Sonlight Homeschooling Blog

Jul. 8, 2020

9 Things I’ve Learned from Homeschooling as a Single Father

When I started homeschooling, not only was I the only full-time father in my community, and the only homeschooling father in my community, I was the only homeschooling single-father that I had ever heard of.

Sometimes it was met with encouragement, sometimes with derision, usually with bafflement. “How little,” I imagined them saying, “must such a man consider his own masculinity?” Maybe the breed of masculinity that is preoccupied with its own public image is not worth having at all. Learning a sense of masculinity that centered on moral courage, I tuned out the gossip and turned to my responsibilities.

1. Get up Early; Sleep in the Wasted Evening

When my toddler was my alarm clock, I always seemed to wake up cranky. I wasn’t starting my day. The day was starting me. I knew I had to start getting up before him. For a few months, that meant inflicting an alarm app on myself at 4:30 am that would not turn off unless I took a picture of my kettle. Because I was starting the day earlier, I started sleeping earlier too, instead of wiling the evening away on Netflix. After a few weeks, I was awake enough at 6am to apply myself to something before the kids got up. I could use the time to…

2. Read Like My Life Depends on it

Having emerged from a tricky degree in theology, I thought the intellectual side of homeschooling would be a breeze. I was wrong. I encountered problems that could only be surmounted with careful reading and examination of my principles. Must my daughter stick to the literature assigned to her age? I had to create time for myself to think and read about it. With Sonlight Advisors on the other end of a phone line, I was in a better position than some to tackle these questions.

3. Use Failure to Connect

After months of discussing Aesop’s Fables, Sonlight’s daily Bible readings in the History, Bible and Literature program, and the discussion questions for the literature in the Instructor’s Guide, I noticed that the curriculum was inviting us to examine our life. Taking the invitation, I was seeing things about my heart that I’d rather not see. I could either hide my impatience, hubris, fragility, or I could make a habit of facing it with my children. I started the daily habit of apologizing for my own wrongdoing.

4. The Compromises of Young Kids are Temporary

It takes a certain frame of mind to bear the mental burden of caring for an under-five-year-old in the long term. One is expected to listen to countless impassioned cries and respond with perfect equanimity. It takes a strong sense of hope to continue doing so at all, let alone with purpose and creativity. I’ll admit that on some evenings it felt like the impositions of my needful children were walling me in. But, “Follow the wall far enough and there will be a door in it” (A Door in the Wall, p16).

When I keep the end in sight, suddenly the wall is no longer walling me in. Walls mark a city to be defended, just as the impositions of my children mark a sacred life to be cherished. I will man the walls.

5. Less Is More

I started to think seriously about toys when my three-year-old ignored his gifted toy truck in favour of the cardboard box. I experimented with keeping all the toys upstairs, and ditching the TV. They spent more time in rewarding imaginative play, and I spent less time officiating disputes. What I learned about curating an environment became crucial for understanding how to direct a child’s attention during lessons.

6. Call My Friends

I always knew that crises test friendships. What I didn’t understand until I had my own personal crisis, is that I actually have to call my friends.

7. When I Rest, Rest

With three little hearts in my sole care, I felt that if I looked away for a moment, chaos would ensue. Every moment I spent with them was spent focused on keeping order. I could be with the kids every hour of the day, without spending a single moment with them. My Atlas-complex begged the question of what I loved more: my children or my to-do-list. It shouldn’t have taken me that long to take the sabbath seriously and to set apart a day for unbroken rest.

8. Take My Shoes and Socks off

Everything my children do without prompting, I had to relearn as strategies for mental health. I turned my phone off and went on barefoot adventures. Removing artifice helped me ground myself. I relearned how to play and cry and adventure and sing and feel untrod soil under my toes. I wanted to prevent myself from closing in on myself, in bitter rumination. I wanted to leave myself open to feel the world. As if my toes were roots, seeking soil to re-root an uprooted family.

We will always remember reading Red Sails to Capri by bonfire-light on one of those adventures, or A Door in the Wall, leaning against the ruins of a 12th century manor house in England. We were planting our learning in the world- in the old earth. They were crucial successes in the business of re-rooting.

9. Lift Up the Boy

Ishmael is born in Genesis 16 amongst hatred, self-importance and recrimination. When he was left in the desert to die, the news was brought to his mother by an angel who said, ““God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”” God listened, and His lovingkindness was Ishmael’s, “Door in the wall.”

My days as a single-father bear the scars of sin and sickness. Every one of those days I hear the command to, “Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand.” God has promised to heal, even the gruesome wounds of sin in my family. Even when the, “Door in the wall” is difficult to make out, I commit myself to “follow the wall far enough.” I will “lift up the boy.”

SEE HOW

Tagged dads, father, Homeschooling, single parent | Leave a comment

Jul. 6, 2020

17 Scheduling Tips for Homeschooling the Very Large Family

By Veronica Soto

A few years ago, in part due to foster care and health issues among family members, we had eleven children under age twelve at our house every day for close to a year.

Growing from four children to eleven almost overnight was hard. However, I still had older children who needed to continue their homeschool curriculum, and I had groups of younger children who needed to be kept entertained all day long. We were forced to reframe how we viewed homeschooling. I needed practical homeschool hacks! These 17 techniques evolved during that intense period to help my large family thrive.

1. Create a Routine

The single most important thing I did to create a more peaceful homeschool experience when I had a lot of very young children in the house was to create a daily routine.

The first few weeks of that school year, I got very little work done, but I spent a lot of time creating a routine and going over expectations for work and behavior. Once the routine was established, we could start our days and get through quite a lot of work, even with interruptions, and always had a plan for what to do next.

The routine did not guarantee we completed every subject daily, nor did it magically bring peace and tranquility. But a good routine meant the children knew what to expect each day. While my attention was distracted, the older children who were used to the routine could seamlessly transition between activities and subjects, while the children newer to the routine could quickly adopt the routine as their own. Even if we got interrupted during the day, moving on to a different part of the routine could bring us quickly back to a more structured day and help us get more work done.

Doctors appointments, therapy visits, and the needs of many small children often dissolved our routine into chaos. Many days, we could accomplish only part of our routine before we got derailed. However, once the routine itself was well-established, we could easily jump back in at any point and pick up our routine with a minimum of fuss.

2. Teach Year-round, Week-round and/or Day-round

We usually follow Sonlight’s 5-day program, which runs 180 school days per year. But I quickly realized we had 365 days with which to teach those 180 days. We weren’t limited to weekdays only.

If I shortened our summer break dramatically, I could have more days to teach, and we would break our routine less often. I also began shortening our breaks for other holidays, and we soon wound up with enough extra days that we could teach less each day and still finish on time.

If we only completed half a day, we could find another half a day to complement it. Using extra time on the weekends and evenings helped us fit in even more learning without overextending ourselves further. I often tell new homeschoolers worried about schedules that we are much more likely to be found homeschooling at 10 pm on a Saturday night in July than on a Monday morning in September.

3. Teach in Short Bursts

Sometimes 10-15 minutes is all we could expect in between major interruptions. If we could, we kept going straight through longer time periods. But when my children were very young, we would plan to homeschool in short bursts. We would pick one subject, and I would assign just enough to fill up that time frame.

We would repeat these short bursts all day long, with plenty of breaks in between to give attention to the little ones. Exercise and physical play helped children release stored energy during the breaks, so when it was time to sit down again, everyone was ready to concentrate for a while.

4. Try Loop Scheduling

Loop scheduling is a simple way to organize a schedule to help keep you on track, even if you can’t find time to finish every subject every day. When using a loop schedule, every time we got off track, we just came back and did the next thing on the list. We had a couple subjects we tried to do every day, and let the loop schedule help us track the rest.

5. Stagger Activities

When homeschooling my very large family, I tried to break up our activities so we had a quiet activity that needed a lot of concentration, such as math, followed by a louder activity, such as music, or an activity that needed less deep concentration such as handwriting. This way the toddlers didn’t need to be quiet for long periods at a time. This flip-flopping between types of activities helped me reduce the number of breaks so we could finish our school day faster overall.

6. Stagger Meal Times

Often I would feed the younger children first, which allowed the older children to finish assignments and readings. Then, when the younger group finished, I would have the older group eat while the little ones played.

Toddlers tend to be less disruptive when their hands and mouths are busy, so I would often use this time to complete the subjects that needed the most concentration.

7. Read During Meals

At other times, I would read to my children while they ate, using the Bible lessons at breakfast, and Read-Alouds or History during lunch. Again, because they had something to concentrate on, the younger children would be more content to listen. I had my own meal afterward, while the children who were old enough would complete the after-meal chores.

8. Schedule the Little Ones First

Playing with the younger children first let them know I was willing to spend time and attention on them. When we were finished, they were usually more content to let me spend time with the older ones for a while.

9. Use a Buddy System

When homeschooling my very large family, I scheduled one or more of the older children to play with, read to, or spend time with one or more of the little children while I helped the others. This set-up not only helped to reinforce the bond between siblings and taught them to play together well despite age differences, but it helped show my little one they weren’t being forgotten.

10. Incorporate Music

Listening to educational music such as Bible memory work, or geography songs at strategic points during the day can help little ones to release energy. I often saved music learning for periods when tension was building.

11. Play Audiobooks

Using audiobooks, such as The Story of the World from History / Bible / Literature (HBL) G and HBL H allowed my older children a chance to listen while I entertained the little ones. You can also use audiobooks of Read-Alouds to catch up or get ahead while out and about in the car. If you’re going to be someplace where audiobooks might be less appreciated, such as a doctor’s office or therapy appointment, headphones are a godsend.

12. Switch Readers

A couple children were capable of reading the heavier Read-Alouds themselves, but I wanted to keep on top of the difficult topics discussed. So I had them read to me while I changed diapers and prepared meals. This allowed me to get more done while still addressing those hard topics and sensitive areas.

13. Use Video- or Computer-Based Teachers

One of the reasons I love Math U See is because I don’t have to be as involved in teaching as I do with some other programs. I can allow my children to watch the video and do the worksheets. If they have trouble with the problems, they can come back and watch the video again. And if they are still stuck, then I can help them. That leaves me more time to play and read with my younger children while knowing they are really learning.

14. Earmark Naptime

If you are fortunate enough to have children who take naps, you can use this time for your older children to do seatwork or other quiet activities. They can listen to audiobooks or music in their room, finish their reading, or even help you clean or make meals to help your school day go more smoothly.

15. Begin New Bedtime Stories

Many Sonlight books make great bedtime stories. After the little ones are tucked in, you might consider reading a chapter or two of a book before your older ones head off to bed. Some children might be upset by sensitive stories right before bedtime, so it does pay to look ahead and choose less intense books.

16. Get Others Involved by Asking for Help

I quickly learned that I can not do it all. There was no way I could be a teacher, babysitter, chef, art director, principal, taskmaster, timekeeper, school nurse, and psychologist all while playing housekeeper and mother as well. I had to learn to ask for help and, more importantly, I had to learn how to receive it.

Most importantly, I needed to learn to take time for myself so I could have the energy and desire to care for others.

One great aspect of homeschooling is that the entire extended family can be involved. My child can read a book to Grandma over the internet, or discuss their favorite story over dinner with dad. We can enlist an uncle to teach science, or an aunt to teach woodworking. We can delegate spelling practice to a cousin, or even have an older sibling read to a younger one.

17. Build in Cleaning Breaks

Taking the time to make sure the house is clean and organized before starting your day, and throughout the day helps to reduce distractions and help improve mood. Getting the toddlers involved by picking up their toys and wiping down tables, or the preschoolers involved by folding towels or vacuuming the floor works their large muscle groups, making it easier for them to sit more quietly later on.

That period of my life has passed. While I still have many children at home, the busy, chaotic, time of never-ending demands and constant need-filling has diminished to a much more manageable level. Homeschooling high schoolers is a different situation altogether! But I still use all of these techniques regularly, to manage my homeschool.

SEE MORE

Tagged Homeschooling, large family, multiple children, scheduling | Leave a comment

Jul. 1, 2020

3 Ideas for a Peaceful Homeschool in Quarantine

By Jack Stewart

After the kids and I, one after the other, showed the dreaded symptoms of covid-19, we were fated to a month-long self-isolation. Without a co-parent, or even a walk around the block to ease the pressure, I’ve had a crash-course in homeschooling in a lockdown.

My first lesson was to get our school work done in the early afternoon , so we can play in the garden for the rest of the day. Here are three other tips for staving off the bickering when we all feel cramped as homeschoolers in quarantine.

1. Focus on Readers and Illustrated Read-Alouds

Before being cooped up, we were all enjoying being transported by A Door in the Wall to the plague-ridden 14th century, but in our present state of mind, the delicate, archaic language is a little hard to take in. I’m hitting pause on beloved Marguerite De Angeli, and focusing on shorter, illustrated books.

How is it possible to get three rowdy children of various ages interested in a French scientist’s discovery of microbes in 1800s without a generous dose of twaddle to sweeten the deal? Pasteur's Fight Against Microbes is the answer. Three squirming bottoms were no match for this biography. Pasteur’s journey from problem to experimentation to solution has earned its place as our favorite history of science book so far.

