The Christmas season is the perfect time to curl up on the couch with some great Advent books. When the weather outside is frightful, you can make your living room seem bigger by exploring new places and meeting new people through the pages of a holiday story.
Continue readingI have very fond memories of cutting paper snowflakes around our dining room table the weekend following Thanksgiving. This was just one of many traditions that wound their way through our holidays every year. In addition to holiday decorating traditions, many families add Advent activities to the weeks leading up to Christmas. What a wonderful way to add depth and understanding to the true purpose of your holiday celebrations.
Continue reading
We are excited to announce our ongoing series: Sonlight Spotlight. Each month the Sonlight team will choose a current family to highlight by sharing their #sonlightstories. If you’d like to shine a light on your family, apply here for a chance to be featured.
Sonlighters and former US Military members, Sam and Angel Wilson along with their three children, Blayne (12), Briar (10), and Hannah (8) are currently working on HBL D. This adventurous family of 5 from Michigan has been using Sonlight for the past 8 years and plans to continue through graduation.
After the Wilson's left active duty and were living in a new location, the thought of homeschooling was appealing as they were not settled into their permanent housing. Angel states:
"I chose Sonlight because a friend recommended it. I’ve always loved books but disliked planning. We had three kids 5 and under when we started, and I needed a curriculum that I could open and teach."
The fully-prepped lesson plans weren't the only reason the Wilson's loved Sonlight.
"I also loved the payment plans. As we adjusted to our new way of life outside of the military, those payment plans really made homeschooling affordable and a reachable resource for us to use." - Angel Wilson
Learn more about Sonlight's Payment Plans here.
Often homeschool parents don't feel equipped or stumble to teach out-of-the-box learners. The Wilson's feared they were not qualified to teach their kids when first diagnosed with learning disabilities. The Sonlight Blog and resources provided the advice and encouragement they needed to not only homeschool but to thrive!
Homeschooling with Sonlight has provided stability for all three Wilson children while going through Michigan's IEP and learning disabled home education requirements. With long drives to daily therapy appointments, homeschooling provided a the opportunity to stick together as a family, and Angel has been able to advocate for her children.
"I think if they were to be in (public) school, it would have been too stressful for all of us. Homeschooling provides a light at the end of the tunnel."
Each Wilson kid works through their own individual Math, Science, and Language Arts program but works as a team on History/Bible/Literature D. Some of the Wilson's favorite Sonlight books include:
When asked what advice they'd give other families who are thinking about or currently homeschooling, Angel says: "Enjoy the time! We don’t get it back. It’s such a wonderful opportunity to spend all day with our kids. It’s hard and the days are so long but it’s worth it!"
You can learn more about the Wilson family’s Sonlight experience by listening to their full interview on the Sonlight Connections podcast.
Rosie, age 9, loves reading in creative, outdoor places!
“[Rosie] is a gifted learner and thrives on the challenging and also inviting Sonlight curriculum choices. Yesterday she wanted to schedule time to finish every single lesson in her 3rd grade LA, and my husband was amazed (and delighted, too). I am thrilled to have a curriculum I can trust to challenge my gifted learner: heart, mind, and soul. Thank you, Sonlight, for your part in creating a lifelong reader and learner! We are excited to be Sonlighting again next year at Rosie's request.”
Valerie M. of North Fairfield, OH
How do you homeschool accelerated learners? How do you keep pace as they zoom through books? How do you meet their thirst for knowledge? A homeschool mom emailed me recently to ask these questions. Though I don't know the particulars of her very bright daughter, based on my own years of experience, I can share nine tips for homeschooling gifted students.
If you're of the unschooling persuasion, you'll probably disagree with me here, and that's okay. But I firmly believe that you can best help your children by using some sort of curriculum as the foundation of your homeschool.
My own learning in school came in unrelated snippets. One week we studied the pilgrims. Then we moved to ancient China. Then we studied space. I never learned the big-picture of history and how the world works until I pieced it all together on my own and kept on learning as an adult.
Using a history-based curriculum (like Sonlight) gives your children the framework of knowledge they need. As you move through time, you give them a cohesive map of knowledge they will build on their entire lives. As they learn new information, they can place that knowledge in the appropriate place in their mental map.
For example, if your child becomes fascinated with Ancient Egypt, that interest will pay off all the more because they'll be able to place what they learn within the general framework of history. They'll know when Egyptian kingdoms came onto the world scene and how they influenced the cultures around them.
Without a curriculum, students don't gain this mental map of knowledge.
They learn in bits and pieces and only fit it all together if they're lucky (or if mom exhausts herself creating her own program to fit everything together).
A curriculum keeps you on track and makes sure your children learn the important things they need to. The big-picture doesn't get lost in their detailed curiosity about butterflies or the engineering principles of Egyptian pyramids.
But here's the catch:
The curriculum isn't the ending point. For gifted learners, curriculum is merely a jumping off point.
If you’re just starting to homeschool with a precocious 4- or 5-year-old, be sure to read The Grade Level Dilemma for Gifted Kids Just Starting School. It will help you choose a good fitting curriculum.
If you're a brand new homeschooler with a child at any level, be sure to visit here: Homeschooling Resources, Printables, FAQs: Tips for Getting Started.
In the past twenty plus years, I've seen Sonlight's literature-based programs work splendidly for learners across the spectrum.
Why? Because one piece of literature (unlike one textbook) can speak to children at a variety of levels. Little ones can listen in to understand the general ideas while more advanced students can appreciate the nuances of the text and find connections with other concepts they've learned.
Literature-based curriculum provides the flexibility to speed up and slow down as best suits your family. It naturally leads students into all sorts of self-led learning. As you read Charlotte's Web, you can easily slow down and detour into learning about spiders. As you read Johnny Tremain, you can dive further into the intricacies of the American Revolution.
Furthermore, as one mom wrote, "Great literature is a hallmark of the truly educated mind." I agree. Literature provides the cultural literacy, vocabulary and global awareness children need. Even gifted kids need to learn empathy and develop emotional intelligence to interact with others (which reading can provide). Before they can learn to write, they need to learn the rhythm and flow of good writing by hearing good examples. They need to discover the joy of books as a lifelong source of new knowledge.
Even gifted children aren't born knowing all of this, but literature inherently teaches it.
There is concrete evidence that being read to leads to success in school. Thus reading has been part of our family life from day one. I wanted to capture my children’s imagination early by reading my favorite books to them, so nap time was always reading time. I made reading a habit; I modeled it and made time for it.
I found that my gifted children especially benefited from the influence of stories about great people. Historical fiction and biographies are a beautiful way to fall in love with heroes every single day. Many of the characters in those books have quirky passions or were misunderstood for years before their unique way of thinking was finally appreciated. These themes help gifted learners come to grips with their unique talents and provide role models for guiding their own complex emotions.
I have built an amazing home library over the last thirteen years simply by using Sonlight curriculum. It turns out that in our family of ten children, there is not a single book that isn’t someone’s favorite.
It’s common for gifted students to be asynchronous in their abilities and development. This means that while a gifted child may excel in many academic areas or skill sets, they may lag behind or be more typical in other areas.
For example, a gifted child could be a real whiz with math and science but struggle with reading. Or a child may be incredibly gifted with verbal skills but struggle with calculations and need more remediation in math.
To accommodate this assortment of high, average, and low abilities, you may need to forgo a rigid, grade-based all-in-one curriculum solution. Instead opt for a curriculum that allows customization. Sonlight All-Subjects Packages can be built with quite a few flexible choices, but if the choices aren’t wide enough for your gifted student’s asynchronicity, you can always mix and match subject by subject.
Lean on a Sonlight Advisor if you are unsure what is best for your particular child. Their advice is free and based on years of experience.
When homeschooling a gifted child, enjoy your accelerated freedom to explore the world around you. You'll know you're hitting what you need to because of the curriculum you use as your foundation. So enjoy some tangents and enrich that foundation!
As Deanna wrote, "Gifted kids are still kids, after all, and the world is an enormous place, with tons of different kinds of things to learn." If your children fly through their programs, enrich their studies with a broad spectrum of other topics.
For example, could you add any of these areas to your children's plate?
Encourage your child to write stories, plays and poetry, or participate in the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program to help your child write her first novel.
Here’s Amber’s story of how she grappled with a voracious learner who was quickly done with her curriculum each day but needed more to do.
