7 Q&As for Homeschooling the Advanced Reader

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7 Q&As for Homeschooling the Advanced Reader

Some children are advanced readers who excel at reading. Either they read naturally without a lot of instruction, or they learn it effortlessly after a few lessons and quickly zoom way ahead of grade level. If you have an advanced reader like this, you may be surprised by the lack of information about homeschooling kids in this camp. There's lots of information on how to teach children who struggle with reading, but advanced readers don't get much attention even though they have unique needs, too! Here are seven questions that homeschooling parents of advanced readers tend to ask along with my own answers based on experiences with my children.

Q. Do I Have to Teach Reading if They’re Reading Already?

If your child is reading at a 4th to 5th grade reading level at age 5, you might not need to teach reading per se, but many early, advanced readers still benefit from introducing at least some phonics lessons.

If your child breezes through reading lessons, seems to have a great grasp of phonics, and doesn't need help spelling, chances are you can skip those lessons. But if your child seems to need a little extra help in those areas, it’s worth going over the rules.

Q. Why Can’t My Child Write Well if They’re Already Reading Well?

While reading and writing are related skills, advanced readers aren't automatically great writers. Reading is decoding. It’s like being able to translate a message sent in secret code.

Writing, however, is different. It’s like trying to figuring out how to translate your own message into a code. It’s much more complicated and requires more mental work than reading does. Most children learn to read well before they learn to write well.

Q. Should I Choose Sonlight’s Language Arts Program Based on My Child’s Reading Level or Writing Level?

Gifted readers don’t need a lot of reading instruction or practice, but they often still need help writing, spelling, and understanding grammar. Sonlight allows you to build your own program, mixing and matching reading and language arts levels, but you will want to choose your language arts based upon your child’s writing levels. It’s always easier to add extra or more challenging books to your child's stack of Readers than it is to make a complete language arts level less difficult.

Download the free samples and use the assessments to see where your child falls in writing. If you have doubts, reach out to an Advisor who can help you find the best fit.

Q. What Do I Do if I Run Out of Reading Levels for My Child?

Sonlight offers a variety of reading levels for programs before History / Bible / Literature (HBL) D. However, starting with HBL D, your child should ideally be able to use the D Readers and Language Arts D because a lot of the history is found in the Readers. Using a different Reader level at that point can be done, but it does take away from the comprehensive nature of the program.

Below HBL D, Sonlight offers a variety of readers in Kindergarten through 4th grade with matching Language Arts programs. Some parents might find their children are reading above a fourth grade level before they finish with all the HBL programs below D. There are several options for these parents:

  1. repeat a lower reading program
  2. supplement with additional materials from elsewhere
  3. create their own reading program

But many advanced readers are also avid readers, reading more than the required readers would have asked for anyway. These children don’t really need to have scheduled readers to encourage them to read every day or need graded readers to help them advance in ability. They will be fine with 20 minutes (or more) a day of free reading time.

Q. What if My Child Always Wants to Read Ahead?

There’s more than one correct answer to this question!

  1. Some parents restrict their children to reading only what’s on the schedule for schoolwork while allowing them to read as much as they want in their recreational reading.
  2. Other parents allow their children to read any readers at any time, knowing they will be able to relate back to the books as needed.
  3. Still other parents will have the child start the book when the schedule calls for it, but allow the child to finish the book early, and read something else until the next book is scheduled.

Q. Can I Give My Child Some of the History Books and Read-Alouds to Read (in Addition to the Readers)?

The Read-Alouds and History books are chosen in all the programs based upon the idea that the parent will read these to their child. Therefore, you will find a lot of intense topics in them. Topics such as slavery, death, sacrifice, or even touching on occasional sensual materials can be found in
Read-Alouds and History. Some children will struggle with these books without a parent to work through these books with them, and find the content too deep for them on their own. You will want to carefully consider each book before giving it to your child, and might even want to read them ahead of time to be aware of the sensitive content and issues so you can address them.

You’ll also find many of the books have considerably harder vocabulary, and are longer, with a smaller font, making the reading load much heavier than just adding books at your child's reading level. Your children might get overwhelmed with the amount of reading or miss part of the content because they don’t have a full grasp of what they are reading.