If I finish my dinner before the kids, out comes a book like Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky. I use the abacus and globe we keep on the table to discuss it. The discs on the abacus show the number of men who set out from Iceland and how many made it to North America. On the globe, we found his journey to Greenland and back. This, with the illustrations of Eric the Red, the weather-worn Scandanavian and the author’s matter-of-fact description of a breathtaking and under-appreciated journey, gave them something to chew on with their lunch.

Though she will not take in forty minutes of a chapter book, my seven-year-old is glad to read aloud a Reader like Helen Keller as she paces back and forth like a caged cat. It’s a tall order to focus on being an ambassador for Christ when she’s not even seeing any of her friends, but encouraging her family with a story like this is a reminder that service is a guiding principle for her education.

2. Use an Immersive Reading Nook

Even a socialite like my seven-year-old daughter needs privacy, sometimes contrary to her own opinion. When her less emotionally mature brothers are impossible to negotiate with, she needs a space where she can achieve without interference.

The problem is, when it comes to her daily Math-U-See workbook, she doesn’t want to retreat to a room alone. As a solution, I bought her a pair of noise-cancelling bluetooth headphones.

She sits in the writing desk we built together, facing the corner of the living room and listens to a combo of fireplace ambience overlaid with Chopin’s nocturnes. It is her zone within our collective zone. She is not alone, but even her youngest brother knows it is not permissible to distract her.

In the reading nook, she is responsible for her to-do list. One chapter of The Horse and His Boy, following along with the audiobook, two pages of the Math-U-See workbook, and finally, reading and replying to letters from friends. Having conquered her small and specific to-do list, she emerges with a sense of control that takes the panic away from her subsequent interactions. Now compromise with her little brothers can come from a slightly deepened well of calm.

3. Encourage Complaints

Handwriting and math have always elicited the fiercest complaints from my little students. It’s possible that the inflexibility of the subjects are partly to blame. Creative types want to feel like they’re trailblazing, rather than acting as containers for set techniques.

Since quarantine, however, I’ve had to confront a few complaints that I would otherwise have dismissed as a bad attitude. Instead of shushing complaints, I ask them to make a note, and bring it up during the morning meeting.

The following morning I sit down with them and this conversation ensues:

“Thank you for being honest about how boring you find handwriting at the moment. I can see how beautiful your letters are after these ten pages of handwriting. Do you think the solution is to stop handwriting altogether?”

“No, but I only want to do one page.”

“Would that be best? Maybe we can try one more week, and if it’s still frustrating you, we’ll change it next week. Every time you feel angry about it, make a note, and we can look at it together next week and decide.”

After complaints are heard and discussed, they become few and far between.

Complaints are attempts to make change, and I want to encourage that impulse. I also want my children to take on the responsibility of examining their own impulses. Let’s talk about whether the change is desirable, then let’s meet together and strategize. That process is too difficult when tempers are high, so we set a meeting time to talk calmly.

Encouraging change-makers while examining the change has helped me move from managing balls of chaos to purposeful and sensitive team-work. Sensitive team-work, I’m learning, is the only strategy for peaceful homeschooling in the coronavirus lockdown.

All-Subjects Package are based on our best recommendations after 30 years of ongoing research, development, and feedback from families around the world.

SEE THE CURRICULUM

Tagged coronavirus, Homeschooling, peace, quarantine, single parent | Leave a comment

Jun. 29, 2020

Ingenious Ways to Keep Younger Children Busy While Homeschooling

By Veronica Soto

Anyone who has toddlers and preschoolers at home knows that homeschooling is a challenge with little ones underfoot. Most preschoolers don’t have the patience to wait a few minutes while you work on a math problem with your 12-year-old or to play with one toy until you reach the end of a chapter. You will likely find your preschooler interrupting every few minutes,or your toddler finding trouble every time you try to focus on teaching spelling.

Plan Ahead for Younger Children

After many years of homeschooling multiple children across wide age spans, I have learned tips to corral some of the chaos and keep us running more smoothly.

1. Create a Safe Play Area

Perhaps not all children were as adventure-seeking as some of mine, but I had a few escape artists over the years. By locking all exterior doors and windows and creating a safe play area (usually within eyesight) where I didn’t have to worry about their getting hurt, I didn’t have to spend as much time worrying about their physical safety. Also, because they could see and hear us, they were content to play longer.

