I'm quite excited about the product updates rolling out on April 1. If you're on our mailing list you should receive the new 2013 Sonlight catalog by then. April 1 is also the first day you can order the latest and greatest curriculum online.
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The Sonlight Curriculum Consultants. Our last day of Training. I am in the front right with the purple shirt.
I am not employed by Sonlight and in fact I live in Kentucky, not near Littleton, Colorado at all. But, for the past 15 years I have been a Sonlight Curriculum Consultant [SCC]. I am a self-employed private contractor and in that capacity, Sonlight contracts with me to set up the Sonlight booth at a few homeschool conventions each year. I love to encourage homeschool parents, love Sonlight and love conventions, so it is a great way for me to be involved with all those things at once.
Last month Sonlight brought the SCCs out to Sonlight for training. Today I want to share with you a bit about what happens inside Sonlight.
Every day starts out with prayer. Several small groups meet around the office to pray for people groups, Sonlight customers and personal needs. It was a privilege to be part of this special time and to see how this Christian company practice what it preaches. From the inscription in the entrance-way, to the daily prayer, to the fellowship between the employees…Sonlight is a place where I would love to work.
They kept us pretty busy with training: learning about new products, meeting with product development, getting a vision for where Sonlight is going, learning new organizational skills and brainstorming new ideas for our booths. We were able to join the once a month employee gathering where Sarita talks about whatever is on her heart. Her message about organization was inspired, but more inspiring was the interactions I observed between the employees.
Let me digress for a moment to mention that my youngest son works as a technician in a warehouse where my daughter works in management. I hear first-hand reports from both of them about how poorly most of the front office people treat the warehouse staff. The warehouse guys work hard and are skilled at many jobs, yet the front office people treat them like second class citizens.
You don’t see that at Sonlight.
Everyone from the gentleman that processes returns, to the warehouse staff, to the General Manager, to the product development team, to the owners-- chat and laugh together, pray for each other and genuinely seem to enjoy each others’ company.
I mentioned my son’s experience to one staff member and she looked at me with horror. She said, “No matter how great we do in the office, the whole place would fall apart without our warehouse staff. They are the backbone of Sonlight. Every job and every person is important here.” And from what I observed, she was right.
It did my heart good to see a company that is run with high ideals such as fairness, honesty, compassion and efficiency; where the employees care not only about their customers, but about each other. I thought it might do your heart good too.
Blessings,
Jill
We're standing in my basement, he and I. He's a visual effects film major with an impressive portfolio of computer generated images. "If miracles were real, you'd think someone would have recorded one by now." His piercing eyes look at me with a bit of distrust. "Right? I mean, someone would have whipped out a cellphone and taped it."
"Would you really believe a video? You and I both know how easy it is to fake something." I gave him a moment. "A video wouldn't prove a thing." In fact, a viral video would be rather the opposite of how most miracles seem to work.
Growing up in our western culture that harbors a distaste for the supernatural, I understand the wariness to accept the spectacular. In fact, video footage of certain high profile preachers who swing toward the miraculous is subject to ridicule. There's an entire line of thought that rejects modern miracles, so my friend isn't alone in his position.
But I also grew up on Sonlight. Our curriculum packages introduce us to missionaries and Christians the world over who experience God's power. And so, for me, I don't have trouble believing in miracles. Granted, I've never seen someone raised from the dead or instantly healed or anything like that. ...but I'm open to it. I'm also okay if God merely chooses to work "behind the scenes" in my life, because often His intervention is only seen in hindsight. I learned that from my Sonlight books as well.
Have the missionary biographies you've read bolstered your faith? Have you had any interesting conversations with people about the miraculous?
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester
If you're using Sonlight and loving it, please disregard this post. It's not for you.
Similarly, Sonlight may not be right for you or your family. How can you know if Sonlight is not going to be good fit?
Here are 27 reasons not to buy Sonlight. Read them. Think them over. And if you agree, please go find a homeschool curriculum that is going to better meet your needs. Sonlight is successful because we know what we do well. And I want to make sure you are successful in your homeschooling journey by focusing on the things you do well.
Again: Please read the 27 reasons Sonlight is not for you.
Still not convinced Sonlight is the wrong curriculum for your family? Okay, then check out our one-year guarantee that you'll love using Sonlight! Because if Sonlight is for you, you're going to love it. Guaranteed.
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester
I often feel ashamed to quote from the book I most recently read. I think my discomfort is based, partly, in a scene from Good Will Hunting where Matt Damon's character shows that a cocky grad student is merely parroting a passage and not actually thinking about it. [Note: I am not recommending that movie. It is full of inappropriate content and tons of swearing. But, if you're interested in the entire quote--which is quite fascinating despite the f-bomb--you can read it here.] In the end, Matt Damon suggests the guy should borrow books from the library rather than spend a fortune on his degree.
And, in many ways, he's right. If your formal learning experience merely ensures you can regurgitate information on demand, you've failed to get an education.
