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What is Sonlight
and How Does it Work?


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For more comments about Sonlight Curriculum (SL), see
Why do people love Sonlight?

If you read nothing else, read 31 Reasons NOT to Buy Sonlight. It will give you a very accurate picture of SL to help you decide. They also list Reasons TO Buy Sonlight.


Sonlight Overview
From: Charon

Sonlight curriculum is a literature-based history program. This means that one studies a period of history relying on a few workbooks or textbooks but primarily focusing on fictional works of literature to coincide with the time-period being studied. This would be in contrast to a textbook-based curriculum (like A Beka) which most of us were educated with in school. The language arts component (many people use other language arts programs) uses the literature as its foundation along with other popular programs for grammar and spelling. Neither is this a unit-study where everything is centered around a particular theme (like Konos). There is not much "arts and crafts" except what you develop for yourself or find on-line (there are resources for these if you are interested).

It was initially formulated to provide for oversees missionaries who would not have access to English-language libraries or literature. The authors are former missionaries themselves, confess that they are Evangelicals, and are clearly Bible-believing Christians.

The bottom line is that they do provide books that are not strictly from a Christian point of view. They are very clear in their catalog that if that is what you want then this curriculum may not be for you. Sonlight's philosophy is that children are best served by exposing them to alternative ideas and beliefs as they can handle it; and we provide them the intellectual and spiritual weaponry to combat these ideas. I encourage you to read John's article in the catalog, about training anti-counterfeiting agents versus training soldiers, as he does a much better job than I ever could in explaining their philosophy on their choice of literature.

One of the best things is that you can combine different age groups in one year's curriculum. Also it isn't as boring as textbooks since you aren't strictly memorizing dates and such, but you become involved with characters that help you to develop an emotional connection with different time periods and peoples of different cultures. I also like that the instructor's guide lays out an entire year's schedule. Since my husband and I share the task it makes for easier communication (and saves us loads of time).

The impressive thing is the owners, who seem very sincere. I believe they very thoughtfully consider every piece of literature they choose. They operate a fantastic website and several topical chatboards where help is available from other users and the owners. Orders are handled efficiently and shipments are made in a timely manner. The entire business is very customer-oriented.

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How the Program Works
From: Beth in Texas

[When John of Sonlight requested ideas for improving the catalog, Beth proposed the following article as a basic explanation of how SL and its catalog work. -ed.]

Sonlight Curriculum aims to offer you the best books available for teaching your children and for enriching your lives. At the same time, we strive to remain flexible. We will provide you with a complete school year in a box, a year-long science study for your third grader, or a single book.

If you choose to follow Sonlight's suggestions for your entire homeschool program, you will need the following elements:

We also carry enrichment materials.

The Core Curriculum Package is the heart of the Sonlight program. It contains instructor's guides with lesson plans and notes for each week, Bible study materials, quality literature for the study of history, wonderful readers for the students to read on their own, and (for most levels) read-alouds for parents and children to enjoy together. Each Core package includes biographies, historical fiction, and non-fiction. Especially beginning in level 3, most of the materials are carefully coordinated around a specific historical period.

Because the Core package consists of rich books which are suitable for a wide age range, you may be able to teach several students of different ages with one program. The same is true of the science levels.

Although the Core packages generally increase in difficulty as you progress through the levels, customers often change the order to fit their family's needs.

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Typical week
From: Paula H

Coming from a textbook/workbook background, many people are confused by SL; "Just how does this thing work?" To give you a glimpse of how it works, the following is the schedule for a whole week of 3rd Core (history, read-aloud, readers, Bible), studying US History to 1850's all year. My list does not include math, science, and Language Arts, which are included in the curriculum.

That's a fairly typical week.
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Mixing Levels
From: Paula H

SL is VERY MUCH a component system, not a package deal. Many people use SL as a starting point and plug in components from other suppliers for certain subjects. However you should probably view their history, read-aloud, and regular or advanced readers as one component and use all or nothing in that. From 3rd grade on, the read-aloud and readers are tied to the history.

Those three subjects, along with Bible, make up the Core package. Then you go to the back part of the catalog for the other subjects. Science is NOT tied to the history and reading. Why do they arrange the catalog that way instead of listing together all subjects for Level K, all subjects for Level 1, etc.? Most people choose only one Core and one science (not necessarily same level as Core) to use with all their children. (For K, 1, and 2 you could use separate age-appropriate readers because they are not tied to the history. But from 3rd up, they are.) Then they use separate materials on the child's level for Language Arts and math. It's very common for a family to use, for example, 2nd Core, 3rd science, and 1st & 3rd L.A. & math.

Because SL has so much read-aloud (history, science, and storybooks) for the younger grades, not only can you easily combine grades in these subjects, but you'd run yourself ragged if you tried to do three levels simultaneously. A few people use two levels, especially if there's a large gap between children, and the olders are in at least 6th or 7th grade where they work more independently. A typical two-level family might have children who are 5, 7, 13, and 15. Check the SL user forums for advice on how to combine and which Core to choose.

As you examine it, you may find they've put together a package very similar to what you've been doing for history, just that they've done all the researching and organizing for you. You wouldn't be the first if you said, "You mean I spent the whole year pulling this together, and I could've just had them do it for me??"

Some people don't like that SL includes secular books. SL explains their reasons in the catalog. They're very strong on good, quality literature which promotes Christian character and values, even if the book is not specifically Christian, e.g. Johnny Tremain.

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Which Level Should I Choose?
From: Lynette

I started Sonlight K when my oldest was K. I wish I had not. I now encourage others choosing a Core level, to aim for the middle or lower age ranges of their children. However, it seems like Sonlight newbies are offended by the suggestion that a lower-range Core program would be appropriate for their little geniuses! (vbg) Anyone who's been there knows, there's plenty of material to challenge a slightly older child, and it's sometimes a bit too challenging for a younger child.

We are going to do two years of Core over three years, to let my youngest mature, before we even think about doing 5 Core. We may even wait until youngest is really 5th grade.

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Doing It All, A Thanksgiving Analogy
From: Paula H

Sonlight is overscheduled. Everyone says so. I don't know anyone who does everything the IG says at the schedule it says. You'd run yourself ragged. So why doesn't SL just cut back to make it more attainable?

Consider Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma's house. With the mashed potatoes, and the yams, and the stuffing, and the rolls. Are you going to eat a full portion of every single dish out there? Well, maybe Uncle Harvey will, but he'll have to loosen his belt and he'll sit there groaning through the entire afternoon. No, if you're wise you'll have a serving of each of your favorite things and a little taste of the rest. So why are there so many foods at Grandma's Thanksgiving dinner? Shouldn't she cut back and serve only one vegetable and one starch with the turkey? That way everyone could eat a full serving of every item. No she shouldn't because the item she omits might be the one you like best.

It's the same way with SL. They offer it all, and you choose what you take. That way no one's favorite gets left out. But won't you "miss something" then? I ask you, if you skip the yams at Grandma's, will you leave the table hungry? I suspect not. SL is so rich in learning, you can skip things and still be "stuffed." Or you can stretch two years of SL over 3 years. Mercy, if my child learns 3rd & 4th Core in her 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade years, won't he be behind? No. Suppose your son skips The Secret of the Andes and doesn't learn about the Incan customs and beliefs through the eyes of a llama herder. He'll probably still do just fine on the SAT's (g). Considering how much is packed into SL, he'll actually know more history than most 5th grader out there.

Besides, if you stretch it out you also have the opportunity to delve deeper into certain periods. For us it was Irish Immigration. We took a little time to expand our study in that area.

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Instructor's Guides
From: Paula H

Their instructor's guide is a real selling-point for many people. You put it into a 3-ring binder. There is a page for each week of Core. The main part of it is a grid with a column for each day and a row for each subject. Each day's assignment (e.g. "pp. 52-59") for each subject is in it's own column and row. Then there are separate pages for science and Language Arts to facilitate combining grades. In my "combining grades" section above, when you turned to Week 1 in your binder, you'd stack 2nd Core wk 1, 3rd Science wk 1, 1st LA & 3rd LA wk 1, and 1st Math & 3rd Math wk 1. Continue that for the following weeks. That way all your lesson plans for one week are in one place in one binder. Very little preparation time is required.

In addition to page assignments, the lesson plans also include explanatory notes where necessary; sometimes comprehension questions, especially in science; and space for your notes in case you're using other materials.

A word of warning though: SL is overscheduled. Don't feel bad if you have trouble fitting everything in. Most SL users I know either eliminate certain assignments (we don't do the experiments) or spread a year of curriculum over a longer time period. The program is so rich your children will still get a solid education even if you weed a few things out.

The catalog gives you a time estimate for each grade level, and it's fairly accurate if you're teaching just one student, but multiple students may take longer.

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Is Sonlight a Unit Study?
From: KC

In MY opinion, SL is sort of a middle ground between a unit study and a workbook / textbook method. I have used Weaver, and Education Plus (unit study based on scripture) and have read a lot on Konos. W and K are PURE unit studies: all subjects are taught around a central theme. SL is NOT a pure unit study. Math is separate; various language arts tie in to one another and intermittently tie into history or science and history and science sometimes (?) mesh but certainly not all the time. History and all reading is all intertwined; all the material read to the child (read-alouds) whether it's a "text" type book (but not like typical school texts) or a biography or a historical fiction work, all will tie into the same history thread being studied. So with the child's reading material to be read on their own (readers). Occasionally there are creative writing assignments, reports, and other language arts assignments that relate to the history. Daily there are dictation assignments that come directly from the child's readers, so that comes from the history.

I started my homeschooling experience feeling like unit studies were the only way to go (for me). I looked heavily into all the major names, and used Weaver, Education Plus and Alta Vista. (Konos wasn't for me, but I read a lot about it). I found in doing the unit studies what I felt to be a major flaw: the central theme around which they were focused (character traits, scripture, plant/animals, etc.) was well covered and very well done. HOWEVER, I found that the peripheral studies (often math and sometimes language arts) were very weak, and almost an afterthought. Especially math....there often were really "lame" (that word seems to describe it best) attempts to pull in a subject just to say it was covered.

I finally decided, for me, that like trying to buy an appliance that does five things, it really ends up doing several poorly. I've decided that similarly, one publisher doesn't seem to be able to be TERRIFIC in all areas. I like the eclectic nature of SL and that it pulls together strong materials from each discipline, with a lot of reinforcement in the history department. It IS a "literature based curriculum", and I personally wouldn't describe it as a unit study.

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