You can teach your children with confidence from your first day.

Create wonderful school days wth Sonlight's Instructor's Guides...

Maybe you're new to homeschooling. Or, maybe you've tried it, but you're still looking for "the right curriculum."

You'll be surprised and delighted by the incredible support you get in each Sonlight Instructor's Guide for History / Bible / Literature, Language Arts, and Science.

Imagine being a great teacher—with almost no effort!

Imagine not having to create your own schedules. Not having to design effective activities and lessons for your students. Not having to think of questions to test their comprehension.

Instead, imagine having a personal guide create them all for you, and leave you countless written notes to help you teach more effectively. A guide to tell you exactly what to do at what times during the year.

Imagine falling asleep tonight relaxed, with no worry about what you're going to teach in the morning. And finally, imagine waking up refreshed, eager to join your children in another school day!

You can experience all this from "Day One," with any Sonlight Instructor's Guide.

Spend your time teaching your kids... not planning their education.

Every Sonlight Instructor's Guide provides you with:

  • A complete, 36-week, 180-day schedule with everything you need, including:
  • Activities, experiments, teaching tips, comprehension questions, counter-balancing commentary and more

Create great school days with your Sonlight Instructor's Guide

You'll know what to do each day of the week. Complete lesson plans included. Plus...

  • You'll be amazed at how much you cover and learn in manageable daily portions.
  • Your children will remember, understand and enjoy history. From level D on, all Readers, Read-Alouds, and History are tightly "interlinked."
  • Confidently help your students understand tough material. Teaching notes and tips help you clarify points, provide counter-arguments, or answer any sticky questions your children might ask.

A Sonlight History / Bible / Literature Instructor's Guide includes:

  1. Complete, ready-to-use lesson plans

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

  2. Daily Schedules

    Daily schedules outline 36 weeks of material for Bible, History/Geography, Read-Alouds, Readers and Language Arts.

  3. Discussion Questions

    Know how well your children understand the books they read on their own. Discussion questions (with answers) for each book help you track your children's comprehension—no need to read every book (unless you want to).

  4. Timeline and map activities

    Link the books to reality with map locations and time line dates. Students learn to relate their own experience with the "where" and "when" in every book they read. Timeline Activities tell you when to add people, events and dates to your timeline of history. Map Activities help you plot the places you visit in your reading. Your kids plot points on their Markable Map, and you have all the answers in included map keys.

  5. Vocab and cultural literacy notes

    Learn vocabulary words drawn from the books you read. Your children hear the words in context. We draw attention to them, and give you definitions. You'll be amazed at how articulate your children become!

    6. Cultural literacy notes add depth to your reading and explain things students probably should know but likely don't. Wherever a reading mentions something of interest (for example: hoopskirt, CCC, chamois, or potpie), we add helpful information about the topic. Readings gain depth; you and your children become "educated" naturally, and the world opens up to you all.

  6. Teaching tips for Mom or Dad

    See the rationale and educational philosophy behind Sonlight's methods and activities. Get help discussing tricky topics (such as poverty) with your kids. We've got your back so you can teach with confidence.

  7. Extensive notes

    Train your children to read discerningly. Our notes provide counter-balancing arguments to lopsided readings. These notes help you "listen to the other side"—as Proverbs 18:17 seems to encourage—in order to hone understanding. You won't believe how much you'll learn!

  8. An easy record-keeping system

    With space to record completion dates, your children's initials, extra notes and even extra subjects, all your records are in one place for reporting requirements.

  9. A full Language Arts program (for levels D and up)

    Keep reading for a peek at the Language Arts portion linked to your History / Bible / Literature studies. Language Arts comes as a separate, add-on Instructor's Guide.

To help you teach multiple students with one Sonlight History / Bible / Literature program, we have created separate Instructor's Guides for all levels of Science and for Language Arts in A-C. Choose a Science program that will interest all your children. Then, if you're using levels A-C, match a Language Arts Guide to each set of Readers you purchase...

A Sonlight Science Instructor's Guide includes:

  • A complete, ready-to-use plan, with a full schedule of all science books and experiments for the entire year. No need to create your own plans!
  • A comprehensive list of materials you'll need for each experiment. You're forewarned well in advance of any special needs; you have plenty of time to acquire all the resources for every experiment.
  • Detailed teaching notes to help you guide students through each lesson.
  • Engaging activity sheets with hundreds of illustrations, charts, and pictures. Helps students remember more of what they've learned.
  • Complete time-saving Parent Answer Key for the entire course. You won't be stumped by any awkward questions.

Our Language Arts programs feature:

  • Manageable, relevant assignments. The weekly copywork/dictation assignment usually comes from the books your children are assigned to read.
  • Daily, sequenced assignments to teach your children to communicate effectively in writing.
  • Built-in phonics training in Sonlight A-C.
  • Readers schedule and notes (in A-C)
    • Levels A-C let you pick the appropriate Readers/Language Arts set for each child, so your Language Arts Guide includes the Schedule and Notes for these corresponding Readers.
  • Grammar and writing mechanics
    • Each week in levels A-G, you receive clear grammar instruction about a specific concept that ties into the week's copywork/dictation passage. Then you get a few exercises to practice and cement what you learned.
  • Complete guided schedules for handwriting, spelling, and optional workbooks.

Bottom line: Each Sonlight Instructor's Guide saves you hundreds of hours of time—literally—plus loads of stress and frustration. You'll teach your children like a "pro," and you'll have time to enjoy the journey along with them.


If you'd like to get more advice and information about the homeschooling process, please check out the following Sonlight Podcasts: