Last night I got to do Read-Alouds for the first time (the other night the girls were too naughty, so reading was impossible). Granted, reading last night wasn't quite cuddling on the couch listening intently to a tale of wonder.

Rather, it was more like reading over a couple of talking and crying girls. Actually, that was it exactly. I was reading over a couple of talking and crying girls. They kept it up until the last couple of pages when they both quieted down and started to interact with the book.

So, naturally, we simply had to read it again <smile>.

But last night, Brittany was not loving it. She was exhausted, overwhelmed, and really not enjoying things. She said she felt cheated because other mothers loved spending time with their children. Why wasn't she?

I tried to gently remind her that there are many, many examples of people who feel overwhelmed and frustrated by their lack of a good time.

We still haven't purchased Sonlight's wonderful P3/4 program, but we are looking forward to having those added resources to help keep the little ones happily engaged. And, unlike many other aspects of life, you're guaranteed to love using Sonlight's materials.

That's right: Guaranteed to love it.

Sound too good to be true?

Well, it's not. Seriously: Check it out.

Today seems to have gone better, and I'm looking forward to doing a little more of the "Sonlight method" tonight. It really is a blast reading to them. In fact, if it wasn't part of a different tagline, I'd say I was lovin' it.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

I was over on Sonlight's Facebook page and the ad caught my eye:

Facebook Advertising

'I didn't know we were advertising on Facebook,' was my first thought.

'I need to grab an image of that for my blog,' was my second thought.

Yes: If you haven't become a fan of Sonlight on Facebook yet, you should. I mean, seriously! Do you see who else is a fan of Sonlight in the ad above? That's right... Luke A. Holzmann himself. If that doesn't bring in oodles of people, nothing will. <smile>

Advertising is such an odd thing. I really like good ads, but I mostly despise marketing. Not because I don't believe in helping people find things that will help them, but because most marketing I encounter isn't about that. Just listen to marketing "gurus" and you too can begin to feel sick every time you think of advertising. In fact, except for the Superbowl--where the only reasons to watch are the food at the parties and the commercials--we've trained ourselves to tune out advertising.

So what if a company suddenly stopped marketing to people?

Would we find what we need and those little things that bless our lives and are well worth the dollars we spend on them? Would we just be inundated with other messages and end up purchasing something that wasn't as good of a fit for us? How would the word be spread about something that was super important if we no longer marketed?

Word of mouth carried Sonlight for many years, but then others started to run with our idea. Suddenly it became important to remind people that Sonlight exists, is excellent, and offers your family something stupendous that others--even direct knock-offs--don't even come close to matching!

But... yuck! Doesn't that just reek of "marketing"?

Sonlight's position on marketing is that marketing is about "customer-ing" instead of making money. We want to help people who will be blessed by Sonlight to try us out. And that's why I absolutely love Sonlight's Rewards program. For the first time we can thank you for sharing your love of Sonlight with others. I know I tend to hear about the greatest things from friends. But they tend to hear it from someone else, who heard it from someone who saw an ad, an article or a blog post about it.

So: Spread the word!

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

Tonight will be my first ever attempt at reading aloud to children.

The Gammage Cup, Red Sails to Capri, Till We Have Faces and Brave New World... I've read all those and more to my wife. But what are Read-Alouds like for two and three year olds?

I don't think they're quite ready for C.S. Lewis.

My wife loves listening to me read. Will these little girls? Of course, the titles in Sonlight's P3/4 package are wonderful stories that I remember loving as a child, so I don't think I have much to worry about.

What have been your family's favorites to read before bed for wee ones?

And I've recently seen some discussion out there in the blogosphere about peoples' preferences for reading aloud versus listening to books on tape. Sometimes reading aloud wears me out, but if I'm really into the book I just keep going. Of course, I love listening to books on tape too... especially when I'm stuck in the car driving somewhere. There's something super fun about reading aloud and making up voices and embellishing the story with voice acting. Of course, letting someone else do that work can also be nice if I need to be doing something else.

So what's your experience? Do you like reading out loud to your kids? Would you rather listen to a book on tape? Neither--just let me zip through the book on my own!? And what are some of your family's favorites (especially in the younger years)?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

...He Sometimes Breaks a Window

That title came to mind a week ago. I thought it was clever and fun, but I wasn't so sure about the theological implications.

Joseph--you know, the kid sold into slavery by his brothers--seemed like a pretty solid example of God's redemptive power working in even violent situations. And with that, I decided the title was legitimate. God breaking windows and all.

So what door has remained closed?

Adoption. We're still waiting.

What window just broke?

After work I'm heading to the airport to pick up three girls: Brittany (my wife) and two little ones we're going to be caring for over the next two months "or so" ...meaning, there's no real end date in mind yet.

Broken Window

Bittersweet.

On the one hand, we get to love and care for two little girls. But we're only surrogates. It's very temporary.

We have the opportunity and joy of having two children. On the other hand, a family is hurting and in such need that they are sending their children away for a while. The pain is palpable.

Open door? No.

Open window? Nope.

But we get to squeeze past a few shards of glass for the time being.

And that's something... something else entirely.

But for now, I'm no longer an expectant father. I'm a surrogate.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

I love Brave New World--which is part of Sonlight's Core 300 program. I know it's not for everyone. My sister couldn't stand it and my wife hated the ending.

But me?

Totally enjoy it.

One of the government slogans used to train people how to act is the phrase "Ending is better than mending." Get rid of old stuff so you can buy new stuff. This keeps people working and makes the economic system thrive. For this post, it doesn't really matter if this thinking plays out in reality or not. What rankles every one of my recycling/repairing/reusing sensibilities is that, in many cases, this is an economic reality of today.

The Deltas and Gammas of Huxley's world have been replaced by computers and machines. And now it is often cheaper to buy a new computer, or camera, or gizmo than to pay someone to take the time to figure out what went wrong, purchase the piece that needs to be replaced and fix the thing.

In fact, judging by how much I pay for recycling, it's cheaper to produce boxes, bottles and cans from raw materials than to go through the hassle of collecting the finished product from in front of my house.

And that blows my mind.^*

But I read an article today that confirms: It's often cheaper to replace than to repair. This has led to exactly what Huxley describes in his work. We are a culture of disposables. And this has profound impacts on the kinds of products we buy, what we expect of them, and how we see new brands. We're always open to the latest and greatest because we don't see much reason to stick with the old and busted.

"Tried and true" is often less important than the "latest and greatest." And with good reason: Very few things last long enough. We don't make 'em like we used to. [Aside: Even those phrases smack of social programing on par with Huxley's government.]

We must consider this reality here at Sonlight. We continue to improve our homeschool materials, but we're not going to completely change. What we have is guaranteed to let you and your family love to learn. Sonlight works, which is why we continue to use great books. But you'll get the most out of Sonlight when you keep reusing those books again and again.

And in that sense, ending is certainly not better than mending!

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

^*Well, it almost makes sense when I have to fill up my car with gas again!