I have seen families use baby gates, large indoor play areas, and pillows to create sectioned off areas for the young ones to play.

If you are homeschooling outdoors, large play areas, fencing, or even play pools (with water if you are very close by or dry pools filled with toys if you are not) can create a safe play area.

2. Plan Baby’s Schedule

We all know that babies don’t keep to a schedule. So planning for one might seem rather silly. But babies can have some predictable actions.

Check the baby’s diaper in between subjects so they are less likely to interrupt you while you are busy. Use a sling and feed them while reading aloud. Older children can help you turn the pages if you need both hands for a little bit. Try to predict the baby’s naptime so you can cover Table Subjects™ while the baby is sleeping.

3. Create Busy Bags and Toddler Trays

Busy bags are simply a series of small bags, each filled with one activity a young child will enjoy. Bags can contain almost any toy or educational project.

Toddler trays are simply food trays with larger activities that might not fit in a bag, such as games, sensory bins, and puzzles. The storage device does not matter.

I usually had on hand about one bag for each 10 minutes I wanted my children to keep busy. I would hand them one bag at a time, and they had to play with the activity on a special rug we had near our learning area. When they were done, they picked up the pieces, put them back in the bag, and handed it quietly to me. Then I would silently put it back into a basket we had nearby and silently hand a fresh busy bag. Our basket also had books, art supplies, and ready-to-make crafts.

If they didn’t pick up their pieces or were being too disruptive, they didn’t get a new activity. I tried to change up the bags every few days (cycling some in and out of the rotation and making new ones), to help keep them fresh. We did not allow them to play with the busy bags or toddler trays outside of school time, so as to maintain the novelty. These were school-only toys.

Sometimes, the activity would only last a minute or two. Other times, they would play for an hour or more. The choice of how long to use each activity was up to them.

Easy Busy Bag Activities

To get you started with busy bags or toddler trays, here are some simple items you might already have on hand.

puzzles
games
lacing activities
blocks
paper with crayons, colored pencils, etc.
coloring books with crayons
colored paper and scissors
shapes and shape mats
play-dough
fun books (or library books)
letter shapes
toy cars
toy animals
masking tape or scotch tape
wooden craft sticks
pipe cleaners
stickers

4. Use Read-Alouds as Bedtime Stories

You might wish to read some Read-Alouds or History books from your curriculum after the little ones have gone to sleep for the night. This will give you extra bonding time with your older children, while still checking things off your schedule.

5. Let Family Help

Perhaps your mother would like to take the younger children for an hour a day while you get some work done. Or Aunt Sue would like to help out for a few hours every other weekend. Dad can even do math or science in his free time while you bathe the baby or play with the toddler (or vice versa). Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance.

6. Use the Buddy System

If you have a large family, the buddy system might help. Have any older children you are not currently working with play with or watch over one younger sibling while you help other children or get some reading done. By pairing children for short time periods, you can be more assured that each youngster is getting attention while you focus more fully on the homeschool task at hand.

Buddies can change from day to day or even from minute to minute. The same two children do not always need to be buddies. For example, a 7-year-old can watch a 3-year-old sister while you do spelling with the 9-year-old, and then the 9-year-old can take over little sister duty while you and the 7-year-old work on math.

Activities to Keep the Little Ones Busy

1. Finger Foods

I’ve found very young children who are hungry or thirsty are more likely to whine, cry, or want attention rather than ask for a snack. To keep them satisfied, I made sure to have a lot of healthy, protein-rich finger foods on hand.

2. Homemade Finger Paints

I would often buckle my nearly naked toddlers into a high chair and give them yogurts and puddings to use as finger paint. A washable drop cloth under the chair helped to contain much of the mess while giving them a safe place to explore the world of art.

3. Swimming Pools

When some of my children were younger, we lived in a house that had an enclosed, heated porch. This was the perfect place to pull out a little kiddie pool and let the younger children splash and play while I read a book or helped the older ones with homework around the edge of the pool. I was right there to keep an eye on them every moment, and I still was able to get schoolwork finished as well.

Very often, I would take a child messy from the high chair painting session and place them in the pool to help clean up the worst of the mess.

4. Educational Videos, Audiobooks, and Music

Over the years, we have amassed a huge collection of educational music and songs. Sonlight helped get us started with their Sing the Word CDs and Geography Songs. Their Lyrical Life science songs quickly became favorites as well. We used these songs to branch off into finding other great sources of educational songs about a wide variety of topics. We often put these on and dance and clean together as a family. It helps the little ones to feel more included, and it provides learning of things they will need to know in the future.

