Sonlight Homeschool Curriculum: What You Need To Know (Complete Review)

We have used Sonlight Homeschool Curriculum for the past 3 years. We have used their renowned History/Bible/Literature B, C, and D Curricula. We have used, Sonlight’s Language Arts 1, 2, & 3, and Sonlight’s Science A, B & C. We have found Sonlight to be advantageous in many respects; however, there are a few things that need to be improved. Here is my honest review of Sonlight’s Homeschool Curriculum.

Sonlight Homeschool Curriculum At A Glance

Sonlight Homeschool Curriculum Pros

Sonlight Homeschool Curriculum Cons

Why should you listen to me?

At 2 years old, our daughter Jana started memorizing and quoting the books I read to her. Clearly, we needed more books. Unfortunately, our local library at the time didn’t have great books in great condition. Enter Sonlight.

We ordered Sonlight’s P 3/4 and did some ‘unofficial’ homeschooling since, at the time, it was a read-only curriculum. Suffice it to say that Jana loved all of Sonlight’s books and eventually memorized many of the stories.

Once I decided to officially start homeschooling our girl, I decided to go with Abeka for pre-K and K since most of our friends were using Abeka at the time. While Abeka worked well for learning to read, my daughter did not love it.

So, we switched right back to our beloved Literature-based Sonlight curriculum. Jana is now almost 9 years old, we’ve been homeschooling for 5.5 years, and using Sonlight for the past 3.5 years. In that time, Jana has become an excellent reader who aces her yearly standardized tests.

Homeschooling has helped us guide our daughter academically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically.

Sonlight Curriculum History/Bible/Literature

For me, Sonlight’s History/Bible/Literature (HBL) Curriculum is really the highlight of the Sonlight experience. Many of the History and Literature books that Sonlight exposes children to would be the favorite books you and them have ever read.

Trust me when I tell you that your children will spend a lot of extra time in their bedrooms reading and re-reading the read-aloud books. They’re that good.

I personally credit Sonlight for my child being an excellent reader and a superb creative writer. Some of the best books we’ve ever read are ‘Sonlight books’. We would have never experienced them if it were not for Sonlight.

Not only are the Literature books excellent, but our daughter has begged us to read “A Child’s History of the World” (HBL B & C) to her over and over again. The History books make history come alive. They are phenomenal. Honestly, I knew that Sonlight had worked for us the day that I heard Jana giving the kids and parents at church a History lesson.

All in all, you will love Sonlight’s History/Bible/Literature Curriculum. I’d say that you honestly can’t go wrong with it.

Sonlight Curriculum Language Arts

We are currently completing Sonlight Curriculum Language Arts 3. And here is my honest opinion that I shared in a Sonlight Facebook Group recently:

1. Writing – I think it’s wonderful here. Each week, your child will have to prep for a writing assignment one day and write it the next day. I think that the amount of reading coupled with the writing practice has made my child a very strong writer.
2. Spelling – weak if your child is a great speller. For all 28 weeks so far, the 10 words each week have been too easy for my daughter. So I’ve supplemented the spelling with my own spelling curriculum that challenges her more. There are suggestions on how to have your child practice the spelling words throughout the week, but nothing extra is given to practice the spelling words. I create my own spelling practice worksheets on a website called Common Core Sheets
3. Grammar – There is only one day of grammar each week with very little practice. I’ve supplemented it with Grammar workbooks. I think that more grammar practice should be added to the curriculum. To be fair, Sonlight does provide outside Grammar resources at an extra cost.
4. Read Alouds – My daughter really enjoys these. Although, if you want to challenge your child a little more, you may want to ask more challenging comprehension questions. The ones given are quite straightforward.
5. Teacher Explanations – We did not necessarily experience this with Language Arts 1 & 2; however, a number of the teacher explanations for LA 3 were confusing. I understand what is being communicated but I don’t think it is communicated well.

All-in-all it does not matter which Sonlight Curriculum Language Arts program you complete, the writing portion of the program will definitely be the strongest part.

Sonlight Curriculum Science

Sonlight’s Science is up and down for us. We started with Science B in our very first year using the curriculum. Jana enjoyed every minute of it. We were both very excited about the Usborne World of Animals book (shown above). Not only so, but many of the Usborne books came with quicklinks that directed us to helpful YouTube videos that bolstered the concepts. We also enjoyed all of the science experiments in Level B, and they all worked well.

