A BOX FOR ME?!

The box came while my son was taking his nap. I had to fight with every ounce of my being not to open it and tear through it myself. I did, however, yank out the parent's companion with closed eyes, but replaced everything around it carefully and perfectly, then closed the box back up for when the boy awoke.

And thank goodness I did, otherwise I might have missed the screeching, "A BOX FOR ME?!" moment and this look:


Ben and His Box

Unfortunately, this was the only picture I was able to take. One moment after I got that look, the paper started flying and he wanted to read every.single.book in the box. Right then and there.

I do believe he's a fan!

Jess R.
Ben, P3/4

A New Way to Enjoy Box Day!

As my 12 year old and I trekked up to our schoolroom with armloads of all her WONDERFUL new books, my little ones were busy with the box! You never know what will come in a Sonlight box... : )


Enjoying Box Day

We are using cores K, 5, and 7 this year. We love it!

The S. Family
Baltimore, MD

My Kids were actually excited!

So after a year with a different curriculum, with pleas of no more homeschooling, I went looking for a new program and found Sonlight! The kids still weren't convinced that it'd be a better school year and they'd have more fun and more time with mommy......

But BOX DAY came!!! They got so excited to see all the books mom would be reading to them.


BOX DAY!!

Needless to say they dug in pulled everything out. And they showed me the map, they carried it around to show Grandma and Dad all day, they loved it. Also they got to playing with the box before I could tell them there was a castle inside!!


Soooooo Excited!

And then they found the Science Supply kits and were so ready to start school!!! My second grader, who had been the one who did not enjoy last year, actually asked me if we could start Science, and maybe a little of the other books!! I couldn't believe my ears and if I had been prepared I'd of dug in! It gave me so much hope for this new year!!

But before any of that I had to figure it all out. So I got to checking my order and getting my Instructor Guide setup, it was a little overwhelming but not as much as I thought!! After getting it all put away it didn't look so complicated and the Guides are awesome!!! And I can't wait to read Charlotte's Web to my kids... the one book I remember enjoying so much in school.... now I am confidant they won't only love that book but so many more!!!!


Wow! So Many Books

I can only thank God for the friends he brought to me to keep me going last year though I thought we'd never get through it, and helped me find a better program that is so better fit for my kids!!

-Amy M.

Overwhelmed. What? Me?

Exciting stuff happened last weekend...the FedEx man delivered two important boxes!

Reese's 1st Grade curriculum arrived and we couldn't wait to dig in and see what Mommy had ordered!

Lots of exciting books, instructor guides, manipulatives, experiments...

And more....

Overwhelmed with all of the items? Me? *cough cough* Nah!

I have to keep reminding myself that these are the supplies for our entire year and that if I laid out the supplies from my 1st Grade Teacher Days it would have looked just as massive an undertaking.

Luckily, Hubby always reminds me to eat the elephant one bite at a time & it does help me to remember that this isn't all for Day 1! :)

I've sorted through all the Instructor Guides and placed everything in the notebooks for Mama. We will begin our school year on August 17th & I can't wait...this curriculum from Sonlight is heavily literature based which makes me so excited!

And...it is a little less intimidating once everything is put on the bookshelves, in the cabinets, organized in the binders, etc.

But don't even get me started on the fact that my baby boy is a 1st grader...I remember when I taught 1st grade that the students seemed so independent and "big" by the end of the year. Don't even get me started I tell 'ya....

Heather W.

Our box day!

This is our first year using Sonlight and we are super excited! My son CJ has been anticipating this day all week! I ordered it on Monday, it shipped on Tuesday and we received it Friday. (It probably helps that we aren't too far from Colorado) We tracked it through the FedEx website so he would know when it was coming. When the doorbell rang he started shouting "It's here! It's here! Box day is here!" He was so excited to see the two boxes out front.

As we started pulling out the books he was getting more and more excited.

He couldn't help himself and had to stop and look at the Science kit and then he ended up reading one of the Magic School bus books....then he told me that I had to read them to Nicholas his little brother.


I had to stop several times from assembly of my Instructors Guide to help cut out the castles from the 2 boxes. What a fun day! We are very excited to start school and I know that this year is going to be fantastic! Thank you Sonlight!

Nichol H.
North Las Vegas, NV

It's here already!

Boy! Did our box get here in a hurry. We ordered before heading to the beach for a week or so and the box was here when we got back.


Opening the Sonlight Box

The curriculum was for our oldest daughter, Amelia. The youngest, Michelle, uses her big sister's curriculum from past years.


Admiring the Books

After opening the box Amelia asked if she could start reading the books. She really likes the books you select.

Thanks Sonlight!


Ready for a New Year

Neecie H.
Michelle, 2nd grade
Amelia, 7th grade

Shall we leap into the next school year?

Our new Core is here!!! The excitement we feel cannot be contained! Thank you Sonlight for the opportunity to homeschool using such a wonderful array of amazing literature. We LOVE Box Day!




My Daughter Leaping Over Her Core

~Andrea P.

Box Day out in Africa!

Using Fed-Ex to deliver books sounds so easy and simple, but believe me it took more than one stop to get our books here far out in the bush! Our box reached Maputo, Mozambique in early July – only a few days after ordering! Now, it needed to get way up north - a journey of three to four days by car!

