No, Sonlight is not a Catholic-based curriculum. Instead, Sonlight is a literature-focused, Christian homeschooling curriculum created with Protestant beliefs in mind. It features many Christian authors, but it does not offer anything specifically relating to the Catholic faith.
Sonlight’s goal is to equip Christian parents to teach their own children the faith found in the Protestant Bible and values of Christian living.
What denomination is Sonlight?
Sonlight is a Christian homeschool curriculum provider that offers curricula from a variety of denominations including Protestant-Evangelical, Catholic, and even Eastern Orthodox denominations. Their Bible programs are Protestant-Evangelical in orientation, but they also have Catholic and Eastern Orthodox options available.
Sonlight also offers history and science programs that stem from a variety of Christian worldviews. Sonlight teachers their students to be respectful of a variety of denominations and beliefs and have created research-based materials that maintain a high degree of accuracy while maintaining a Christian worldview.
What Bible version does Sonlight use?
Sonlight uses the ESV (English Standard Version) Bible as the default text for its curriculum. The ESV is a modern, accurate, and readable translation of the Bible that seamlessly blends forward English grammar and style with the beauty of the classic King James Version.
Because of its foundational accuracy, clarity, and readability, it is well-suited for Sonlight’s curriculum and reading material. The ESV also offers a wide range of study resources, including a variety of translation notes, cross references, and introductions.
Additionally, the ESV Study Bible has more than two million copies in print, making it one of the most popular study Bibles in the world. Sonlight encourages families to use the ESV for personal Bible study, worship, meditation, memorization, and reflection.
What type of homeschool is Sonlight?
Sonlight is a Classical Christian homeschool curriculum provider, offering products designed to help families and educators create a customized homeschooling experience for their children. With more than 30 years of experience developing and perfecting their program, Sonlight provides an individualized, Biblically-based approach to education.
They provide full curriculum packages tailored to each child’s age and learning skills and interests, making it easy to create a unique educational experience. The packages generally include student and instructor books, readers, and a variety of other materials and resources.
Sonlight also offers individual courses and subject materials, including math, language arts, science, history, foreign language, and Bible. All of their materials are Bible-based and are rooted in the classic literature tradition, with students being exposed to classic books and literature as they learn.
Furthermore, Sonlight supports a variety of homeschooling styles, from traditional textbook-driven instruction to creative explorations prompted by discussions.
How long does Sonlight take each day?
It really depends on the individual family. With Sonlight’s homeschooling curriculum, parents can customize the lessons to fit their needs. While the suggested time for completing Sonlight lessons is between 1-3 hours each day, many parents find that they can get through all their lessons in a shorter or longer amount of time.
Flexibility is key when it comes to customizing the amount of time it takes to complete Sonlight’s lessons. It all comes down to the individual family’s needs and schedule. Some homeschoolers may want to move more quickly through the lessons to finish the year earlier than anticipated, while others might want to stretch out the material to cover two years in one.
Sonlight provides a flexible curriculum that allows parents to customize the daily learning time to fit their individual family’s needs.
Is sonlight curriculum accredited?
No, Sonlight curriculum is not accredited. Sonlight provides homeschool curriculum that is non-accredited and non-traditional, offering secular and Christian homeschool curricula for PreKindergarten through high school.
Sonlight does not participate in the accreditation process and does not have the authority to award an accredited diploma. Parents who choose Sonlight curriculum can receive an unaccredited transcript.
What is the top rated homeschool curriculum?
The top rated homeschool curriculum will depend on the individual needs of the student and family. In general, many homeschoolers feel that the Abeka curriculum is the best curriculum for providing a comprehensive and quality education.
This curriculum is based on traditional and Bible-based curriculum with education in math, science, language arts, and history/social studies. It provides structure, stability, and stamina that can help students develop an effective learning environment.
Explode The Code, and Singapore Math. Other popular homeschool curricula include those from Bob Jones University and Core Knowledge. Ultimately, the best homeschool curriculum for any student or family is the one that best suits their educational needs and preferences.
Is Sonlight same as BookShark?
No, Sonlight and BookShark are two separate companies. Sonlight provides ongoing teacher supported home study curriculum. They offer packages based on grade levels, and they have a variety of subjects to choose from.
They also offer an array of books and materials, as well as an online library from which one can choose from. On the other hand, BookShark offers a product called BookShark Literacy. This is a reading program for children ages 4-14 and it is designed to help them become fluent readers.
The program teaches through a mixture of multimedia materials, including audio books and games, to promote language learning. In addition, it helps to improve fluency by introducing new words and concepts.
Therefore, it is different from Sonlight in that it does not focus on providing an entire educational package at each grade level, but rather on teaching reading.
What is the difference between Charlotte Mason and Montessori?
The Charlotte Mason and Montessori educational philosophies have different approaches to teaching and learning. The Charlotte Mason method focuses on educational ‘habits’, developing desirable dispositions in children and providing an enriching environment in which learning can take place.
It emphasizes nature, good literature, decent art, a wide-ranging curriculum, hands-on activities, and responsible independent learning. It also places great emphasis on observation and encouraging children to use their imagination.
The Montessori method, on the other hand, focuses heavily on offering children freedom within a prepared environment to explore and discover. It emphasizes independent learning, self-direction, and self-discipline.
It utilizes learning materials that are attractive, hands-on, and self-correcting. Children learn in a mixed-age environment and learn using a multi-sensory approach to engage in activities that are meaningful to them and age-appropriate.
In the Montessori environment, the teacher serves as an observer, facilitator, and mentor, assessing the child’s development in order to offer individualized instruction. In essence, the Charlotte Mason method promotes the development of good educational habits, while the Montessori method emphasizes the development of self-directed learners.
Is Charlotte Mason Classical?
Charlotte Mason was a British educator at the turn of the 20th century who developed an educational philosophy which emphasizes nature-study, quality literature, and meaningful experience in the classroom.
This is similar to a classical education, but the emphasis of Charlotte Mason is more towards providing real-world experiences than the study of Ancient Greek and Latin. Charlotte Mason believed that children should learn from both books and real-world experiences, and her classroom instruction relies heavily on finding ways to bring those subjects together.
This type of education is not just focused onstudying the classics, but instead emphasizes hands-on exploration, living books, and nature study, while still providing students with a foundation of academic knowledge.
Charlotte Mason’s method enables students to study a wide range of subjects, and it often encourages students to develop a lifelong passion for learning. So while it is not quite the same as traditional classical education, Charlotte Mason’s education philosophy is still in line with its overall goal of equipping students with knowledge and the skills to engage with the world around them.
How did Charlotte Mason teach language arts?
Charlotte Mason used an approach to teaching language arts that was both intentional and developmental. She believed that children should have the opportunity to experience and explore words, to learn how to express themselves clearly, and to develop strong writing skills.
Her approach emphasized the use of living books, or real books written by authors from all historical periods, and a large amount of discussion that was often tied to topics of interest for the student.
She also had a strong emphasis on writing, encouraging students to keep a notebook where they could copy poetry and other pieces of writing which could be used for discussion and supervision. She also asked children to keep journals or diaries and encouraged them to write out their thought processes, discussion topics, and ideas for their own pieces of writing.
Mason’s language arts curriculum was centered around a wide range of topics: grammar, composition, spelling, and more. Rather than using worksheets, she had students complete meaningful tasks that demonstrated their understanding and progress, such as narrations, verbal exercises, and essay writing.
She also utilized copy work to help internalize information and practice spelling. Her aim was to cultivate a love of learning and the development of logical thinking and reasoning skills, rather than focus on the acquisition of facts.