My gifted daughter is an extremely rapid reader. There were days she would finish all of her reading assignments before lunch. She and I would go over the discussion questions in the IG, and sure enough, she could respond with satisfying answers.
I was at a loss. Can a kid be done with school by lunch? Is that even allowed?
I heaped on extra work, but she did not see the fairness in that. As a parent, I had to humbly admit it was not a good way to inspire her to love learning.
As a solution, I began introducing new subjects for student-led independent study. I would start the topic with a few key resources: a probing question, a video, a book, or a curriculum. Then she would follow the vein of interest as desired. In this manner, she delved into a wide swath of topics:
We continued this smorgasbord of electives until my daughter found her passion in writing. It took time to find an interest that captured her imagination, but all of the searches were worth their time and effort. No learning experience is ever wasted.
Is your child flying through math? Deepen and broaden his understanding by using more than one math program at a time. I highly recommend Life of Fred for accelerated math students. It approaches math from a different perspective and helps students see the big picture. It's a great starting point or a fabulous addition to your current math regimen.
Enrich your Sonlight History / Bible / Literature (HBL) program with extra courses that go deeper into a particular subject. Check out The Teaching Company for lots of courses that examine particular eras or themes of history. (But please use discretion as you decide on courses; The Teaching Company courses are created for secular, adult learners.) Your HBL will keep you on track with the big-picture movement through history, and your extra courses will broaden your child's appreciation of specific ideas that catch their interest.
Amber shares her experience with going deep:
Instead of skimming over the same series of facts year after year, we focus on studying with increasing complexity each year — going deep. When a subject catches our attention, we stay in one place and get to know it. Gifted students are known to get engrossed in a subject that piques their interest. Let them go as deep as they want. To force them to move on just to follow a schedule or checklist crushes their passion for learning more.
By spending the whole school year in one place and time in history, year after year, our students built a cohesive mental timeline, gaining a deeper understanding of how and why historical events were happening. This depth helped me build an education for my kids that was far beyond the model of memorizing names and dates which most of us experienced in public school. Whether it was in-depth American History or our year spent studying the Eastern Hemisphere, having a full year meant we had time to fully explore and enjoy un-rushed learning.
Amber provides more insights for teaching gifted children at home:
When homeschooling, the parent often takes more of a facilitator role, especially once students reach middle school. For example, Sonlight History / Bible / Literature Level F, teaches students to research independently, so children are able to work in a self-guided fashion, following the IG with a parent on tap for support.
For my gifted learners, however, I have learned to turn over the Instructor's Guide (IG) sooner, even before Level F. Giving my gifted kids power over their schedules led to some curious choices. My daughter, for example, chose to read most of her books all of the way through instead of following the schedule which spaced the reading over a period of weeks. My son chose to hunker down with math, doing a high volume of lessons each day instead of following the steady drip of one lesson per day as prescribed in the curriculum outline.
When giving control of the IG to my gifted children, I still check in with them regularly, but I found two massive benefits with this self-pacing:
If you are homeschooling children in groups of two, three, or more, realize that your gifted children may need to diverge from your group plans so that they can zip ahead at a pace that's comfortable for them. Holding them back for the sake of the group can be demoralizing for them and crush their zeal for learning. Let them take control of the IG and work through it however they prefer.
With all students—including accelerated students—our role as parents is to guide them in much more than just academics. If your child is an accelerated learner, perhaps he can use some of that extra time to dive into projects that make a difference in your community or the world.
Is there a charitable project your child can participate in or even create and spearhead? Consider how you can help your child learn that life is more than knowledge and good grades! May all our children discover the joy of giving our time and talents to serve others.
And also, kids are kids. Help them enjoy the many other facets of life! Can they explore various sports, art forms, musical instruments, outdoor activities, entrepreneurship and more?
Concerned that your child will finish high school early? Consider the benefits of a gap year before sending her off to college.
Just think of how much she could learn and serve during a year helping a missionary family overseas, serving with an international aid organization, or even volunteering in your home community. Many top colleges value the life experience such opportunities provide.
I developed many of the ideas I shared in these two posts through 20+ years of working with homeschoolers. But the wise parents on the Accelerated Learners section of the (now defunct) Sonlight Forums helped me form more specific tips and advice.