We don’t use audiobooks as much as some families do, but there are a lot of great books out on audio now. I use these with caution with my younger children, as they tend to tune them out more quickly than other forms of audio learning, but they still are great for quiet time.

Educational videos are also great. You can have the little ones watch along with what the older children are learning, or fall back on great videos such as Veggie Tales or LeapFrog Letter Factory to teach values or letters with minimal effort.

I have found that if we break up our day using video or music which includes the toddlers and preschoolers, I fill up their attention buckets. Then they are more cooperative when we go back to Couch Subjects™ and Table Subjects™.

5. Include the Little Ones

Young children truly need greater levels of attention and often hate feeling left out. So where possible, try to include them in your homeschool day. If you have older children sitting at a table doing math, give the toddler paper and let them pretend to do math with you. They can scribble or draw, but if they want an actual lesson to learn from, you can try teaching them to make straight lines, Ts, or Os.

I have found that for me, the hardest time to teach was when we had many children under age seven in the house. Those days were chaotic; however, I found that by planning ahead, I was able to corral the chaos and keep our homeschool on track.

Homeschool Multiple Children Successfully

Teaching multiple children at different ages can sometimes feel difficult to manage. Sonlight makes it easier by dividing our curriculum into two types of subjects: Couch Subjects™ and Table Subjects™.

LEARN HOW

Tagged homeschool tips, Homeschooling, large family, multiple children, preschoolers, toddlers | Leave a comment

Jun. 26, 2020

12 More Books from American History That Teach Empathy

By Sonlight

Here is yet another collection of great titles taken from Sonlight Readers and Read-Alouds that teach empathy.

When you read a book, you put yourself in the characters' shoes, seeing the world through their eyes, and experiencing their feelings. This vicarious element of reading fiction and biographies is exactly how they promote empathy. When you can see someone else's perspective, you can better understand their choices, their way of thinking, and their reactions.

Each historical fiction novel listed below is set in a period of American history. The realistic and historically accurate portrayals give your children a grasp of history in the most enjoyable way possible — through a narrative. You get the best of all worlds: reading skills, history content, and empathy. This is the Sonlight way of learning!

1. Walk the World’s Rim

by Betty Baker

from History / Bible / Literature D

A 14-year old Indian joins Cabeza de Vaca's 16th-century expedition through the Southwest. This historical account paints a vivid portrait of Mexican life and the harsh conditions of a primitive Indian tribe. It may make you cry!

2. The Witch of Blackbird Pond

by Elizabeth George Speare

from History / Bible / Literature D

A girl raised in luxury in the Caribbean struggles to adjust to Puritan New England. She befriends a lonely Quaker widow whom some call "the witch of Blackbird Pond." There is no witch or witchcraft in this honest and inspiring story of Puritan life, but plenty of opportunity to develop empathy while learning about Puritan history.

3. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

by Jean Lee Latham

from History / Bible / Literature D

This fascinating true story follows the life of a poor apprentice who, shortly after the American Revolution, transforms navigation from an art to a precise science. Bowditch's book is still a standard reference among mariners.

4. The Journeyman

by Elizabeth Yates

from History / Bible / Literature D

In this touching story, a boy, who is despised by his father because of his artistic bent, leaves home to find his place in the world.

5. Justin Morgan Had a Horse

by Marguerite Henry

from History / Bible / Literature D

This true story tells of of a young boy who trained the first all-American (but now world-famous) Morgan horse.

6. Across Five Aprils

by Irene Hunt

from History / Bible / Literature E

This novel tells the powerful story of a young man for whom the Civil War spans five Aprils.

7. Caddie Woodlawn

by Carol Ryrie Brink

from History / Bible / Literature E

Caddie may become one of your favorite heroines! Eleven-year-old Caddie grows up with her six brothers and sisters in the Wild West frontiers of Wisconsin in the late 1800s. Indians, raging rivers, massacre scares, loving family life are all here. Caddie helps keep peace between the Indians and settlers.

8. Little Britches

by Ralph Moody

from History / Bible / Literature E

Ralph is barely 8 years old when his family moves to Colorado for the sake of Dad's health, and the family tries to make a go of it on the ranch. It's a classic true story of ranching in Colorado in the early 1900's.

You'll stay on the edge of your seat as you read about cowboy country among loving neighbors and murderous competitors.

9. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

by Mildred D. Taylor

from History / Bible / Literature E

This must-read award-winning book is set in the post-Civil War South. The Logans are one of the few black families to own land: a cause for racial tensions and strife. it's a story of overcoming unjust opposition.

10. King of the Mound

by Wes Tooke

from History / Bible / Literature E

When Nick is released from the hospital after suffering from polio, he's sure his father will never look at him in the same way again. Once the best pitcher in youth league, Nick now walks with a limp and is dependent on a heavy leg brace. He isn't sure he'll ever return to the mound. When Nick starts working for Mr. Churchill, owner of a semiprofessional team, he meets Satchel Paige, arguably the best pitcher in the world. Not allowed into the major leagues because of his skin color, Satchel teaches Nick that some things can be overcome with hard work and dedication, and that just because you're down, you're most certainly not out.

11. A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt

by C. Coco De Young

from History / Bible / Literature E

When the bank forecloses on her family's home during the Great Depression, 11-year-old Margo Bandini writes to Eleanor Roosevelt for help.

Fascinating plot twists and historical detail hold your attention. Heartwarming story of community cohesion and determination to do good. Powerful.

12. Miracles on Maple Hill

by Virginia Sorensen

from History / Bible / Literature E

In this heartwarming Newbery Medal winner, Dad has returned from World War II a changed man: withdrawn, touchy, unable to work.

The family moves back to the family farm where dad gets the healing he needs. You'll love the description of maple sugaring!

For 30 years (since 1990), Sonlight is the industry-leading literature-rich homeschool curriculum.

LEARN MORE

Tagged American history, books, empathy, great books, read-alouds | Leave a comment

Jun. 24, 2020

Teaching the Hidden Curriculum by Integrating Sonlight into Life

By Jack Stewart

If Charlotte Mason was right, education is a life. Education will restructure a life, but it’s a two-way street. Life also structures education, intentionally or accidentally.

It is near-impossible to drum up a sustained interest in ancient literature if it doesn’t enjoy so much as a mention in everyday conversation. Conversely, the table saw used by an uncle for his job as a carpenter will arouse a fascination, regardless of its absence in the curriculum.

There is a curriculum in the space between lessons, in the figures who model ongoing, meaningful learning projects. Here are four ways you can take Sonlight to the in-between places.

1. Bring Math-U-See to the Workplace

I can sympathise with my daughter who sees mathematics as a distraction from real life. She would drop it in a heartbeat to connect with a friend, but I want her to experience the places where mathematics is actually the means of social connection.

One evening I asked a friend who owns an artisan bakery if he would let us come and be a fly on the wall, to see the inner workings of the bakery. (Whether we proved to be more like a fly on the wall or like a bull in a china shop, they invited us back.)

The next time, I brought the Math-U-See manipulatives in the car. Over lunch with the children, I interviewed the couple who owned the business. I asked them why they started it. I asked about their experience employing staff, and about the finances.

Before driving home, I turned to the backseats and used the manipulatives I had brought to explain income, expenses, and profit.

Before we next visited, I asked my seven-year-old to be an investigative journalist. After questioning them, she wrote in her journal that they loved reading comments from satisfied customers and that they were using ratios to measure the right amount of flour.

The next morning, the kids were playing baker shop featuring the 1:10 ratio and some very happy customers. The hidden curriculum had worked into their pretend play.

My daughter needed to see that the manipulatives communicated something, not just of educational value to Daddy, but of social value in a person’s life-work.

2. Bring The Odyssey to the Dinner Table

Those who are not stay-at-home parents enjoy a special opportunity to flesh out the relation between your learning program and the adult world. They can set your learning to the tune of something bigger.

Set up a video call with the missionary family your church supports, and ask them if they have ever had to be honest with the government like Gladys in Gladys Aylward. Have your archaeologist sister-in-law over for lunch and ask if she has encountered superstitions like the archaeologist in Sticks Across the Chimney.

If your conversation with your partner over dinner consists of nothing but money problems, scheduling, and an occasional movie, those little listeners may begin to believe that math only presents problems later in life, and that literature is something one grows out of altogether.

On the other hand, if mom and dad have a conversation over dinner about the difference between the portrayal of violence in The Odyssey and in the Old Testament, maybe literature is a serious business. That's when the hidden curriculum comes into focus. Maybe understanding cultural perspectives on suffering is a note in the song worth hearing, even when there is a schedule to worry about.

3. Bring Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to the Trampoline

When I started homeschooling my kids, I would read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to my two eldest who bounced on the trampoline. I would walk around the trampoline, talking over the maddening squeak, putting the six-month-old to sleep in the encircling push-chair. I can’t say I was enjoying Alice, having read it aloud four times already, but this was a moment for the hidden curriculum.

When I was a young teen, I played music to my father in the car. I was into Christian death metal. He wasn’t. Not only did he listen for hours, he would listen closely enough to analyse the music with me.

Daddy, a former music producer, regarded my musical interests as more important than his. When it came to another day around the trampoline, I called Daddy’s humility to mind.

There is a time for grammar, and there is a time for the fifth reading of Alice. Follow them to the trampoline and they will eventually follow you to the chalkboard.

It matters where you take the Sonlight curriculum. It matters

If you expose Math-U-See to meaningful work,
If your partner takes The Odyssey seriously
And if you take Alice to the Sisyphean trampoline.

Take the Sonlight curriculum to the in-between places and allow it to illuminate your children. The curriculum behind the curriculum is the life and heart of the purposeful parent. You are the hidden curriculum.

Be confident in your curriculum purchase by following three easy steps.

GET STARTED

Tagged Homeschooling, Sonlight, teaching | Leave a comment

Jun. 19, 2020

From Public School to Homeschool: What Counts as School?

By Deana Wood

In public school, it’s easy to quantify school time. School time is from the time you arrive to the time you leave, approximately seven hours or so.

Defining school hours gets a little murky, though, when we begin talking about homeschool. Let’s take a look at this curiosity.

How Long Are Public School Hours?

Public school is about seven hours each day, Monday through Friday. However, during the course of a school day, we can easily chisel out lunch time and the after-lunch break or recess as not being actual learning time.

Then, what about all those transition times...

five minutes between each class
bathroom breaks
water fountain breaks
assemblies
time passing out and taking up permission forms and other paperwork
school announcements

What about early finishers? How about fun field trips?

When we analyze the time spent actually learning, we can find quite a bit of gray area in public school as well. So let’s start this conversation with the fact that actual time spent schooling is fluid, and much of it depends on the student’s choices of how they use their time.

What Defines Educational Time?

In the homeschooling world, some of us tend to believe that we can’t count certain activities as school. We may fret over what is truly school time.

Those of us who have to turn in hours to our state education department can be plagued by indecision over what qualifies as educational time.

We may spend an entire day on a field trip to a state park and wonder if we can count it as school.
We spend an hour cooking with our children and instead of viewing it as part of our child’s education, we may be tempted to tack on an extra hour at the end of the day to do the so-called real work.

However, education really cannot be quantified. It makes us feel better to do so, but if we took an honest look at a well-rounded education, none of us could actually say how many hours we spend each day educating our child, not even our public school children.

Does a well-rounded education end at 3:30 pm? Of course not! A child who shadows their father during a home improvement project or rides a bike down their street is still educating themselves. I would argue that most of life is education.

So Really, What Counts as School?

I think that’s the mindset shift that we all need to make, whether you homeschool or send your child to public school. Education does not stop when the child leaves the building, and education does not begin when the child opens the workbook. Education is about teaching the whole child many different skills and teaching them to be a productive adult.

I have always felt that anything that prepares children for becoming an adult can be counted as school hours. Think life skills and knowledge... anything under that umbrella should be counted as school hours.

However, everyone—even adults—needs rest and play, so I also believe that we can count certain amounts of that as well. I truly believe that if you sat down to add up a child’s hours going toward their education, you would have a shocking number. We would all be surprised to see just how many hours could be counted for educational time.

What If My State Requires Hours?

Many of us do need to quantify our school hours due to state laws. So how should we do the impossible and quantify our child’s education in something as small as hours?

My best advice is to do the same as public schools. Figure your usual weekly schedule, count up your hours and multiply by 36 weeks. That is an estimate of your actual school time. But I urge all parents to know in their hearts that the true amount of education they are pouring into their child is not contained within a school day. Instead, it overflows into every facet of life.

We have to shift our mindset to reflect this new way of thinking about education. Education is absolutely un-quantifiable.

Everything is education.

Every hour of every day educates a child. Now, how we use those hours is our choice, but we are constantly teaching our child with everything that we do, constantly preparing them for life with the use of every hour.

So, what truly counts as school you ask? Everything.

LEARN MORE

Tagged Homeschooling, hours, public school, scheduling, school day | 1 Comment