The Bible reading portion in Sonlight's History / Bible / Literature programs is one of our favorite parts of the day. I particularly appreciate how the assignments are listed at the very top of the Instructor’s Guide, a simple reminder that Bible study is the most important part of our schedule.
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You’ve decided to add a foreign language to your collection of homeschool electives and have invested in Rosetta Stone at Sonlight’s recommendation.
Where do you go from here?
How can you maximize your investment? Is there anything you can do to ensure that the hours your child spends using Rosetta Stone will translate into usable and lasting language knowledge? Does Rosetta Stone really work?
Yes, the program itself is engaging and teaches practical spoken language skills, but, like any tool, there are techniques and habits that lead to success.
We all know the effects of summer slide are real. That’s why some homeschool families, like my own, have opted for year-round schooling with short breaks at irregular times of year. After a long break from math or reading, children might need a lot of review for things they've forgotten.
The same effect happens when learning foreign languages. Only in this area, the effects of irregular study seem to be even more dramatic.
And...let’s be honest, when life gets busy, electives tend to be the first courses to fall by the wayside. If you’re finding that your child is constantly needing to review the same lesson or is not able to retain vocabulary, ensure they are using Rosetta Stone regularly each school day.
If little progress is being made, switch foreign language study to earlier in the school day. It is less necessary to spend large amounts of time on the program each day than it is to be consistent with daily exposure. Even 15 or 20 minutes on a daily basis has great effect in building confidence with using the target language.
Because it's an online program, your child can use Rosetta Stone anywhere there is access to an internet-connected device and a pair of earbuds. However, as much as possible, opt to use Rosetta Stone in a non-public location where it’s okay to speak out loud without disturbing others (or feeling awkward).
Rosetta Stone uses TruAccent® technology in pronunciation activities to help your child practice accurate pronunciation and get instant feedback. In reality, though, so much of language learning is retained through vocal repetition, that I recommend making a habit of always repeating the phrases being learned after the voice reads them out, instead of only during the specific pronunciation exercises.
The more practice, the more muscle memory develops, and the more chances to develop accurate pronunciation. This will be especially crucial when learning languages that have sounds which don’t exist in English (or their own native language). I highly recommend not limiting pronunciation practice only to the sections of the lesson which are testing pronunciation, but simply developing a habit of repeating after the recorded voice each and every time.
One of the most fantastic aspects of the Rosetta Stone program is that it’s completely online—no bulky textbooks needed. However, the solely digital factor can be a problem when studying a language that has a different alphabet or writing system than the one your student already knows.
Rosetta Stone does a good job of tackling language learning from every direction:
But particularly if you have chosen a language such as Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, or another language with a writing system other than the Latin alphabet used in English, I recommend seeking additional resources for writing practice.
In my own homeschool, we use Rosetta Stone for studying Mandarin Chinese. Chinese characters are introduced and practiced in the program, but we don’t rely on this program alone to master the language. Learning to read and write effectively in Mandarin takes practice beyond what a computer program can offer; the etymology of characters and careful practice of neat calligraphy and stroke order are not part of Rosetta Stone. The best way to remember how to write Chinese characters, in my experience, is that, after they have been learned, to write them, stroke by stroke, again and again, in a variety of sentences, building muscle memory and the experience of writing.
If you find that your child’s conversational and comprehension skills are advancing more quickly than his or her writing skills in the target language, have them spend some time with paper and pencil on a regular basis, practicing putting their new language on paper and getting the hang of the way it’s written.
Sometimes our brains put the things we learn into boxes of sorts. If a child enjoys studying language with Rosetta Stone but doesn’t have any experience with the language in any other way or at any other time, the knowledge may be stuck in the mental Rosetta Stone box. As a result, they will struggle to apply vocabulary correctly in other experiences outside using the program.
Very early in language learning, ask them to keep an eye open for examples of the language in everyday life. Since our homeschool is studying Mandarin with Rosetta Stone, I ask the girls if they recognize any characters they’ve learned on restaurant menus or local signs, because we live in a region where written Chinese is commonly seen around town. We’ll watch children’s TV shows in Mandarin, read simple books, and randomly quiz each other during the day.
Teach your child to keep their eyes and ears open for opportunities to engage with the content they’ve learned. I’ve found that they tend to see what they’re looking for.
Foreign language skills, when thoroughly acquired and allowed the opportunity to remain sharp instead of growing rusty, can accompany your child throughout their life and give them opportunities in career, ministry, and relationship that they could never have experienced without such skills. Rosetta Stone, when used to its maximum potential, provides an amazing jumping-off point into the world of speaking a new language!
Choose from 24 languages and add foreign language to your homeschool lineup today.
