Ready steady Box!

I was like a child waiting for Christmas for the Sonlight box to arrive.

We were away on an errand and when we got home, there it was! The look on Isabel's face was precious. She was shivering with excitement to get that box open! I let her unpack and kept on saying, "Surely that must be it! Are there more!?"

She loved it.

Dr Seuss's ABC book is a favourite and I have to read the whole thing to her about every second day.


Isabel's Favourite

The other science books also seem to be a hit. I wonder: Could there be a little genius in the making? Of Course!

Riette

Christmas... uh, I mean box day

We impatiently patiently waited on that special day to arrive.

Though it seemed to take ages, the delivery was prompt and complete.

The girls had been asking all summer about when we were going to start school. Getting our school material first was a definite requirement.When it came, I am certain you would have thought it to be Christmas morning, with all the excitement and paper flying through the air.

Why, one of the girls even had on their Christmas attire... it's a normal thing for my "bunch" to be in dress up mode.
They are girly girls after all, through and through!

This was our first experience with "box day".
I love how Sonlighter's use the term so lovingly.
It really is a very, very, very delightful day indeed.
I always enjoy a visit from Fed Ex!

I also rather enjoy planning things. And so I started organizing things way before the boxes actually arrived. I still have tons of things I want to do for the school room. But for now, I am pretty happy with what we have accomplished.

As I began looking through the material and reading some of the books I realized this was going to be a productive, eventful, and very fun year! Optimistically speaking.

I also spent some time discovering how to use the teachers manuals and figuring out how to plan my daily schedules in a way that fits our family the best. I like the sound of that! Such flexibility is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful thing! (I often say things in threes to get my point across... it works with my girls!)

Anyway, I am beyond thankful to Sonlight and all it's makers for putting together such a complete program for our first homeschooling year.

I've always wanted two Christmas's... And now I have it.

We give Sonlight an: A+

-JW Davis

And away we go!

The long awaited box day has arrived and we couldn't be happier. Grandparents came to share in the fun because frankly they wanted to see what I've been yammering about for the past few months!


Waiting to Open the Boxes

We had one box Wednesday and one box Thursday. It was awful waiting until the last box but we did and we dove right in!

"OOOH, we got movies too." (It's the Mathtacular and the Science DVDs) 


Owen isn't wasting any time either...


Owen can't get over how many books there are!


Why'd we get a ping pong ball???


Had to rest a minute, Mommy, I'm excited.


Ian discovered Miquon Math....
 

And this is what he did for the next while...off to the side doing math!


But Daddy lured him back with more books


Map=happiness


Castle Time

And then it was castle time as Mommy checked off the list. Whoever thought up the castle on the inside of the box was a smart person!!!


Ian's castle needed decorating


Then it was time to get in it.


This is our loot!!!

I have no more doubts that we have made the right choice with Sonlight. We are all excited and impressed. I cannot wait to get some down time to go through it all and take it in. We have a daunting task ahead of us, a 4 year old and 6 year old doing the same core, but we are well prepared! Thanks for making the books and all the materials so inviting and interesting.

-Jessica B.

SHEER JOY on Box Day!!

Sheer Joy

I simply cannot imagine that public-school children share the same thrill, excitement, and sheer JOY that my children experience when receiving new school books from Sonlight on Box Day!


The Big Box of Books

The entire family slept in this morning and missed the FedEx guy at the back door. But during breakfast, the box was discovered: "MOM! School books are HERE!!!!!"


School Books Are Here

The children could hardly contain themselves! I only wish I hadn't been just as eager and excited. I may have taken better pictures!


Shepard (Age 6) says, "SONLIGHT ROCKS!"


Selah (Age 7): "I can't wait, Mommy! How 'bout I just read one right now?"

Our start date this year is August 23rd. We are doing Core 1 Introduction to World History - Part 1.
Also: Language Arts 1 and 2-Intermediate, Singapore Math, A Reason for Handwriting, and Apologia Science [Botany].
New for us this year: ARTistic Pursuits. (The Supply-Backpack is securely hidden on a top shelf in the laundry room lest anyone including mommy feels the needs to sample supplies before opening the accompanying textbook.)

And Dad CAN'T WAIT to open up the missionary books! ...Pretty sure "George Muller" will be read long before week 26!

THANKS, SONLIGHT!!!!!

~Esthermay

Hiding the Box! (July 14th, 2010)

Our box arrived unexpectedly the day before yesterday while our daughter had two friends over to spend the day and night. Of course, I had to open it and take a peek, but I didn't want our daughter to know because I knew there was considerable likelihood that she would desert her friends so she could peruse her materials for this year (which starts next week). I also was somewhat concerned that her two friends who are not homeschooled might consider such behavior to be unusual or even freakish, so I did the only thing I could do - I hid the box in my bedroom.

The next day, even though her friends were still at our home, I could stand it no longer and disclosed the information to our daughter. She immediately deserted her friends, plopped down beside the box and began to inspect the contents - most with great excitement, such as India's People and some with less than enthusiastic response, such as her math curriculum. She also began to look at her brother's material and asked why she had not read some of those books when she was his age. She was most indignant until I explained that she had been able to skip the level 2 intermediate readers at his age and had gone directly to the level 2 advanced readers. Nonetheless, I suspect that I will find her reading some of his books in her spare time this year...

I have yet to reveal the box to my son because he also had a friend over during the past couple of days, but his moment to explore the books is coming. I am sure he will try to start reading one of his readers immediately.

As for me, I immediately installed the World Book Encyclopedia on our computer and began looking through the Eastern Hemisphere Explorer to see how best to guide my daughter through it using the World Book Encyclopedia. I am really excited about delving into Core 5 this year! I am sure we will all learn a great deal, as usual.

Box day is the best!

~Elaine S

Surprise! The FedEx truck is here!

I was not expecting the curriculum today, so when we saw a FedEx truck pull in the drive we all got excited! This was our first box day, so we didn't know what to expect when we opened our box. My son pulled out each item 1 by 1 and made a pile. I said STOP! I have to take a picture for Sonlight.


First Box Day Books

After that, they opened the books immediately and started asking me questions and wanting me to read everything to them. We even called daddy who is a pastor at the 1st Baptist Church down the road from our house, and told him to hurry home and see all our books. My husband walked in and said wow that's a lot of stuff!

He started looking through all the books and saying oh i love the Boxcar children, oh I remember reading this a kid, etc. This made the kids more excited because their daddy read all of these.


Excited to Start School

We enjoyed our first Box Day and look forward to many many more!

--
Holly M.

Box Day, Box Night, Box Morning!

Standing on the Box

We knew the box was coming, we got pictures of the kids standing on it, we opened it and the boys helped me check off everything on our packing slip. Then we settled in to read a few books. I made it clear to the boys (almost 4 and almost 5) that they would be allowed to look at everything for one day, and then I would pack it all away until the fall. Throughout the day, we read several books in between the times that the boys went outside to play in the sunshine. As they played, I looked through the books myself.


Checking the Contents

After the boys went to bed, I continued to read. I had been reading the first few pages of each book, but when I got to The Apple and The Arrow I couldn't put it down! I intently read from start to finish. The last sentence read, "Switzerland was born." What a story! I had know idea! Though I got straight A's in a private Christian School, I don't really know anything about history. My classmates were lazy, my history teachers were lazy, and somehow I knew how to study for a test and forget. Anyway, I was so excited to learn something from my sons' kindergarten history, and it wasn't even borning! All I wanted to do afterward was research more about the birth of Switzerland! My husband, who loves history, saw my excitement and congratulated me on doing a great job picking out home school curriculum. When I went to bed, I closed up the box, but left it sitting on the table.


Reading Together

5:43 the next morning my alarm went off, time to get ready for church.
The house was quiet, I stumbled down the hall, thinking I was the only person awake, and what do I see? My two boys sitting silently on the couch looking at the books! I had to laugh and grab my camera! Those kids are usually at their loudest when they first wake up, but instead they looked at me and said, "Will you please read to us?" Of course, I rubbed my eyes, smiled, and said, "Yes, but not for too long." Needles to say, we were a few minutes late for church that morning...


Absorbed in the Story

~Brianna L.
Kindergarten with LA and Readers 1

We Can't Wait! Start Now!

My very first box day was in late June 2002. I was waiting for "a box"
from Sonlight containing what is now called P4/5. I had NO idea what was in store for me. I am a planner, and we were going to start preschool with our oldest child (4) in September. I wanted to get all the books organized, on the shelf and figure out what I was doing. I thought three months was long enough to do that, considering I had a toddler and newborn to care for as well.

Well, guess what? School began on July 5. There was no way I was going to let those books "just sit there." They demanded to be opened and enjoyed. So that is what we did. It started our family tradition of beginning the new school year on the Monday after July 4.

We've now had 7 more Core Box Days, with smaller ones in between. Each one is met with anticipation, excitement and rejoicing.

~Sarah W.

Box Day in Pictures

Here is the much-awaited box

Last Wednesday, after checking a certain shipping confirmation email, I did not spend all morning peeking out the front door waiting for the FedEx man. Nope, not me! Ok, who am I fooling? Of course I did! And the old adage about the pot boiling goes the same for the FedEx truck - it didn't come until mid-afternoon! Oh, the torture!

Ready more here.

-Erin

Our PreK adventure begins...

I've been waiting for this day for almost an entire year...and it has officially begun! Abby has fallen in love with all of her "school" books.


Abby checking out one of her new books.

Read more here.

-Alli

Can we start school TODAY??

Today was our very first "Box Day"!

I could not believe what all you get for the money with Sonlight...what a great deal!

Sonlight Core 3 + extra science and math

Jack is almost 11 and has Asperger's Syndrome. He had a tough time in middle school, but was doing better when our family was transferred with the Army to a different state in October. He did not want to start a new school in the middle of the year, so I started homeschooling him using another program. The program was very difficult and he was not interested in it at all. I started searching for a different curriculum, and I kept coming back to the Sonlight website. I ordered a catalog, and when it came a few weeks ago, my daughter picked it up and started looking through it. Katelyn is 10 and decided to go to public school in our new state. She adjusts to change very easily, so it was not a problem for her. She came to me a few weeks ago and told me that she decided to homeschool with Sonlight because it sounded like more fun than public school!

I ordered Core 3 for them to share and placed an order for an extra Science Kit and Math Kit for the additional student. I believe that Sonlight will work very well for Jack because he will be learning through the stories and not having to memorize facts that have no meaning to him. He learns better when he is entertained and Sonlight fits the bill! The math curriculum is very colorful and easy to follow, so I believe he will enjoy that more, too!

Thank you, Sonlight!

~Karyn N.

Ick! Pre-Algebra

Normally, we love box day around here just as much as the next family. All the new books to look through and read, such excitement.


A Regular Box Day?

Well, not so much the day the pre-Algebra came. We had already had our big box day with core 5 and all the books that come with it (and there’s lots). For some reason (and now I don’t remember why) pre-Algebra was ordered separately. So while there was semi-excitement, because it was a Sonlight box after all, Whitney only reluctantly opened the box to pull out her new math books. Can’t wait until she gets Algebra this fall! :)


Pre-Algebra

And apparently there was something good in the box, seeing the look on her face in the last picture.


Something Good from Sonlight

Debbi L.