By Ann Hibbard
(Monticello, AR)
Visitor Review:
Sonlight isn’t for everyone, so in my mind a good way to ‘review’ it is to express why it’s good for us and let others see if they have the same personality. We have used Sonlight for three years, Cores 1-3 teaching multiple children 4-9.
So, in as few words as possible, Sonlight is great for us because:
1) We love books, and Sonlight is all about books. In fact, my girls typically try to find extra books to supplement! If you don’t like to read and read lots, Sonlight won’t work. (Keep in mind that a common complaint is that Sonlight is pretty expensive. It’s because of the huge book list – a good personal library isn’t cheap.
One cost-control option is to check before you order to see how many of the books your local library carries and only buy the ones it doesn’t carry. Then you can make a list of favorite books you’d like to have on your shelf and buy them as finances permit.)
2) Sonlight has Instructor’s Guides with everything planned out. This frees me to organize it as I want without having to put it together. If you like to freedom to assemble your own curriculum, or even if you like to have a basic curriculum that you heavily supplement, Sonlight is not for you.
3) There is plenty of work! We feel free to do it all or leave some off. If you feel overwhelmed if you don’t do it all, then you will be overwhelmed by Sonlight. But, if you like to have plenty from which you pick and choose, then it’s great.
4) It’s easy to work with multiple children, and Sonlight gives basic guides on how to do that and is always available to answer questions. There is forum help as well.
Over the past two weeks we have done a different curriculum for blog tour review purposes. We have enjoyed it, but we can’t wait to get back to Sonlight. It just works for us for many reasons, but primarily for the four reasons mentioned above.
