Sonlight Homeschooling Blog

May. 24, 2017

10 Suggestions to Help a Struggling Learner

Homeschool moms are inundated with stories of student success. Even on the Sonlight blog, we highlight our Sonlight scholarship winners, but don’t tend to highlight the struggling learner.

Yet one of the great strengths of homeschooling is how it can serve students who need some extra help. Many students with learning challenges big and small prefer to homeschool, and often thrive at home in ways they just couldn’t at regular school.

If a homeschooled student needs to work two grade levels behind in reading and two levels ahead in math, that’s no problem. A student in regular school would have a hard time finding that level of customized instruction at all, much less while avoiding harmful labels from being in the “slow” class.

Continue reading below or listen here:

When you homeschool, your children get consistent one-on-one attention from adults who love them and will move mountains to get them what they need. I believe that parents who choose to homeschool children who struggle with learning are serving their students exceptionally well:

by guarding their hearts
by becoming their students’ tutor and advocate
by loving them in such a practical way

How to Help the Struggling Learner

But what practical steps can you take in your homeschool to best help a struggling student? I think much of the challenge is figuring out why they are struggling. It can be hard to know if your child just needs some more time for things to click, or if they have a learning disability that would be helpful to address. When do you wait, and when do you get help?

There may not be a clear answer for you (or for children in the school system either, for that matter). But here are some tips that could help. Enjoy the benefit of having time with your child to figure out what works.

1. See a Doctor to Rule Out Physical Issues

If you suspect a problem, start first with things you can measure. Have your child’s vision and hearing tested. Work to eliminate the concrete issues. If you find out your child just needs glasses or some eye tracking therapy, you’ve discovered a relatively simple way to help them!

2. Use Special Resources and Methods

If your child is six or younger, use the Developing the Early Learner series, which comes with our Pre-Kindergarten program. These fun workbooks are specifically designed to help you identify areas that may need a little extra work, such as hand-eye coordination.

For reading struggles in particular, try these ideas:

Try letting your child read out loud to a dog.
Be flexible with how you use the Read-Alouds and Readers. Consider reading some of the Readers out loud to your child, or using some Read-Alouds as extra reading practice for your child. Or consider switching on and off, as your child reads one paragraph (or sentence) out loud, and then you read the next one out loud, and so forth.
Let your children read books that are relatively easy for them to read. If every book they read is at the top range of their ability, they will get worn out and learn that reading is always a chore. Let them just enjoy the pleasure of reading a good story without having to work too hard for it.
Consider the Remedial Reading package if you need an extra boost.

3. Connect with Other Moms

Find support, advice, and encouragement by joining the Sonlight Connections Facebook page.

4. Think Outside the Box

Find work-around solutions that could help your child learn. My friend Judy’s son struggled with fine motor skill issues from birth. She found ways to help him work around his challenges, such as teaching him to type at a young age because holding a pencil was so frustrating for him.

5. Don't Ignore the Heart

Consider that an academic struggle might be tied up with an emotional need. If your son is scared of any hint of failure, then math time might actually feel terrifying for him. You can help him process these feelings even as you help him move forward in math. And your awareness will help you respond with respect for what this experience is like for him.

6. Ask an Expert or Trusted Friend

Seek an objective evaluation when you can. Sometimes we are just too close to the situation. Ask people you trust to give you an honest evaluation of what they see in your child. Do they think your child is showing signs of anxiety, outright defiance, or a learning disability?

If you’re talking to a professional (such as your pediatrician) and they encourage you to seek intervention for your child, it can be helpful to ask, “Will this cause permanent problems if we just wait and see what happens instead?” This question can help you know if the professional sees a red flag issue that you need to address (such as a potential hearing problem), or if they just want your child to be in the middle of the bell curve of development.

And as always, our Sonlight Homeschool Advisors are here to help Sonlighters with homeschool questions big and small. You are not in this alone.

7. Research

Explore the Struggling Learners section of the HSLDA website. This resource can help you identify the difference between a typical developmental struggle and something you may need to address, such as dyslexia or an auditory processing disorder.

Read and research specific behavior and symptoms. If something strikes you as odd or potentially important, look it up. But also remember that many online searches can quickly lead you to assume the worst. This is another time when outside counsel (from your spouse or friends you respect) can help give you much-needed perspective.

8. Don't Convey Anxiety

If you’re worried about your kids, be careful not to convey your anxiety to them. I know this is easier said than done, but kids do tend to take on our worries. We want to show them that their struggle is nothing to be ashamed of, so we need to be responsible for our own feelings and not unintentionally ask them to carry our anxiety for us. (This is another time to return to our knees in prayer. Because God can help carry our burdens.)

9. Rearrange Your Priorities

Oftentimes, preserving your relationship and your child’s love of learning is more important than meeting someone else’s goal for your child. Better to have a child who loves books, loves learning, and is a year or two behind in reading than to have a child who hates it all and is only slightly less behind in reading.

10. Give Yourself Grace

And always remember that parenting, like life, is not a precise science. The bottom line is that you often won’t know if something is just a hurdle or a real learning disability. So please don’t berate yourself if you do discover a learning issue down the road. There is even debate among professionals over which learning disabilities are legitimate and which are simply labeling.

Homeschooling is Great for Struggling Learners

When a concern arises, seek counsel from friends or trusted health care professionals and pray for wisdom. Take encouragement in knowing that you love your child and have their best interest at heart. Your one-on-one teaching/tutoring will allow you the freedom to research issues, try different approaches, and keep seeking when others might give up.

You will figure things out as you go. For an example of what this can look like in real life, a friend of mine wrote this last week about her 7-year-old son:

”I have a child who is way ahead in reading but truly detests handwriting practice.
”I saw it first as just a character issue (sometime we have to do what we don’t like and do it without complaining), but realized in addition to character building, it was helpful to think about the developmental needs and the psychological ones as well.
”For him, we have to work on it from a developmental standpoint (keep strengthening those muscles) but also his drive for perfectionism and fear of failure. What’s funny is that the solutions thus far would probably be the same either way. We have tried to take it back to basics as much as we can and develop lots of successes and work VERY slowly and incrementally.
”And—just as a funny note—you never know what might motivate your child. My son read in Story of the World that Charlemagne only learned how to form letters near the end of his life, so my son told me today that his handwriting is already better than one of the great rulers of an empire. Ha! #historybuffkid”

Be encouraged that God knows your children inside and out, and knows the plans he has for them. As we are faithful to our relationship with our children and seek to help them learn, God will grant us the wisdom we seek. God will be with you and your family every step of this journey.

Tagged Homeschooling, struggling reader | Leave a comment

May. 22, 2017

The Proverbs 31 Homeschool is Not a Daily Checklist

By Deana Wood

I can still remember reading Proverbs 31 for the first time after becoming a wife. What was, for so many, an anthem of womanhood, I found to be sheer exhaustion. I wasn’t inspired by her; I was tired! I wondered so many times how the Proverbs 31 woman did that lengthy list of tasks every day. I lamented that I would never measure up.

It wasn’t until a few years later that I heard a sermon which graciously explained that Proverbs 31 was an account of this woman’s life, not her day. I wanted to give the preacher a great big hug of relief. Finally, like so many other women and mothers, I was able to see her as inspiring.

We’re Going to Do It All, and You’re Going to Like It

I guess that I forgot that nice little lesson when I began homeschooling because I sat down that first summer and made a list of everything that I wanted to teach my kids. The schedule was a little tight, but I figured that it must be the way that you inspire your children to become wonderful, well-rounded people.

On our first day of homeschool, my kids weren’t inspired, they were tired. After our morning of Art Appreciation, Music Appreciation, Science experiments, Read Alouds, Nature Study, Geography, and the study of 20th Century Poetry, I had to admit, I was tired too. Once again I had fallen short of the mark.

Rookie Mistake: Over Scheduling the Homeschool

Of course, now I know that I had made what my sports-loving son would call a rookie mistake. It took a few months of trudging through my insane schedule, but I finally admitted that it was not working. I did not have a Proverbs 31 homeschool; I had a checklist approach.

So I decided to take a new tack. I looked at all our “extra” subjects, the subjects that I knew were important but not required, and I decided to focus on only one for a while.

It was as if a ray of heavenly sunshine shone down on our day. Not only did my kids seem to relax, but they also thoroughly enjoyed our art appreciation. They actually appreciated it! Before long, they knew several paintings and began noticing them any time they saw them in cartoons or in pictures. They reveled in our art time, soaking up every minute of drawing the wet watercolors across a thick paper.

After a few weeks of art appreciation, we switched to music appreciation. Then we did the same with subjects like geography, science labs, and Nature Study. At the end of the year, I was pleased to find they remembered what we had studied. They could still

identify the paintings
label the landforms
define our science words
tell me what type of tree was in the park

And then I realized that it had happened… I had inspired them by giving them time.

