Why it Might Not Work for Your Homeschooling Child

Sonlight's Kindergarten Language Arts program may seem like a natural choice for someone who is already using a Sonlight Core with their homeschooling child. However, the Language Arts packages available from Sonlight may not be the best choice for your homeschooling child even if they are using a Sonlight core.

The Language Arts K curricula from Sonlight covers a variety of subjects such as phonics, copywork, and creative expression. It is a comprehensive Language Arts program with all the components you would want to cover. Sonlight K covers letter sounds and begins introducing CVC words, or three letter short vowel words. Fine motor skills need to be at a certain level to be able to handle the writing involved for Copywork. Your child will also need to have the skills to cover basic grammar, such as name capitalization, and other Language Arts related activities such as learning their address.

You are probably thinking that this sounds wonderful. Having one main language arts curricula rather than having to schedule several different things makes things easy. All of the things listed above are appropriate for the average Kindergarten aged student, and it is simple to plan and implement such a curriculum. However, your child's reading level may very likely not match up with other skills covered in Sonlight Language Arts K on the same level. This is the problem I ran into with my own child. My daughter has known her letters and sounds for some time now and is even already reading CVC words, so a good portion of Sonlight Language Arts K would not be useful for us. The other portions of Language Arts K would be perfect for her age and ability. I cannot justify purchasing a Language Arts program unless we can use at least the majority of the material though. Sonlight Language Arts 1 does not provide a good alternative either. While the reading portion is at her level, the grammar and copywork is well beyond her. The pace of Language Arts 1 is much faster too.

It is important to look at all the areas covered in Sonlight Language Art K before choosing it for your homeschooling child. As the parent and teacher, you need to consider if all the areas covered are at an appropriate level for your child. If there are big difference between your child's reading and fine motor and comprehension abilities, it may be wise to look at curriculum's other than Sonlight Language Arts that provide the various Language Arts components separately.