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

This is Better Than Christmas!

I am one of those moms who never thought I would homeschool. I didn't have anything against homeschooling, I was just certain it wasn't for me.

But then we started looking into Kindergarten options for our daughter, and I wasn't very happy with what we found. So I emailed a few homeschooling moms that I knew and asked them a bunch of questions. Their answers were so enthusiastic I knew I needed to look at this option more closely.

I sat down with a mom who has six kids and has used Sonlight with the two oldest that she homeschools. After looking at all the great materials she uses, I left saying, "Maybe I could actually do this!"

After a few weeks of researching various curriculum, we decided to use Sonlight's Newcomer Kindergarten Package. We placed our order and the wait began!

I knew our "Box Day" would be exciting, but I had no idea just HOW exciting it would be!

The delivery man rang the doorbell and there on our doorstep was a huge box with the Sonlight logo on it. "Thank you!" I called out after him. "That's not all!" he laughed, and carried another huge box to our door.


Sonlight Newcomer Package Boxes

As my daughter and I pulled books and materials out of the boxes, she kept saying, "Mom! Look at this!" over and over. At one point, I was fighting back tears as I thought about what a great year we have ahead of us using these fabulous materials. I never dreamed that I could be this excited about homeschooling!


Sonlight Box Day: Better Than Christmas

Thanks to Sonlight for making Box Day far better than Christmas morning!

Kristen S.

Box Day

I was agitated all day today. Every time a car went by, my ears perked up to see if the engine was rumbly enough to be the FedEx truck. Several times, I muttered to Jeff, “Where is my box?!”

Together, we speculated about its location. Maybe it was accidentally delivered to the church office. No, the office manager was still there. She would have called. Maybe it went to a house up the hill. Last month, we got someone else’s FedEx package. Maybe this time, that someone got ours.

I went online and checked the tracking info again. “On the truck for delivery.” Same thing it said two hours ago.

Had it been on the FedEx truck that went by around 10 am? Maybe, maybe not. Those packages would have been of the ‘guaranteed by 10:30am’ variety. Mine was FedEx Ground. NOT guaranteed by 10:30. Or noon. Or 2:30. Or 5:00. Or today.

But I had been waiting for this box not just all day, but all month. Its delayed arrival accounted for our extra week of summer. Its appearance at our door would mean the long-anticipated beginning of my very first year as a homeschool mom.

But the hours ticked on. 1:30pm. 3:00pm. 3:30pm. Such a long, long day.

Finally, around 4:00pm, I surrendered the arrival of the homeschool books to the Lord, assuring Him I would be fine if they didn’t come today after all.

After ten more minutes of pacing, I resolved to put my mind on something else, and I headed for the front door to get a bit of fresh air (and watch for the FedEx truck).

Just as I reached the door, through the window I saw an unmarked FedEx-looking van brake as it drove past our house. But it kept going. I yanked the door open and trotted off the front porch and down the sidewalk in my bare feet.

My excitement grew when I heard the truck’s back-up beeping noise. As the van came into view, the driver, amused at my wild wave, poked his head out the van window and grinned, “I have a box for you?”

I nodded vigorously. He jumped out of his truck and headed around to the back, asking over his shoulder, “How are you today?”

I said, “I’m very excited about my package.”

He carried it to the front porch for me and I dragged it on into the house. James pulled out one of the books and sat reading it, entranced, for forty minutes. Good sign.

I pulled out the instructor’s guide and began to frown at all the pages, unsure of what to do. There was a handy brochure, giving me all kinds of confusing instructions. I’d ordered the 4-day, but I found instructions for the 5-day. There were so many readers, and I wasn’t sure if they were too advanced for James or not. I looked at the fifty or so books strewn about my living room floor and went numb.

By the time Jeff and the boys left for karate, I was in a bit of a panic. But I was thankful I’d have a few minutes alone to sort everything out.

I remembered an email I’d received from Sonlight. “Click here to see three nifty videos about ‘Box Day’.”

The nice homeschooling moms on the screen were so pleasant and reassuring that I just burst into tears. Then I chuckled. Just before Jeff headed out the door, he’d said, “Do something girly…”

Well, crying over homeschool materials definitely fits into the ‘girly’ category.

So, alone in the house and free to be as girly as I pleased, I just let myself cry tears of relief and hope and fear and anticipation, all the way through all three videos.

You see, I’ve been so excited to homeschool that I forgot all about the rest of my emotions. Beneath my all-encompassing excitement lurked something else: sheer terror. Good gracious. What was I thinking? What if James hates it? What if *I* hate it?

Can I even do this? Abba, HELP!!!

Then God reminded me that I was not alone in the house at all. He wrapped His loving arms around me and covered my soul with His incomprehensible peace.

And I had my answer:

No. I can’t do this.

But God can.

Becky

Box Day made me revamp my plans!

We have used 8 Sonlight Cores so far with our 5 children. My 12yo daughter was supposed to take two years to complete Core 7 before beginning the high school Cores, so I did not order new books for her this year.

My 17yo son will be doing Core 530 for his senior year and was not too excited--he would rather not do school at all!

Everything changed on Box Day.

My dear daughter saw all the great books that are in Core 530 and eagerly asked how long she had to wait to read them. When I told her probably 11th or 12th grade, she was visibly upset. She pleaded with me to allow her to read them with her brother NOW and has spent her summer finishing up Core 7 so that she can dive into British Lit!

My son is happy to have someone to discuss his books with and is now ready to conquer this final core! Thank you Sonlight for teaching me I can be flexible and for providing a curriculum so wonderful that my kids are chomping at the bit to get started.

Jessie L.

Box Day !!

I checked Sonlight's website for the tracking info this morning. Our package was in the Big City, on the truck for delivery. Well, I had an appointment today, so I called to see if it needed to be signed for. They informed me that home deliveries do not happen on Mondays. Well, someone should train them..... because that big beautiful truck pulled up to my driveway just after 1pm today!!!!!



I can't wait to really look at them all, once the children are in bed!!! Mr. Q. is hogging them all ;-)

Jana

Love to Learn Starts at Box Day

This was our very first box day!

My son Dylan, 8 and daughter Mandy, 5 had no idea what to expect from the word "Box Day." I pitched the idea and struck out for about a week. Dylan was so not interested in books. Actually, I bought Sonlight because it pitched, Love to Learn, and boy, did we need that!!! The day finally arrived and Dylan cautiously approached Mandy and I digging into this huge box. He casually asked where the castle was, and I told him where it was in the box... and then it happened....

He looked at a book, and another, and another, and another.....
Pretty soon he was digging in and helping sort them out. He even read <--- I did ask him to read the packing slip for me.

We are on our way now, Week 3, and he has had a blast with it...

THANKS SONLIGHT

Belinda, Dylan and Mandy

Yeah right, Mommy...sure.

We ordered Sonlight Core 3 this year for the first time for our 3rd grade son. In my excitement, I built up how much fun it would be to read all the new books that come with it. He is always saying that I don't have enough books for him to read (uh...not true - it's just that he reads them too fast for me to keep up)! However, each day that I said this, his response was, "Yeah right, Mommy....sure."

So when the "package man" brought us a huge white box, the kids were excited to see what it held. Sure enough, they ripped out the books and poured over as many as they could. My son had to admit that all the new books did looked "pretty neat!" Then he wanted to read them all NOW! I had to tape the box up again so that he wouldn't read them all ahead of the school year! Sheesh - what a problem to have, huh??


SO excited to begin our first Sonlight year!
Andrea C.

My Brain Has Been Otherwise Occupied

Last week was Taxmas Time like Christmas at our house. New books arrived daily from the UPS man, or the Fed Ex guy or the Spee-Dee delivery truck because of our annual curriculum buying spree. We watched the tracking numbers online and followed the packages from their destinations to our doorstep. The longest leg of the journey seemed to be "On truck for delivery".

History suggested that we'd be the last drop off of the day, so we'd sit with our noses pressed to the windows perking up at every diesel sound for blocks. All day, not accomplishing much but waiting.
Because, you know, if you step in the shower, there will be a delivery needing a signature. Or, if you run to the gas station, you'll find a note on your door return stating delivery confirmation was needed........

This year, our biggest order arrived at 8AM! We had hardly finished breakfast when we heard the truck out front. (As evidenced by the uneaten bagel in the midst of packing material.) In the past, I have been know to hog all the box opening fun for myself, wanting to make sure everything that was supposed to be there was, was my excuse This year I thought I'd let the kids have the fun IF they would follow
a few simple rules. No books were to leave the living room. I let
them empty all the boxes and paw through all the new books while I finished my breakfast.

Then and only then did I get out the packing slip and sit down to separate the books into their appropriate piles. The older boys helped me sort...


...while I shooed the little boys into the bedroom to watch TV.
Hey, I've come along way with my BDD (Box Dominance Disorder) and plus...they ASKED me to tape the boxes shut. Honest!


Soooo, that is where I've been. My creative energy has been channeled into turning the massive piles of books into a meaningful year of learning for 5 children. And I am trying to get a head start on all their reading...
...but as you can see, I'm already behind...

Kari B.

"Mommy, this is the Best Day EVER!"

Need I say more? :)

When the FedEx man arrived with our first shipment of Sonlight books, I'm sure he was taken aback by my two eager helpers. Liam grabbed the 4 lb box and ran it to the school room. Emily immediately went for the other box, which unfortunately weighed 55 lbs!


Emily pushing a large Sonlight box

Undeterred, the two of them insisted on pushing it from the doorstep to the floor of the schoolroom all by themselves, then danced with glee until I got the boxes open. Liam was especially impressed that the boxes could be recycled until he saw the castle print inside; then he begged me to keep them! Not only were the boxes cool to play in, but they had awesome books and maps inside!



My son was just beside himself over the science books, asking me over and over again if they were his and if he could keep them in his room!


And my daughter was so excited with her new Bible that she sat down to read it immediately.

To see more of our first box day pictures, feel free to look around the gallery.

Thanks for letting us share our story; we can't wait to start school!

Amy S. of Covington, GA

Tape the Box Back Up

My family went over to the M. house for a cookout & play time. When I walked into my friend's kitchen, there were two Sonlight boxes stacked on the floor. Since I hadn't yet ordered for next year, I said, "O, did you get an order in?"

She said, "Yes, and you can look at them, if you want."

I quickly picked up a box and put it on the table (I love books) and then had to ask for some scissors. She said, "I had to tape it back up after I looked at them or I knew I'd just want to sit down and read them all. And, if the kids saw them, I knew we'd not get anything done!"

We love Sonlight! We are 4 year Sonlighters (I just ordered our 3rd Core for this year!) I have 4 kids: 8, 5, 4 & 2 who will all get a taste of Sonlight throughout the year.

--
Nate & Jill W. of Hugoton, KS