In our second year of Sonlight Science, we went backward to Science A. We found that the books were not as great as the ones we used for Science B. Additionally, a decent number of the science experiments involved plants and planting, but these experiments were scheduled for the Winter. I’m not sure where you live, but here in New York, it’s near impossible to purchase anything plant-related in the Winter. I felt that Sonlight could have done a better job scheduling the right experiments for the right seasons.

This is our third year of using Sonlight Science. This year we are doing Science C. Firstly, the book we’re using, “Usborne Book of Knowledge” is nice, but it’s not the greatest. Secondly, many of the science experiments do not work. And before you think that it’s me, I’ll just say that I am a Chemist by profession and I taught high school Chemistry for 3 years. So if anybody knows how to get an experiment to work, it’s me.

While Sonlight Science may work better for you, we’ll be switching to Apologia Science in the Fall.

All Other Subjects

Sonlight Curriculum outsources its Math Curriculum. Parents can choose Math-U-See, Horizons Math, Singapore Math, Saxon Math, Miquon Math, or RightStart Math. We have always chosen Singapore Math and it has worked for us. If you can’t make up your mind about which Math to use, you’ll need to do due diligence on each of the programs offered.

Sonlight Curriculum Pricing, Savings, and Returns

Firstly, Sonlight offers different pricing options based on their packages. Sonlight’s History/Bible/Literature is more popular than its full curriculum. So they offer HBL-only packages for each level. These are a few hundred dollars cheaper than the full curriculum (HBL, Science, Handwriting, Math, Language Arts) packages. Secondly, if you are looking to save money on Sonlight Curriculum, these are your options

1. Borrow the read-alouds from your local library. Or access the audiobooks through your local library. This is free (paid for with your tax dollars). Unless you have a strong desire to own the read-aloud books, Sonlight Curriculum allows you the flexibility to not have to purchase every single part of their curriculum from them.
2. Buy second-hand. eBay may be an option for this, or there are many Sonlight Facebook groups where you can access moms selling books.
3. Finally, Sonlight has an excellent money-back guarantee. They are so confident that you will love their curriculum that they give you the option to return it up to a year after you purchase it.

Sonlight Curriculum Competitors

There are numerous homeschool curriculum options to choose from. Although space will fail me to go into detail about the ones we’ve used, I think there are three essentials things you must do before choosing a curriculum:

1. Speak to other homeschool moms. If you do not know any homeschool moms, get to know homeschool moms in Facebook groups. Ask lots of questions.
2. Determine your child’s learning style. Other homeschool moms may lead you astray if you don’t know and understand your child’s learning style. If your child is like my Jana, then he/she does not thrive with rote-memorization-type curriculums. Thus, you’ll need to stay away from those. They may work for other children, but they will not work for your child. Until I understood my child’s learning style, we used the wrong curriculum and she hated school for it. Her joy was restored once I switched to Sonlight’s Literature-based curriculum because it suited her style.
3. Be sure to check out the Cathy Duffy Homeschool Reviews Website.

Who is Sonlight Curriculum right for?

Sonlight is perfect for a child who has a passion for reading. My husband and I recognized early that our daughter was a reader just like my husband. We tried a traditional curriculum and it just did not work for her at all. She did not want to sit at a desk all day long doing worksheet after worksheet after worksheet. Au contraire, she wanted to snuggle and listen to great books. Once we made the switch to Sonlight, she thrived. Sonlight is the perfect curriculum for a child, like her, who is obsessed with reading and good books.

Who should avoid Sonlight Curriculum?

It is very important to remember that Sonlight requires an excessive amount of time to read aloud. While many parents transition to audiobooks as their children age, there are just some books that are not available as audiobooks. Therefore, if you are convinced that you just do not have time to read aloud, you may want to reconsider purchasing Sonlight’s Curriculum. I won’t go into any more details than this because Sonlight has a helpful article with “20 Reasons Not to Buy Sonlight.”

Sonlight Curriculum Conclusions

Sonlight is an excellent curriculum for History, Bible, and Literature. Moreover, it is excellent for kids who are passionate about reading and creative writing. However, if your child needs more work with spelling and grammar, then you’ll either need to bolster Sonlight with something else, or you’ll need to consider another curriculum.

I would recommend trying Sonlight Science, but be open to other options. Thankfully, if you try Sonlight’s Science but do not like it, you can return it.

All in all, we have enjoyed Sonlight Homeschool Curriculum, and we plan to use it for years to come.

If you’ve found this review helpful, please be sure to share it with other moms who may be considering homeschooling or Sonlight.