Sonlight Homeschooling Blog

Jan. 20, 2014

Accomplishments Over Attendance

By Luke

One of my friends used to work a security night shift. His job was to walk the perimeter on a semi-regular basis. Other than that, he sat in his chair and watched movies and played computer games and waited for the hours to tick by. His job required that he show up and little else.

Classrooms can be this way. Just ask my friend who recently survived a semester in a college course she didn't need. The professors required her attendance to get a good grade. "It was so pointless," she told me.

Just Sit Around

Homeschooling is efficient in large part because we focus on learning rather than how long our rears are in our chairs. We're not particularly interested in jobs based on frittering away time. We want to change the world. Plus, because Sonlight doesn't feel like school, we gladly work ahead at times.

In other words, as homeschoolers, we can focus on accomplishments over attendance. We're here to learn, not the pass time.

Conversely, if you need to take a little more time to make sure your student understands, you can. We don't have to drop everything when the bell rings and shift gears. We can focus on learning, not sticking to an arbitrary schedule.

Be encouraged as you continue the great work you're doing. May your accomplishments be a constant reminder that you made the right decision for your family. May your children continue to thrive!

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

Tagged learning, school, Time Management | Leave a comment

Jan. 17, 2014

The Beauty of Reading Aloud as Adults

By Luke

A Sonlight Moment from a month ago got me thinking this morning. Many Sonlighters discover the joy of Read-Alouds through their years of listening to books together. This is different from the "book haters" who are foiled by Sonlight. Finding pleasure in reading a great book alone is one thing. But corporate reading is like going to the movie theater. Movies can be fun to watch alone, but people shell out big bucks to see a flick on the big screen with friends. Why? There is something amazing about experiencing a movie with others.

Same with books.

And now, as a married man, I continue to have opportunities to read books aloud to my wife and friends. We're all adults who love sharing a great book together. This from a kid who struggled with reading for years.

Shared Story

What is so beautiful about reading books out loud? The two big things for me are:

Shared experiences are a big part of relationships. The more connections we have with one another -- be they family trips, inside jokes, common stories -- the closer we are. This is one reason why long distant relationships can be so hard. Reading books aloud together lets us build more points of connection.
We gain a deeper understanding from stories when we encounter them together. When someone laughs at a joke I didn't immediately catch, I see more richness in the tale. This is why you catch so many people leaning over and asking, "What just happened?" in stage productions. With Sonlight, we are encouraged to pause and strike up a conversation about the stories as we read them.

Do you have kids who still love to share a Read-Aloud together years after graduating? What beautiful things have you seen in reading together with your children?

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

Tagged family, read-alouds | Leave a comment

Jan. 16, 2014

Why do you homeschool?

By Judy

Read that with any emphasis you like ... Why do you homeschool? Why do you homeschool? Why do you homeschool?! It all boils down to the same thought process ... what's the motivation behind your decision to homeschool?

There's a fascinating conversation going on in the Homeschool Support Forum over on the Sonlight Forums page (you'll need forum access to get to this thread). The topic? Common Core. But more specifically ... would the implementation of Common Core be sufficient enough to keep you homeschooling for the long haul?

As I've had opportunity to talk with parents researching education choices for their children, many have stated that they want nothing to do with Common Core. While I have no real interest in getting into a political discussion with them, I do encourage them to consider if they have *other* goals in mind, or is it just avoidance of Common Core Standards that is driving their decision making?

Perhaps you're just considering homeschooling, or perhaps you're like the mom I talked with last week, who has been homeschooling for 16 years and wondering if she can do it one more year. I would suggest that you invest a couple of hours some evening or Saturday afternoon, and jot down the goals that are driving your education choices. As you consider what influences play into the choices you make (i.e. Common Core, academics, worldview, class size, etc...), you might want to take a look at the Homeschool 101 section on our web site. It's full of great articles, webinars and podcasts that may provide some fodder for your thinking.

No one education choice is going to be the best for every family, but you can be sure that what you choose is the best for *your* family.

