When I homeschooled my children, one of my sons really struggled to learn to read. He didn’t become an independent reader until sixth grade, and to this day prefers audio books to print. (He attended public high school and was valedictorian, so he proves the point that there is no correlation between IQ and age of learning to read.)
For almost two decades, I have been looking for a remedial reading program to complement Sonlight’s elementary language arts. Although many children learn to read with no difficulty using Sonlight, other children struggle.
This came home to me when my daughter Amy started homeschooling her boys. Though the other two learned to read without difficulty, her third son made very slow progress, eventually falling about three grades behind.
And her fourth son made no progress at all.
She started with Sonlight, then moved to what we carried then as the remedial reading program. From there, she worked her way through a full dozen reading programs and therapies—all the ones you hear recommended, and then some.
Almost five years in, my grandson was still struggling through the kindergarten Fun Tales books.
Dr. Karen Holinga and the Happy Cheetah Reading Program
Around that time, I went to a homeschool convention and heard a presentation by Dr. Karen Holinga, the developer of popular spelling program Spelling You See. She taught information on remedial reading that I had never heard before.
I approached her after her talk. “Dr. Karen, my grandson can’t read.”
She said, “Send your grandson to me, and I will teach him to read.”
Amy and her son drove from Virginia to Ohio to meet with Dr. Karen. While there, Amy picked up the beta version of the Happy Cheetah program.
Amy and her son continue on their reading journey. My grandson has made progress, while overcoming both of the common hindrances to reading that Dr. Karen sees in her office.
At Sonlight, we are pleased to present the Happy Cheetah Reading System to you, primarily as an option for remedial readers, but also as an alternative for beginning readers. With Happy Cheetah your child can learn to read, frustration-free.
If you have a struggling reader, we would love to help. I personally know the pain of a delayed reader. And since 20% of students do need additional reading help, most likely you know someone whom Dr. Karen could help.
If you would like a free copy of Dr. Karen’s Cure, you can get a FREE digital version when you request it here.
Four years before I was born, my father quit the band. He had made a living as a musician and record producer since the age of 18, and now he was in search of a life that prioritized family. He moved with my mother from Toronto, Canada to Buckinghamshire, England to learn a new trade. After meeting God as a result of a Christmas service, they started to see a divine kindness behind their financially devastated lifestyle change.
As Daddy studied, Mummy, a former school teacher, decided that school was not the place for her children. Clinging to God with the desperation of new faith, she stumbled across a Sonlight brochure with a literature package that was far outside of her budget.
God appointed, however, that my parents unexpectedly received the amount needed, three times over from three separate sources.
Granny Han’s Breakfast Taught Me God's Provision
Astonished at God’s provision, she bought the curriculum and started with the read-aloud: Granny Han’s Breakfast. It’s a true story of a missionary in China who was robbed of her food. Granny Han set the table for breakfast nonetheless, saying, “You know what you want from me, and that’s all I want,” —a prayer that proves powerful beyond its simplicity. A knock was heard at the door. As if from heaven, a friend was there for Granny Han with a gift of bread.
At age five, I felt my mother’s joy in God as she read the story. I knew she was praying with Granny Han, “You know what you want from me, and that’s all I want.” I delighted in recognizing a life that was appointed by God and to feel the call of a life that was consecrated to God.
Three years later, at 8, my mind was set on being a missionary in Africa. A decade after that, I was setting off to study Christian apologetics at university with a view to overseas missions. My mother traces this faith back to the 19-page book about Granny Han.
Granny Han's Breakfast is now discontinued, but don’t think that the work of a Sonlight book is done once it’s out of print. Granny Han changed my life, and it wasn’t florid or literary prowess that gave this biographical story its fruitfulness. The marks of this fruitfulness is even clearer in George Muller, David Livingstone and, most of all, the Sonlight biography that I will never forget—Gladys Aylward.
Gladys Aylward Ignited My Heart for Missions
Gladys, in Gladys Aylward was rejected from Bible school. It was a dreadful blow, but she decided that if she was going to follow God’s call to China, it would have to be without support. When she was detained on her journey to China in Vladivostock, Russia, an official reminded her, “You are a woman alone in a strange country. I can do what I like.” He raised his fist to strike her, but his fist stopped in mid-air, as if “guided by an invisible force.”
I was captured by what Gladys Aylward demonstrated. The threat was real, but God was more real. Earthly comfort is real, but divine joy is more real. The official’s malice was real, but God’s plan was more real. Granny Han’s empty cupboard was real, but God’s loving provision was a stronger and deeper. My parents’ destitution left them exasperated, but God the provider was more real. My little faith was the fruit.
Sonlight Biographies Still Convict and Inspire
After studying theology in Scotland while my wife cared for our children, we moved back to England. I homeschooled the three of them while she took a course in Biblical and Intercultural Studies at a missions training college. The plan was to team with an organisation, start learning a language, and move to the Middle East shortly thereafter.
