Sonlight Homeschooling Blog

Nov. 14, 2013

Where are they now? Updates on past Sonlight Scholarship winners.

By Sarita

Ethan Green graduated Sonlight and started college in 2010. Each year he receives $2,500 from the Sonlight Scholarship Foundation for his studies.

Now a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, Ethan and his roommates founded an organization to help people with Parkinson's disease. They developed new software that will help people all over the world easily assess the progression of their disease. Their solution is currently twelve times faster and three times less expensive than other products on the market. They've already received development funds and plan to open up to outside investors soon.

All this from a student who used a literature-based curriculum through high school. I love the diversity of what Sonlight students go on to accomplish!

Years ago, I wanted to support Sonlight students as they pursued their callings. (I also wanted evidence as to how well Sonlight prepares students for college.) So we started the Sonlight Scholarship Foundation. Each year the scholarship committee carefully evaluates the stack of applicants, selects the winners, and awards $4,000 to $20,000 total to each.

If your Sonlight student will start college in 2014, he or she should apply now before the December 4 deadline. Your student can choose which category to apply for: one that prioritizes academic achievement, or one that prioritizes mission-mindedness, creativity and acts of kindness. (Learn about eligibility and meet the 2013 winners.)

I recently heard what some past scholarship winners are up to now. What fun to get these updates! After using Sonlight in their homeschool (at least for high school) these young adults have finished undergraduate studies and are following their callings. Past scholarship winners are now:

At Harvard Law School after a stint with Teach for America
Serving as a Naval Civil Engineer
Pursuing a Ph.D. in Philosophy and writing a dissertation on Augustine of Hippo
Serving as a US Marine Corps Ground Intelligence Officer
Pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering
Earning a Master's degree in Applied Linguistics with an emphasis in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (with plans to teach English abroad)
Training in advanced linguistics in order to become a Bible translator

This quick list reminds me that Sonlight provides a broad education that teaches students how to think. That, in turn, prepares them for all sorts of careers (including the worthy task of possibly homeschooling their own children someday!). Every scholarship winner I've had the privilege to talk with is articulate, thoughtful, and clearly has a heart for the Lord. They all want to follow God's call in their lives.

So please keep Sonlight scholarships in mind. Whether or not your child has stellar test scores, if he or she has a heart for serving the Lord and wants to put a college education to good use, I'd encourage him or her to apply. (Read about eligibility here.)

Or just take the Scholarship winners as a reminder that Sonlight really does work. If your children seem "just average," or have plans other than college, you are still serving them well through giving them such a well-rounded and robust education.

Because after all, the point isn't to raise children who win scholarships. The goal is to raise children equipped to do whatever God calls them to. I pray that Sonlight is helping you do just that.

Blessings,
Sarita

Tagged scholarships | 3 Comments

Nov. 13, 2013

Lost in India? Empty Your "Backpack" Before Tomorrow Night

By Luke

If you've been involved in Lost in India, you've probably already received a few (dozen?) reminders to add up the money you saved in your "backpack" and give online. But I know I'm busy and tend to plan to get to something before something else comes up.

We're halfway to the goal as of writing this post. We're praying we meet -- or exceed -- the goal in the next 24 hours.

If you've been meaning to give but haven't done so yet, stop reading this post, log into your Lost in India account and donate.

And if this the first you've heard of this amazing giving opportunity, check it out and consider giving a few dollars. Even $5 can radically transform the world.

The matching opportunity ends tomorrow night. Get to it! <smile>

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

Tagged giving | Leave a comment

Nov. 12, 2013

7 Virtues of Learning (and Teaching)

By Robert

Virtue is moral excellence--something that is praiseworthy and positive about our behavior, character, and disposition. Learning and teaching both present opportunities for cultivating virtue. Here are seven virtues of learning and teaching:

1. Listening. At times we don't always listen or listen well. Learning presents opportunities to develop our listening skills. In our fast-paced culture we're often presented with noise or constant entertainment, which do little to help us learn to listen. Listening is a virtue in that it helps us treat others, and what they have to say, with respect and kindness (even if we disagree with them).