So, while you can hand the books to your children to supplement their reading, I would advise you do so with caution. It’s easier for the parent, especially busy parents like myself, who have a lot of children and not a lot of hours to teach in, to just hand a book to a child to read, but it might not always be best for the children. Some children will handle some of these extra books well, but not all.

Q. What Can I Use for More Readers?

If you need to design a reading program for an avid reader on your own, You've got lots of options!

  1. Try the Sonlight Summer Readers.
  2. Look for retired Sonlight books (books from older Sonlight programs that are no longer used).
  3. We love to add in sequels and books by the same author.
  4. I also like to peruse other literature-based curricula and sprinkle in their books for readers, although I do have to warn that on several occasions, we have found books that I would consider less than appropriate for the age level of the child reading the book or behavior in the book that we would strongly disapprove of.
  5. Classics still make good reading material today.
  6. Used book sales and libraries will often provide hidden treasures.

The goal is to get them reading, and once reading, to encourage them to read material that will interest them, help them learn, and keep them reading.

You’ll find that most avid readers read everything: cereal boxes, street signs, the little brochures in the waiting room. They need less instruction on how to read and more guidance in finding great books. I learned early on that there was no way to keep my children in enough readers. They would go through dozens of books a week from the library and read their entire weeks’ worth of reading in an hour or so on the first day of the week. However, I encouraged their reading by offering them a variety of good books so they were always learning something new and learning to appreciate high quality literature.

Sonlight will grow with your child, providing high quality books to read every year. While you might find yourself low on readers for a short while, there will be readers coming up that will help your child grown and stretch, even if they are already advanced. Children who are great readers will continue to be great readers with Sonlight.

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6 Helps for the Struggling Writer

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I love words—all kinds of words, believing that that words, whether spoken or written, carry power and influence. I have always particularly loved written words. When I was young, I kept a journal to document my life and feelings. When I got older, I regularly sent handwritten notes to people who needed extra encouragement. In high school, I breezed through composition classes. In college, I wrote my own papers and helped my husband write his. After college, I felt a little lost. The profession I had chosen didn’t require regular writing opportunities. So you can imagine when, around a decade ago, I discovered blogs. I was hooked. I knew that I would be writing for the rest of my life, even if no one else read it.

So when it came time to teach my first child the art of writing, I was confident. Maybe a little too confident, because about a month into the endeavor, I was disappointed, to put it mildly. My oldest child did not find writing to be cathartic in any way. Instead, even the act of putting the letters on paper seemed to be the most unnatural task he had ever tried. After about a year of fighting through, we decided to go to an occupational therapist. As it turned out, my son had something called dysgraphia, which to put simply is when the act of writing with pencil and paper is literally too difficult due to a lack of fine motor dexterity.

After that diagnosis, I knew that I had to up my game. I had to find a way to get him writing. So over the past seven years, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing: coming up with creative ideas to get my boy to see the value in words. Here are 6 of the most helpful techniques that have worked with him. I hope they help you reach your struggling writer!

1. Separate Penmanship and Composition

My son had, and still has, horrible penmanship, but his mind is brilliant. He has all kinds of great ideas floating around up there just waiting to flow out onto paper. But, penmanship really bogs him down. I realized several years back that these are actually two separate subjects.

  • Penmanship is a measure of how well your child forms his letters.
  • Composition is how well your child communicates ideas.

I knew that I needed to separate these two subjects for my son to be successful.

When your child composes, do not count off points for or criticize penmanship. Composition and penmanship are always separate.

2. Use Oral Narration Often

Thankfully, about the time we realized that Isaac had dysgraphia, we were in the process of switching over to Sonlight curriculum. Sonlight taught me that I don’t need to require my child to write in every subject. We used oral narration heavily, especially in the early years when we were working to develop those essential fine motor skills.

Keep in mind that public schools require writing in most subjects because it’s the easiest way to assess large groups of children at once, not because it is the correct or only way to assess.

In subjects like science, history, Bible, and reading, have your child narrate what they learned from the reading assignment back to you instead of writing. You can keep a simple record of their narration in your Instructor’s Guide if you choose.

3. Have Your Child Dictate

I mentioned earlier that in college I would often help my husband write his papers. My husband never needed help on the content of these papers, but he struggles with Attention Deficit Disorder, so we learned that he needed to pace while he wrote. He would pace the room and say what he wanted in his paper while I would type it. All the ideas were his own. I simply was the secretary.

This same idea can apply when homeschooling. When my struggling writer needs to write, he will tell me what he wants on paper, and I will write or type it. The catch is that I will write or type it with no punctuation, no capital letters, and no formatting. Once we put his ideas on paper, he goes through and corrects the grammar and formatting. Then, he will either retype or rewrite the entire paper in small sections each day. He has written some truly spectacular compositions using this method.

If you have multiple children or do not have the time to devote to this kind of writing process, the recorder feature on your smartphone can be used in a similar fashion.

Act as your child’s scribe, writing down everything they say. Then, have them go through the first draft to revise, edit, and create the final draft.

4. Start a Mom & Me Journal

The Mom & Me Journal has been a huge part of getting my children writing. For us, this is a simple spiral bound notebook that they have decorated, and it usually includes some type of warning on the cover that goes something like this: “For Mom’s & Hannah’s Eyes Only.” I will write to them, talking about something that has been on my mind, and then I’ll ask an open-ended question. Then I’ll put it on their bed or their desk. They will write me back and put it on my bed or desk. The notebook will float back and forth.

I do hold to a few rules with the Mom & Me Journal. First, I never correct grammar, format, or spelling. I only model it in my own writing back. Secondly, I never critique their content. I may ask, “Why do you think that is so?” or “What could you do to change this?” but nothing more.

I have also been known to occasionally even sneak a writing assignment into the journal. For example, I might say, “If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?” This is the beginning of a future composition paper about a travel destination.

I also use the Mom & Me Journal to get insight into how my kids are feeling. They are much more apt to write down when they are feeling sad or hurt than they are to say it. So we also talk about heart issues in the journal.

Keep an open dialogue and model correct grammar, spelling, and formatting with a Mom & Me Journal.




"Thank goodness for the Diamond Notes system we've learned from Sonlight. We have about 10 weeks left of Language Arts 3 and get a big kick out of looking back at his writing ability at the beginning of the year versus now." 

Amanda D. of Montgomery, AL

5. Show and Examine Examples of Great Writing

I am a fan of children being surrounded by great literature. Of course, Sonlight does a fantastic job of this! Each week, in the elementary to middle school years of Sonlight Language Arts, the first assignment is a copywork passage from the current reading. This is tempting to skip, but it is so important.

Instead of glossing over these passages, sink deep into them. Examine what makes it a great passage. Notice the punctuation, and allow them to ask questions. Encourage them to copy the passage slowly and carefully.

A few weeks ago, my seventh grader, who is currently working through Sonlight HBL G World History, came across the topic of primary and secondary support sentences within a paragraph. We took the examples provided and dissected them. He used three different colors to highlight the topic sentence, primary, and secondary support sentences. It was such a treat for me when, after doing this exercise, he looked at his own writing sample, highlighted it, and realized that he actually had only included a topic sentence and secondary support. He hadn’t included any primary support at all! We added a couple of primary support sentences, and he was immediately able to see how the organization drastically improved his writing. Because we spent time examining good passages, he was able to pinpoint where his own work was lacking.

Examine exemplary writing samples often. Read and study the work of great authors.  (Don't skip the copywork assignments!)

6. Model Writing

In the early years of elementary school, shared writing is common in schools and homeschools alike. But, as kids get older, this falls by the wayside. We need to remember that sometimes children are not quite ready to take off the training wheels when we think they should be. If you have a struggling writer, you may consider extending the shared writing season another year or two.

Shared writing is simply writing a story or paragraph together. You contribute some, and your child will contribute some. Remember that this is not about whose ideas are included in the story. Rather, shared writing is all about modeling good writing practices. As you sit beside your child and create a story with them, you will be modeling the writing process as well as correct grammar, spelling, and formatting. I am always encouraged by how my child’s writing evolves after my modeling. Many times, improvement doesn’t require us to say anything. It only requires us showing them.

