offer abundant explanations that let you in on the "why" behind many of the suggested activities. We explain the purpose behind these activities and what your children can gain. So you're better equipped to take advantage of the ideas behind the activities and perhaps make modifications.
• Numerous notes help you take advantage of teachable moments. We want you to know why we chose a certain book or what we hope your children learn. We talk about "heart matters" (e.g., "Note the beauty of family relationships revealed in this book."). We give you warnings about specific books or about difficult content, telling you what to expect and often suggesting how to discuss it. This helps you capitalize on teachable moments and discuss important issues (such as racism).
• Science and Language Arts IGs Activity Sheets reinforce your teaching and further engage learners. A variety of activity options coordinate with your students' Science and Language Arts studies and draw on a range of skills and interests. Learn more about Activity Sheets here.

History / Bible / Literature Instructor's Guide

Engage with History as you and your children learn together. With Sonlight’s daily readings all scheduled, you’ll read good books and talk with your children about what you’re learning. You’ll be amazed at how much you all learn, so easily and enjoyably. With notes and teaching tips along the way, the Sonlight History / Bible / Literature Instructor's Guide is guaranteed to help you love to learn, and love to teach.

What you get in a History / Bible / Literature IG:

1. Day-by-day schedule

   The IG schedules are broken out into either four or five days of material for each of the 36 scheduled weeks. Taking a vacation for a few days? Want to enjoy the first snowfall? Take a break when you want and pick up right where you left off.

   

2. Discussion Questions

   Your IG includes various types of discussion questions – including review, comprehension, and open-ended thought type questions – with answers for each day's reading to help you focus on the key points. They help your children get more meaning out of their reading, and allow you to assess how well your children understand what they're learning.

   

3. Timeline and Map Points

   Watch your students' geography knowledge soar! Mapping helps you incorporate geography naturally into your school day. Younger students use their Markable Map to locate places they read about.
   Parents get full color map keys with the assigned map points located. These hole-punched, laminated maps fold into your IG. With clear location names, students make a visual connection to how all their Readers, History books, and Read-Alouds relate geographically. Parent notes provide place names and coordinates, so you can easily find and check each map point. High Schoolers' blackand-white maps are included in their Student Guide, while the Parent Guide has identical answer keys.

   Timeline Activities tell you when to add people, events, and dates to your Timeline Book.

4. Vocabulary and Cultural Literacy notes

   Find clear definitions for important vocabulary that appears in your reading. Enjoy useful Cultural Literacy notes that add depth to your reading and explain things students probably don't know (e.g., what a hoop skirt looks like).

5. Notes

   Notes cover a variety of topics, from suggestions on how to train your children to read discerningly, to how to talk about "heart matters," such as the beauty of family relationships. Notes provide counter-balancing arguments to lopsided passages, clarification, further explanations, and commentary. These notes help you "listen to the other side" – as Proverbs 18:17 encourages – in order to hone understanding.

   Additionally, your IG notes offer warnings about specific books or difficult content, telling you what to expect and ways to discuss it. This helps you capitalize on teachable moments and discuss important issues – such as racism and poverty – with thoughtfulness.

   Teaching tips
   Detailed teaching notes each week explain assignments and provide extra information about important topics to help you get the most from your materials. You will teach with confidence!

Your History / Bible / Lit IG gives you flexibility:

• You are in the driver's seat. The IG is a guide, not a taskmaster. As you become comfortable teaching your children, you can skip and alter assignments as you want to fit your family's unique needs.
• You have options to work how you want. If you prefer to do a week's worth of a single subject in one day, work horizontally across your schedule page. If you prefer doing a little bit from every subject each day, work vertically.
• Day-by-day schedule does not tie you to a traditional Monday through Friday calendar. Take breaks when you want and pick up right where you left off.

Language Arts Guides

Teach writing naturally and with confidence! Sonlight Language Arts IGs walk you through how to teach your children all the vital skills they will need. From phonics, letter formation, spelling, and reading, to writing instruction (formal, informal, poetry, prose, fiction, non-fiction, and more), grammar and punctuation, vocabulary, and all of the other skills that students need to communicate in adulthood, Sonlight’s Language Arts IGs have you covered.

Your Language Arts Guide includes:

1. Clear Language Arts instruction.

   Sonlight Language Arts programs helps you get the most from your studies each day. Simply follow the daily schedule for a well-organized, balanced, complete year of learning. Assignments are as clear and engaging as possible, with an appropriate level of grammar instruction and copywork/dictation passages.

   Extensive teaching notes help you instruct your students with excellence, answer questions and ensure that they grasp key concepts. These explanatory notes help you know both why to teach this way and what your goals are. (Discover Sonlight's "natural learning" approach to Language Arts.)

   

2. Teaching scripts (in the early grades)

   Read the teaching scripts in the IG when you introduce new ideas, concepts, and assignments (great for parents just starting to homeschool or to provide extra confidence when teaching!).

