Sonlight Homeschooling Blog

Aug. 28, 2017

How an Eclectic Curriculum Rebel Fell in Love with Sonlight

You might be surprised to know this, but I’m a bit of a rebel. Oh yes! Most of the time, it doesn’t bother me one bit to go against the grain. That’s probably why I’m a homeschooler and why many of you are too. We don’t mind swimming upstream; in fact, we may take a bit of pride in it.

However, being a rebel can make choosing a homeschool curriculum tough.

My Story: First Year Blunders

I still remember my first year of homeschooling. I was idealistic and probably too optimistic, and I decided that I would piece together my entire school year from a hodgepodge of resources.

Bless me.

I almost didn’t survive the year. I worked so hard and ended up, sadly, with little to show for it. My son had not received the knowledge that I had hoped for.

So the next year, being older and wiser, I decided that I needed a planned curriculum. I searched high and low and quickly settled on Sonlight. I knew that as a child, I would have loved a Sonlight education, and I felt sure that it would be a good fit for my children. But visions of my years as a public school teacher swimming through frameworks plagued me. There was one thing I knew I just couldn’t quite handle—the feeling of being bound by a curriculum.

In my mind, a constrictive curriculum felt like wearing skinny jeans that are a size too small. I wanted the opposite of my do-it-all-myself first year, but I still wanted to put my personal mark on my kids’ education.

My Story: Our Masterpiece Year

So when the glorious day, affectionately known to Sonlighters as Box Day, rolled around, I approached the Instructor’s Guide with my pencil. Oh yes, this would be simple to make my own:

a little scratch here
a little more Charlotte Mason flair there
a few other ideas sprinkled in

I had crafted our masterpiece year.

That first year with Sonlight was quite possibly my favorite year yet. Maybe it was just because I was so ready for some help. Or maybe it was that the literature and flow of the curriculum had such an soothing feel. It could have been that I didn’t have to give up my individuality as a homeschooling mom. But for whatever reason, that year was smooth sailing. We finished the year, feeling great about what we had accomplished together.

Since then, I have marked up multiple Instructor’s Guides. Some years, I lean more towards being a Sonlight purist. Some years, my eclectic style really shines. It all depends on the season of life we find ourselves in.

So if I had that first year to do all over again, here’s what I would say today to my younger self—that idealistic, optimistic, rebellious, DIYer.

Be Realistic

You are not going to find the perfect curriculum. It doesn’t exist. There will be some part of any program that doesn’t quite fit your style. But like my mom always said, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” Don’t disregard an entire curriculum on account of one or two areas of incompatibility.

Find Your Foundation Curriculum

Even eclectic homeschoolers need a foundation. Like I mentioned earlier, my first year was a nightmare trying to piece together an entire curriculum for my first grader. We skipped things we shouldn’t have skipped, and we jumped from here to there when my son really needed a more logical order. Building a curriculum takes weeks and months of hard work. Let someone else do that for you! Let them build a foundation that you can tailor to fit your child’s needs.

Be a Rebel

Once you have your foundation curriculum, be a rebel. Take your pencil, and write in whatever you can’t live without. Scratch out anything that you just can’t see yourself doing. In years past, I have even put post-it notes over sections in the schedule that we needed to skip for one reason or another.

Look at each schedule page as a recipe. Make every page your own. Add a little of this, a little of that, and boom! You’ve got an eclectic education with a strong foundation.

Pick and Choose

One of the great things about Sonlight is that you have choices. Every year, I get so much joy from going through the ordering process with Sonlight. You can choose to build your own curriculum, and there is definitely something empowering about being in control of what you do or do not purchase.

If you prefer a different Science program, great! Order a level package without the Science. If you like a different approach to Language Arts, go for it! The Sonlight experience allows for customizations. It’s a rebel homeschooler’s dream.

Stick With It

When you find a curriculum that works for you, stick with it. One of the biggest mistakes a homeschooling mom can make is curriculum hopping. Believe me, I know! When you jump around, trying out many different curricula, you will have gaps in learning that require backtracking to bridge.

Sonlight is expertly planned, so give your child a seamless education by sticking with the curriculum that’s working.

If you’re a homeschooler, chances are that you’re already a bit of a rebel. So don’t feel burdened by your Instructor’s Guide. It was never meant to be a straightjacket. Rather, view it as your diving board. Feel free to use it in a way that best suits your family. I am thankful that over the years, Sonlight has allowed me to express my rebel tendencies while giving my children a great foundation of learning.

Ready to customize a curriculum that will allow you to express your rebel tendencies? Go to SmoothCourse and get started today.

