Why We Chose Sonlight

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here before, but we intend to be a homeschooling family. there are lots of reasons we want to homeschool and I'll share those at another time. But right now, I'm so excited about having taken a major step towards our homeschooling goal that I can't wait to share it with you! Bruce and I have purchased our first official homeschooling curriculum (not counting the preschool workbook I bought at Sam's last summer). We bought the Sonlight Curriculum for 4 and 5 year olds.

In no particular order, here are the reasons we chose Sonlight for our family:

1. Their "great books" literature-based approach appeals to our desire to develop strong critical thinking skills and avoid the typical text-book type learning that happens in most classrooms today.
2. It meets my specific organizational needs. I know homeschooling at this level can be done inexpensively with resources available online, but my mind gets lost in the blogosphere too easily to focus. The Instructor's Guides (IG) lay out a daily lesson plan for all 5 subjects included.
3. 6-month "Love to Learn" guarantee. If for some reason I'm wrong and Sonlight isn't right for us, I have 6 months to return it for a 100% refund.
4. I don't have to worry about checking books out from the library. I'm awful at returning the books and always end up paying fines. With Sonlight, I can order a core package that includes ALL of the books I'll need for this coming school year.
5. Sonlight is a Christian curriculum that encourages kids to explore different points of view. This won't be important for preschool, but I am so convinced that we must teach our children what other people think and how to respond to it, I want to support Sonlight with my homeschooling dollars now.
6. They tried to talk us out of it with 27 Reasons to NOT Buy Sonlight. And they still couldn't talk us out of it. In fact, it made us want to buy Sonlight even more!
7. Sonlight also offers other opportunities to expand on their regular lessons. I shared about one of them, Passport to India, in more detail on my other blog, Mom's Mission Field. (Bonus: It's free and you don't have to be a Sonlight customer to participate!)
8. And finally, because we are trying to raise missional children, I agree with this statement from Sonlight -  "We believe God desires to bless all nations and peoples of the world (Rev. 5:9), so we help you prepare your students—wherever God may lead them—to think about, pray for and serve peoples and cultures around the world."

Our box of books should start arriving in a week or so and I can't wait to gather the family around, open that box up, and share my excitement with Charlotte and Mary about this new phase in our life of home based learning.