Homeschool Science Curriculum

Each Sonlight Science program is anchored by a customer-renowned Instructor's Guide. The Instructor's Guide (IG) provides structure and a complete schedule for the entire year: what books to read when; what experiments to do, videos to watch, and more. The IG also includes question prompts, explanations, hands-on activities (beyond the experiments), and additional notes to enhance the reading and reinforce what your students are learning. No need to create your own homeschool science curriculum or lesson plans as the IG clearly lays everything out!

Sonlight integrates a Christian perspective into our Instructor's Guides, so you and your children can look at the world through the lens of God's Word, the ultimate source of truth. We highlight God as Creator and Intelligent Designer. And we encourage your family to first seek to understand differing perspectives before critiquing them, so your children gain the ability to discern.

Each guide includes a list of what science supplies you will need, both for the present week and the week to come. (Need to save a milk carton for next week? Now you know!)

Instructor's Guides in levels K-J also include Activity Sheets filled with questions and simple activities, charts, illustrations, and pictures to help your children remember what they’ve learned. Teaching multiple students? You can purchase an extra set of Activity Sheets for each student (or if you plan to reuse the program with a younger student later on).

Click here to learn more about the Instructor's Guides in our homeschool science curriculum.

Each science program comes with gorgeously illustrated books that captivate students and entice them to read more. Your children will not only learn the facts of science but also gain a love of discovery and get to know key scientists. These books become valued references for years to come.

Sonlight Levels K-F combine Sonlight’s signature literature-based style of learning with the standards-based approach of learning through application.

Every week, your students will engage in an experiment directly tied to the rest of the content they study in their scheduled reading from the homeschool science curriculum.

The literature provides the context, while the experiments take your student through the critical thinking process of making a prediction, testing, and analyzing. This highly effective combination allows your children to experience the scientific process for themselves!

There is no better way to delight your kids with the wonder of science (and reinforce lessons!) than by experiencing it firsthand through hands-on activities and experiments. With Sonlight Science, your students will conduct simple, engaging, hands-on experiments and activities, all while reinforcing the concepts learned in your reading.

Sonlight Science levels K-F now include Discover & Do: Science Experiments. With Discover & Do, children will not just memorize the steps of the scientific process. Rather, they will conduct simple, engaging, hands-on experiments at home and actually use the scientific method to explore their world in an enjoyable and interactive way.

Each experiment ties directly to that week’s reading material for a more linear progression from reading to doing. Thanks to this new approach of Discover & Do: Science Experiments, your end-of-week experiments reinforce and apply the concepts studied in the days previous so you can plainly see your child’s developing mastery of particular science concepts.

Sonlight also adds extensive science supply kits into the homeschool science curriculum that include key supplies, making the experiments easy-to-do. These are boxes of materials that you probably don't have lying around the house, plus the stuff that, even if you own it, you're not likely to find at a moment's notice: everything from marbles and powerful magnets to wire, thumbtacks, straws, mirrors, seeds, and paperclips. This includes consumable supplies and non-consumables.

Additionally, Sonlight Science levels K through E include the all-new Discover & Do: Science Experiment Videos. These videos provide reinforcement of the concepts observed during the experiment and heard in the weekly reading passages. The highly entertaining videos reenact all of the experiments your students perform, providing review, additional factoids, and excitement to truly enhance your entire science experience. 

Some families watch the videos first, then perform the experiments. Some let their children watch, and experiment on their own.

And some families find they don't get time for every experiment with their children. These videos allow them to still watch the experiments. Stay tuned for new videos in additional levels!

FEThe new, 2021 Sonlight Science levels K-F were designed to follow the classic Sonlight model of learning (reading, discussing, and doing) while also adhering to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). These research-based, up-to-date science standards are simply good instructional practices. Dozens of scientists, esteemed scientific institutions, and science-based businesses have put their support behind these standards.¹ Now you have even more assurance that Sonlight provides an outstanding homeschool science curriculum.