Tagged eclectic, Homeschooling, rebel | 1 Comment

Aug. 25, 2017

4 Reasons to Finish a Read-Aloud You Don't Like

By MJ Sherwood

It can be a shock when, a few chapters into a book, you and your children are yawning as the pages turn. Maybe the story moves slowly or the vocabulary seems over your children's heads. You wonder, "What is wrong with us? This is supposed to be a great book! Everyone else loves it!"

It happens to the most book-loving of homeschool moms and even with the best literature-rich curriculum. Book lovers only admit with great hesitation when we aren’t completely in love with a classic chapter book. We feel ashamed not to love every single award-winning book. But books are no different from movies or foods. Our preferences can't always be explained. Sometimes we just don't like a Read-Aloud.

For example, I have never been a fan of Anne of Green Gables. I know, I know! How could I not adore this classic?! The irony is that my daughter loves the story of Anne of Prince Edward Island—probably because she is dreamy like Anne.

To love or hate a book is simply a matter of preference, and neither we moms nor our kids should feel shame for disliking a book.

My first run in with a difficult read aloud was Winnie The Pooh from History / Bible / Literature A. Something about it made me cringe at the thought of reading it each day. I persisted mainly because it was holding my daughter’s interest even if reading it made me want to pretend we were having a blustery day, curl up, and go to sleep. The dialogue was a bit confusing to read aloud if I didn’t get the voices of the characters just right. It made it difficult for me to push through, but we did get through it!

Later with History / Bible / Literature D I faced my child's first disliked Read-Aloud with Secret of the Andes. While I was on the edge of my seat reading with deep anticipation to solve the mystery of Cusi’s ancestors, my daughter couldn't get into the story at all.

So when faced with a book that you or your kids aren't really enjoying, the question is should you finish the book regardless or wave the white flag of surrender? Often the answer is press on. Here are four reasons to finish a Read-Aloud you don't like.

1. The Plot May Take a Turn

A book with a slow start to the plot often has a real cliffhanger of an ending. If you give up on the book before getting deep into the plot, you will never know the amazing twist waiting just beyond that chapter.

Red Sails to Capri (in History / Bible / Literature C) felt like it was dragging on and on through those first few chapters. But as the mystery grew, we were so eager for resolution we couldn’t put it down!

Let the book catch you all by surprise. Keep reading! Sometimes the book you don't like ends up being a book you love.

2. Deep Lessons Await

As a homeschool Mom I often find myself thinking I'm in charge of the lesson outcome. The truth is that God is always at work in my kids' hearts—even in our Read-Alouds. For example, last year smack in the middle of Adventures with Waffles (from HBL A), my son suddenly curled into my shoulder in tears.

The year before his next door neighbor friend moved away. The story brought out the pain he had been bottling up inside. It was a turning point for him in learning to express when he is feeling hurt or sad.

If we filter books out because we think they are boring or unnecessary, we may be missing out on important work the Holy Spirit is doing in our children's hearts or even in our own.

3. Learning Isn’t Always Fun

This truth is often not a popular opinion, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Sometimes we need to read a book simply because it will teach us something we should know.

I am glad my Mom forced—yes forced—me to read Anne of Green Gables. It is my first memory of getting caught in a lie told to my own homeschool Mom. When I turned in a terrible book report, she knew I didn’t read it and made me try again. Even though it wasn’t my favorite book, because of cultural literacy, I am glad I understand allusions to the romance of Anne & Gilbert.

Yes, our goal is to make reading aloud fun, but pressing on to finish a book you don't like won't ruin that foundation.

4. Finishing What You Start Builds Character

After a few years of using Sonlight, we have fallen in love with dozens of lovely stories. We have also persevered through more than a few books that started out (in our minds) as duds. Now I can see that finishing those books—even the less loved ones—has built character in my kids.

Besides the lessons we learn through the stories themselves, persevering through a novel together teaches discipline. When we see that massive stack of completed books at the end of the school year—both the loved and unloved—we feel a sense of accomplishment together.

What has most surprised me about some of our least favorite Sonlight Read-Alouds is that they often become a favorite by someone in the family. While I thought my daughter hardly heard Secret of the Andes, I was shocked to hear at the end of the school year that was her favorite book all year! Not only was she listening, she loved it.

Winnie the Pooh wasn’t my favorite, but my kids look forward to it every time we rotate back to read it aloud to one of the younger kids. Red Sails to Capri started slowly for me, but now I wait with anticipation to read it aloud to my middle children next year.

Although we sometimes run out of time to read all the books on our Read-Aloud list, I make it a rule to finish any book that we start. More often than not, I am grateful we did even if it was one I dreaded reading.

It’s okay to admit we don’t love all the books in our literature-rich curriculum! But let’s give them a chance before we toss them aside. Once you've finished the book, your opinion may change, and if it doesn't, at least your judgement is based on the entirety of the book.

Try a Sonlight program, and take up to a year to see if Sonlight is right for your family with our Love to Learn Guarantee. No other homeschool curriculum provider has such a comprehensive guarantee.

Tagged homeschool, read-alouds, reading, Teaching Tips | Leave a comment

Aug. 23, 2017

The Everything Guide to Your Sonlight Instructor’s Guide

By Sonlight

One of the best things about Sonlight is the easy-to-use Instructor’s Guides (IG). We wanted to make the layout as helpful as possible for all customers, so here’s a primer on how to use it, and adjust it, for your best year yet.

History and Bible tend to run all year, and those notes are directly behind each week’s schedule page. You don’t need to wade through 36 weeks’ worth of notes—they are right there.

The notes for the Readers and Read-Alouds are at the end of the Instructor’s Guide.

All the Readers are organized alphabetically by book.
All the Read-Alouds are organized alphabetically by book.

During your first week or two of using the IG, this might not seem to make much sense. Why break it up like this?

Why is the Instructor's Guide Laid Out Like This?

Most Sonlighters, over the course of the year, start to adjust the schedule to meet their family’s needs. So they might drop a book. Or read ahead. Or do all of a Read-Aloud in three days because they can’t stop reading, while the IG schedules it over the course of a week.

If you have to try to find the notes for a specific book, intermixed with History and Bible notes, and schedule pages . . . that is really frustrating.

We hope that, with this hybrid arrangement, you’ll be able to utilize the notes effectively and efficiently.

Longtime Sonlighter Michelle Gibson says about the new IG order:

We just started a new IG and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! We have used every level from Preschool to 100 over the past 12 years, and the current design is my favorite!
I love that I can pull out all the notes for a Read-Aloud and have them in one place, without having to pull out 4 weeks of the schedule and search through each page paragraph by paragraph to find the notes for the next chapter of a book! I hated that method.
With the new method there is less flipping. For example, my husband read The Boxcar Children to my first grader over the summer, and we just started A yesterday, so I am on Week 1 in History and Week 4 in Read-Alouds. I can just pull out the Read-Aloud notes, turn to My Father's Dragon and that's ALL. In fact, I just pulled out the whole Read-Aloud section and am laminating the cover and spiral binding it. That way, I can just grab the Read-Aloud guide and the book when I read to my son at bedtime or when we wakes up.
I have fumbled and flipped through a lot of IG notes to get to the Read-Aloud notes in the past—how they have it now is perfect!

Feel free to move the Reader and Read-Aloud notes up behind the schedule pages each week. Or pull the notes out of the IG and keep them with the books as you read.

Make Your Instructor's Guide Work for You

And if you do get ahead or behind in some subjects, how can you adjust the schedule to make it work for you?

First, note that the younger Sonlight programs are much easier to adjust, as the various readings are not as tightly connected. Sure, it’s good to read Detectives in Togas when you’re studying ancient Rome, but if you read Mr. Popper’s Penguins during the Medieval Period or during the Renaissance, it doesn’t make much of a difference.

But starting in D, the readings become much more tightly connected chronologically. Even here, if you miss a book, you can always read it later—and call it review or reinforcement or some such.

And if you read ahead because your children all begged you to “Read more!” and you find that you’re a week ahead in the Read-Alouds?

Or maybe you’re keeping up well with all the History / Bible / Literature, but you’re falling behind in Science. What to do? Here are some ideas.

1. Use Sticky Notes

Put a sticky note in the IG for each different subject, and keep moving forward in them all.

2. Catch Up

Pause other subjects while you catch up in the one that you fell behind in.

3. Hold a Science Camp

Save Science Experiments to do as one big Science Camp experience late in the school year, over Christmas, or in the summer, and start doing the readings that don’t relate to experiments, because that’s still something.

4. Double Up

As you get a feel for how long different readings take, double up on some of the shorter ones in order to gradually catch up.

5. Find Sequels

So far ahead in the Read-Alouds that you fear you’ll never catch up? Read some sequels of your favorite books while you gradually catch up in the other subjects. This also works with a speed-reading child who can’t stay in Readers.

6. Just Ignore It

Ignore some assignments. Really! If you’re having a hard time keeping on track with, say, the Language Arts, you can skip some. The grammar and spelling will keep coming up until your children have mastery.

Basically this advice in a nutshell is to know where you are, and then move forward. And if you move forward a little faster in some subjects, realize that you’ll either need to add additional material if you want to do that subject every day, all year, or you’ll just be done that much faster.

And if you fall behind in a subject, look at why that’s happening. Do you need to start doing that one first each day? Are the assignments too robust and need to be modified to fit your family? That’s fine. Modify away!

Because you homeschool, you have that flexibility.

Try three weeks of any Sonlight Instructor's Guide for free. Click here to get one for any level, preschool through twelfth grade.

Tagged homeschool tips, Instructor's Guide, scheduling | Leave a comment

Aug. 21, 2017

Vaulting into Homeschool: Where to Set the Bar of Expectations

By Amber Smith

It is extremely difficult to parent without comparison. It starts with that growth chart in the pediatrician’s office, and it continues through each developmental milestone. The same can be said in our homeschool. We use learning assessments that gauge the effectiveness of our teaching and test to show mastery in subject matter.

Setting the Bar of Expectations

Not all comparison is bad; without a bar to gauge ourselves, we can feel lost. The trouble begins when we fail to set the bar for our own school in the right place.

I watched a documentary about pole vaulting where French gold-medalist, Renault Lavillene, cleared his Olympic record-setting vault. The man used a noodle of a stick to throw his entire body twenty feet into the air. It was amazing to watch Lavillene take home the gold, but I doubt very much that he began with the bar set at 20 feet. There were years of lower jumps made the track when no one was watching.

His success at the twenty-foot vault was obtained by a million tweaks and changes—growth and experience on much less impressive heights. The same can be said for our homeschool. If we gauge our success against the wrong measure, we will fail to hit our goal and grow discouraged. Comparison will make the twenty foot mark our goal, now!

Behind each success, there are thousands of hours of stretching, falling, and learning through our mundane days:

those lean years when you sacrifice to make ends meet
writing to an audience of one
cutting everyone's hair yourself
spending hours in long discussions with little ones

These are the moments that move your family towards gold.

Two Ways to Look at Your Long-Term Goals

There are two ways to look at long-term goals.

That is impossible. I’ll never get there!
That’s amazing! How close can I come to that?

If I allow myself to fall into comparison, I will obsess over where I have fallen short of some of the goals I set for our school.

Like a new vaulter, I see other moms clearing the pole while I keep knocking it down.

I go to a homeschool convention and see the fluid motion of the homeschool conference speaker. Her clean, freshly colored hair and smart haircut remind me that my last hair cut was given by my husband. (I held my curls out and said, “Could you just snip the ends off for me?”)

When I compare from the outside, the bar is telling me I don't measure up. I don’t see

the years that speaker spent living a frugal, quiet, and faithful life from which to draw her illustrations and wisdom
the hours she spent praying for me before her trip
the concern and research she put into every point of her presentation

Then at times, the tables are turned. For example, a friend recently commented about how quietly our kids sit in church. First, I laughed! She sees the bar achieved, while I, on the other hand, know my kids and the process it took to reach that bar. She didn’t see the two years our children did not attend Sunday School because we felt led to teach our kids how to sit quietly. As homeschoolers, church was the only place we had to really practice being quiet. She did not see our frequent talks outside of service or my frustration at our sometimes slow process.

When you set your bar, don't look only at the end results and fail to account for the long years of training and diligence. Reaching your goal won't come without discipline and effort.

This School Year, Don’t Set the Bar Twenty Feet in the Air

Don’t aim for college from Kindergarten. The bar is a guide; you get to set it yourself.

Set goals that will serve your family this year.
Set goals that will keep you on track and encouraged.
Ask your kids what they want to accomplish or learn about this year.
Is there a behavior you want to focus on?

Write down your measurable goal, and break down how you are going to get there. Do the next thing in your Instructor's Guide, knowing that in the long run, these small steps will get you to the final destination. Don’t let comparison keep you from embracing and thriving in whatever season you are in.

Sonlight's literature-rich curriculum has rigorous but realistic academic standards. Go to SmoothCourse to explore your options.

Tagged comparison, expectations, goals, homeschool | Leave a comment

Aug. 18, 2017

8 Affordable Homeschool Storage Solutions

By Ana Willis

Homeschool organization is about practicality as well as good looks. With kids around all day every day, there is no way to keep your homeschool area in order unless your organization system is sustainable with everyone doing his part to keep it tidy. The burden can't fall solely on you, mom.

Benjamin Franklin said, "A place for everything, everything in its place." Along the way, I've learned a few tricks to make things look organized even when they might not really be as neat as I would prefer.

Continue reading →

Tagged homeschool, organization, storage | 2 Comments

Aug. 16, 2017

One Way to Respond When Your Child Tells You Something Hard

By Sarita

Sonlight helps you practice talking together with your kids about opposing viewpoints and tricky topics such as poverty, so that when your children want to talk about their own hard things, it all feels more natural. From the earliest programs, the books and discussion questions you share with your children open up all sorts of meaningful conversations.

Maintaining open communication with our children has always been a very high priority for John and me in our parenting. We certainly aren’t perfect, but we strive to create safe places for our children to talk through what they’re thinking, even if we disagree with their conclusions. Especially in the teenage years, we strongly preferred to have difficult conversations with them and hear their hearts, instead of having them process the same things exclusively with their peers.

What to Say When Your Child Says Something Hard to Hear

In that light, here’s a helpful tip I’d like to share. If you need a response at the ready when your children tell you something difficult for you to hear, try this:

Thank you for being willing to tell me that.

This is a true statement that invites further conversation. I assume that you are grateful, after all, that your child chose to tell you. You may not be excited to hear the revelation they shared, but if they are already thinking it, you would rather hear it than not. You do indeed want a real conversation about this. So this statement helps you start off with a true, safe response that tells your child they can be honest with you.

This can be a good first response, whether your 10-year-old comes to tell you he cheated in a ball game, or your 16-year-old is trying to tell you she’s not sure what she thinks about God. Know that it took courage for your children to tell you.

Listen in Love

When your kids open up to you, the first thing they need is for you to listen. That can be very hard when your first natural reaction would be to scream, shudder, or quote Bible verses, telling them why they’re wrong. They probably already know what you believe about the issue. They probably even know the Bible verses you want to share with them. And there will be time to share those things, but what they need first is to know it is safe to tell you this scary thing. They need to know that you still love them and you care about their heart and you want to know what they’re thinking.

So as a shortcut to helping start the conversation off on the right foot, remember this line: Thank you for being willing to tell me that. That gives you and your child a moment to take a breath and remember that you are in relationship with one another. It sets you up to approach things from a place of care and respect as you prepare to listen.

Relationship Give Us the Avenue to Impart Wisdom

You are a crucial guide for your child. And as we all know, the only way you’ll be invited to stay part of the conversation happening in your child’s heart is if you can respect your child throughout it, even if you disagree with them. In the end, your greatest gifts to your children are your presence, your love, and your wisdom. And we must present our wisdom in the context of relationship and love or it will most likely fall on flat ears.

I’ll be vulnerable here and say that I, too, have had my fair share of very difficult conversations with my children. I know the pain when a child says they believe something different than what I hold so dear. And I know the reward of choosing to stay in relationship with the child and stay in their life through love and genuine care for who they are as a person.

Here are some examples to help you imagine some surprising things you may get to respond to someday:

”Mom, I look gross. I hate the rolls on my stomach. I am so fat. Why did God make me like this?”
”When I turn 18, I’m going to tattoo my entire arm, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
”Mom, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you, but you might get really mad. Um … I’m not sure I believe in God.”
”Hey Mom, you know that girl from co-op? I think she’s so cute! I’m going to ask her out.”
”I’m so sick of homeschooling. I just want to be with my friends. I really, really, want to go to public school next year.”

Regardless of what your internal reaction may be, this could be the first thing out of your mouth in all these situations: “Wow, thank you for being willing to tell me that.”

Then of course you could say something else that opens up further conversation, such as “It sounds like this has been really hard for you lately,” or “Tell me more about that,” or “Would you like to say more about what’s on your mind?”

Testing the Boundaries of Love

Sometimes our children just want to test something out with us. What will you say if they say they’re going to dye their hair blue? Is there something they could do to get outside your love? Like toddlers deliberately testing the boundaries to see what will happen, children and teenagers sometimes just need to see how we’ll react.

And of course, sometimes it’s more serious than that. Even when the parents do everything right, each child is their own person, responsible for their own decisions. And sometimes all we can do is continue to pray for God’s love and truth to penetrate our children’s hearts.

If you are in a difficult season with one of your children, know that I pray for parents in your situation. It can be so hard to watch someone you love more than words make damaging decisions. If you would like me to pray specifically for you, don’t hesitate to email me at president@sonlight.com.

God bless you as you walk this high and worthy calling of parenting. And thank you for being willing to hear your children. What a beautiful gift to them.

Tagged discussions, Homeschooling, parenting | Leave a comment

Aug. 14, 2017

3 Ways Biographies Enlighten Your Children

By Gina Munsey

Discover how biographies enlighten your children on their adventure of learning.