To connect with other homeschool parents, download the Sonlight Connections app. You'll find a community where you can discuss academics as well as other aspects of parenting a gifted child, including self image, sibling rivalry, burnout, and more.
Making a homeschool plan for gifted students is challenging, just like educating any student. But following these nine road markers will help you devise a curriculum that overcomes many of the obstacles gifted children face in a regular classroom. As a bonus, you get to experience the deeply satisfying joy of being integral to your children’s learning! Homeschooling is the perfect model to help your gifted student excel, explore, and thrive.
For over 30 years, Sonlight has been blessed to be a significant part of the educational foundation to so many students across the globe. Years ago, Sonlight President Sarita Holzmann wanted to support Sonlight students beyond graduation. Thus the Sonlight Scholarship Foundation was created, and each year, the scholarship committee evaluates applicants, selects winners, and awards $4,000 to $20,000 total to each.
Sonlight offers scholarships based on two different sets of criteria. One puts greater weight on academic performance, and the other focuses on mission mindedness and acts of kindness. If you are a high school senior, we encourage you to apply here.
From business to academia, from churches to the mission field, from neighborhoods to home—we are grateful to have been part of these amazing students’ lives.
The Sonlight team recently caught up with a few of our past Scholarship winners who are now thriving young adults and pursuing their individual callings. Be sure to stay tuned in the coming months for additional stories or read past stories here.
Lydia M. attended the University of Colorado Denver, receiving a B.S. in Public Health and a minor in leadership studies. Upon college graduation, Lydia taught Business English in China online and recently moved to Armenia to earn a Master’s Degree in Public Health. Lydia is currently teaching high school English at a private French school in Yerevan.
"There's not one right way to do homeschooling. Every family and every kid is different! Be ready and willing to adapt curriculum for your child's needs. The best part of homeschooling is you can pick and choose how to do things to fit your family." - Lydia
"One element that has played a large role in my life is how Sonlight curriculum helped me learn about other cultures and countries around the world. For example, when I decided to move to Armenia, none of my friends or family members had even heard of the country. However, I not only knew it existed but also some of the history thanks to Sonlight books like The Road From Home."
Upon graduating from college, Jacob intends to pursue his Master’s Degree and work in an economic think tank.
When asked how Sonlight prepared him for life after homeschooling, Jacob states, “My education granted me a much deeper understanding of and appreciation for a greater diversity of subjects than many of my non-homeschooled peers are afforded by their education."
"In addition, homeschooling gave me the flexibility to pursue extracurricular interests with greater intensity than a more structured, tightly scheduled educational format would have done.”
When asked what advice to current high schoolers looking to apply to the Sonlight Scholarship, Jacob states, "Don't overthink the application process. Just be open and honest with your answers and you'll do just fine."
Michaela is currently attending Messiah University in the honor's program as a Communication and Business Administration major and Health and Exercise Science minor. Michaela is also a student athlete as a part of the women’s soccer team.
“My homeschool education equipped me extremely well for adulthood. It gave me the freedom to regularly interact with people of all ages rather than being confined to only being surrounded by peers of the same age and experience.“
Michaela’s favorite Sonlight memory is doing Read-Alouds with her mom and siblings. She states, “I will always cherish being able to read through books together as a family.”
“The flexibility homeschooling brings and develops relationships with people of all backgrounds. I felt it was extremely helpful to be able to shadow and learn from people with more experience than me.”
“I truly believe that homeschooling gave me the time and freedom to develop myself and my faith to be able to step into the world with confidence that I was well-prepared.
Homeschooling is a special journey shared by parents and children, and I am so grateful for my journey!”
Homeschooled since kindergarten, Bobby N. is now a 2020 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was awarded the Truman and Stamps scholarships for his work in sexual harassment and assault prevention. Bobby is currently commissioned as an Armor Officer in the United States Army.
“Sonlight taught me not to simply accept the worlds' different narratives, but to question them and critically compare them to what Jesus taught. By exposing me to different viewpoints and different cultures, Sonlight equipped me to appreciate diversity and see the strength in different viewpoints.
"This is certainly cliché, but the best part of homeschooling with Sonlight was the books. Homeschooling can help your children love to learn. It can also prepare them to encounter the world in a loving and gracious way.”
Give your students the freedom to learn what they are drawn to and support them in what they want to be.