Still on the journey,
~Judy Wnuk

Tagged Common Core, goals | Leave a comment

Jan. 15, 2014

Serious Damage from Silly Social Lies

By Luke

Her knees -- pushed up toward her chest -- barricade her face behind the couch pillow. Another pillow perches on her head. She's hiding while she talks. Silly as it may be, it makes her feel safe. "I feel like I'm being replaced," she says. "It's like high school all over again."

I've started calling these socialization ills. These are problems that arise from bad socialization. Frequently the wounds are inflicted in middle and high school. Today, years after graduating, she still feels threatened any time someone copies her, intentionally or not. Why? Because she felt pushed out of every group in high school. Unwanted. Replaced. Worthless. The pain still clings to her.

Hiding

She's not alone. My wife becomes visually distraught when she has to walk the halls of a high school. She was homeschooled but her bad experiences with the church cliques in junior high and high school haunt her even now. And if my level-headed wife who can put up with my antics is indelibly scarred by her experience in youth group, homeschoolers aren't automatically safe. The problem is a social one.

I am not advocating that you keep your child home without any outside input. Multiple teachers are fantastic. I'm not suggesting that you hide away from pain or bad ideas. We have no need for a bunker mentality. And I'm certainly not suggesting that your kids shouldn't have friends. Homeschoolers can make plenty of friends. But I am saying, once again, that groups of peers left to their own devices can cause harm even to the popular kids.

This post is more about my ongoing observations. I don't think I have any brilliant conclusions to share. My purpose is not to convince you to do one thing or another. But as I see more clearly the serious damage inflicted on us by silly social lies, I find it ever more important that we speak truth to our kids -- both our biological offspring and the young God brings into our lives.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

Tagged musings, socialization, socialization ill | 1 Comment

Jan. 14, 2014

What Makes a Book Great?

By Robert

1906 edition of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur

It's no secret that Sonlight values a literature-rich approach to education. We do this because we believe great books present unique learning opportunities. Here are three key reasons we use literature:

1. Literature conveys information in an enjoyable format.
2. Literature conveys information in a form that is easy to remember.
3. Literature encourages you to interact with your kids.

But what, exactly, makes a book "great"? Britannica's Great Books of the Western World series offers one approach. Scholars for this series emphasized the great ideas. The great ideas listed in the series includes 102 different topics, such as angels, art, beauty, courage, democracy, experience, family, God, justice, love, imagination, mind, philosophy, reasoning, religion, truth, virtue and vice, and many others.

Another work, Invitation to the Classics, offers seven criteria for identifying great literature:

"1. The classics not only exhibit distinguished style, fine artistry, and keen intellect but create whole universes of imagination and thought.
2. They portray life as complex and many-sided, depicting both negative and positive aspects of human character in the process of discovering and testing enduring virtues.
3. They have a transforming effect on the reader's self-understanding.
4. They invite and survive frequent rereadings.
5. They adapt themselves to various times and places and provide a sense of the shared life of humanity.
6. They are considered classics by a sufficiently large number of people, establishing themselves with common readers as well as qualified authorities.
7. And, finally, their appeal endures over wide reaches of time."

Great books are timeless, address important themes, are memorable, have educational value, help us keep perspective by avoiding the pitfalls of our own age, and are part of the "great conversation"--human beings grappling with the big questions of life throughout the ages.

Although Sonlight incorporates literature of all kinds, not just "classics," one key reason we do so is because exceptional stories are enjoyable. In short, a great story is fun to read and can engage our interest in ways that textbooks usually can't. This is one reason the parables of Jesus are so engaging.

Lastly, great books help us expand our horizons by allowing us to see and experience things beyond our own limited backgrounds. As C.S. Lewis put it in An Experiment in Criticism, "We want to be more than ourselves ... We want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as with our own ... in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself ... I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do."

What great books have impacted you significantly? What elements do you think make for a "great book"? What Sonlight books have you and your children found most meaningful?