2. Asking Questions. Both students and teachers must learn to ask good questions. Sometimes we may get so carried away with a curriculum, book, or idea that we fail to ask questions about what it's teaching or about the underlying ideas. Asking questions is virtuous in the sense that good questions help us think through difficult matters. Using our minds, in turn, is virtuous and allows us, for instance, to express our love for God (Matthew 22:37).

3. Demonstrating Patience. Learning and teaching also require patience, which the Bible lists as one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Patience helps us learn restraint. The deliberate delaying process of patience can also give us time to think, as well as to listen before we speak. Developing patience can also help us remain calm and, as a result, build our character positively, helping us avoid rash decisions or conclusions.

4. Exhibiting Humility. Learning and knowing a lot can lead to pride, arrogance, and self-centeredness. But learning and teaching also can help us grow in humility. Being humble in relation to learning and teaching means that we don't think more of ourselves than we should. Humility helps us know that we don't know everything and, in fact, probably have some significant gaps in our knowledge.

5. Enjoying Discovery. One of the great experiences of learning is the enjoyment of discovery, even if it means deviating from our schedule or lesson plan. This enjoyment of discovery relates to virtue in the sense that it relates to wonder, joy, and delight. If we truly want to help our children become lifelong learners, then we should encourage their delight in the learning process.

6. Being courageous. Courage opposes fear, which is sometimes far too often present in education. Neil Postman expressed fear in relation to education as follows: "Fear of not having the right answer, fear of not understanding things the way everyone else does, fear of being singled out, fear of not being singled out, fear of reproach, of ridicule, of failure. For many children the school is a House of Fear, no matter how charming its architecture, or open its halls, or contemporary its materials" (Teaching as a Conserving Activity). The virtue of courage drives out fear and, as a result, helps us enjoy both learning and teaching.

7. Seeking truth. Finally, seeking truth is a virtue, not what may or may not "feel right," what we expect to find, or even what is comfortable. If we are able to explore a variety of perspectives with the goal of ultimately seeking and understanding truth, then education is truly taking place.

Sonlight helps foster virtue in learning. When families come together to learn they are presented with many challenges, but also opportunities to demonstrate virtue in action. Interacting with one another and discussing ideas can help us learn to listen, ask good questions, and in general build our character positively.

Robert Velarde
Author/Educator/Philosopher

Tagged character, education, Homeschooling, learning, teaching, Teaching Tips, virtue | Leave a comment

Nov. 11, 2013

What Does $5 Do for You?

By Luke

Five bucks sure doesn't sound like much. I can't even get one of those fancy more-sugar-than-coffee drinks at a local brand name coffee shop for that.

But five dollars can do a ton in the right hands.

$5 enables someone to translate five words of Scripture into a new language. That's not just dropping something into Google Translate or Babblefish. They learn the language, find the word that means the same thing in that culture, then read the sentence to test groups to make sure it clearly communicates. They make revisions and then publish it. For five bucks.

$5 sends five kids to a week-long Bible Club where they can learn about Christ. The kids who accept Jesus have such a transformation, they tend to lead their families to the Lord as well. Not only that, I've heard more churches are started because these kids come to know Christ than from church planting efforts. For five dollars.

$5 gives an secure digital card copy of the Bible to a person who lives in a country hostile to Christianity. These cultures tend to be big on piracy, so the recipient often make hundreds of copies and distributes them to all their friends. What a great way to spread the Gospel! For five bucks.

$5 can recruit, train and send someone who can share the Gospel with 35 Muslims. It costs more than ten to twenty times that to go to a single Christian seminar around these parts. How long would it take me to learn how to culturally relay the Good News to a Muslim friend? A long, long time. And then I'd have to try to figure out how to find them. All that is already done. For five dollars.

Where would you get $5?

That's the really neat part. Whenever you're nearing the end of your school year, fill out one (or more) surveys about your Sonlight Instructor's Guide(s), and we'll give $5 to the ministry you choose from the list above. There's a link near the end of your Instructor's Guide -- Week 30, if you want to peek ahead -- so when you get there, be sure to let us know what you think!

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

P.S. I know it's not an IG Survey, but right now (before the end of Thursday), every $5 you give to Lost in India gets matched... so the impact is doubled!