I relaxed into a broader perspective of a full academic year—many years, in fact—instead of getting bogged down in what we were (or weren't) accomplishing each day.

Older and Wiser With a Trusted Guide

The following year, I was drawn to using Sonlight was because of the doable scheduling which maintains a great depth of richness. Now, I don’t even have to worry about how I’m going to fit in all the extras. It’s already planned for me. I can simply enjoy the books and enjoy my children, trusting the program to cover what we need over the long term.

The Proverbs 31 Homeschool

I now realize that very much like the Proverbs 31 woman, we are not created to squeeze five thousand subjects into our school day. Being a Proverbs 31 homeschooler means that we learn a lot over time.

Just like the Proverbs 31 woman's accomplishments were spread over a lifetime of service and devotion, your homeschool experience is a steady stream of learning experiences, laid down layer upon layer, week after week, year after year. The Proverbs 31 homeschool is a long haul, not a daily checklist.

Education is not something you go to get, it’s something that life gives you, and we need the time to be receptive, to allow these things to simmer in our minds and hearts. More importantly than doing twenty-five subjects today, we need to do a few select subjects well. There is a season for everything under the sun, so let’s not try to make everything under the sun fit in one season.

Curious to see what this Proverbs 31, long-term approach to homeschooling might look like for your family? Go to SmoothCourse to explore your options.

Tagged homeschool, proverbs 31, schedule | 1 Comment

May. 17, 2017

I Came Back to Sonlight Because I Love My Freedom

By Ashlee Williams

As we approached the end of our homeschool year, I did what all homeschooling moms do—I considered which curriculum to select for the next school year.

In my household the end of the school year is a time of reflection to evaluate what is working well on an individual basis for all four of my kids, thinking about the areas that need improvement for each one. It is a time to implement new methods, add subjects, or subtract activities. I love the end of the school year because it is like a fresh slate, but it can also be rather stressful to wade through.

We had a great school year with Sonlight, so why change things?

We loved having Sonlight as the foundation of our homeschool this year. My youngest two kids listened in on the readers they found interesting while they played with LEGO nearby. It worked out well.

This situation, though, was one thing I wanted to change for the upcoming year. I didn’t want my youngest two always tagging along with their older siblings' literature. I wanted them to have history and geography books that spoke to them—books that had colorful pictures and wonderful meanings. At the same time I wanted my older two to be challenged by more advanced storylines and to dig deeper into history.

How could I chose one program that would meet the needs of all four of my children, meeting them each precisely at their own level?

Overwhelmed with Options

I asked my fellow homeschooling friends who were in similar situations, and their advice lead me down a curriculum rabbit hole. Any other mother out there who has fallen down this rabbit hole knows just how overwhelming it can be. There are so many choices. They can all look appealing.

My children were born within a four-year time span, and I was on the hunt for a single, core curriculum that would capture the attention of all of them at once. I was looking for something challenging enough for my fifth grader that wasn’t going to be over the head of my Kindergartner.

Leaving Sonlight

After hours of research, I finally found my solution, and while I was sad to leave Sonlight, I truly thought this new curriculum was the answer.

I placed my order with the other company, received my package, and was not happy. I realized quickly that I was going to have to spend a ton of time fleshing out the program I had purchased:

developing projects for my older kids to achieve the depth I hoped for
hunting down booklists and reading dozens of novels and biographies in advance to verify the content
turning our weekly library runs into work instead of fun outings with my kids

I was going to have to spend a lot of time doing this, time that would reduce my freedom to go where the wind takes us. I did not want that. After I sent it back, I knew that my heart was still with Sonlight and I needed to return to what worked so wonderfully this past year—the curriculum that offered us structure with freedom.

Because if it isn’t broken, why fix it?

Ordering Sonlight Again

But could I really find the time to do two programs with my four kids? That’s a lot of reading! Ultimately, yes, I resolved myself to doing two different History / Bible / Literature (HBL) programs from Sonlight:

Level D, Intro to American History, Year 1 of 2 for my older two
Level A, Intro to the World: Cultures for my younger two

I thought about creative ways to incorporate my older kids into the Read-Alouds for the younger kids. I also decided to reserve a few readers as a bedtime reading for the whole family. I finally felt like I could make this work; I was getting excited!

Why I Came Back to Sonlight

The big reasons I came back to Sonlight are simple but very significant. In a nutshell, Sonlight helps me maximize my time and be the very best teacher I can be for my kids.

I appreciate all these assurances even more after momentarily leaving Sonlight:

having every single book I will need for the entire school year in one place
having a road map to follow in my Instructor’s Guides
knowing ahead of time every book they read is going to be safe and age appropriate
knowing that all of the readers correlate to the history lessons each week
knowing that God's character is reflected in everything we read
knowing they will be fascinated by history
knowing they love to read
knowing I will be less stressed with planning lessons
knowing I won't have to spend time scouring for resources

We are heading into our next school year more excited than ever. Our books have arrived and are waiting for us on our shelves! I am so thankful I came back to what I know works. Actually, Sonlight not only works, it provides us with more time in our homeschool days to experience the freedom we desire! There is no denying we will be reading a lot, but we cannot wait!

We welcome you to come back to Sonlight just like Ashlee did. Find your freedom with a fully planned curriculum, based on high quality literature. Get our latest catalog here.

Tagged benefits of homeschooling, choosing, curriculum, freedom, homeschool, Homeschooling, multiple children, Sonlight | 3 Comments

May. 15, 2017

Homeschooling Away From a Fear Versus Towards a Goal

By Sarita

I didn't decide to homeschool for lofty reasons. I didn't have a clear vision for my children's education. I didn't even really want to be at home with them all day.

I agreed to try homeschooling because we couldn't afford our private school tuition. And we knew we didn't want our kids in the particular public school in our district. (Read more of that story here.)

So with John's encouragement, I reluctantly agreed to try homeschooling. I planned to homeschool to get away from something–away from impossible tuition or an unacceptable public school option.

Homeschooling to Escape a Negative

And at first, it might work to homeschool in order get away from something. Maybe you need to get your child away from a bully, or out of a school that doesn't meet her special needs. Maybe you’re generally scared of public education.

That can be a good place to start. But running away from something won’t lead to the fulfilling homeschooling experience you want. Because once you get away, what are you going to do then?

Homeschooling Towards a Positive Goal

For the long haul, we all need to answer what we are homeschooling towards.

What are your positive motivations for homeschooling? If some of your motivations are fear-based, can you flip them around and think of them in a more motivating light? Then you know what you’re working toward!

For example:

Change “I homeschool to keep my child away from a bully” to “I homeschool in order provide a safe environment where my child can be herself.”
Move from “I homeschool because public school killed my child’s love of learning” to “I homeschool in order to rekindle and fuel my children’s love of learning.”
Revise “I homeschool because a school wouldn’t keep my gifted son challenged and interested” to “I homeschool in order to provide a customized education that will challenge and inspire my gifted son.”
Change “I homeschool because I fear the public schools will indoctrinate my children” to “I homeschool in order to educate (not indoctrinate) my children within the context of my Christian faith.”

Positive Goals Hold the Power to Motivate

Do you feel the powerful shift that can happen here? It’s hard to get up every day and be motivated by something you’ve already escaped or avoided (e.g. bullies, Common Core or a bad student/teacher ratio). But if you know what you’re working toward instead, you can get up every day motivated by those goals.

So … what are you homeschooling toward?

I quickly moved from homeschooling out of necessity to homeschooling because of what we could provide for our children.

If you’re interested, John and I homeschooled because we wanted to:

Help our children love learning;
Earn a place of trust in our children’s lives as we kept conversation pathways open about tricky topics;
Teach from the perspective of our faith and of God’s work in the world, letting Scripture and talk of God permeate our school days;
Give our children a heart for the whole world, not just the United States, and ensure they received a truly global education;
Build solid family bonds as we spent so much time together;
Provide a customized education to each child based on each one’s strengths and weaknesses;
Snuggle on the couch to read and read and read with our children! I couldn’t wait to share all my childhood favorites with them and discover new favorites along the way.

Those are some highlights of what I homeschooled toward. (You can read more in our Top Ten Goals article if you’d like.) This is what kept me going day in and day out. And I am so glad I did! As I share in our e-book entitled “It Was Worth It! Real Stories to Inspire Your Homeschool Journey”, homeschooling turned out to be a beautiful and rewarding path for our family.

Tagged fear, goals, Homeschooling, motivation, reasons to homeschool | Leave a comment

May. 12, 2017

When Kids Still Struggle With Reading Even in a Print-Rich Home

By Sarita

If the ability to read is so important, what do we do when our children just aren't learning to read well? What if we fill our houses with books and read aloud daily ... and they still struggle? Are our efforts to provide a print-rich environment in vain?

No. And the reason lies in the difference between literacy and reading ability.

The Same Exposure to Books But Different Reading Proficiency

Research bears out the obvious fact that children surrounded by books learn more effectively and thus do better in school. But some parents' experience doesn't seem to mirror the expected.

For example, one mom commented that she has thousands of books in her home and reads to her children all the time. While two of her children are excellent readers, two others have a much harder time. Has she been wasting her time reading to the two who struggle? She certainly doesn't think so—and I agree.

I also had children who greatly varied in how early they learned to read. One read very early and continues to devour books. One worked very hard at reading and reads slowly even today, but never forgets what is read. Both children excelled in college. So what might be at work here?

The Difference Between Literacy and Reading Ability

I'm going to postulate that all the hours we spend reading aloud to our children make up for a host of gaps they might have if we hadn't read to them.

In E. D. Hirsch's book Cultural Literacy, he compares the reading ability of two sets of junior college students. They read two articles and answered comprehension questions afterwards. The first article covered a generic topic (love) that required absolutely no additional knowledge to understand, other than the ability to decode the words. Both sets of students answered those questions equally well. But the second article they read told the story of General Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox. Students who had no previous knowledge about the subject could not answer the questions about this article. They lacked the background information necessary to even know who Grant and Lee were and why they needed to meet. They had no context.

In my thinking, a literate person has the necessary background information—the cultural literacy, in Hirsch's words—to understand what she reads.

Keep On Reading Aloud

In a home where families read a wide variety of books together, children gain invaluable cultural literacy. Combine this with the ability to learn from books (even if someone else is reading them out loud), and you've got a great head start on academic success.

So even if you have a child who struggles to read on his own or dislikes reading, keep reading to him! Don't think for a minute that your efforts haven't born fruit. Consider the cultural literacy, cognitive skills, and emotional maturity you're helping him build by surrounding him with great stories, engaging characters, and thought-provoking discussions.

Curious to see what an education rich in both reading and cultural literacy might look like for your family? Go to SmoothCourse to explore your options.

Tagged Cultural literacy, literacy, reading | Leave a comment

May. 5, 2017

Why I Homeschool 4 Days a Week: No More Stressed Out "Friday Mom"

By Deana Wood

Why I Homeschool Four Days a Week: No More Stressed Out "Friday Mom" • homeschool schedules

Not all Fridays are great. Sometimes they bring out Friday Mom. You know the kind of Fridays I mean. They should be fun. But they turn into stress.

For example, on a recent Friday morning, we had one hour before we had to leave home for a field trip. Of course, you know what happened—chaos.

After the three-ring-circus of getting dressed, we still had schoolwork to do for the day, and I intended to use every second of the 9.5 minutes we had left before heading out. So we quickly gathered in the living room for the speediest round of read alouds known to man. At one point, I even considered letting my oldest child read a book solo while I was reading a different book to save time. Yes, Friday Mom had returned for another episode again this week.

Crazy right?

This breakneck pace is how it has gone for far too many Fridays in my house. The Friday list in my homeschool planner had become just another box to check. I knew that there was no learning happening because I was furiously trying to cram in field trips, play dates, co-op, and a full day of school.

Shifting to a Four-Day Homeschool Schedule

An easy solution to prevent Friday Mom syndrome is to shift to a 4-day schedule instead of insisting on doing school five days each week. Here are three huge benefits I've found as a result of this new, compact schedule.

Listen to this post narrated by the author Deana Wood, using the audio player embedded here.

Family Flexibility

It’s essential to your family's well being to schedule time for relaxation. After busy weeks full of church, sports practice, and dance recitals, families simply need rest. If you feel pulled in too many directions with a busy schedule, a four-day homeschool schedule can provide you with margin to relax and restore your spirit so that you are ready to press forward the next day.

Educational Enrichment

Homeschool parents everywhere lament that there’s not enough time to fit in the fun extracurriculars, hands-on projects, and outside activities. And what a shame! Doing the fun extras is probably one of the reasons we chose to homeschool in the first place. But exactly like public schools, homeschoolers can get bogged down in the academics and neglect to make time for the extras that are so important to us.

This year, I’m looking forward to using some of my extra Fridays for art and music lessons. My bonus day each week opens opportunities to explore the arts or to pursue my child’s own unique interests. And we don't have to worry about doing our regular homeschool subjects on those days! We can devote all our attention to our beloved extras.

Homeschool Co-Ops

What did we do before homeschool co-ops? We were much more isolated, that's what!

Through my local co-op, I've experienced invaluable community and fellowship, not to mention the classes and social experiences my children have benefited from. A four-day schooling routine fits perfectly with co-ops. You school at home for four days, and you school at the co-op on the fifth.

If you’re like me, you’re probably concerned that a four-day week won't provide a full and rigorous education. Although I originally worried about that, I came to the conclusion that my fears were unfounded. Because homeschooling is so much more efficient than public education, we can fit in lots more learning in a fraction of the time. And your children really are learning while you are on field trips and at co-op. Those hours count as school!

Besides, if you choose a specially designed four-day curriculum like Sonlight's newly released programs, you can be assured that all the bases are covered, and you won't have to rearrange a typical five-day schedule yourself. Best of all, Friday Mom won't be making any end-of-the-week appearances. And I'm sure your kids won't miss her one bit.

If you have questions about how a 4-day homeschool schedule could work for your family, we have experienced homeschooling moms who would love to talk to you. Click here to connect with your homeschool consultant.

Tagged co-op, four-day, homeschool, schedules | 1 Comment

May. 3, 2017

Choose the Most Enjoyable Way to Homeschool: Reading Great Books

By Sonlight

Although books are far more memorable than textbooks, no one would claim that the whole point of reading is to improve your memory for facts. That would be ridiculous.

We read because reading is enjoyable!

I would rather read something to my boys that makes them guffaw and cheer, than something they listen to more passively.
I would rather read something that makes my eyes prickle and my voice break because of the beauty of the language and the scene, rather than some factual report.

You Have a Choice. Choose the Most Enjoyable.

This, to me, is such an obvious benefit, I initially overlooked it, even as you probably don’t think of the deliciousness of water until you are thirsty. If you could choose between an enjoyable way to study, or a boring one, why not choose the enjoyable?

In a world of worksheets and textbooks, in a world of digital techno wizardry, we can remain connected to stories by choosing an enjoyable, literature-rich homeschool curriculum.

Even if textbooks were equally good as real books in order to learn (which they’re not), wouldn’t it make sense to choose the more enjoyable?

Great books are enjoyable. Homeschooling with great books is the most enjoyable way to homeschool.

Learning doesn’t have to be unpleasant. At times it might be hard work, but it doesn’t have to be boring.

These days, there are so many options for schooling and entertainment. Reading is not quite dead, but with the rise of television and video games, organized sports and social media, books seem a bit retro.

Learn to Enjoy Reading by Reading Great Books

And let me add: if this message isn’t resonating with you, it is possible that you have never read a good book. It happens. That doesn’t mean a literature-rich program won’t work for you.

Some children come to Sonlight in mid-elementary school. They hate books and they hate reading. But by mid-year, most of these reluctant readers have had that transformational moment where they must know what happens next! And then they’re hooked.

If you’re not hooked on reading, you might just need to read the right books. And then see what a joy learning can be.

Unlike, say, math workbooks that are designed for a specific grade, real books delight and teach a range of ages. I like how C.S. Lewis puts it:

No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally—and often far more—worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.

And because the books inform and instruct a range of ages, you can combine a couple of children into one program, if you want. (Add on age-appropriate subject materials, like spelling, math, and reading instruction, for each child to use independently.)

The Most Enjoyable for Parents, Too

But possibly the best benefit, at least from the teacher’s perspective? Literature-rich education is the most enjoyable way to homeschool for us parents, too. As a parent, I eagerly look forward to reading my favorite childhood books to my children:

Books that don’t hit us over the head with moralizing, but offer real people who deal with real, and challenging, scenarios.
Books that make us laugh, and love this beautiful world.
Books that make us cry, and grieve for this broken world.
Books that don’t overwhelm with darkness, but also don’t pretend darkness doesn’t exist.
Books that maybe don’t have the best cover but hold hidden gems, like Red Sails to Capri and Shadow Spinner.
Books that maybe aren’t cheerful to read, but lead to rich conversations.

If you have ever thought that your own education was a little lacking, know that Sonlight parents regularly say, “I am learning so much!” We love that you find Sonlight the most enjoyable way to homeschool!

Ready to enjoy learning? Visit SmoothCourse, our ordering process, to start today.

Tagged Homeschooling, joy, living books, reading | Leave a comment