Mar. 13, 2017

How a Literature-based Curriculum Prepares Teens for STEM Careers

By Sarita
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How a Literature-based Homeschool Curriculum Prepares Students for STEM Careers

What careers would you expect Sonlight students to choose? With a literature-rich curriculum, would you expect them to become missionaries, business people, pastors, or homemakers? Well, many certainly do. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. A literature-based homeschool curriculum prepares students for STEM careers as well!

If you haven’t already, check out the 2017 Sonlight Scholarship Winners. The way it worked out this year (and every year is different), the top applicants are almost all headed into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers. Medicine isn’t usually included in the STEM classification (though it’s clearly reliant on math and science), but four of the winners plan to pursue medical training. Seven other winners plan to head into electrical and mechanical engineering, neuroscience research, biology or chemistry. Phew!

So how did these students who grew up on great literature find their way into left-brain fields? As I’ve said for years, a well-rounded education prepares students for whatever God calls them to. Consider a few of the advantages these Sonlight students have as they head into college with a literature-rich homeschool education:

They love to learn and are insatiably curious.

This inner drive for knowledge is critical to success as a scientist, technologist, engineer or mathematician. They’ll encounter many setbacks in their research and study; therefore, they’ll need a lot of internal motivation to learn for the sake of learning.

They know how to identify biases.

All writing comes from a bias, even scientific writing. Though scientists often feel they are completely objective, everything from funding sources to worldviews can influence their work. Far better to be aware of this than to proceed in ignorance.

They have extensive background knowledge.

This background knowledge adds context to whatever they’re studying. These Sonlight students understand so much about how the world works. That provides a framework in which to plug in new concepts and knowledge.

They understand the limits of science.

Sonlight students know that this highly intricate universe has a Creator. While humans can learn and make scientific advances, we will never become God through scientific study. Instead, we can use science, technology, engineering and math to support the work of bringing God’s kingdom of love, truth and healing to the world.

They have an excellent vocabulary.

Developed through years of extensive and varied reading, this advanced vocabulary helps them excel on college entrance tests and comprehend high level concepts.

They have developed imagination.

Creativity is crucial to designing new solutions and new uses for old ideas.  Workers in the STEM fields have to tackle problems with no known solution. The expansive education that Sonlight provides from preschool through high school trains students to think for themselves and brainstorm new ideas.

They know how to communicate.

A big part of a successful career in math, technology, science or engineering is the ability to actually communicate with other people. The ability to write a cohesive paper, speak in public, and break difficult concepts down into easy-to-understand language is a huge advantage to young people in STEM fields although it is part of the job that many hopeful scientists overlook. Sonlight students have read and written so much by the time they graduate, they have a huge leg up on their competition.

They have the perspective they need.

The humanities anchor a STEM scholar, making him or her aware of the implications of past work and present discovery. This perspective is a critical need in our world today.

Of course, these Sonlight students have had top-notch STEM preparation as well. Sonlight offers the best of the best in Math programs, from basic arithmetic through calculus. Sonlight Science programs are hands-on, well-loved and rigorous, and our upper-level Apologia offerings include those critical lab science experiences that high schoolers need.

Many of the scholarship winners this year not only completed normal coursework at home, but they also sought out internships, job shadowing, real-life projects and community college classes to prepare them for college-level STEM training. The freedom of homeschooling through high school means that you can tailor your students’ experience to what they want. They can keep up an engaging liberal arts education while also going full steam ahead in the hard sciences.

So if your child is excited about STEM subjects, help him or her dive in and learn more. For more specific ideas of how to support your children considering a career in these fields, check out Forbes’ advice to students or these 10 tips for students hoping to study science or engineering. Your students could even take this short quiz from Florida Polytechnic University to help them discover which fields might suit them best.

I’d also encourage you to just keep homeschooling and know that you will be able to find the upper-level resources you need when you need them. When you feel you might be over your head, consider options such as self-teaching courses (like the upper-level math and science Sonlight provides), community college classes, homeschool co-op resources, internships, paid tutors, and free online resources like Khan Academy. If you’re not ready to teach Physics, Advanced Biology, Trigonometry or Calculus on your own, we’ve got your back.

If your kids are young, keep moving ahead in your studies and helping them love to learn. Know that all your reading and discussion will only help them as they grow, no matter what field they choose. So savor all the Read-Alouds and history. But also enjoy those Mighty Mind puzzles. Move at your children’s own pace as they master math concepts. Break out your science supply kits and give your students the thrill of successful experiments. Let them learn to code, which is also a helpful way to teach bravery!

Whether your students head into ministry, music or nanotechnology, you have what it takes to prepare them well. I count it a great privilege to walk with you in that journey.

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Mar. 9, 2017

Cultivating Big Picture Thinking (Versus Learning Rote Facts)

By Sonlight
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Cultivating Big Picture Thinking (Versus Learning Rote Facts)

Some forms of education rely heavily on memorization. Think of that old rhyme, “In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” Columbus is important to history. If you know the date when he sailed, you have a good reference for one of the major transformations of the world.

But Sonlight wants to do more than simply pour facts into your head. When your children think about Columbus, we want them to have some idea not only about when he sailed, or the names of his three ships, but we want your children to have some idea about how the world changed as a result of his travels—big picture thinking.

Using Your Brain Instead of Just Memorizing Facts

As one of the women on our forums wrote:

Retraining our daughter to use her brain instead of just memorizing facts has been a challenge, but what a happy day when she gave her first tentative opinion about the underlying meaning of something that we were reading. She’s no longer phrasing her thoughts as questions, and that alone has made the curriculum and time investment worth it.

I am thrilled to hear when Sonlighters’ children begin to think for themselves.

This excites me, because, besides experiencing the stories, I want our children—yours and mine—to gain discernment and wisdom. I want them to acquire the ability to place current events—and their lives—in the context of world history, so that they can think clearly.

The Old Testament poetically describes some men from Issachar as, “men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” That’s the kind of discernment I dream of for the next generation: the ability to see the big picture and see a way forward.

Knowing What to Look Up and Why for Big Picture Thinking

I find it interesting that, quite apart from the Bible, current scholarship on education confirms the benefit of big picture thinking. Since the Internet remains always available to give you any information you might need—the length of the Mayflower, the 47th element on the Periodic Table, the 14th President of the United States, and so on—memorization today is less critical than it was even a generation ago. Today, you are better served knowing what to look up and why—questions that are answered as a result of a big picture perspective—rather than knowing “the answer.”

As you read to your children and talk about the stories, you will see that your children are thinking. They won’t merely know, but they will have ideas about what is right and wrong, about how to love God and love others, about how to live in this world.

I think of a story Shary in Virginia told a few years ago:

I decided—just for fun—to ask my 10-year-old son a review question at the back of a history book we were reading: “What year did Franklin Roosevelt take office?”

There were three choices for answers: 1933, 1903, 1973.

His response: “Well, let's see. The 1920s were when the US was doing really well and people were making lots of money. Then the stock market crashed and we went into the Depression. So it had to have been 1933 when he took office.”

Do I care that he remembered the exact date? No. Do I care that he knew enough of what was going on that he could figure it out? You bet.

She said she knew why her son was able to figure out the answer. It was because he had been using Sonlight.

Because although our signature product is our combination of History, Bible, Literature, a Sonlight education requires students to think, and that is useful in fields that are not related to History or Literature—subjects like Math, Biology, and Engineering.

If you use Sonlight, your children will be equipped for big picture thinking, whatever they are called to do.

If you are ready to find out more about how to train your children to think, Sonlight has homeschool consultants available to talk to you about the next step on your journey. Go here to schedule a complimentary call.

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Mar. 8, 2017

Why Educate? A Christian Response

By Sonlight
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Why Educate? A Christian Response

In Sonlight B’s Understood Betsy, Elizabeth Ann has an epiphany:

never before had she known what she was doing in school. She had always thought she was there to pass from one grade to another, and she was ever so startled to get a glimpse of the fact that she was there to learn how to read and write and cipher [do arithmetic] and generally use her mind, so she could take care of herself when she came to be grown up.

This paragraph gives a basic answer to the question, “Why educate?”

Answer: So your children can take care of themselves when they are grown.

After basic survival, when your children reach adulthood, you would probably prefer that they be able to do something they enjoy, rather than just exist. And since most people find it easier to thrive when they have education and skills, you teach your children.

A Christian Parent's Answer to "Why Educate?"

But if you’re a Christian, you have another reason to teach your children, beyond survival and life satisfaction.

The Scriptures tell story after story of God’s work in the world. And as His people, we participate in His work. As Paul tells the church at Philippi, “it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

Or take the verse in Ephesians, where Paul says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

The word handiwork (poiema) is the word that we get poem from: A thing that the master crafts, creates, makes beautiful. Poets reveal part of themselves in their poems. God reveals part of Himself in us.

And believers, as God’s poems, go into the world to do the good works that He prepared for us to do.

But what is it that we are supposed to do, practically? Good question!

Blessed to be a Blessing

If you look back to Abraham, God blessed him, saying, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.”

Paul refers back to this blessing when he wrote to the Galatians, “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”

The blessing to the Jews—blessed to be a blessing—extends now to the Gentiles, all who aren’t Jews. All are now eligible for the blessing—a blessing to receive the promise of the Spirit, and to be a blessing.

When you think about your children’s education, then, you are doing more than helping them survive and thrive. You help your children develop their gifts, and equip them, so that they can do whatever God calls them to do to further His Kingdom, and to bless others.

Of course, when your children are young, you don’t know what they will be called to do later in life. (And if you, as an adult, aren’t sure about that either, you’re in good company. Moses spent 40 years as a prince in Egypt, and another 40 as a shepherd, before he embarked on his third career much later in life.)

Educating Your Children for Whatever God Has in Store

Because you don’t know the good works that God has prepared for your children, how do you prepare them now?

You can notice and nurture your children’s gifts, and help give them a well-rounded education from which they will be able to go in any direction that God calls. You can help your children learn the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, and then allow them to flourish in the areas where they show interest and special skill.

Sonlight helps you equip your unique children, develop their specific gifts, and direct their hearts towards God and towards God’s work in the world. We want your children to graduate from high school with a deep love for God, compassion for the world, and the confidence that they can do what God asks them to do.

By giving you the framework for solid academics and providing a host of godly heroes, you are freed to do what only you can do: walk with and guide your children.

When you think about education, then, yes, prepare your children for adulthood, and prepare them, to the best of your ability, to let them thrive. And teach them, nurture them, and equip them so they are equipped to do the good works that God has prepared for them to do.

Thank you for loving your children so well. We are with you in your task of education, teaching your children so they survive, thrive, bless.

Request a Catalog

To find out more, get a Sonlight catalog and read the descriptions of all the possibilities available to you.

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Mar. 7, 2017

Fully Revised and Updated Language Arts Guides

By Sonlight
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We at Sonlight are thrilled to announce our completely revised and updated Language Arts Instructor’s Guides for Levels K through W (all levels below high school).

If you’ve been part of the Sonlight family for very long, you have heard the glowing reviews of our beloved History / Bible / Literature programs, and the less than glowing reviews our Language Arts. Although our Language Arts programs produce excellent writers, and many families use them with great success, we want more customers to experience that same success.

So our product development team went through every aspect of Sonlight's Language Arts programs and produced a set of new, awesome tools (complete with glowing reviews by our beta testers!). In this year's guides, you'll find completely rewritten lesson plans including:

What's New in Sonlight Language Arts

  • Simple overview summaries for each week. What are you covering? Know at a glance.
  • Education for you, so you understand what you’re doing, what your goals are, and why the Sonlight method works. For example, why we don’t want your children to learn “by rote.”
  • Teaching scripts in the early grades to read to your children. Easily introduce new ideas, concepts, and assignments. If you’re just starting to homeschool, this will help you.
  • Evaluative rubrics. A rubric is a tool for teachers so they know how to objectively evaluate students’ performance. It’s a list of characteristics you want to look for to figure out how your children are doing. For example, did your children think through a beginning, middle and end to the stories they wrote? Did they do so Excellently? As Expected? Or are they In Progress? If you aren’t confident with grading, these rubrics will help you know what to look for so you can assess with assurance.

What’s Updated in Sonlight Language Arts

  • After a big picture overview, the assignments progress in a logical order, starting with the simple and moving to the more complex. This applies both within each year and through the years as a whole.
  • Revised assignments, making sure all are a reasonable length.
  • Many new and revised activity sheets.

Click on the image to open a larger version.

We're looking forward to the 2017 programs, and we'll continue to share all the exciting updates coming March 30. Until our next update, be sure to check out our website and stay connected via our blog or forums.

Questions? Let me know below, and I’ll do my best to clarify!

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Mar. 6, 2017

3 Reasons for Homeschoolers to Pursue Extracurricular Activities

By Sarita
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Homeschoolers benefit from extracurricular activities in many ways. Discover why your family may need to start pursuing extracurriculars.

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Mar. 3, 2017

Sonlight's New, True 4-Day Programs

By Sonlight
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Sonlight's New, True 4-Day programs • homeschool curriculum

Do any of these apply to you?

  • You’re in a homeschool co-op
  • You enjoy a lot of field trips
  • Your children have weekly appointments
  • You like a Friday “fun day,” with tea and poetry, math games, and art
  • You prefer to homeschool at a more relaxed pace

If so, we designed Sonlight’s new 4-day programs with you in mind! You can do Sonlight only four days a week and take the fifth day for anything you choose.

Introducing Sonlight’s all-new Instructor’s Guides (IGs)

Available on March 30, 2017 for Sonlight programs A, B, C, D, E, and F.

In these new IGs, you’ll find all subjects scheduled just four days a week.

The standard 5-day program will still be available for all programs.

A brief history of Sonlight’s 4-day Programs

For the curious—and to help clarify, because we’ve made this complex through the years—here is a summary of Sonlight’s 4-day journey.

When Sonlight began, and for many years after that, all Sonlight programs were 5-day.

Then, with so many homeschoolers enjoying co-ops, we added a 4-day option. Because research shows that beginning readers are well-served with daily practice, and because Bible is a wonderful thing to include as part of each day, both Bible and Readers remained 5-day. Which is great in concept, but a bit frustrating in practice. (Do Bible reading as you’re heading out the door to co-op? It’s maybe a bit much.)

From 2012-2015, Sonlight’s 4-day program became the foundation, with an optional fifth day added on. This was nice, in the sense that everyone got to enjoy the same books at the same rate, and if you wanted to switch to 4-day for a bit, you could. But it was a bummer, really, to have a tacked-on fifth day.

In 2016, the Instructor’s Guides were dramatically updated. All programs up to high school were re-done, with updated book choices and tighter reading lists. Because of the reduced reading load, we also created a 4-day program with the same books, read at a slightly faster pace.

In 2017, you will get to choose an entirely new product.

  • Fewer books (since you are Sonlighting 36 fewer days!)
  • All Instructor’s Guides updated: History / Bible / Literature, Language Arts, and Science
  • All subjects—including Bible and Readers!—scheduled for only four days each week
  • Available in our most popular programs: A, B, C, D, E, and F

Starting March 30, 2017, you get to choose what works best for your family: Sonlight every day, or a day off a week. We're looking forward to the 2017 programs, and we'll continue to share all the exciting updates coming March 30. Until our next update, be sure to check out our website and stay connected via our blog or forums.

Use SmoothCourse to start shopping for your 4-Day curriculum.

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Mar. 3, 2017

Humor: 30 Ways You Know You're a Homeschooler

By Sarita
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Homeschool Humor: 30 Ways You Know You're a Homeschooler

Does something ever happen that makes you think, "Wow, I really am a homeschooler!" It could be your kids' delight over learning, the odd places you have school lessons, or the unique ways you teach your kids. Although there are many different types of homeschoolers, I bet you will see yourself in at least a few of these descriptions crowdsourced from Sonlighters.

You Know You're a Homeschooler When ...

  1. Someone asks your children what grade they are in, and they try to help each other figure it out.
  2. You have a strainer labeled for science, not food.
  3. You have math lessons timed to the length of the dryer cycle.
  4. All your classmates are siblings.
  5. When you send your son off to college and he emails you and tells you that organic chemistry isn't that hard and then gets an A.
  6. You school by the sandpit or snuggling on the bed.
  7. You have to secure all the flashlights in the house because the children will read all night.
  8. Your kids are playing Simon Says with directions like pretend you are an oblique line segment!
  9. The kids' play involves storks on the roof because you just finished reading The Wheel on the School.
  10. When the conversation you are having about middle school chemistry is so in depth that a college sophomore majoring in engineering asks you if you have a degree!
  11. The kids think it's normal to pause movies for impromptu history lessons.
  12. PE is going on a hike in the woods.
  13. Your teenagers love talking things over with their parents and don't mind being seen in public with them.
  14. You use a picnic bench, an oatmeal container, and a hula hoop as a model of the ear canal and eardrum.
  15. Your kids bring pencil and paper on the grocery shopping trip so they can figure math problems as you go down each aisle.
  16. You try to figure out just how many subjects one trip to the grocery store can cover besides math.
  17. You get new pajamas for your back-to-school wardrobe.
  18. Your children get together with their friends to play The Boxcar Children.
  19. When your kids beg to watch TV and then turn on a documentary.
  20. Your daughter wants to have a party and invites seven other homeschool girls to join her in working at the church food closet on a weekday morning.
  21. You're reading to the kids on the bathroom floor while waiting for the toddler to potty.
  22. Your daughter is filling in a blank on a questionnaire that asks, "Where do you go to school?" and she writes, "Under the dining room table."
  23. You sing The Continents Song in the shower.
  24. A snow day means you get to shovel the driveway after you finish your school work.
  25. Your dining table serves as a school desk, a science lab, and an eating surface.
  26. You know what the phrase Box Day means.
  27. Every baking recipe becomes a lesson in fractions and measurements.
  28. You constantly need more bookshelves.
  29. Your son calls out from under a huge fort, "I love this math, Mom!"
  30. Your kids have no idea what grade they're in.

How about you? Do you have a good finish to the sentence "You Know You're a Homeschool When ..."? Leave it in a comment below. Let's keep the humor flowing!

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