Tagged giving, Instructor's Guides | 1 Comment

Nov. 8, 2013

Five Reasons to Waste Your Time Reading to Your Kids

By Luke

I think we've been drinking the metaphorical Kool-Aid. We've found statistics that back our decision to homeschool. We listen to people tell us how great homeschooling is. And we've grown complacent in our self-back-patting.

A trend I'm noticing -- or, at least, believe I'm seeing -- is some in our generation of homeschoolers believe the hype that abandoning the school system automatically makes for a better education. Stats disagree. But the thinking remains: I can just pick up whatever program strikes my fancy and my kids will turn out great!

No. Not true. Homeschooling does not magically make students succeed any more than simply showing up to class. The factor that predicts student success is your involvement in your student's education. And with all the "free," online, "easy" educational options available to us as homeschoolers, I'm concerned that we will leave our kids to "learn on their own."

That is a recipe for failure.

Drink Up

If you read Wired, you may have seen the cover story: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses. The gist is that these teachers let the kids loose and stopped lecturing, allowing the kids to discover for themselves what they needed to learn. The kids rocked, scoring higher than anyone else in the country!

Okay, Luke, does that mean you think we should just avoid lectures and "old" models of learning? Are you pushing for something like unschooling?

Nope.

As I read the article, the theme that resonated through the text again and again was this: These teachers (and their students) succeeded because they introduced ideas and discussed them with the kids. The teachers let the students follow through on the concepts. Instead of telling them what was what, they let the students discover it. But behind all of that, the teacher was directing what needed to be discovered.

At Sonlight, we call this "education, not indoctrination." And it's huge.

So, while schools and other educators may find this approach to teaching "radical" and "new," we Sonlighters have been using it for close to a quarter century.

But Sonlight takes so much time, Luke! There's so much reading! I have to carve out hours of my day to educate my kids! These new homeschool programs do the teaching for me. I can be busy doing other stuff while other people -- via technology -- teach my kids. Why would I waste my time reading to my students?

1. Because your involvement matters. Without your input, your students would not do as well (see above). By taking the time to read and discuss with your kids, you are setting them up for success.

2. Because direction from a teacher matters. I know Sugata Mitra disagrees. And he's a much bigger name in education than me. I agree that kids learn stuff naturally. I agree that kids teach each other stuff. I agree that curiosity is huge and kindling a natural desire to learn is wonderful. I think he is right on with all of that. But the part that I believe he's missing is the value of a literature-based education. Sure, you can pick up skills and knowledge simply by poking around the internet. But literature does so much more. By giving your students great literature and helping them follow through, they're going to come away with a fantastic education.

3. Because you'll build relationships. Academic success is one thing. Family bonds is something else entirely. Spending time with your kids gives you opportunities to connect with them. Plain and simple.

4. Because your kids will love learning. A life-long love of learning is way more useful than ingesting a few -- or even many -- facts and figures. As my mom says often, if you teach kids how to learn, and give them a desire to do so, they will have no barriers in life. Your students can go on to do whatever God has called them to do.

5. Because you'll love teaching. Not always. I know what it's like to read for a couple hours and feel worn out. But then again, I know what it's like to read until my voice has gone hoarse because I want to read the next chapter and the kids are begging me to keep going. That is so much fun! And the discussions and connections just make it even more enjoyable.

This only scratches the surface. If you want to read more about why books are a fantastic way to learn, check out a few of the following posts:

On Lectures and Learning
How Reading Fiction Helps Kids Develop Empathy
Four Benefits of Literature-Rich Learning
What Is the Future of Learning?
How Sonlight's curriculum helps you talk with your children about racism
A Public School Success Story: The 1,000 Books Project
Books Inspire Thought
Teaching children how to fail
The Most Memorable Part of School: Stories
Go Somewhere You've Never Been (and may never visit)
Want to boost emotional intelligence? Read literature.
Which uses richer vocabulary: children's books or adult conversation? How we learn new words.

Why do you take the time to read to your kids? What made you decide Sonlight was worth it over all the "free" and "easy" options out there?

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

Tagged literature, read-alouds | 4 Comments

Nov. 6, 2013

Sonlight to me…

By Jill

These Sonlight children love to learn!