One night, after a few months of serious health problems, I had a talk with my wife. We had only a few years before going overseas, and it seemed like our little family would not be ready. It would be best if we stayed in England to focus on health first, then our marriage, and finally our ministry.
I had a sense of guilt that I had led our family into pain and that the door to following God’s call had been closed. I continued homeschooling, and she started work at a restaurant. One morning, I awoke to find only the three children in the house.
From then on, I was to care for them alone.
I pressed on with homeschooling, knowing that God never leaves His own. In between tears, we started pouring through Sonlight books that my mother had kept from twenty years before.
Out comes Granny Han's Breakfast and Gladys Aylward again. My seven-year-old daughter hears Gladys’ encounter with the official and she says the same thing I said when I heard it: “I want to go.”
I still want to go, but these cupboards don’t get any more empty. Twenty years ago I started praying Granny Han’s prayer, “You know what you want from me, and that’s all I want.”
I pray that prayer when I have empty cupboards, because Granny Han did, and because my mother did. It’s because of Sonlight that I know that sometimes divine bread is less visible than the edible kind, but it’s more real.
The right books can turn a boring homeschool into a vibrant and enjoyable one. Learn more by diving into a Sonlight catalog. It's free!
Which did you like better, the book or the movie? This common question lends a wonderful opportunity to extend the experience of a story.
Practice critical thinking by comparing a director's presentation of a plot-line or an actor's impression of character with your own perspective. What seemed out of place? What felt familiar?
Given the amazing books in Sonlight’s repertoire, it comes as no surprise that so many are selected as inspiration for major motion pictures and TV series. This year is no exception. Here are 5 book-to-screen adaptations due out for 2020.
1. Call of the Wild (2020)
Harrison Ford stars as John Thornton in a screen adaptation of Call of the Wild. This beloved Jack London classic is found in Sonlight’s 9th grade literature choices. This adaptation uses computer-generated imagery (CGI) for the character of Buck (the dog).
Not only is this movie a fantastic conversation starter for digging deeper into plot and character, but it’s also a fantastic choice for technology buffs wanting to learn more about cinematic effects. Call of the Wild is now available on Amazon Prime Video.
2. Emma (2020)
Sonlight includes Jane Austen’s fourth novel,Emma in the British Literature (AP prep) collection. Jane Austen novels have characters and plots so universally beloved that multiple versions of them are easy to find. Emmais no exception.
What a great opportunity to compare and contrast different interpretations of Austen’s classic work! Here are four recent traditional and non-traditional adaptations of Emma available on Amazon Prime Video.
Peter Rabbit 2 is a sequel to the crowd pleasing Peter Rabbit released in 2018. Coloring sheets for this one are available from Sony Pictures. Set to premiere this summer, the release date has been delayed by the pandemic and it is not yet in theaters.
4. Brave New World (2020)
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New Worldis part of Sonlight's 11th grade curriculum, focused on 20th century literature. Perfect for science fiction buffs, the new series will premiere on the streaming service Peacock. The show is expected to be available July 2020.
5. Dolittle (2020)
Longtime Sonlighter’s will likely recognize the lovable Dr. Dolittle as a beloved character from past versions of the Introduction to World Culture’s Package. While the book is now discontinued, the story lives on in this year’s screen adaptation starring Robert Downey, Jr.
This film is a great choice for kids who love action, adventure, and talking animals, though some may find the realistic looking animals and emotion to be a tad bit overwhelming. Dolittle is also available on Amazon Prime Video.
Great Questions For Juicy Book-to-Movie Conversations
Regardless of the book and movie pairing you choose, these open-ended questions can get you started with a robust family discussion.
What if anything did you like better about the book?
What if anything did you like better about the movie?
How was the casting? Did characters look and act as you expected?
What was in the book that you wish had been included in the movie?
Did watching the movie affect how you viewed the story? If so, how?
As always please be sure to preview movies prior to watching with your family. While adaptations to books are wonderful ways to enhance and expound on a story, producers and cinematographers may take creative license or include material that you find inappropriate.
Common Sense Media and Kids-In-Mind are excellent resources for more learning more about particular movies. We hope you enjoy the show!
Whether you read the book before or after watching the movie, Sonlight has hundreds of titles your home library needs! Request a print catalog to dive more deeply into what Sonlight can offer your family.
Did you know that the tears shed from happiness or sorrow are chemically different from the tears caused by an irritant in the eye? A good cry is cathartic—a way to pour out emotions that may be stuffed down and ignored.
The most wonderful thing about homeschooling is also also the most difficult thing about homeschooling: Learning is implanted in real life and real relationships.