A lift was arranged and we went to town to pick up the long-awaited box …… but the visitors hadn’t yet arrived and so we had to go home empty handed! (This is Africa and all things take their time!) But as all good bush dwellers, we networked and planned lifts again and so this morning our boxes were door-delivered by fellow-missionaries passing our way!


Missionary Delivers Sonlight

Quite a few stops later but the books made it in, I think, record time! God has His own special delivery system using His people across the world!





Belinda P.

Sonlight Box Day

Our official box day was months ago, but I let the kids dive in today and take a peak at what the year has in store for them. We are trying Sonlight this year. We have the Core K program (Introduction to the World: Cultures) with First Grade Readers since Pumpkin is in Pre-K4 and the boys are in First grade.
I'm not usually a fan of a packaged curriculum. I prefer to piece together our own curriculum following our own scope & sequence. However, we have 4 children in our home, 3 in our homeschool, and are nearing the end of a 2+ year construction project that will culminate in a complicated move and move-in. In other words, Mommy needed a break this year. I needed something I could just open and follow without a lot of prep work on my part. Thank goodness homeschooling allows us some flexibility, both in our scheduling and curriculum choices.


I chose Sonlight because of their great reputation, wonderful literature, and because their curriculum is most compatible with my teaching style and personality. I'm looking forward to spending the year exploring Sonlight with my children. Everyone found several books in the box that they wanted to start reading right away---Mommy included!
I'm so glad that my children are so enthusiastic about starting school. They cannot wait until we finish each book so that it can come out of Mommy's school box and onto their personal bookshelves.

~Karin T.

Sonlight Frenzy

After much schedule arranging and profuse pleading from the short people who live in my house, we finally found an afternoon to open the coveted box sitting on our living room floor...

I attempted to get some good pictures, really I did, but there was much frenzied activity!  Protective paper was flying every where, books were being admired and soon I, too, was mesmerized by the treasure in the box!

We carefully went through every thing we ordered talking about all the great books we couldn't wait to read.  I carefully stacked them all back into the box and had my husband carry them downstairs for safe keeping.  Yesterday I found Isaac (12) half way through one of his science books!  He was excitedly telling me some amazing facts about tornadoes.  I began to tell him that he needed to put the book back downstairs, because it was for next year and he hadn't completely finished core 5 yet.  Then I thought better of it.  Why stop him.  He's learning and enjoying it.  And in the process he is teaching me and his younger brothers when he shares what he has read. 

Thanks Sonlight it looks like another awesome year of learning is ahead of us!

Jenn B.

Sonlight Box Castle

I always put in my order after the catalog comes out so that we can receive our box toward the end of May. The girls (12 and 9) get excited about the Fall books which seems to rejuvenate our spirits and allows us to finish strong.

Because we've always homeschooled, I own every Core.

My five-year-old was initially sad because he only got a couple new books to add to Core K UNTIL he noticed the inside of the box. Here he is with his finished product:


Sonlight Box Castle

BTW, the fuzzy balls are cannon balls and he painted the entire outside and inside by himself. He has played and played with his special Sonlight box for the past two months.

Ms. Lynn S.

Christmas in July~ Box Day

Jayden didn't really understand what Box Day was since this was our first experience. I kept telling him, but he just didn't get it until those two big white boxes showed up on our doorstep.

I couldn't believe the excitement and glimmer in his eyes as we started unpacking and opening up his new school supplies for the fall. The photos I took doesn't begin to show the excitement he had.

First he had to pull out all the brown paper before he could start taking out all the goodies. As he kept pulling out book after book, Jayden got more and more excited. He couldn't believe all the new, beautiful books that we got!

After we unpacked the boxes, he of course had to go through and open all the packages and look through all the books. I then reorganized and cleaned out the school shelf. Doesn't it look beautiful and inviting?!?

Jayden asked me when we would be able to start with his new school stuff and I told him I was planning for September. "Momma, that is not right. I want to start tomorrow." =)

I am so glad that he is showing so much excitement about doing school at home. I love that he has such an awesome love for learning. With a newborn at home and it already being mid-July, I have a lot of planning still to do, which is why I was shooting for September.

With Jayden's excitement and mine, we shall see if we last that long.


















--
Missy

The anatomy of a Sonlight Box Day

First you take a picture of the Fed Ex delivery guy and get a really strange look from him. (You get an even stranger look when your kids are jumping up and down at the sight of their Sonlight boxes and you tell the delivery guy that they are excited over their homeschooling curriculum.)

Then you leave the boxes where the delivery guy placed them just inside the door and go back downstairs to finish the school day. The anticipation of opening the boxes is so fun that I always leave them for a little while until just the right moment comes for opening them.

When the time comes to open the boxes, you check to be sure the toddler isn’t already attacking one of them with a knife. Fritz gets excited over the new books, too.

Then you empty out the box (with several hands helping) and gaze happily at the pile of lovely new books. Following this you have your oldest help you go through the books to be sure everything is there. Ani picks up a book and tells me the name and I check it off on the packing list.

Next you place the baby in the big box where he happily plays until the toddler sticks a bunch of books in the box with (and on top of) the baby. Notice the box can be turned into a nifty castle. That’s one of the awesome things about Sonlight. Even the box is useful.

Finally, you put the labels on the books and stack them in groups. Included are some Sonlight books we already had (like Cameron’s readers - Ani used those when we did Core K).

Heather