Sonlight is all about great books—biographies, novels, non-fiction, poetry anthologies, picture books, and reference volumes. Each book is carefully chosen and has to pass Sarita's Seven-Part Test:
So you can be assured that each title in a Sonlight curriculum package is high quality, both in terms of academics and moral quality.
So it's a nearly impossible task to select the best Sonlight books.
They are all the best. Truly.
But every book in Sonlight has special qualities that make it a superlative in its own right. Here is a list of 161 unique superlatives (plus a few extra) taken from the Sonlight catalog of homeschool curriculum.
Best preschool picture book for search and find (no longer in the Preschool Package): Cars and Trucks and Things That Go
Best subversive stories told by enslaved people (no longer in the Pre-K Package): The Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit
Most perennially popular Victorian stories and illustrations (no longer in the Pre-K Package): The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit
The way we all wish we could teach (no longer in HBL B): The Year of Miss Agnes
Best story of the lumber trade down the Mississippi (no longer in HBL D): Swift Rivers
Sonlight doesn't shy away from hard topics. Nor does it whitewash the shameful parts of history. Instead, it presents difficult themes through age-appropriate books—the best books. Combined with the notes in your Instructor's Guide and your own parental guidance, Sonlight books teach your child the ugliness and the beauty of our world.
A thread of redemption runs throughout Sonlight because it is a Christ-centered curriculum. So while evil is not erased from our lessons, it is always offset with the much greater force of good.
If you're ready to move to a twaddle-free curriculum based on quality literature, switch to Sonlight.
Sonlight offers Christian homeschool curriculum. Yet we include books that are written by non-Christians. We purposely do not slap a Bible reference on every page. And we tackle topics that make some people uncomfortable.
So what makes Sonlight's curriculum Christian?
Following Christ permeates Sonlight's homeschool programs in five key areas.
Sonlight includes biographies of people God used to change the world. We do this to allow your family to see how God works across denominations and time to expand His kingdom. These books also show how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things so you and your children can begin to consider how God wants to use you.
Christians have changed the world. Sonlight shows you how.
Sonlight includes missionary biographies so you and your children can catch God's heart for the world: Every person, no matter their race or religion, is loved by God who wants to bring them into His kingdom so they can find grace and healing and share that redemption with others. These books also tend to recount the amazing ways God works and the transformation that occurs within people who turn to Him.
Sonlight is a Christian education, based on the true stories of Christ-followers the world over.
Sonlight includes Scripture reading without specific curricular input to encourage and allow you and your children to hear God speak to you through His living word. Sonlighters learn to read through the Bible as the Bible and not just a few fun stories. This allows God's word to permeate your lives and do the work only the Spirit can do.
Sick of milquetoast devotions during breakfast Bible time? Come read Scripture with Sonlight.
Sonlight includes a prayer guide so your family can, together, begin to change the world through intercession for people who have not yet been connected with Christ. Your family can also, through this work, develop a passion for certain peoples that can alter their life trajectory to be more meaningful and fulfilling as you follow where God leads.
Join Sonlight in prayer as part of your homeschool and change the world.
Like great Christian thinkers of the past, Sonlight encourages questions, discussion, and consideration for other views so your family can better address the situations in which you find yourselves. With such a strong cross-cultural view resonating throughout our literature selection, your family has the opportunity to look beyond the scope of your community to a wider world that is desperate for winsome ambassadors for Christ.
Do your kids question Christianity? Sonlight helps your family wrestle with hard questions.
Sonlight, both the curriculum and the company, is permeated with Christ. It's an education that lets you discover your world, pray for your world, and ultimately change your world.
Read. Share. Pray. Talk. Together. That's a Sonlight education.
Start your Sonlight journey with SmoothCourse™.
If you are a new homeschool mom or are thinking of homeschooling but you struggle with fears, lean in close - I want you to hear this.
You can do this! You can homeschool.
Almost weekly, I have the same conversation with moms who tell me they are afraid to homeschool or could never homeschool because of one reason or another. Some of the reasons they share are:
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Luke (5) wanted to make his own pond to watch tadpoles grow. He is pictured with his father, Brendon. —Y. family, Sonlighters in Oregon City, OR
What I lack in sensitivity, I make up in hubris. My children frequently have to put up with my bluster and emotional dullness. But here are a few difficult phrases that I and my fellow homeschool dads can keep in our back pockets to help us raise our arrows.
So often I say with my tone of voice what I am afraid to say with words. I scowl and jeer at a messy bathroom floor rather than addressing it directly.
The mess returns every evening until my scowls accumulate into an outrage. From the perspective of my children, they do something permissible, until one day, it’s suddenly both impermissible and, indeed, outrageous. What a confusing contradiction.
The result is they end up feeling they need to manage the emotions of their parent, rather than fulfill their responsibilities. The solution is to express my feelings as clearly as I can and arrive at a fair division of labor.
The problem is that there is a part of me that thinks my sheer existence as an authority figure and hard-worker should elicit the same diligence in those around me, even in young children, without so much as a mention of the task, let alone a thank you.
Saying "I need help" is difficult, but essential.
This is a scathing-hot iron to my ego. When I attempt the accents in earnest for their Read-Aloud, coming up to an exciting part of the story, and the crescendo is lost in a peal of laughter at unrelated silliness, I’m irritated, of course, at having to repeat that part of the story. But more than that, it makes me feel like they don’t care about my efforts, or even don’t like me.
That doesn’t make sense, so it’s embarrassing to acknowledge the feeling. I direct it as vague ire towards them, which they internalize as vague disapproval. This whole chain can be short-circuited if I look my emotions straight in the face and articulate them carefully.
It's hard to recognize that my children have hurt my feelings, but I need to face the experience.
My 4-year-old wanted to bring left-over pasta on our walk to the park. I didn’t want to bring a backpack, so we left without either. We ended up in a forest next to the park, playing pirates. It didn’t take long, however, for us to get irritable without a snack. Tears ensued, and the game was cut short.
Instead of apologizing for not bringing a snack, I snapped at them for having, of all things, a short fuse.
The really hard thing about I’m sorry for a daddy is that it means relinquishing a certain amount of moral control.
In order to lead, we have to be trusted to have the insight to make decisions that benefit the family. If that insight fails, daddy takes one of three paths.
Dads tend to be good at pushing into the unknown. We encourage risk-taking, experimentation, and hard-work. It’s usually mom who calls the kids home for supper — to rest and safety. That feeling of safety in your mother’s arms is not just nice, but neurologically crucial.
The balance, however, of safety and risk-taking needs to be re-calibrated when daddy is the one who’s at home full-time (as is my situation).
Sometimes a father's desire to see his children achieve must take a backseat. He must hug through his child’s tears without explaining why the tears are misguided. Children must know that whatever happens out there in the wild, Daddy is Daddy:
"I will always be daddy. You cannot earn that and you need not overcome anything to secure that. Run to me, and I will fight the monsters. Come home, and the kettle will be on. You are my beloved children."
These reserved messages allow daddy to protect himself against illusory rejection. But reaching out with unreserved affection is very self-revealing and leaves daddy vulnerable to his son or daughter.
But when a child sees a daddy, confident to face the possibility of rejection, it communicates that she must be worth an awful lot. Her beauty is so treasured that she is worth seeking and protecting for the simple joy of her presence. The Father would give Himself to be with her and know her, even if it means covering a multitude of sins.
Choose a curriculum the whole family can enjoy together!
"Already they are making connections when we add new stickers and they notice what else is already on the page!"
—Cynthia H. of Champaign, IL
"One of our favorite parts of Sonlight curriculum is using the maps. I am a missionary kid who grew up all over the world and was always fascinated by maps. The world is a big, beautiful place and I am determined to teach my children (who are being raised in America) the value of other peoples, cultures, and other ways of thinking. I am so thankful for a curriculum that helps me do this."
—Sarah R. of La Fayette, GA
Mentally, I am fully convinced of the value of timelines and mapping. But in practice? I often treat them as if they are simply too much to fit into our homeschool schedule. That is, I skip them.
Yes, I admit it. Because I don't prioritize them, these two elements of our Sonlight curriculum often get squeezed out of our school days. I’ve come to realize that I need to create a time and space for The Timeline Book and the Markable Map. Here are three parts of my resolution to do better about actually using both the timeline and maps—no more forgetting, no more skipping.
When our children love The Timeline Book and Markable Map, we will be more likely to incorporate them into our day. Here's a list of ideas to help our children fall in love with these two learning tools:
It may seem obvious, but I need to face the fact that updating The Timeline Book and doing the map work require a certain amount of time. If we want to work with consistency, we need to include them in our daily schedules.
I always schedule time for history, science, and reading aloud, but I do not schedule 10 extra minutes for the timeline or maps. I am going to incorporate these two elements in our schedule for next year, actually writing them down where necessary.
We pay attention to things that are in full view and tend to forget about the books and projects that are stuffed in the closet or crammed between books on a shelf. It's important to create a space where The Timeline Book and the maps are proudly on display. For example, I’ve moved a small end table to the kitchen in order to prop up The Timeline Book in a picture frame holder and hang the Markable Map next to the CD player that we use for our Bible Memory songs. Where could you display these important resources so that they are likely to get your attention in the midst of a busy homeschool day?
Veteran homeschool moms agree: we won’t regret investing time and energy into these important elements of Sonlight curriculum. This year, let’s take a step in that direction and actually use our Timeline Book and Markable Map!
Your Sonlight Instructor's Guides tell you exactly where to place your timeline figures and how to do the mapping activities. Learn more about Sonlight's guides here.