Sometimes I have to stop reading in the middle of a chapter in order to change a diaper, but it also means that connections are being made among life's many aspects.
Beauty, love, and knowledge are fostered co-dependently when my schoolroom is my living room. It’s not just what we do there that makes these connections, but what is there. Here are three must-haves for your homeschool room.
1. A Whiteboard
In my experience, there are three stages to learning that sticks.
encounter
connect
communicate
I have never found anything better suited to these three stages than the whiteboard.
Don’t think of the whiteboard as a lecture tool. Think of the whiteboard as a projection of your personal learning journal. It displays your experience as the lead learner as you encounter new ideas, make connections with other ideas, and then start articulating them.
As I read the page from the Usborne World of Animals on the Sichuan forests, I encounter the forests on the whiteboard. I note key phrases and terms on the whiteboard. I draw pictures of the misty, pheasant-rich forests.
Next, I connect by embellishing. I draw how I imagine the animals are feeling. I write a sentence using newly learned terms. I draw arrows to other lands. I play with the information.
The whiteboard, being at the head of the table, prompts them to follow the lead. With their own journal in hand, they make their own notes and drawings.
Having invited them with the whiteboard to encounter and connect, now they, themselves, take to the whiteboard. They draw their own landscape to show the rest of us. I prompt them to consider key terms from the text. I encourage them to annotate. I gently question them, and I praise them for blessing us with their displayed work.
The whiteboard is a tool for the educator to lead by learning. It gives non-tyrannical direction to their individual learning practices. It stands for multi-perspectived learning that is designed to bless others.
2. A Vase of Flowers
I am torn between two dream-houses: a chic, minimalist apartment and a charmingly cluttered hobbit-hole. Where the coldness of the first is solace from the beleaguerment of endless LEGO underfoot, the warmth of the second welcomes us into cozy adventures.
I was more surprised to discover that blank walls are equally hard to process. The dreary expanse of wall was in danger of communicating that educational life is a boring necessity.
When my daughter adorned the table one morning with daisies, I realised that the flowers were changing the way we saw the lessons. Objects in the schoolroom were communicating either that truth is stolid and disembodied or that it is enchanting and embodied. The flowers became a cue to embody beliefs. We want a home culture that not only invites learning but also participates in the beauty of truth.
3. Songs
Before Covid-19, I was asked the almost daily question, “Why do you choose to homeschool?” Although I want my children to learn, to say that is my aim would be missing the point. What homeschooling is uniquely capable of achieving is a life-long love for learning. I want to light up loves, which sit behind learning. I want us to delight in God’s laws, not just obey them. I want to love truth, not only learn it.
Just as flowers in the schoolroom help to implant truth in culture, singing implants truth in our feelings. Singing something tells us that it is wonderful to us. A well-learned truth is integrated like this.
Singing is physical and proclamatory and happy. Singing the names of the oceans in Audio Memory: Geography Songs CD kit tells us that it is not just true, but significantly true.
Beautifying your schoolroom need not be vain or expensive, but replacing some bric-a-brac with flowers and pressing play on Audio Memory might give your next geography lesson depth worth singing about.
Whether you are starting your homeschool journey with a kindergartner or a high schooler, you are in for an adventure. It's one that doesn’t come with an exact map. This journey will lead you through deep valleys, up steep mountains, and through serene places. Sometimes you find it has placed you smack dab in the middle of a raging river. It's a thrilling adventure with inspiring moments, yet it can also be a scary journey with unpredictable setbacks.
Because there is no how-to manual for your specific family, you will need encouragement from those who have journeyed the road before. I've found some parallels between hiking and homeschooling that have given me direction and motivation. Here are three lessons from hiking for the new homeschooler.
1. Don’t Quit on the Uphill
On my daily walk down our street, I face steep hills that challenge my physical strength. Some days I want to stop in the middle of the road and quit because my legs are screaming at me to stop and my lungs are aching, trying to get enough air.
If I stop, I will never have the benefit of seeing what is on the other side of the hill and feel the sense of accomplishment that comes with pushing through the pain. When I reach that point of wanting to quit, I have to forge on.
In your homeschool journey, you can’t stop and give up. You have to move forward with a steady pace in order to succeed. Always keep the end in mind, and never look back with regret. You can push yourself much further than is comfortable, and you can achieve that which seems impossible. The uphill is coming, but you can overcome it.
2. Listen to Advice of Fellow Hikers
My husband and I went hiking in Yellowstone a few years ago. Before we went, we were excited about the possibility of encountering wild animals. Our naive excitement didn't consider the dangers on the trail.
When we arrived, there were people and signs all along the path, warning us to be on alert and to carry bear spray. We debated whether we really needed the spray. But heeding the recommendations of those who had gone before us, we did buy the valuable bear spray and were glad we had it when we actually encountered our first grizzly.