As I read what Jonelle, Judy and Karla wrote about Sonlight to me, I couldn't help nodding and grinning and thinking, “Yes, but there is so much more!”

Sonlight was a miracle in a box to me. You see, I had been homeschooling my children for seven years using various unsatisfactory methods and styles before I found Sonlight. I KNEW what we liked, but I just couldn't seem to pull it off. We loved books—real books, real people, real stories AND we liked to learn together. One year we did just that.

The year I wrote my own unit studies my children were in 9^th, 7^th, 5^th and 1^st grades and my youngest was three years old. We loved it and we learned so much. But it was exhausting for me. I did a lot of research, pulled together a lot of books and spent countless hours figuring out how to coordinate everything. When everyone else was done for the day I was still slaving away at the kitchen table planning for tomorrow and next week and next month. Although I liked the concept of learning together, the joy was sucked right out of it because of all the planning I had to do.

At the end of that year I was burnt out and ready to go back to textbooks, workbooks and boredom. That year, the best part of the day was when I read classic literature to my children, but I found it harder and harder to make time for that. There was just so much “school” to do that we hardly had time for the fun stuff.

Sonlight siblings learning together.

Then I found Sonlight and it was like a miracle in a box. Even though I didn't know anyone who had used it and I had never seen an Instructor’s Guide I ordered a full curriculum for my youngest two children. It was 1997 and we didn't have internet access so I couldn't investigate what I was purchasing, but I knew from perusing the meager catalog that Sonlight was going to be perfect for us.

It was.

When I unpacked the box, lined the books up in the awaiting bookshelf and saw all the next full year of school all planned out and ready to start I was overwhelmed with gratitude.

Sonlight did the work for me. The Instructor’s Guides gave me back my life and more time to spend with my children. Instead of sitting at the kitchen table all by myself planning; my school time was spent teaching and learning alongside my children. No more sad and lonely evenings making plans, reserving books and scanning catalogs for me. From that day forward, for ten years until my youngest child graduated from our Sonlight homeschool, I never looked back.

My daughter-- A Sonlight graduate heading to college.

Sonlight to me is great literature, time together with my children, minimal planning, being able to do the science experiments because I actually have the supplies, peace of mind, quiet mornings reading together and lively discussions following. Sonlight is academically strong and it taught me to teach my kids to critically think and to love to learn.

I am so glad I found it all those years ago. What is Sonlight to you?

Take care,

Jill

Tagged benefits, books, box day, children, critical thinking, curriculum, education, Encouragement, family, Homeschooling, literature | 1 Comment

Nov. 5, 2013

Becoming a Teacher

By Luke

I am discouraged. In light of recent events, James 3 is tumbling around my mind. "Not many of you should become teachers..."

First, and most applicably, I teach a Sunday School class. I have kids with whom I read and share about Scripture.

Second, I spend a great deal of time interacting with high school and college aged kids. While not specifically a teacher, I do mentor, share Scripture, and do my best to provide Godly guidance and counsel.

Third, I blog. I have taken on a public role of writing and sharing. While I welcome input and feedback, what I write is read. I hope <smile>.

Teacher, Talker, Blogger

I've become a teacher. I am all too aware of the obvious places where I stumble. I'm sure I stumble in ways I do not even recognize yet. And the judgement that awaits me stricter for my teaching. May I be one of whom it is true that my words are "pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."

I love Scripture. I love that with Sonlight we primarily read Scripture. We don't presume to be teachers. We do share some information here and there, but allow you to dig into the Bible yourself. As you teach your children, may humility and peace be hallmarks of your study. And may you "reap a harvest of righteousness" as the fruit of your labor. For as discouraged as I am by our capacity for sin and selfishness and pride, I am bolstered by the uplifting words of Scripture that urge me to live a life worthy of the calling I have received.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Guardian

Tagged Bible, current events, Meditation | 2 Comments

Where are they now? Updates on past Sonlight Scholarship winners.

Lost in India? Empty Your "Backpack" Before Tomorrow Night

7 Virtues of Learning (and Teaching)

What Does $5 Do for You?

Five Reasons to Waste Your Time Reading to Your Kids

Sonlight to me…

Becoming a Teacher

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