One of the things I hope to try this year is a "trailer" video of the new things from Sonlight. I shot three segments today. I'm scheduled to film the last one early next week. I need to keep moving if I'm going to get this thing cut together in time to share it with you.

As I was packing up my equipment, I noticed a blog worthy picture. I had set up an easel and draped paper over it to block the sun shining directly into my lens.

Creative Sun Shade

Two weeks ago I taped a clear trash bag to a window. I needed a little diffusion, and a trash bag was what I had on hand.

This kind of life hack is nothing new. My brother once used a baseball bat to flip a light switch when he was too short to reach it. My wife often substitutes ingredients. None of us have the luxury of acquiring absolutely everything potentially useful.

We work with what we have.

Here at Sonlight we seek to provide you with what you need for your homeschool. We offer some things, such as the Sonlight Microscope, that--while not essential--could be a huge boon to your studies. But you are free to hack it without such a device.

What's the craziest/coolest thing you've ever done to hack your life? (NB: Please don't tell me about any literal computer hacking or similar illegal behavior. Thank you.)

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

Blogs have finally taught me a skill I had failed to master until now. I couldn't do it in high school. I still couldn't do it in college.

I realized I had made a breakthrough when my dad recently asked me, "How do you keep up with all the blogs you follow?"

I'm the kind of guy who reads at the speed of writing: One word at a time. There's no way I could burn through several hundred posts every morning in a couple of hours.

But I do.

The skill required to pull off such a feat is something called "skimming."

Skimming is the art of letting your eyes pick out important words within large amounts of text to get a gist of the meaning or topic. This was, in theory, how I was supposed to read my college History textbooks. I was supposed to somehow glean the information I needed by burning through dozens of dull pages of drivel to find the important meaning buried within the poor writing.

I couldn't do it.

I read, word by word, through a few paragraphs before my brain crashed. I would wake up a couple hours later, having learned nothing. I had no idea how to find the "important" words within the chapters. Shouldn't every word be important? Clearly not. But in college I was still stuck with the idea that published books selected by my educator should contain a significant amount of important information. I blame it on my Sonlight background. Every book my mom handed me had meaning and was a joy.

Blogging finally broke me of thinking that written words must contain deep meaning for me. Not because your posts are lame and meaningless. Not at all. But I quickly discovered that I personally was not interested in certain topics. On the other hand, I found myself reading any post that had to do with a few particular subjects. The more I read blogs, the better I become at recognizing the key words and phrases that alert me to a topic of interest or importance to me.

In reading the headline and scanning a post for a few key words, I can now decide if I should read all of it, skim sections of it, or move on to the next post. It is incredibly freeing. I can cover so much more ground because of it.

Sadly, because I was raised on Sonlight's incredible literature, I grew up believing that every block of text contained a goldmine of value. This hindered me in college (and a bit in high school) when I began to encounter flat and pointless texts.

Text

I'm thankful for the Sonlight Difference. The pain I experienced from reading dry textbooks in college says far more about the nature of those texts than it does about Sonlight.

Still, it is nice to have finally mastered a skill I'd heard about all these years.

Do you find it hard to skim great literature? How did you learn to skim?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

Twenty years ago, my mom was homeschooling us kids and loving it. When she learned that some families were struggling with their homeschool adventure, she decided to start Sonlight Curriculum.

That's right: My mom started Sonlight while homeschooling. Granted, Sonlight was a bit smaller back then. But my mom worked while homeschooling.

Now, I'm not nearly that on top of things. I didn't work while in college. I went to class and I swam. In reality, swimming on the team took up more time than a part-time job. And, with my scholarship, probably paid better too. But, whatever. The fact remains: I felt way too overwhelmed to work and do school at the same time.

Right now, The Old Schoolhouse is hosting a Blog Cruise on Working and Homeschooling. If you're interested in learning how others pull that off, check out some of the posts.

You can also listen to a fantastic Sonlight podcast on How to Homeschool While Working. This 40 minute presentation is broken up into four parts, so you can catch bits of it when you have time. Because, even if you aren't working yet, I'm sure you're plenty busy.