3. Overview Summaries.

   Each week, read the summary of what you’ll be doing and the concepts you’ll cover. Be ready for your assignments, week by week. No surprises.

4. Copywork/Dictation assignments.

   Weekly copywork or dictation assignments help children learn the basics of writing by modeling master communicators. Assignments are based on your child's age and ability level, and most passages come from the Readers in their History / Bible / Literature or Language Arts program.

5. Spelling and Phonics Instruction.

   Language Arts 1-4 includes Sonlight’s phonetic-based spelling program. Assignments and activities coordinate with your children's Readers to develop confidence in reading and spelling.

   For Language Arts D-F, choose from the programs we offer and record in the provided space in your IG.

   

6. Grammar and writing mechanics.

   Each week in Language Arts programs below the 100 level, you receive clear grammar instruction about specific concepts that tie into the week's copywork/dictation passage – proper capitalization, apostrophe placement, tricky homonyms, etc. Then your students complete a few exercises to practice and reinforce what they learned. Weekly notes provide answers to grammar questions.

7. Effective creative writing instruction.

   Step-by-step creative writing instruction encourages exploration and sets children free to develop their creative side. This helps them become superb written communicators, too.

   Your IG includes assignments in a wide variety of styles and genres, including imaginative, persuasive, expository, narrative, journaling, etc. Each assignment includes instruction and a sample of what your student might produce.

   The writing assignments follow a consistent pattern each week: copywork or dictation on Days 1 and 5; mechanics instruction and practice on Day 2; pre-planning for writing on Day 3; writing assignment on Day 4.

8. Evaluative rubrics.

   Easily determine how to evaluate your children’s work. Are they on track? What areas could use additional practice?

9. Activity Sheets and answers.

   Activity Sheets reinforce your teaching and provide assignments that make your children eager to learn how to write well. A variety of activity options coordinate with your students’ Language Arts studies and draw on a range of skills and interests. Reproduction rights mean these sheets are good for the entire family. Weekly notes provide answers to grammar questions and suggested responses for Creative Writing assignments.

10. Schedules for optional workbooks

    All levels include schedules for optional workbooks. These workbooks offer your children additional practice in areas where they may struggle, such as phonics, grammar, and vocabulary.

    Your choice of a 5- or 4-Day schedule
    In most grades, choose complete instruction for either four or five days each week.



How do I order the Language Arts Guide?

For levels A-C, you can add a separate Language Arts Instructor's Guide to your History / Bible / Literature purchase. This guide coordinates with the Readers Pack you choose and integrates your Readers' Schedule and Notes.

For levels D and higher, the Language Arts Schedule is separate from your History / Bible / Literature IG. Your Language Arts notes and assignments come after the other notes and assignments each day.

Science Instructor's Guide

Prep time? Zero. Educational value? Immense. Science lessons made easy (and fun)! The Science IGs schedule engaging and age-appropriate content. They also include question prompts, explanations, additional notes, hands-on activities beyond the experiments, and Activity Sheets.

Your Science IGs (for Science A-H) provide:

1. Complete, ready-to-use lesson plans.

   All your science books and experiments are fully scheduled for the entire year. No need to create your own plans!

   

2. Detailed teaching notes.

   Weekly notes help you get the most from your materials. They explain each assignment and activity, point out fun facts about your reading and provide extra information about important topics.

3. Organizational tools to help you plan ahead

   See at a glance the supplies you need for experiments this week and in the coming week. Know what supplies you’ll find in the Sonlight Science Kits, and which typical household items you’ll want to have ready.

   Weekly experiments and activities
   Simple, engaging experiments coordinate with your reading and provide hands-on learning. Sonlight's science kits provide the key supplies … so you actually do the experiments.

   Many experiments are intriguing, yet simple, activities – such as exploring taste buds using basic ingredients like lemon juice and sugar. Again, no planning necessary!

   Your children will relish the discoveries they make throughout the year. And you’ll love that they are actively exploring STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) concepts, and making their learning stick.

   

4. Interactive Activity Sheets

   Now in Full Color! Your Activity Sheets – with hundreds of activities, illustrations, charts and pictures – help students remember what they've learned. A variety of activity options coordinate with your students’ Science studies and draw on a range of skills and interests.

   Activities progress with children's abilities: From cutouts, matching, circle-the-answer and dictation to fill-in puzzles and sequencing analysis.

   Reproduction rights mean one guide is good for the entire family.

5. Complete Answer Keys

   Separate Answer Keys mirror your Student Activity sheets for easy grading. No need to test – you have ongoing, reliable insight into your children’s comprehension

Download the first three weeks of any IG

Ready to take a look inside a specific IG? You can download the first 3 weeks of any Sonlight^® Instructor's Guide by selecting the IGs you're interested in on the 3-week Samples page.

Convinced that an IG is what you need for your school year? Find your homeschool curriculum today!

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