The first year we went to the Homeschool Convention I went to Sonlight’s exhibit and was impressed with what I saw. This year Sonlight’s exhibit was on my list of vendors to visit for future curricula possibilities. I went to the exhibit several times and, this year, I fell in love with Sonlight.

I told Dave that I had fallen in love with Sonlight and want to begin it when Sweet Pea is four. Dave said, “Is it possible to ‘fall in love’ with a curriculum?!”

For a homeschool mom, yes, it is!

Here’s why I fell in love:

My girls love books.

Books have always been an integral part of our daily routine. I started reading to Little Bug before she could even really see the pages. Reading to her grew from there. I kept reading to her daily as a tiny infant. Around 9 months she started paying attention. We read every baby board book known to man. From there we started reading picture books that I kept in a basket in the living room for reading time. I remember wondering what we would do when she dropped her morning nap and we suddenly had so much time in the morning. Our reading time doubled! Sweet Pea came along and I read to her but probably not nearly as much as I read to Little Bug. I remedied that and implemented a reading time for Sweet Pea into our schedule and it wasn’t long and Sweet Pea was just as in love with books as her older sister. At present day, we have Bible time and then we have reading time. That’s not the only time we read in the day: we read during school time, before naptime and bedtime and sometimes at other times throughout the day as well!

Learning through living books.

I can clearly remember turning my nose up to history as a child and teenager because reading textbooks was B-O-R-I-N-G. Sonlight brings history to life through reading living books that tell stories instead of just boring facts. Everyone is drawn to a good story! Life is made up of stories. What better way to learn history than through reading living books where you get drawn into the story and feel like you are a part of the events taking place? I am looking forward to re-learning history by reading these books along-side my children!

Covers history, science, read alouds and Bible.

I want to teach these subjects to my girls together. Reading and Math need to be taught separate because my girls are at different levels in those subjects. History, Science, Read Alouds and Bible can be taught together and Sonlight makes this so easy to accomplish.

One Sonlight Core can be used with multiple children of various ages.

The Sonlight P4/5 is for four, five and six year olds, which is why I am waiting a year to begin Sonlight. I want to give Sweet Pea one more year to mature before we begin Sonlight together. Had I not already had this coming year’s curricula planned and bought when I fell in love with Sonlight, I probably would have begun Sonlight P4/5 this year!

{How We Plan to Use Sonlight in our Homeschool}

I was not planning on purchasing Sonlight until next year’s Convention, however, I came across HomeschoolClassifieds.com towards the middle of June. I thought it was an interesting site so I decided to do a search and see if anyone happened to be selling Sonlight P4/5. There was one listing for the P4/5. I emailed the seller to inquire about the condition of the Core. I wanted to know if all the books were present and in good condition. When she emailed me back and said that everything was present except the two Language Arts books (one of which I already had!) and that the books were all in excellent condition, I told Dave what I had come across. The seller was asking for $100 less than you would pay ordering from Sonlight. Knowing we were going to just buy it full-price in a year, Dave said to tell her we wanted it! About a week later, it arrived on our doorstep!

I opened the box up and everything was just as the seller had said it would be: all books present and in excellent condition! Later she told me that I had emailed her within the hour that she had posted the Core to the site! That was confirmation to me that Sonlight is the correct direction for our family to take next year! I was so thankful that God provided this to our family in this way.

I have looked over everything and I can’t wait to get started, but I will wait! What I have planned for this year is exactly where we need to be this year, but I truly look forward to pulling this box out next year! And, who knows, maybe at some point this year I will feel the time is right and we will start! Either way, Sonlight P4/5 will be ready to go whenever we are all ready to begin.

Read Alouds

Science

History

Reading Readiness

Bible

Sonlight P4/5 Instructor’s Guide

I’ve got the box stored in our closet for now and will pull it out next summer for “Box Day”. Box Day is when the new box of books arrives on your doorstep and all the kids have fun pulling them out of the box to see what they will get to read and learn about that year!

- Elaine