"Sonlight does a great job of encouraging my children to have a firm foundation in Christ and to seek knowledge and wisdom. The curriculum has helped develop their heart for serving Christ and sharing God's love. We love the missionary stories and the time learning from the Bible together. The history is so full and rich, and what we're learning has helped all of us better understand why people believe and do what they do today. Living books really do help our children understand a time period and develop their own writing skills … no comparison to dry textbook education! I love that their heroes are men and women of faith, not some here-today-gone-tomorrow pop star." In their seventh year of Sonlight, Samantha (10, Level F), Karlie (7, Level B) and Brandon (4, Pre-Kindergarten) read their Bibles at a favorite outdoor spot. – Sarah R of Earlham, IA

We have seen the truth of Sonlight's claim that children learn history better when they learn it in the form of a story. Because of Sonlight's Readers and Read-Alouds, our kids have a better grasp and wider knowledge base of historical events at the end of middle school than their parents did at the end of college (due to our [non-Sonlight] textbook-style memorization of facts – facts that were soon forgotten or muddled because they weren't part of a story). Vashti (14) mentioned that some of her friends hate studying history. She said, 'If only they could learn history the Sonlight way, they'd love it like I do!' In her eigthth year of Sonlight, Vashti devours a biography from Core H that brings the Iron Curtain era to life.

Sonlight takes learning to a whole new level by combining story-telling, drama and intimate student-teacher interaction instead of just memorizing boring facts. The family lives on a rural island in the Andaman Sea off southern Thailand, where they work among the Moken Sea Gypsies. With Sonlight, we're free from the bounds of the traditional classroom. Since Denalyn and Alyssa love acting and singing, we often encourage them to sing or act out various roles from the many stories they read. The Moken children love to join in our homeschooling sessions. Our two girls have been using the curriculum for two years now and absolutely love it! Denalyn is on Core F and Alyssa is working through Core B. Here, Cally, Alyssa (7) and friends Chanap and Phen cheer on Denalyn (11) as she delivers her best impersonation of the famous Gettysburg address. 

Aug. 2012