Take every opportunity to model good composition skills. Remember that writing does not have to be an independent activity at the age of seven. If your child needs your help longer, that’s okay. Savor the extra years of shared writing (and be sure to save some of those precious stories you write together!).

We are seven years into the great writing struggle, and I am happy to report that, while we have a little way to go, my son has become a proficient writer. It hasn’t come on any standardized time table. Rather, it has come in his own time, but it has come all the same. Surprisingly, I have seen that he may actually have a little hint of my love of words after all, especially when the topic is sports. The other day, he even said, “You know, being a sports writer wouldn’t be so bad.” Never in a million years would I have thought he might even consider a career path in writing, but crazier things have happened.

If you have a struggling writer, take heart! A little creativity will go a long way in showing your child a whole new world of communication. And if you are a struggling writer yourself, don’t worry! Some of the best teachers are those who are learning alongside their student.

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Why You Probably Won't Do Every Sonlight Level & Why That's Okay

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Why You Probably Won't Do Every Sonlight Level & Why That's Okay

Sonlight offers a whole array of curriculum from preschool through graduation. There are so many options that many families aren’t able to use each and every program even if they are committed to using Sonlight for K-12.

When I began homeschooling, the thought of my children not doing every level terrified me. My mind insisted that skipping a level was equivalent to skipping a grade. Now I know that isn’t true.

There are a variety of reasons children might not use or finish all Sonlight levels:

  • combining two or more children into one level for family-style learning
  • slowing the pace due to content issues
  • life interference

Out of my seven students, three of them are in or finished with high school, and my plan for each child looks totally different. Only one child will do all the Sonlight levels. The other two are in college already, and it hasn’t hurt them to have skipped a level here or there.

Sheep Shearing in College

One thing that helped me realize it’s okay every child doesn’t take the same classes was remembering college. My first degree was a two-year LPN (licensed practical nurse) degree at a small-town college in Minnesota. In the heart of farm country, the college offered a surplus of agricultural courses.

Reading obsessively through the course catalog on a quest for interesting courses, Sheep Shearing caught my eye. Located between Lamb and Wool Management and Equine Production (neither sounding interesting), Sheep Shearing beckoned to me. Although I had no interest in shearing sheep, I suddenly wanted to know how such a specific topic was worth 3 credit hours! I was tempted take the class to find out.

Of course, that would mean paying for a class I didn’t need and touching a sheep. I never found out the secrets, but it made the list of classes I wanted to take some day along with Metalworking, Wind Band Conducting ( I’ve never played a wind instrument), and Egyptology.

Thinking back, I realize somewhere out there is a student who did take sheep shearing that year and found it very useful. Like me, this unknown, imaginary student, could not take every class offered by the college. Thousands of students passed through that college while I was there, and only 32 of them were in my classes, taking the same courses I did. Everyone else was doing something different. Of course, I never thought my education might be inferior because I didn’t take every single class offered at the college. The principle applies to Sonlight, too!

The Flexibility of Sonlight Programs

Sonlight offers more courses than your child needs. This abundance means you have flexibility!

  • Your child, like my 14-year-old, might take and enjoy them all. He’s done everything from Preschool to currently 200, and is likely to finish every single program offered.
  • Or you have a child like my 18-year-old senior who will take most of the courses, but might miss a couple along the way. She got a little behind when dyslexia made it hard for her to finish a History / Bible / Literature (HBL) program in a single year.
  • Perhaps you might find, like my 19-year-old former foster daughter, that life interferes and you simply don’t have the time or the opportunity to do them all.

All three of these children are doing well in life. They all have their own goals, and their futures don’t all look the same. And that’s okay. They are all thriving.

If your child doesn’t get to every HBL, if you skip books, or if you simply choose to not do every level, you are no different from the student who took Sheep Shearing. Your child’s path might not include every level, but it is no less wonderful for that.

Sonlight Offers More Levels than You Need

Sonlight has so many enticing courses, especially in the upper grades!

But, none of these are required for high school graduation or college admission. They can be used for high school credits, certainly, but if teens don’t take any of these, they will still graduate and can still get into a good college.

