Switching Gears

When we first started out on our homeschooling journey, I looked over ALOT of curriculum. (Can I just say as a side tangent that I actually think the amount of choices out there for homeschooling now is a detriment? There's so much guilt and worry involved, because of the fear that you might miss out on something absolutely essential that you never would have even thought of until you saw it in a catalog! I know its probably better than when homeschooling pioneers 20 years ago only had old public school text books, but I still think its overwhelming, especially for new or insecure homeschoolers.) There was one curriculum in particular that I had settled in my mind pretty early on that I would *not* be using, for a few various reasons that I believed didn't quite line up with our homeschooling goals. We wound up choosing our current curriculum, My Father's World, which I have enjoyed using - we've used it through several grades (K, 1st, 2nd, and now 3rd) and been reasonably pleased.

However, as the children have grown and I have grown in confidence concerning my ability to homeschool, some of my desires and goals have changed, as well. So while I've appreciated the curriculum MFW has put together, next year will be moving on. Here's the ironic part. That curriculum I mentioned wouldn't "fit" with us, the one I was completely settled on not using, so much so that I never even looked at their catalogs after my decision was made - I wasn't even tempted! - that curriculum is the one we will be switching to. (I think the Lord loves irony, lol!)

"That curriculum" is Sonlight. It was a very strange road that lead us to choosing Sonlight for next year. It started, of course, when I came to the realization that MFW wasn't quite fitting for us anymore. My initial thought was to piece together my own stuff. While researching available History programs out there, another homeschooler commented that she uses Sonlight, just the History portion. Then another mentioned that she loved the read-alouds from Sonlight. Then, totally unrelated to this, I noticed that this random guy who sometimes leaves comments here (Hi, Luke! You stand out as my only male commenter!) is actually from Sonlight. Also, another blogger, Kimberly from Raising Olives, has been posting about how Sonlight works for her family recently. Suddenly, Sonlight was everywhere!

So I decided to take a peek at the website. Which was a bit overwhelming, so I ordered a print catalog. The catalog arrived and I took it into the baby's room, because I get good reading time in while he's nursing. I spend the entire WEEK looking through the catalog, reading all of the articles, using their website, listening to podcasts, watching videos, reading reviews, etc. etc. etc. (OK, I'm a bit obsessive about researching things, but that is because: 1. I'm OCD, 2. I'm 1st born type-A personality, and 3. I hate jumping into something without knowing EVERYTHING there is to know about it. When we got Ada as a puppy, I took out every single book the library had about training puppies. I'm not exaggerating. Michael has come to understand this side of me and no longer thinks I'm crazy. Even though I might be.)

A few things that seriously impressed me about Sonlight:

• It truly is literature-based learning. Not just a few read-alouds combined with some seat work and some text-like books. Lots, and lots and lots of books. That you can order straight from Sonlight, instead of having to hunt around or hope your library carries them. We LOVE books. I had already been supplementing our current curriculum with extra read alouds because there weren't enough in the schedule to suit us. And oh, my, what GOOD books. Books I remember reading and loving as a child. True classics! One of our homeschool goals is to encourage the children to love reading, because reading opens up so many worlds of imagination and avenues of learning. Even if they retain nothing of actual "facts", if a child has a love and desire to read, a whole world of education is available to them as they grow!
  


• The customer service is excellent. From the mass amounts of information available on their website and in the catalog, to the emails I sent asking questions and getting replies in less than 24 hours that actually answered my questions perfectly, I have been very impressed with how well they run things.


• Their organization. It seems like they've thought of everything. This sort of ties in with the customer service point, but more so. My sister-in-law had an older copy of an IG that she let me borrow to look over, and I am impressed with the structure and thought that has gone into it. I love the flexibility of choosing a 5 or 4 day schedule (4 day fits our life perfectly, and I won't feel like I'm "behind" when I need a day for doctor's appointments or errands). They provide discussion questions and a sketch of the main points the children should be picking up and narrating back after readings. This is a funny point, and will demonstrate what I nerd I truly am, but they actually provide color-coded labels to put on your books, so they won't get lost on the bookshelf or jumbled in with other books. I love that! And even the point that their shipping boxes come with a castle outline that you cut out for the kids to play with... little details like that show me they've really put alot of thought into everything.


• Their 18-week "Love to Learn" guarantee. Seriously? I can use the curriculum for 18 weeks, and then if its not a good fit, send it back for a full refund?! How can that deal be beat, really? The scariest thing about investing in curriculum is the fear that it might not be a good fit and money will be wasted. That alone gives me confidence enough to at least give it a try!

So, that's our plans for next year. I'm still trying to figure out which Core we'll begin with (Isaac and Ezra combined - the littles will still be tagging along and having some preschool time as they do now), and I'll have to be diligent about saving up my homeschool budget, but I'm really looking forward to diving into Sonlight, come next spring!