by Jennifer
(Michigan)
I am trying Sonlight for the first time this year for my 7, 9 & 10 year old and LOVE it! I paired it with The Well-Planned Day Homeschool Planner and it was SO easy to get things ready for our school year.
Sonlight lays out the schedule for each day (4 or 5 day schedule-you pick) and all I have to do is transfer it into my planner (about 5-6 weeks at at a time)-which has all kinds of room for making the notes I need to fine-tune our day.
My kiddos can read the books at their own pace and their readers correspond w/the read alouds I'm reading to them. I'm able to have them narrate to me about each chapter and the study guide questions allow me to see whether they really understood the chapter or not (without me having to read the book!). Plus, it brings up great conversation starters that never would have happened otherwise. All the books really immerse us in the time period we're studying which helps my kiddos get a better hold on what it was really like during the time we're studying.
Another thing I like about Sonlight is in the study guide sections for each book there are suggestions for research papers and digging deeper should you or your child want to.
I do wish that Sonlight had project suggestions to go along with the studies, but this is really the only thing I've had to dig into...the rest was fully planned for me and that was a huge weight off my shoulders.
Overall, my stress level has gone down immensely since I've started using Sonlight. I am able to schedule my day to the point that I have time to play with my sons--this is the best bonus of all.