One of the best ways to prepare for your homeschool adventure is to listen to sound advice from those who know the trail well—those who have walked it before you and those who are walking it now. Listen to their advice, take it to heart, and then make your own decisions. I am not suggesting that you try to be someone else. You have to be you and do what is best for your family, but you can benefit from sound advice of others.
I know when I first started homeschooling, I took advantage of Sonlight’s Advisors and Instructor's Guides. Both of those tools helped me prepare for the journey ahead.
3. Pace Yourself with Breaks
Our family went hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park when our youngest child was about nine months old. We scoped out the best trail for our skill level, so we thought. As we began our outing, we realized we were not well prepared.
The trail proved to be more of a steep uphill climb most of the way before it leveled out into a beautiful clearing with monster-size elk, grazing peacefully. I had our nine month old son strapped to me in a baby carrier as we hiked. I was keeping pace until the high elevation air got the best of me. I literally thought I was going to die right there on the top of the Rocky Mountains. I could not breathe; my lungs would not take in enough air.
Mentally, I told myself I had to breathe before I went into an all-out panic attack. I stopped and took a break. I knew I eventually had to keep going. But in that moment, I had to stop and breathe so I could make the rest of the journey.
Sometimes you have to stop and take a break in your homeschool journey as well. If you don’t take breaks when needed, you might experience panic attacks, exploding fury, or diminished joy.
These breaks are good for you and for your children. Make them a priority. Pausing to catch your breath is not quitting. Breaks are, in fact, wise ways to pace yourself.
As a new homeschooler, you are on an exciting adventure. It will take you places that you never dreamed. Look for the daily lessons that will shape and mold you into who God wants you to be. Keep forging the trail!
Your Sonlight Instructor's Guide is probably the closest thing you'll find to a homeschool map. See how it can save you time and worry.
Every aspect of an American president’s life is examined prior to an election—including schooling. But being homeschooled would not rule out someone from running for political office, even the presidency. According to the US Constitution there are only 3 requirements to run for president:
You must be a natural born citizen.
You must have lived in the United States for at least fourteen years.
You must be at least 35 years old.
Plenty of presidents were homeschooled, in fact! Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945) is the most recent. While there are no current records of a president homeschooling children in the White House, there are also very few records of those same children attending public school. In fact only one president has sent a child to public school in the past century.
How Would a Homeschooler Become President?
There is no one perfect route to the presidency, but there are some common themes. While presidents from backgrounds as diverse as farmer and actor have graced the White House, most have a background in law and politics. All have been able to convince people that they are the right candidate for the job.
Who Will Be the Next Homeschooled President?
The person who becomes president is the one who can convince people to vote for them! This is accomplished not only by building a resume of success, but also by creating a social platform that demonstrates leadership and integrity.
If running for president or some other political office is an exciting idea in your homeschool, then it’s time to get started! Forget running for classroom president or student council. Here are five great ways homeschoolers can work towards a career in politics.
1. Look for Leadership Positions
Opportunities to lead exist beyond school walls. Consider groups where your family is already involved, but encourage your kids to be active participants prior to seeking leadership positions. Here are some great places to start looking:
church youth groups
sports teams
scouts and service organizations
4-H clubs
2. Join a Campaign
Money is the most sought after resource for campaigning. Do you know the second? Volunteers, of course!
Change is built from the ground up, which makes local campaigns a great place to learn about politics. Working for a mayoral or congressional campaign may require data entry or registering and mobilizing new voters. Look up local candidates and contact the one your family wishes to support.
3. Learn How the US Government Works
Sonlight's Election Headquarters is the place to start researching the upcoming election. Find hands-on activities, great books, and curriculum options, perfect for the would-be politician.
4. Be Heard
The best ideas in the world won’t go anywhere unless they are shared. Sharpening communication skills is critical.
Share ideas. Email mayors, senators, or congresspersons.
Build a political platform. Practice answering questions with short, clear language.
Practice public speaking. Simple ways to get started include theater, debate, and reading aloud to younger kids.
Join and contribute to causes that reflect the established platform.
5. Fundraise
Money is needed in order to campaign. Asking for backing and support is part of political life. Getting comfortable with raising funds for deserving causes and using entrusted monies efficiently is paramount. Almost all groups, teams, and clubs have fundraising opportunities.
Are You Homeschooling a Future President?
You could be raising a future president. As Andy Stanley says, “Your greatest contribution to the kingdom of God may not be something you do but someone you raise.”
Keep your family wrapped in faith and prayer. Political careers come with stress, rejection, and disappointment. They also come with amazing opportunities to improve the lives of people in our communities and throughout the world.
Step one towards educating your young public servant is understanding American history, government, and the election process. Get started at Sonlight's Election Headquarters. And be sure to request your FREE ELECTION UNIT STUDY.
