It’s that time of year again when homeschooling moms everywhere are closing in on the end of the school year and thinking about which curriculum to use next year. The possibilities are endless –the choices overwhelming!

What if I make a bad choice that impedes my child’s education, their socioeconomic status, or their social interactions? What if my choice of curriculum isn’t challenging enough and we end up a year behind her peers’ education? What if I can’t follow through with my intentions?

Or…

What if we stop worrying about it? What if instead we teach them a love of learning, teaching them that learning never ends? Regardless of our job or career as an adult, learning is a continual part of life. What if our child sees learning as an asset, eagerly wanting to know more? Wouldn’t a love of learning be an integral part of their education?

 With all the curriculum choices at your fingertips, you are capable of making a great decision for your child’s education. And if you’ve already found what works for you –great!!!! If you’re floundering or unhappy with last year’s curriculum, keep reading and see if Sonlight would work for you.

 I’m a list girl so before we ever searched for a curriculum, a list of essentials was made. It looked something like this –

• Great literature. I wanted my children to inherit my love of literature so great books, especially living books were a must.
• Bible plan. A curriculum including a Bible reading plan that coordinated with the schoolwork was important.
• Instructor Guides. I didn’t want to assume I knew everything about what my kids would be learning; in fact, there were definite challenge areas and a complete teacher’s guide, including lesson plans, had to be included.
• Science. We needed something fun to read with lots of activities and experiments. Hands-on learning is the best way for my kinesthetic learners and how much more fun is it to get your hands dirty during some awesome experiments?

 A friend introduced me to Sonlight when we first thought about homeschooling several years ago, because it leaned toward a more classical education which is exactly what I wanted without the discipline of meeting with a group multiple times per week. She handed me this thick instructor’s guidebook (IG) that I’m pretty sure weighed 50 lbs.

It was homeschooling love at first sight! Lesson plans already completed for the entire year, full of teacher helps and suggestions so all I had to do was check off every day’s work. The thought of compiling my own curriculum and lesson plans overwhelmed me so having the work done already worked perfectly!

 Sonlight introduces world history in kindergarten, which I didn’t understand at first because I wanted my kids to know their own country’s history, but after reading the explanation in the instructor’s guidebook, we jumped right in! Sonlight is of the mindset to broaden a child’s horizon right away introducing them to history beginning in the Garden of Eden because history began long before America was discovered. I love how Bible history and world history meshed and as a family, we gained a greater understanding of the world when Jesus walked this earth and before then. History and the Bible came alive for us and we enjoyed every moment of learning.

The recommended literature books are phenomenal books, challenging for the reader yet exciting for the entire family. Sonlight chooses books based on history so when we studied Christopher Columbus this year in American history (after 3 years of world history!), the readers complemented the subject matter perfectly. We immersed ourselves in the story of Pedro, one of the boys on Columbus’ ship, and got a close-up of what life with Christopher Columbus was really like. I thought we were reading a fiction book until we reached the author’s note at the end of the book, proving a boy named Pedro actually was on the ship with Columbus. the documents to prove it were sealed and thrown overboard when they thought their ship was sinking and later, the sealed tube was found along the shore and the story followed.

 Science is a blast with Sonlight. You can actually choose your own science curriculum and we chose their recommended one, Usborne. These particular books aren’t “Christian” but as the IG’s note–it’s a great opportunity to talk to your children about what other people believe and why we believe what we do. Any opportunity for discussion in our home is a plus because our kids do need to know that everyone in the world doesn’t believe the same way we do and I want them to know how to give grace and show love while standing firmly on Biblical principles. But the science activities and experiments are the most fun for my hands-on learners and mama and daddy love them too!

 Learning is tons of fun with Sonlight for the whole family. If you’re searching for a curriculum, I highly recommend taking a close look at Sonlight because if you’re an adventure seeking family who loves literature and challenging schoolwork, you’re sure to love this curriculum as much as we do!