Not Every Child Has the Same Interests

Children tend to throw our best-laid plans into turmoil. A friend of mine took her child out of public school in fifth grade and promptly planned out his curriculum through graduation. She carefully researched her options and painstakingly choose each course with great care. Last year, as a junior, he looked over her plan, and decided to skip everything except one more level of math in his senior year, giving him just enough credits to graduate. Then he got a job and is saving money for college next year.

Another friend has a child who simply didn’t want college. He graduated, got a job in his desired field, and quickly worked his way up the ranks to a medium-level position within a year.

Children rarely follow the plan as written. You might decide to do all the Sonlight courses with your child, but your child might not want to do them all or might wish to do them in a different order. Go ahead and plan if you enjoy that! But don't get too comfortable with your plan. Be willing to change it.

Learning Doesn’t End at Graduation

It’s so easy to focus in on that end goal of high school graduation. However, that’s not the end of your child's education! One of my children took the next HBL with her to college to have good books to read in her free time. Another one of my children has taken an extra year for high school, taking part time dual enrollment courses and doing an extra HBL at home as well. I enjoy reading Sonlight books for myself at home as an adult.

You can also complete the levels non-traditionally. You might add in books over the summer or have an older child read material they skipped a few years ago. Learning doesn’t need to stop just because school does. No matter what that final transcript looks like, your child will have a high-quality, solid, Biblical education with Sonlight.

Don’t let the drive to do it all cause you to forget why you’re homeschooling in the first place. In the words of Dorothy Canfield Fisher, in Understood Betsy,

“[Elizabeth Ann] had always thought she was there to pass from one grade to another, and she was ever so startled to get a glimpse of the fact that she was there to learn how to read and write and cipher and generally use her mind, so she could take care of herself when she came to be grown up. Of course, she didn’t really know that till she did come to be grown up, but she had her first dim notion of it in that moment, and it made her feel the way you do when you're learning to skate and somebody pulls away the chair you've been leaning on and says, 'Now, go it alone!'"

Understood Betsy

If you need help mapping out a plan for your child's curriculum choices, Sonlight has homeschool consultants available to help. Click here to schedule an appointment.

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The 3 Things You Need for Teaching Critical Thinking

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The 3 Things Needed for Teaching Critical Thinking in the Homeschool

If you have a baby and would like her to learn to speak English as she grows, what would you do? Would you go out and buy a vocabulary curriculum for her, start it at 6 months old, and trust that would be sufficient?

Of course not! We teach babies to speak by speaking to them, speaking around them, and simply exposing them to language in context every day.

Vocabulary is far too complex to be taught in isolation with a single curriculum.

Critical thinking is another such complex skill. It's nearly impossible to teach critical thinking quickly, in isolation, and without much real-life exposure. It requires a holistic and long-term approach to education and parenting to successfully impart!

What is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking has become a litmus test of a good education. We all want our graduates to demonstrate this skill, which according to one helpful article includes "seeing both sides of an issue, being open to new evidence that disconfirms your ideas, reasoning dispassionately, demanding that claims be backed by evidence, deducing and inferring conclusions from available facts, solving problems, and so forth."

Yet many educators approach this complex skill as if students can learn it with a few hours of critical thinking workbooks each week.

I think vocabulary curriculum and critical thinking workbooks definitely have their place. But, just as vocabulary curriculum won't do much good if your child isn't also hearing the language in everyday contexts, a critical thinking program won't do much good unless the main thrust of your homeschool also helps your child learn to think critically. If your child isn't learning to reason, to consider another's viewpoint, in their daily school and life, it's going to be very hard for them to translate the skills they learn from a workbook into any other situation.

How to Teach Critical Thinking in the Homeschool

According to this scholarly article on why you can't teach critical thinking, most attempts to teach critical thinking don't do much good. And that may be because there are three aspects to thinking critically that are very hard to teach.

But here's the good news: Sonlight deliberately addresses all three aspects of teaching critical thinking. Maybe this is why customers rave about how Sonlight has helped them raise critical thinkers over the long haul—even without a workbook labeled Critical Thinking. Here are the three areas essential to developing critical thinking and how Sonlight naturally incorporates each:

1. Background Knowledge

It's hard to make connections between ideas, evaluate opposing views and reason logically if you don't know many ideas in the first place. If you're trying to give an unbiased critique of colonialism in Africa, but don't know anything about colonialism and its effects, you'll have a hard time coming up with valuable contributions.

