And Just Like That, We Have Been Boxed… Thank-you Sonlight…

It is that time of year when folk have either blocked school from their minds completely for mid-year vacations or they are eagerly planning their next year’s schooling. Either way we have been back in school a couple of weeks and just when we were needing some inspiration our new books arrived and in the world of Sonlighters we say “we have been boxed.”

And after years and years of buying one core at a time we finally have almost the entire Sonlight library, from K through 500, book by book we have got there… The only core books we don’t own are the American Government of core 400. One of my kids is mad about American History so we may have to add them to the pile next year.

This year our youngest will be in his first year of Sonlight and our oldest in his final year, and well everyone else is inbetween. As I begin this journey all over again I just can’t believe that we are doing certain things for the very last time. Surely not. There is a very different focus when you are wandering through for the eighth time… a lot more lingering and a lot less of getting it done.

There are a couple of new things in the boxes that we are really looking forward too… All of us are ready to dive in and listen to the Story of the World CD’s… I think we might need a very long road trip. We have so loved these books for history and I think everyone would like a good long listen. Also these math books were ripped out of the boxes so fast and and we are already winding our way through the first one as our lunch time read aloud. They are not math books in the traditional sense, it is a story of the amusing kind and tells the bigger picture behind math concepts. Delightfully not pages of exercises to do, just a fun story to listen to, introducing new ideas.

Otherwise apart from the the Core for hood #1 we buy mostly math work books, especially this year which I am planning to focus on math. Last year the focus was on reading and now that most of our students have a habit of reading we are ready to work on math consistently. And then we always get a couple of treats… and this is what my kids are diving into the boxes to find: more public speaking, because I did it with my high schoolers last year and they loved it, so more of the same; Microscope slides full of interesting goodies to look at, it is time to haul out our microscope and use it; and the Second year of Latin, after years of the first year course sitting on the shelf, our kids are suddenly of an age to enjoy it and we are dashing through it at speed and loving it.

For once it appears that I haven’t left out critical components of our kids school curriculum, so far every year I forget something absolutely fundamental. We always seem to get by, so school can definitely be done despite having everything you “need” or not. It appears that my brain was in gear and I am hoping that I don’t discover that I haven’t left someone’s schooling off the list, when we dig a little deeper.

Most of our gang of age to put their own files together. I am guessing that this weekend folk around here are going to spending there time putting all their papers into their files and getting ready to crack open some fun new books on Monday morning. Gotta love that about Sonlight, you really can just one the boxes and dive right in.

• Se7en + 1 Have Been Boxed Again
• We Have Been Boxed, Thank-you Sonlight.
• Se7en+1 Have Been Boxed.
• Se7en Have Been Boxed…