Sonlight Curriculum and My Family

1. I love to read and I want my kids to love to read

Sonlight is a literature based curriculum filled with living books. Living books are written by authors who are passionate about their specific subject. It is very different than a textbook. This year my daughter is in Kindergarten and together, we will have read 32 chapter books and 27 additional readers that she does completely by herself. They are fantastic books with storylines that get her trapped in them literally every day. Not only does Sonlight offer tons of great readers; it also comes with a great variety of styles such as nursery rhymes, poems, and chapter books. The books range from easy readers to books that are slightly above grade level, which I love because it gets them ready for the following year and encourages them to read things that they would not normally pick up at the library on their own.

Easy Readers

2. The Instructor Guides do the hard part for you

There is not much prep work to be done by the parent-teacher which leaves time for him/her to add in projects, lapbooks, or coloring pages. This has been such a blessing to me as I am not very creative but I do love Pinterest and you know what fabulous ideas are on that site. Almost too many ideas! Since the prep time for me is done, I use my time to search for project ideas such as a lapbook for Little House in the Big Woods or getting materials ready to make a felt pouch like for history. The Instructor Guide literally lays out what to do all day long, and what books you will need that day.

3. It is Bible based

I never put my children into public school and the biggest reason is because God has been taken out of school. I can’t imagine bringing my children up in a Christian home for five solid years and then sending them to public school for 12+ years, without God. It’s hard for me to fathom trying to influence them and help them grow in their Christian walk in the two or three hours I have them at home with me in the evening…especially after they’ve been taught the opposite so many times during their day at school. It’s one thing if my children were in high school and had a strong Christian faith—it’s totally different for my Kindergartener who is just starting to ask how to become a Christian. I do not need that desire to be squelched by a non-believing teacher or unbelieving friends at school. No thanks! So how is it Bible based? It has each day starting out with Bible which includes a weekly memory verse, a Bible story, and some days even a missionary story. We love the Bible portion.

Does this mean we will use Sonlight forever? Maybe. Maybe not. Even though I am a newer homeschooling mom, I still know that things change—every child is different with different learning styles—not all children are thrilled about reading. However, for now, this is the best curriculum for our family. I do know that whatever curriculum we choose to use will need to have these three things included because these reasons are very important to our family.

Encyclopedia (History), Mother Goose (Awesome nursery rhymes), and
a real-story missionary story book

Grace Greenwell is a homeschool mom of 2 silly girls ages 3 & 6. I also run a small home based licensed daycare taking care of infants and preschoolers. My husband, Ben, of 12 years, is a public school teacher by day and youth pastor by night. We all live happily together in the Annapolis area of Maryland.