Robert Velarde
Author/Educator/Philosopher

Tagged books, classics, education, great books, literature, literature-rich | 1 Comment

Jan. 13, 2014

The Benefits of Multiple Teachers

By Luke

The youth pastor at our church is a wiry young man around my age. His current fashion sense drips "hipster" but he's sincere even if he does wear a vest. I'm attending a parent's meeting about the upcoming winter camp. By age, I'm a solid eight years too young to be there. Being a guardian of a high schooler puts you in odd places.

"I'm so excited about what God is going to do at camp. It's so great to be able to partner with you in ministering to your kids."

The driver sign up sheet had been distracting me. Now my mind was thinking about homeschooling.

Hipster Vest

We talk about how we -- parents -- are our children's best teacher. Overall, I agree with this sentiment. But there are huge benefits of having mentors. And there are times when your kids may prefer an outside opinion as they grow up. So as I sat in a meeting for parents, listening to my friend talk about the things God was doing through the members of the church, I felt a strong desire to urge us to look beyond just ourselves. Don't teach your children alone. Don't hole up somewhere and develop a myopic view of the world. Keep a global perspective. Remember that the goal of homeschooling is to raise successful adults whom we can let go into the world.

I don't know any homeschoolers who want to limit their children. There isn't active malicious intent. But intentional or not, I'm afraid we sometimes get so focused on ourselves and what we're doing, we can send the wrong message. We're not trying to hide away from everyone else, as if we had something to hide. Rather, we see the tremendous benefits of learning at home. We have opportunities others don't. And with the flexibility of homeschooling, we can also take advantage of multiple teachers. We aren't limited to a single school. We can learn at home and church and co-ops and classes.

One of the many things I appreciate about Sonlight's approach to learning is we give multiple perspectives in our homeschool curriculum packages. Textbooks provide a distilled view of history, offering "the" explanation of the past. With Sonlight's literature-based approach, we get to learn from various perspectives and people. Sonlight is built, in part, on the benefits of multiple teachers. Through excellent biographies, we can learn from many teachers throughout history.

Multiple teachers allow us to see things from a different perspective, explain concepts with new insights, share ideas we haven't considered, and take on topics we feel unqualified to explain. None of these benefits detracts from our role as parents and educators, but these partnerships provide opportunities to offer our children more than ever. My student is going to winter camp. I don't have one of those in my backyard.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

Tagged benefits, literature-rich, opportunities, perspective | 1 Comment

Jan. 10, 2014

Why Sonlight Doesn't Feel Like School

By Luke

Short answer: It's the books.

We've been reading another Sonlight title for my cousin's high school history class. The book we're reading comes from the fantastic literature in Core D. Proof that great books span many age groups. And like our previous experiences reading Sonlight books to high schoolers, this one proved just as engaging.

I finished a chapter and looked up. Her eyes had already flicked over to the next page. Curled up on the oversized green chair under the window, she read the title.

"You want to keep going?"

She answers with her German syntax, "What you would want to." She's said this several times to me. Near as I can tell it translates roughly, "Why, yes, I am enjoying this book very much and would thrill to press on in the reading should you find the fortitude to do so and experience similar joy in continuing the story."

We finished the book last night.

Reading Together

We all love great stories. If my google results are right, Americans currently spend around $500 billion on entertainment ... a year. I couldn't find anything that looked remotely reliable, but it seems we spend about $600 billion on education. Makes me wonder: what if more of our education felt like entertainment but was actually, really, just a phenomenal education based on amazing literature? Then everyone would be using Sonlight, saving money, and loving school. Some may still dislike school. I've heard of several Sonlighters who say they hate school but love reading the books.

"That is school," their parents tell them.

Sonlight doesn't feel like school because of the great books. But Sonlight is so much more than just books. Our homeschool curriculum, through the Instructor's Guides in every Core, brings all these books together and turns them into an experience you will love as much as your children.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

Tagged books, education | 1 Comment

Accomplishments Over Attendance

The Beauty of Reading Aloud as Adults

Why do you homeschool?

Serious Damage from Silly Social Lies

What Makes a Book Great?

The Benefits of Multiple Teachers

Why Sonlight Doesn't Feel Like School

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