Since Sonlight students learn history in a way they enjoy and remember, they develop a vast reservoir of background knowledge and cultural literacy to help them along the way. They understand the big picture of how history has unfolded, so they have a firm foundation from which to make connections and consider new ideas.

2. Specific Skills and Steps

Students need to know what to do when they set out to analyze an argument or consider a different viewpoint. Sonlight provides this naturally. If the author of a book has a clear bias, we'll point that out in the Instructor's Guide and offer counter arguments and other viewpoints. As you discuss with your children, students learn the steps of identifying a bias, considering another point of view, looking for reasons to support both sides, and deciding which (if either) creates a better argument.

Students will read one perspective in one book, another perspective in another book, counter-balancing notes in the Instructor's Guide, and then learn to compare and evaluate those differing thoughts. That's what I call a well-rounded education!

3. Abundant Practice

You wouldn't expect children to use a new word naturally in conversation just because they saw it once on a vocabulary sheet. And it turns out that critical thinking skills are even harder to translate from one context to another. (That's why word problems can be so tricky in math–students don't recognize that they already have the skills they need to solve a problem when it's presented in new and different real-life contexts.)

So in order to make progress, children need lots of practice applying the steps of critical thinking. And with Sonlight, your children will get practice in this every day. It starts off very gently when they're young, and by the time they graduate high school they've done it hundreds (thousands?) of times.

Reading and Discussing Literature Builds Critical Thinking

Simply reading lots of literature does wonders to help children consider another's point of view. When you walk a mile in a character's shoes through reading a compelling story about them, you come to understand how they see life, even if that's very different from your own experience. This ability is invaluable when it comes to listening to both sides of an issue.

And with Sonlight, we help students go beyond a light reading of most of the books they read. Discussion questions push students to consider deeper issues and make connections with historical events of the time. And this critical thinking doesn't just happen with one book, but with hundreds of books over the years. With so much practice, it becomes second nature to think and see beyond the surface.

Perhaps critical thinking is like a muscle. If you never work out that muscle, it's weak and you have trouble relying on it. If kids practice using it regularly, they naturally begin to apply what worked and what didn't work in previous experiences. They become adventurous enough to try something new or use what they learned in a previous or similar situation to solve a new problem.

Yes, you have to know something about the problem already in order to solve it (background knowledge). But it also helps if kids have solved other challenging problems previously. Aside from the skills they practiced in solving other challenging problems, they have learned at a very basic level that they can solve such problems. And so they have the confidence to try again.

Sonlight's Natural Approach to Critical Thinking

Sonlight's teaching method is all about natural learning:

  • conversations with your children about what they're learning
  • discussion questions that challenge kids to think more deeply about topics
  • answering why something happened and not just what happened

This method is a combination of both acquiring knowledge and gaining daily practice in thinking critically about that knowledge.

When comparing Sonlight to another curriculum, one mom posted on the (now defunct) forums:

"There truly will be zero comparison in critical thinking skills. I found [the other curriculum] to be more retelling than thinking about the reading, the comparing of views, the whys.  [The other curriculum] just doesn't hold a candle to [Sonlight in] this line of thought."

And that is my prayer—that Sonlight students will learn to carefully weigh what they hear so that they can confidently pursue Truth and live the life that God has for them.

Curious to see what an education infused with critical thinking might look like for your family? Go to SmoothCourse to explore your options.

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Meet Your Sonlight Advisors: Your Personal Cheering Team

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Sonlight Advisors are your advocates! Whether you are considering homeschooling or have been using Sonlight for years, Sonlight Advisors are here to help you homeschool successfully.

These ladies are accessible in several ways so you can find the avenue that's most convenient for you! Reach out via chat, phone call, email, or in the Facebook group for help with a variety of Sonlight and homeschool needs:

  • choosing the best curriculum fit for your family
  • addressing specific learning issues
  • answering questions about Sonlight
  • offering encouragement through conversation or prayer

Because it's always nice to get to know the people behind the direct message, email, or phone call, here's a brief introduction to the Sonlight Advisors.


Margaret 

Sonlight Advisor
Margaret

I'm Margaret, a homeschooling mom of 9 children. The oldest three have completed college and are working as a gaming engineer, a software developer, and an industrial engineer, respectively. Two are still in college - one studying electrical engineering and the other mechanical engineering. My high school senior intends to study computer engineering, and I still have an 11th, 8th, and 5th grader at home.

I first found Sonlight over 15 years ago and fell in love with the scheduling and content. Our favorite part of the day is reading aloudeveryone seems to gather no matter whose read aloud it is.

My favorite thing about homeschooling is being able to watch my kids expand their knowledge and grow in their relationships with each other.

In our spare time, my family enjoys looking after the farm life on our small Texas homestead. I love being a Sonlight Advisor because I want to encourage and support families who are homeschooling, particularly through the high school years. With homeschooling, sometimes the days seem long or unproductive but it is so worth the sacrifice to make this immeasurable impact in a child's life.


Debbie

My name is Debbie, and I homeschooled using Sonlight for 19 years - beginning when my oldest was in 2nd grade.  I have three boys who graduated high school using Sonlight in 2010, 2014, and 2016.  My daughter graduated in 2019.

Sonlight Advisor
Debbie

We are definitely not the perfect homeschooling family! I am a single mom. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs along the way. One child is profoundly gifted in math but who failed out of college. Another one has a learning challenge that we didn’t identify or remedy until his senior year of high school and which made reading, writing, and doing math very difficult. I have kids who enjoyed learning and kids who dug their heels in and refused to work. I’ve had kids cheat and lie about the work they completed (or didn’t).  I have also had kids far exceed my expectations. 

None of my kids would choose reading as a pastime. But Sonlight has worked so well through it all. Sonlight’s literature-based approach works no matter who you are teaching. My very math/science oriented boys actually score better on the language portions of the ACT (or other standardized testing) than the math portion!

My kids have done many things since graduating high school including trade school, college/university, the military (Navy and Air Force), owning a business, working for a major tech company, working in the holistic medical field, and working in areas such as welding, robotics, engineering, manufacturing, design, electrical and structural systems, mathematics, statistics, and programming.   

I love helping families choose and use Sonlight Curriculum.  I have a passion for homeschooling high school and helping parents realize that not only can they do it successfully, but that their children have limitless possibilities when they homeschool high school. Math is also a passion! I have been helping and encouraging Sonlighters for 25 years!

When I have the chance, I love camping—preferably by a mountain stream.  I use the time to read, sleep, and draw close to the Lord. 


Barbara

Homeschooling was never something my husband and I thought about for our family, but God had other ideas. The private school my oldest was to attend closed unexpectedly just before he entered kindergarten. I attended a homeschool conference only to meet my sister for lunch, but glancing at the sea of curriculum options, I was immediately drawn to the books and Instructor’s Guides (IGs) at the Sonlight booth. My parents never read to us growing up and if I was to homeschool, I knew I wanted something different for our children.

Barbara Walsted
Sonlight Advisor
Barbara

So, our Sonlight adventures began in 1995 with a kindergartener and an 8-month-old son. Once we started, I found my favorite part of our day was reading out loud to my boys. Thankfully, the IGs prompted our family to discuss many different topics and worldviews through a Christian viewpoint before they left for college.

Both sons used Sonlight exclusively from PreK through twelfth grade. Sonlight has truly developed lifelong learners in our family. In 2013, both of my sons took significant steps toward their futures. Our oldest son graduated from a 4-year university and later earned his MBA. That same month, our youngest son graduated from high school, earned his bachelor’s degree, and is now working his dream job in cybersecurity. Both of them got married just a few months apart in 2017. I will be forever grateful to have spent so much time with our sons for the first 18 years of their life!

After my youngest graduated from homeschool, I decided to return to college where I earned my bachelor’s degree. I have been working for Sonlight as an Advisor for many years!

Sonlight deepened our family connections. It is my desire to help you choose the best Sonlight programs for your family. I’d love to share our experiences—the good, the not so good, and the challenging—and be your cheerleader on the sidelines all year long!!


Emme

Sonlight Advisor
Emme

Before homeschooling my three children, I was previously a Montessori teacher. My oldest attends Baylor University, and we are so excited for what God has in store for her.

I’ve been blessed to serve many years in ministry, work with autistic children, and tutor all ages of students.

My favorite things to do are kayaking, biking, hiking, cooking, reading, and spending quality time with family and friends.


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5 Homeschool Organization Questions That Make a Big Impact

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Running a household is a big task. You have so many things to keep track of and do each day. Running a household and homeschooling? That can mean even more to handle. It is a big calling, but you also gain a lot of flexibility when the kids are home with you for school. You have more freedom to shape your family’s days. So to help you think through how to set up your homeschool days, consider these five key questions.

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Why You'll Never Find Balance (But What to Seek Instead)

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Why You'll Never Find Balance (But What to Seek Instead)

Balance is a homeschool buzzword. You’ve surely heard it many times. The implication is that, with a little creativity and prioritizing, you’ll step into the center of your own life’s Venn Diagram, finally finding peace.

It’s a beautiful concept, but to be honest, I’m not sure it actually exists. The idea of finding the precise symmetry point in the spectrum of needs and obligations is alluring, to be sure. Who doesn’t want to be all things, to all people… and still have energy left over to carve out time to refill your own tank? But can you possibly find that perfect place of balance? And, if you can, does that mean you should?

The Song (Never) Remains the Same

If balance is your goal, you’re in for a tense ride.

Why? Because achieving balance implies that you find a spot and stay there. Think of how much effort it takes to find the precise point of leverage to keep a fork balanced on the tip of your finger. Move just a little to the left, and it falls. To the right… and the same effect.

To maintain balance, you have to remain perfectly still—and so does the load you’re carrying. How is that possible in the life of a homeschooling mother?

Balance the housework and school?

  • The minute you’ve got it figured out, soccer season rolls around. Then, not only do you have less time in your evenings, but your laundry has just doubled.
  • Child number one can manage Readers alone now? Great! Time to teach child number two the ropes of phonics.

To borrow a metaphor, the homeschooling mom is a mouse and guess what? The cheese is always on the move.

Finding Freedom From Guilt

I've found freedom from the stress of chasing balance by instead stepping into a homeschooling vision of seasons. Some seasons will find you needing to focus more on home projects or a new baby—meaning there’s less attention given towards formal academics. Rather than feeling the weight of not being able to bear it all in equal parts, seeing the time as one where the bulk of energy is spent in one place for a time sets you free from worrying or feeling less than.

And when you emerge from a season of intense learning to find that you need to invest in an elderly loved one with failing health, you can rest that God’s purpose for this season is not balance, either… but moving into a new phase where He has ordained a different curriculum for you all to learn from.

Embracing Your Season

So if balance isn’t the end all be all, how do you go about finding joy in this ebb and flow of a seasonal life? The answer is to shift your perspective. See homeschooling as a long-term lifestyle, rather than a project to be managed minute-by-minute.

Instead of seeking balance, seek to embrace the season you are in!

If you’re pursuing balance, you’ve taken stock of the to-do list and doled out bits of your attention in an effort to keep the scales from swinging too far in either direction. When you strive for balance, happiness is only possible at the fulcrum:

When you’re allowing for seasons, you’re letting the larger needs rise to the top, allowing them to be addressed as deeply and for as long as needed before they fully resolve. Your joy isn’t in filling the role of “doer,” but in understanding that you’re right where you’re supposed to be—an instrument of God’s provision in this time, in this place.

Maybe the math isn’t getting done, but the heart issue is being attended to. Maybe the house is a wreck, but you’re head over heels in love with your husband and can’t wait for your next in-home date night.

It’s an overall paradigm shift, but one that can help a homeschooling mother release voices of internal condemnation ("Why can’t you manage all of this?!") and grab hold of the peace that I believe God desires for all of His children.

Imagine a curriculum that flexes to your seasons of life, even with multiple children. Learn more about Sonlight here.

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