After Daphne graduated from Sonlight, she began attending Colorado Christian University and will graduate with her Bachelor of Arts in Theology and a minor in English in May 2022.
“My love for learning has prepared me for adulthood in so many ways. I am not afraid to take on a new subject and learn about new areas of life. Being homeschooled also taught me about empathy for other people. I read so many different perspectives throughout my years of Sonlight, and so now I try my hardest to understand a person’s motivation to do what they do.”
“Homeschooling teaches your kids how to love to learn, it teaches them how to pursue what they’re interested in, and it teaches them empathy for ways of life they never had. I love how close my family was and still is because we made each other a priority. I wouldn’t give up my homeschooled life for anything."
Wow, what a blessing it is to hear all about the great successes from our Sonlight graduates! These young adults are truly making an impact in our world in no small part because of their Sonlight educations. With a Sonlight education, your children will not merely absorb basic information, but, far more, they’ll develop an inquisitive spirit and love for learning. With Sonlight, you set the stage for your students to continue learning even after they have completed their formal education.
Homeschooling is one of the most promising educational options, as parents can teach their children on their own terms and have the opportunity to customize their child's learning based on their needs, foster a love of learning, and choose the best homeschool curriculum for their own children.
While it offers many advantages, parents often wonder about costs. Is homeschooling expensive compared to traditional schooling? Is it affordable for your family? Ultimately, when it all comes down to it, is homeschooling worth the cost?
Continue reading
We are excited to announce our new series: Sonlight Spotlight. Each month the Sonlight team will choose a current family to highlight by sharing their #sonlightstories. If you’d like to shine a light on your family, apply here for a chance to be featured.
Patrick and Kendra Knouff, along with their three children Josiah (6), Judah (4), and Joshua (1), live in Washington state and have been using Sonlight curriculum since 2020. They are currently working through Sonlight’s All-Subjects A program.
When Josiah was born, Kendra and Patrick made the decision not to enroll him in traditional public schooling and began their quest to find an alternative option.
“We started praying about school options as soon as our first son was born. Our state had begun changing policies, and we knew we weren't comfortable with where the culture was headed,” mom and primary homeschool teacher, Kendra stated. “I had been praying that God would open the door financially for private school to be a reality, but the more I researched homeschooling, the more I felt drawn to the opportunity to invest in my children through their education.”
When they decided homeschooling was the right choice, the Knouff family wanted to focus on more than academic instruction.
“Sonlight stood out because of the Biblical foundation and worldview it provided—putting a strong emphasis on truly knowing God and His word and cultivating a living relationship with Him. The incredible literature that is included and the celebration of diversity and cultures around the world were so important to us. As a biracial family, we really wanted to incorporate diverse learning materials.”
“Sonlight’s curriculum provides our family with such a high quality education while still giving us the benefits of homeschooling that we were so excited about.” —Kendra Knouff
With working parents and three active sons at home, finding and sticking to a routine infused with creative fun like picture books, motions to help retain memory verses, time spent in nature, and Read-Alouds during meals, the Knouffs have been able to thrive with Sonlight.
“Everything is completely planned for me! As a busy mom and first time homeschooler, the idea of curating curriculum felt very overwhelming. I LOVED that the hard work was done for me, and then I could just tailor it to our family.”
Although Kendra does most of the homeschool heavy lifting, dad Patrick loves to be involved as much as possible. He says, “I can be a part of this. If they were going to public school or a private school, it would all be happening there. [With homeschooling], I get to watch them connect the dots on ideas. I’m there to see progression and watch my kids learn, and that’s something I wouldn’t get to do with traditional school. I can offer my perspective on things and maybe unlock struggles. It’s really cool to be part of the process.”
One of the Knouffs’ favorite aspects of homeschooling with Sonlight is knowing they can teach their kids at home and provide their children with everything they need to succeed.
According to Patrick, “There’s flexibility. You have the power to change things. Any parent that wants to and puts in the effort is really going to be able to provide their kids with an awesome education.”
The Knouff boys love Sonlight science, and their favorite books include:
Josiah and Judah love audiobooks with fun voices, acting out the stories, and to them the best thing about homeschooling is, “That my mom is my teacher.”
You can learn more about the Knouff family’s Sonlight experience by listening to their full interview on the Sonlight Connections podcast.