Even if you're successfully homeschooling and working, you may learn ways you can do both better. If you're interested in learning more about working while homeschooling, check out the How to Homeschool While Working podcast.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

Let's say you're interested in trying out something new. It could be a new digital camera, cookbook, spelling program, dental cream, garden tool or smartphone app. Before you decide to invest in this amazing new thing, you wonder: How do other people like this?

That is, if you're anything like me. Not that I use dental cream. I have, however, used dental wax before. Which isn't really the same thing.

Where was I?

Right. If you're anything like me, you probably read reviews, blog posts and anything else you can find on a product before you shell out your hard-earned money. And you're not alone. We all love to hear about the experiences of others. Like penguins on an iceberg, we'd rather find out if someone else got eaten before we're ready to jump.

That's where you come in.

Several of our more recent products do not have any reviews yet.

MathTacular4 Reviews

Would you be willing to take a couple minutes and rate the homeschool products you're using? You will help other homeschoolers make better choices. Since you've already "tested the waters"--as it were--your insights and experience are invaluable. The number of stars you select will help shape the buying decisions of homeschoolers around the world.

That's huge.

Please feel free to review anything from Sonlight that you've used. But I'd really appreciate your feedback on:

MathTacular4
Grammar 5
Grammar 6
and Piano Wizard

Thank you so much for braving the waters for the rest of us!

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

Tim Hawkins admits he doesn't know. In one of his routines, he says, "The kid knows Greek, but he still eats bugs. What grade is that?"

Henry Cate

Ignore the health benefits of eating bugs for the moment.

Children develop skills at a variety of rates. This fact is far more important to their education than student's "date of manufacture." The practice of grouping students into "grades" is about crowd control, organization and labeling. Saying that a student is in Fifth Grade tells us nothing more than an age span.

This past Sunday, one of the teachers was away. We were given another grade level to teach in our class. Not a problem. A few more children weren't able to read yet, but that wasn't a big deal. We pressed on anyway. I teach Sunday School in such a way that the age of the kids doesn't matter much.

Literature-based curriculum has a similar benefit. Good books don't have a specific age attached to them. In fact, I personally enjoy books in every single one of Sonlight's homeschool curriculum programs. And we get comments every year from well educated parents who tell us that they learned a ton from the year of Sonlight.

Your child isn't best served by focusing on the grade he or she is "in." Far better to choose an appropriate program that covers the topics you want your student to study next. That's why we recommend several of Sonlight's Core programs for a particular age or grade.

What's more, without a specific grade, you can teach students of multiple ages with the same homeschooling curriculum. That saves you time and money. Both of which are good things.

So next time you're asked what grade your child is in, consider quoting Tim Hawkins: "The kid knows Greek, but he still eats bugs. What grade is that?"

If that does not satisfy your interrogator, you could always add: I use a Sonlight program. It's fantastic.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

"Wait. Glass isn't a slowly moving liquid?"

I blinked at the comic on my screen.

Before long I was researching "amorphous solids" and trying to get my head around molecular structures and the general lack of agreement as to what, precisely, glass is.

Then I'm jamming out to a French Revolution history lesson set to a Lady Gaga tune. (Seriously, check that out.)

A few minutes later I'm reading about homeschoolers using their free time to work on a stop motion video. It takes me back to my early days of creativity.

Web comics, "Bad Romance," filmmaking. What's this? Schools closed during the Great Depression?

This is compelling stuff. It makes me want to learn. I'm jumping into the subjects of history, economics, physics, art. And I'm doing it because something grabbed my attention. I feel compelled to learn. What's more: It's a natural part of my day. I love that homeschooling gives us the flexibility to study something we find intriguing.

And yet, I agree with Henry Cate: These things can entice students and pique their interest, but it can't replace focused learning through instruction.

Sonlight is a fantastic homeschool option because the natural compulsion to learn is built into the engaging books of Sonlight's homeschooling curriculum. Sonlight fosters a desire to learn because the books draw you in. The demand for compulsory education is drowned out by the chant that we read more.

Sonlight takes the great parts of homeschooling--such as the flexibility to enjoy life-long learning whenever/however it comes up--and adds to these the wonder and joy of a literature-based home education.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester