Sonlight teaches History using great books, in a method that over the last three decades has proven itself to be both powerful and effective. But why would we choose to rely on literature instead of other tried-and-true materials or methods? At Sonlight, we believe a literature-rich homeschool curriculum is ideal for a teaching history (and other subjects) for five main reasons.
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Although your Sonlight Instructor's Guide might look overwhelming to begin with, after spending a few minutes getting acquainted, you will feel at ease with your big binder. It looks more confusing than it is! Even if you’ve never taught children before, you can do this!
Follow these five simple steps for a quick Instructor’s Guide orientation.
Sonlight sells Instructor’s Guides for three subjects:
They have the same general format—a schedule grid with notes—but cover different topics. When you ordered, you chose either a 4-day or a 5-day schedule, based on the overall workload you want to do, and whether you are in a co-op on the fifth day.
All Sonlight Instructor’s Guides have 36 numbered divisions. A traditional school year has 180 days, and 36 x 5 is 180. You can think of each division as a week, and Sonlight materials speak of 36 weeks, even though you often won’t actually do the four or five days on the schedule in a calendar week. The school year is filled with holidays, field trips, occasional illness, appointments, and so on. Rather, think of your year as “doing the next thing.”
With a 36 “week” division, you have many opportunities to celebrate progress. Every four weeks you’ve finished a month, every nine weeks you’ve finished a quarter, every 12 weeks you finish a trimester, and 18 weeks equals a semester. You’re never more than four weeks away from a milestone!
The Instructor’s Guide itself has three parts:
Notice that your schedule is a grid. At the top, you can see the total number of days you’ve finished (out of either 180, for a 5-day program, or 144, for a 4-day program), as well as where you are in that specific “week.”
The left column gives the name of the book you’ll use; the other four or five columns give the specifics about which pages you’ll read each week. For most weeks of the year, your weekly prep amounts to thirty seconds before you start reading to gather up any new books you’ll be starting that week. Easy!
Most Sonlighters work vertically, column by column, doing the assignments for a day, then moving on to the next school day. This gives you a range of assignments to enjoy every day.
Some people, however, prefer to work horizontally, perhaps reading all the poetry and all the History in a day, then doing the Read-Alouds next. This is a fine choice, too.
And other parents find that they want to read ahead in a book, and so they get a little ahead in the Read-Alouds, but stay on track with the History and Science. All of these are fine options.
Even if all you use is the Sonlight schedule, your IG purchase is still worth it. Sonlighters who only use the schedule still feel their children get an excellent education. But here are some of the additional features that you might choose to use.
See our IGs up close. Try three weeks of any Sonlight Instructor's Guide for free. Click here to get one for any level, preschool through twelfth grade.
I need to confess. While packing carry-ons for a flight, I pulled Captain Nobody off the Sonlight shelf and quickly stuck it in my daughter's backpack—as a independent free read. (You’ve never done that, right? Judged a Sonlight read-aloud by its cover, then ditched it?) After the sophistication of The Apprentice in History / Bible / Literature Level C, the cover of Captain Nobody just seemed...juvenile.
My daughter, who hasn’t yet learned to make snap judgements, enthusiastically devoured Captain Nobody in record time, oblivious to my uninformed opinion. Last month, when we spotted the book—narrated by author Dean Pitchford!—in our our library’s audiobook section, she nudged me and reminded me I was missing out.
So I entered the world of Captain Nobody. (I can’t believe I waited so long!)
If you haven’t met Newt Newman aka Captain Nobody, you might be surprised to hear me suggest the adventures of a spindly fourth-grader could have anything in common with the life of a homeschool mom. But good literature is relatable, and the common threads of human experience ring true across generations and cultures, bridging time and place.
If you’re already acquainted with Newt, you know he struggled with feeling
“I felt so angry on his behalf,” said one Sonlight mom as we chatted about Captain Nobody, “thinking it was so unfair that he, as a kid, went through it. But...I think that some of my anger was me feeling riled up about all the times I am taken for granted, myself.”
Young Newt was in charge of making breakfast, waking his brother up for school, and stepping into the roles his absent-minded parents forgot. And he felt like everyone around him could see directly through him. He writes,
“...nobody had eaten my breakfast.
I looked down at what was left. The sausages were cooling in their grease. The eggs were getting watery...
Now, I realize there’s not a lot I can do to help my family as they whiz through their busy days. And maybe I don’t build buildings or win ball games. But if make breakfast, the least they can do is eat it!”
Newt felt unappreciated and invisible, day after day, even as he obediently maintained his school and chore responsibilities. Fellow breakfast-maker, do you, too, feel as though the effort you pour into your household and family goes unseen? Does it seem like you’re plugging away on a hamster wheel with no visible progress? I’d venture to guess you’ve experienced inklings of these feelings at some point in your parenting journey; I know I certainly have.
And, like Newt, I sometimes feel like everyone around me is doing
while I am stuck in the cycle of thankless tasks. In a culture so enraptured with superheros, mountaintop experiences, and exceptional feats, it’s easy to feel lost, unable to see our own ordinary place in a world of more-than-ordinary influences.
Our culture—human nature as a whole, really—holds a skewed sense of heroes, doesn’t it? We walk right past those toiling quietly behind the scenes, and make a beeline toward the charismatic, flashy, extroverted personalities engaged in highly visible work.
As Newt faithfully plods forward, looking for examples of heroes, he slowly comes to the realization he has nothing in common with the kind of heroes people admire. You, too? Newt mourns,
“For one thing, most of my heroes stretch and transform their bodies into fantastic shapes. Tommy Origami, for instance, can fold his body into a packet the size of a postage stamp. Who was I kidding? I can barely touch my toes.”
To put Newt’s lament into homeschool mom terms, “Most of my heroes are put together, organized, and have time to write books on top of curating a picture-perfect homeschool” or “Most of my heroes are running orphanages, feeding the hungry, and forging new paths in faraway lands.” Like Newt, we might sigh to ourselves, “Who am I kidding?” as we’re limping through yet another math lesson and stacking yet another round of dishes.
But when done for Lord, work—all work—is worship. When we embrace this, we see the hallowed holy ground in quiet thankless tasks, carried out in the uneventful mundane hours. Our daily chores may not be prettified with the label of any official ministry or broadcast out to the world, but this work of raising and schooling children is elevated to the highest calling, when viewed in light of the gospel. So if we’re looking to find fulfillment by emulating a homeschool guru or other elusive hero, we simply will not find it. But when we dedicate our every task to God, we find peace and contentment.
Fellow mama, you who are
don’t waste your energy striving to mimic someone you follow on social media! Don’t wear yourself out comparing yourself to a homeschool convention speaker or inspirational, do-everything, author you admire. They all have behind-the-scenes bad days, too—and just as many of them as you do.
Precious friend, you are you. You are not ‘supposed to be’ anyone else. You are you.
And our literary pal Newt Newman, too, discovered this.
“I’m not ‘supposed to be’ anybody...I am Captain Nobody.”
Maybe heroes walk around in stretched-out red sweatpants and a handmade mask, like he did. Or maybe they wear a top-knot, a slouchy homeschool tee, and printed leggings. That’s not the important part. The important part is—
“You [yes, you!] are Captain Nobody! Defender of the little guy, champion of the downtrodden. Remember?”
You’re doing the most important work.
To find out more about Sonlight's unmatched Read-Alouds, and our complete book-based homeschool programs, order a complimentary copy of your catalog today.
If you’re raising an advanced reader, you are probably, like me, thankful for the public library. We have raised ten kids who love books. You can imagine, that’s a ton of books being schlepped back and forth, piled in little boxes and cubbies—representing a mountain of financial savings.
Continue readingEven for veteran homeschool parents, choosing a homeschool curriculum for the new school year can be a wrenching decision. Recently I was faced with a tough decision: Would I choose a 4-day curriculum or a 5-day curriculum?
Continue readingOur editorial team has very high standards for every book and product we carry. There is no item in our curriculum that has not been carefully and very thoughtfully selected. Even a book that you find distasteful, we have included to help you guide your child. Yet, some homeschoolers wonder why we use "questionable" books in Sonlight, books that they won't touch.
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I've received a lot of feedback in 28 years. I treasure the stacks of letters from Sonlight parents who love the books I choose.
But occasionally, I get letters that criticize—or even express great disappointment—in the titles I so carefully include in Sonlight's programs. While I greatly prefer the over-the-top-positive letters (I am human, after all), I've come to appreciate the harder letters as well in which people question my inclusion of controversial books in Sonlight.
I'm grateful for all moms who invest enough time in their children's education to be able to critically evaluate what their children are reading … even if they disagree with my selections in the end. Many parents who send their children off to be educated by someone else have little knowledge of what their children are learning. They trust the system has worked out all the kinks. They trust the school format provides all the oversight and covering their students need.
So, kudos to all moms who are involved enough with their children's education and training to be able to evaluate their curriculum. May you continue to critically evaluate, wisely critique, and demonstrate for your children a lifestyle that follows the example of the Bereans—who carefully studied the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was true (Acts 17:11).
Of course, I believe Sonlight provides a balanced, Christ-centered education. And thousands upon thousands of families worldwide agree. But I never want kids to just swallow someone else's view hook, line, and sinker. I want them to think critically and evaluate for themselves using Biblical principles. That is exactly what Sonlight's educational approach trains students to do.
So if you ever come across a book you disapprove of in our curriculum, consider it a chance to demonstrate discernment. I think most families choose to read such books with their children and discuss the sticky content. This practice leads to incredible conversations that help you shape your children's values. But you are certainly welcome to simply skip a controversial or troubling book as well.
If you do skip a book and let me know about your disappointment, I'll remind myself as I carefully review and digest what you share that I'm hearing from a parent who has modeled discernment for his or her children. And I'll be grateful for your involvement in their education—and mine!
Many blessings,
Sarita
P.S. If you're interested in how I choose books for Sonlight's programs, check out What it Takes for a Book to Become a Sonlight All-Star.