Of course, interacting with an idea and applying it to an experience is exactly what an education is all about! So there is nothing wrong with "trying out" the ideas you agree with in a book. And if you're applying a passage, you're thinking about it. And, sure, someone may respond to the idea you present with a rebuttal, but that's normal. Disagreements--when handled with honesty and love--help us discover truth.
So, please, talk about the books you read. Build off the things you've learned and connect them to ideas you already had. Weigh them against each other. Question. Consider. Read more. Because books inspire thought when your goal is to use what you've learned to do more than impress some girl or embarrass someone else.
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester
"Let me do the multiplication part," she says. "I love multiplication!"
We're currently learning about fractions and decimals and percents. Becky has auditory processing delays so she can't remember all the steps or formulas involved in solving the problems. Every day I go through each problem with her step-by-step. She tracks along with me and seems to understand the basic concepts, but she wouldn't be able to do the complex problems on her own.
Multiplication, though? She's got that nailed.
She actually knows her facts better than I do. I never can remember... what's 7x6 and 8x7?
Let me think just a minute.
Oh, yes... 42 and 56.
Dare I admit that I got that by counting forward from 6x6 and 7x7? Math is not my strong suit. And I think I know why. Having to calculate the basic facts while working more complex problems can get confusing and frustrating. Memorizing those tables by rote is so important.
I can see that now. Too bad I didn't when I was 10.
My daughter is 17, so we've been working on the math facts for several years. That's normal for her. Everything she learns has to be repeated many, many times over many months. And so, I utilized a wide variety of systems to help her memorize the multiplication tables. We tried:
While she did know some of her facts, Becky often had to resort to counting on her fingers or making tick marks on a paper to figure out the harder ones.
So how did she finally nail them? I have to give credit to a handy-dandy device that Sonlight carries called FlashMaster.
When Becky reached high school age, I started giving her a list of assignments and tasks she needed to complete independently each day before she could say she was "done with school" for the day. I put FlashMaster on her list. I showed her how to set the device at the lowest/easiest level and told her I wanted her to go through the sequence twice each day. Once she started getting 100% on that level, she was to change the settings to move up to the next level. And that was it! After a few months I noticed she was remembering the answers. No more having to stop and figure it out in the middle of a problem.
Now that she's got the multiplication tables memorized I told her I wanted her to start over with division. She moaned at the thought. "Look!" I told her. "Division is just backwards multiplication. You know the multiplication answers, so you'll know the division answers, too." That hadn't occurred to her. For most kids that step wouldn't be necessary. But for her, it's a good way to reinforce and review what she's learned.
By the time she's done she will literally know her multiplication facts forwards and backwards.
Now, if there were only such a thing for counting money and telling time.
Enjoying the adventure,
~Karla Cook
Lifelong Learner
He was a motivated film student at a University, often seen around campus in baggy t-shirts and short shorts. Impressed with computer graphics, and intrigued by an amazing free 3D rendering program, he opened one of their many free online tutorials. He was going to learn how to build a three-dimensional door. Easy enough.
Four hours later he had a round-ish blob next to a rectangular-ish blog, a headache, and little else.
Door
Today, he only rarely dreams of creating things inside his computer. But every now-and-again the crazy idea rears its head and he looks for yet another tutorial that may help him understand.
This poor soul isn't actually interested in gaining a new skill. He has told me, more than once, that he doesn't have time to devote to these technical pursuits. Instead, he keeps yearning to understand how creating computer graphic elements works. He wants to "get his head around" the complexities of CG work. So, it's little wonder he keeps looking for tutorials, but it's also obvious why he keeps "failing" the classes he finds online: He wants to grasp the concept, but he doesn't want to actually put in the time to master the task.
I think a similar thing is at play in online courses, which can boast up to a 90% dropout rate. In fact, when I heard about the free artificial intelligence college course, I almost signed up. But then I learned that there was homework and deadlines and the like. So I "dropped out" before I even registered. I was interested in the topic, and would love to understand it a bit more, but I'm not looking to learn how to code an AI.
In the world of blogs and podcasts and YouTube videos and infographics and webinars, we can quickly grasp big ideas. Free online courses are built for something else entirely. They are designed to help you gain a skill... and that takes work. In my own experience with my free film school, I've had a bunch of people sign up, several complete the first assignment or two, but only one student has finished the course.
Is that a failure of my online class?
It could indicate a problem with how I built it. But more than that, I think most of my would-be students are more interested in learning about filmmaking than actually becoming filmmakers. Because, honestly, gaining a new skill--be it filmmaking, programming, cooking, writing, or otherwise--takes a significant investment. And when the tempting offer of free is coupled with a natural curiosity and interest, people will come check it out. But, perhaps, a good YouTube video on the subject is a better fit for those interested in learning more.
What do you think? Have you taking an online class or used a tutorial to gain a skill? Did you discover--part way in--that you were actually more interested in the topic than the practice?
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester
