Sonlight Elementary Homeschool History Curriculum Review
As a homeschool parent, I’m always looking for ways to make learning fun and engaging for my children. I recently discovered Sonlight’s Level B Intro To World History: Year 1 of 2 curriculum, and I’m excited to share my experience with it. This elementary homeschool history curriculum provides a comprehensive introduction to world history through engaging activities, stories, and projects. For my family, we have definitely found that Sonlight is the best homeschool history curriculum that fits my kids’ learning styles and our family’s preferences. Here’s why.
I received compensation and a copy of Sonlight’s Level B Intro To World History: Year 1 of 2 curriculum in exchange for my honest review, but all the opinions in this post are my own.
What is Sonlight?
Sonlight Homeschool Curriculum is an educational program designed to make homeschooling easy, enjoyable, and effective. Sonlight offers a variety of literature-rich curriculum packages that cover a wide range of subject areas, from language arts and history to Bible and science. Each package includes books, readers, and other materials that are carefully selected to provide engaging and meaningful learning experiences for students. Parents also get easy-to-follow daily lesson plans, as well as supplemental resources such as activity and project ideas, online tools, and more.
Sonlight History Curriculum Options
Sonlight offers both US History and World History curriculum options, depending on a child’s age. The curriculum options for older students include church history and American government, too. Both the American history curriculum and the world history curriculum teach events in chronological order through reading great books in a history through literature approach.
The goal of Sonlight Homeschool Curriculum is to foster a love of learning in students by providing them with engaging, relevant, and meaningful material that is tailored to their individual needs and interests. Sonlight’s curriculum utilizes classic literature, historical resources, and primary sources to create learning experiences that are both educational and entertaining.
Sonlight also provides support for parents, with homeschool advisors, helpful articles, and other resources to aid in the homeschooling process.
With its comprehensive and engaging curriculum, Sonlight is a great choice for families looking to create an effective and enjoyable homeschooling environment.
Sonlight offers History / Bible / Literature packages that help homeschool families study all three of these subjects in a fun way through living books. These packages are available for students in preschool all the way up to high school. Sonlight’s History / Bible / Literature Level B Intro To World History: Year 1 of 2 curriculum is designed for students in elementary school, ages 7-9, which usually corresponds with 1st grade, 2nd grade, or 3rd grade. The curriculum can be adapted for older or younger students, which makes it a great option for families that want to complete their history studies together.
What’s Included in Sonlight Level B Intro To World History: Year 1 of 2
Instructor’s Guide
The Instructor’s Guide included with the curriculum is truly a lifesaver. It has a pre-planned schedule of lessons that make teaching world history easy and stress-free. I love that every lesson is already planned for me, so when it’s time to teach history all I need to do is open the Instructor’s Guide and we’re ready to get started.
One of the things that I love about this curriculum is its flexibility. We have a lot of activities that we participate in outside of the home and our schedule is constantly changing. This curriculum is very accommodating and allows us to move things around without compromising the quality of the lessons. I never have to worry that we are missing something important or that my kids are not getting the best education possible.
Bible Resources
As a homeschooling mom, I’m always seeking ways to make Bible study more stimulating and significant for my children. That’s why I’m so excited about the Bible resources integrated into Sonlight Level B Intro To World History: Year 1 of 2 Homeschool program.
The first resource is Sing the Word: A New Commandment CD. This is an incredibly fun approach for my kids to study their Scripture verses. I love that the lyrics of these songs are the memory verses- as my kids learn the songs, they are memorizing the verses, too! It’s a fantastic way to help them recall the verses and make the Bible come alive for them.
The curriculum also comes with The Ology, which is a theology book written simply for kids. This book is ideal for helping my kids gain a better understanding of the Bible and its teachings.
I’m so thankful to Sonlight for including these excellent Bible resources in their Level B Intro To World History homeschool curriculum. With these resources, my children will be able to acquire a deeper knowledge of the Bible and its teachings and build a more powerful relationship with God.
Check out all the resources included in Sonlight’s History / Bible / Literature Level B Package here.
History and Geography
I was excited to see the variety of history resources included in this package. The Usborne Time Traveler book was a great way to get my son excited about history from the start. It provides a visual journey through time with detailed illustrations and descriptions of important events, people, and places. We also enjoyed reading about George Muller, a Christian evangelist and the founder of the Ansley Down orphanage in Bristol, England. The biography was an engaging story that really captivated my son.
I love that the curriculum also comes with picture books like the book Archaeologists Dig for Clues. This helped my second grade student understand the importance and relevance of archaeological exploration. It taught him how to uncover secrets of the past and gave him a glimpse into what it would be like to be an archaeologist. As a result, my son has been inspired to pursue this field when he is older.
Check out all the resources included in Sonlight’s History / Bible / Literature Level B Package here.
Read Alouds
As a parent, I was so excited to get our Sonlight Level B Intro To World History: Year 1 of 2 Homeschool curriculum! It includes some classic novels like Charlotte’s Web, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, and Henry Huggins that should be on every child’s bookshelf. I love that I have the opportunity to share these classic books from my childhood with my kids as a part of our home school curriculum.
I also love that the curriculum includes such a wide variety of genres of literature. We loved the National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry and its gorgeous photographs.
We discovered new books through the Sonlight book lists that we love like Word of Mouse by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein. I love that Sonlight curates a selection of high-quality books for my family to enjoy, and I love that we discover new favorites through Sonlight’s curriculum choices.
Check out all the resources included in Sonlight’s History / Bible / Literature Level B Package here.
Readers
I love that homeschool parents can customize the readers included in Sonlight Level B Intro To World History: Year 1 of 2 Homeschool curriculum. For level B, parents can choose from the Grade 2 readers that come with the curriculum, or grades 1, 3, or 4. We chose grade 3 since my son was already a strong reader and I wanted to challenge him.
I love that I had the opportunity to choose the level of the readers that came with this curriculum. These books were perfect for my son’s reading level. He enjoyed owning his own copy of some family favorites, and even discovered a few new books that he enjoys.
Reasons Why Sonlight is our Favorite Elementary Homeschool History Curriculum
Based on Real Books
As a homeschool parent, it’s my job to make sure my kids get a quality education. While traditional schools have their own methods for teaching history, I believe that using real, living books to teach history to my elementary kids is a far better approach.
What are living books?
Living books are books that are written from a narrative perspective, as opposed to a textbook-style approach. They tell a story or provide an engaging narrative about a person or an event, rather than simply providing a list of facts and figures. Living books are written in a way that draws the reader in and helps them to connect with the material. This is particularly true for history, as it allows the reader to understand how people lived, how events unfolded, and how different perspectives can shape our understanding of the past.
Teaching history with living books
As a homeschool parent, using living books to teach history to my kids has made a huge difference in their learning. By reading living books, my kids have been able to get a better understanding of historical events and gain insights into how people of the past lived and interacted with one another. The books also provide an opportunity to explore different perspectives and gain a deeper appreciation for the different cultures and societies that make up our world.
I have also found that using living books to teach history to my kids has helped to make the material more engaging and enjoyable. Rather than simply memorizing facts and figures, my kids are able to gain a more meaningful understanding of the events and people that make up history. This has made the material easier for them to retain and recall and has sparked their interest in learning more about the past.
I love that every Sonlight curriculum includes a curated selection of high-quality living books. This is a great way to expose elementary students to good books that make each time period in history come alive.
Read more about using a literature-based homeschool curriculum here.
Easy to Plan
Sonlight makes homeschool planning easy! All the lesson plans are already done for you, which takes away so much of the stress of homeschool planning. All I have to do is open up the Instructor’s Guide that comes with the lesson plans, and I instantly know what my kids need to work on for the week. It’s so easy to get started!
The best part is that the lesson plans are flexible. Each homeschool family can choose from either the four- or five-day options available for each grade level. This makes it so easy to customize your history program to fit your family’s busy schedule.
I also love that If we need to take a break from the normal routine to focus on a particular concept, I can easily adjust the lesson plans to accommodate. For example, if my son is struggling with a particular math concept, I can dedicate more time to it in our lesson plans while also keeping up with other subjects.
Learn more about homeschool planning with Sonlight’s Instructor’s Guides here.
Easy to Use
One of the biggest reasons why I love Sonlight is because of how easy it is to use. Everything we need to get started comes in one box, shipped right to our house. This is incredibly convenient, especially when I’m trying to juggle multiple different homeschooling materials and resources.
The other great thing about Sonlight is that the instructor’s guide includes all the information I need to get started. It has detailed instructions on how to use the elementary homeschool curriculum, as well as a wealth of additional resources that can help me further tailor Sonlight to my family’s needs.
Finally, Sonlight also offers a variety of different options for different levels and ages. This makes it easy for me to customize the lessons for each of my children, and it ensures that everyone in the family is getting the most out of their homeschooling experience.
Read about more reasons to choose Sonlight for your homeschool curriculum here.
Christian Worldview
We all know the importance of history in our lives and education. As Christians, it is especially important to be able to understand history from a Biblical worldview. That’s one reason why my family chose Sonlight curriculum for our homeschooling.
Sonlight curriculum is unique in that it is specifically designed to teach history with a Christian worldview. Through its narrative approach, Sonlight teaches world history in the context of the Bible. This means that the events of history are presented within the framework of God’s plan, and the stories of people are told within their relationship with God.
When my children were learning about Ancient Greece, they were able to understand the events not only as historical facts but also as part of God’s story. Through Sonlight, they were able to see how God used the events of the time to bring about His will.
The beauty of Sonlight curriculum is that it is able to take a seemingly mundane subject like history and make it come alive with the power of God’s word. My children have been able to learn about the world’s past with a Biblical context that has allowed them to understand the importance of God’s role in history.
Learn more about Sonlight’s Educational Philosophy here.
Kids Learn a Lot and Love It
When I teach my kids history from living books, I’m able to bring the material to life. We’ll discuss the characters and their stories and bring them to life in our imaginations. This allows my kids to make connections to their own lives and understand the material on a deeper level.
I’ve had great success using the Sonlight History curriculum with my kids. It’s full of living books that are engaging and interesting. We’ll read the books together, and then we’ll use the questions in the Instructor’s Guide to discuss what we read. This allows my kids to process what they’ve read and remember it better. It also helps them to gain an appreciation for the material and learn to think critically about it.
Using living books to teach history has been a great experience for my kids. They’re learning more, remembering more, and having a lot of fun in the process. I highly recommend it to any homeschool parent.
Try Sonlight Level B Intro To World History: Year 1 of 2 for Yourself!
Overall, Sonlight History / Bible / Literature Level B Intro To World History: Year 1 of 2 is the best elementary homeschool history curriculum because it is engaging, comprehensive, and provides an interactive learning experience. The activities and resources provided by this curriculum make it incredibly enjoyable for both parents and students.
If you are looking for an elementary homeschool history curriculum that is engaging and comprehensive, Sonlight Level B Intro To World History: Year 1 of 2 is a perfect choice. Visit their website to learn more and purchase the curriculum today!
Learn more about Sonlight History / Bible / Literature Level B Intro To World History: Year 1 of 2 and get a copy of the curriculum for your family here!
