Sonlight? How strong is the religious emphasis??

[JessicaS]

I am thinking of using Sonight next year. We are a Christian family but I do prefer secular schooling. I am thinking of using Sonlight but how strong is the religious emphasis?

[Collinsky]

I've heard of people using the Sonlight Core materials in a secular way, but would be interested in hearing more. I would think that Creation-based science would be difficult to modify for secular use, and I assume that Sonlight science is Creation-based.

[Momma Aimee]

taking notes

[umsami]

I only did Sonlight in the PK/Kindy arena... so it really didn't get too science-y. Had a Berenstein Bears book as a Science book... and then for Kindy, it was all about experiments and stuff.

The way Sonlight is structured, I would think it would be quite easy to sub in a different Science program. You might want to ask on some of the Secular Sonlight groups on Yahoo.

[elizawill]

when i briefly considered using sonlight, i always enjoyed reading onlyzombiecat's blog. she is a secular homeschooler from MDC & has great info and links using sonlight: http://mapletreeacademynews.blogspot.com/

hth.

[momtokea]

If you pick a core, say Core 1 for example, you can buy the core without the Bible portion or the science. The core will include history and geography plus an instructors guide, read-aloud books with an instructors guide, and readers with an instructors guide and language arts worksheets. Out of this large selection of books I would say about two would be religious based and it would be easy to just skip those.

As far as science goes, Sonlight uses mostly Usborne books. I used it a couple of years ago and it was a selection of books (mostly Usborne) with an instructors guide, worksheets and experiments, and a kit with supplies for experiments plus a dvd with someone doing the experiments. I do not remember anything religious in the science, and if there is I'm sure it would be easy to just skip those.

You can order anything you want from Sonlight individually, you do not need to buy the entire curriculum or an entire core. Although I personally recommend picking a core because you get some perks if you do.

Also, Sonlight allows you to try it for 18 weeks and if you don't like it you can return it for a full refund.

[luv-my-boys]

What grade are you looking at? I ask because from what I've gathered from other Sonlighters is that as you go up in grade level the matierial does have more of a christian slant to it.

I use a lower core (history) but I chose another science because my kids wanted a whole yr of anatomy based learning. From what I saw of the lower core science it would be quite easy to make it secular. As for the history core (if you purchase the whole thing) will include bible. I chose to buy just the history portion of things and also didnt buy all the read alouds (2 of them I prefered not to do and substituted with something from my church instead) If you go to SL's website you will be able to look over their reading lists and see a index of what will be covered that yr. I went to amazon and read the descriptions for any books I was unfamiliar with.

[momtokea]

Originally Posted by luv-my-boys

As for the history core (if you purchase the whole thing) will include bible.

This is not true. You can order an entire core without the Bible.

[luv-my-boys]

Originally Posted by momtokea

This is not true. You can order an entire core without the Bible.

sorry for the confusion I meant the pre set curriculum pkg. I went in and added things seperately to build "customize" my curriculum instead.

[momtokea]

Originally Posted by luv-my-boys

sorry for the confusion I meant the pre set curriculum pkg. I went in and added things seperately to build "customize" my curriculum instead.

I think the bible was automatically included until just a few years ago when they changed it. Also, I was looking around the website and I plan to order core 100 for my eldest, and I noticed that there are some religious books that are included in the history/geography portion of the core and there is no option to exclude them (other than ordering items individually). I always order the entire core anyway and just put aside the books we won't use, because I get perks like free shipping to Canada.

So, as someone else mentioned, it seems to get more religious as you go higher in the cores. But for the lower cores, it has been very easy for me to make the program more secular.

[Jenelle]

Personally, I think the religious emphasis is as strong as you want it to be.

You do not have to order the Bible section's materials. It is scheduled in the IG, but if you don't want to do it, ignore those lines.

The Bible materials are included in the "Newcomer's Packages". Those are for people who just want a full year of materials, all subjects covered, everything scheduled for you, and you don't have to think about it much, just click and you're done.

Those packages do not work out to be any cheaper than piecing things together yourself in the "Customizable Complete Packages" section.

We are doing SL Science, and I do not find it to be overly religious at all. In fact, many of the books make evolutionary statements or say things about the earth being "billions and billions of years old" -- and SL makes notes about those things in the IG. Which you can also choose to simply ignore.

There are families who use Sonlight who are not Christian, because they like the wonderful book selection, the very helpful forums, the IG and study guides, etc. I would say if your family IS Christian, there would not be anything offensive to you.