Sonlight and Sleepovers

No, that's not a typo. I did mean to say "Sonlight," not "sunlight." For those of you in the know, you already caught the play on words and know that Sonlight is the curriculum that we use in our homeschooling journey. Sometimes I'm surprised that I've stuck with it all this time; I mean, way back when Tyler was a kindergartner, I was convinced that the authors of The Well-Trained Mind had it just right and that their formula was the one for us to follow. My only real discomfort with their plan was that it was outrageously expensive (if you bought everything they recommended) and it was sort of open-ended and left it to each person to determine which historical figures to study, which books to read, etc. Anybody who knows me even remotely knows that I require more structure than that.

Then along came Sonlight. As I'm sure you have correctly surmised by now, Sonlight's curriculum is written from a Christian perspective, with emphasis, actually, on evangelism, world missions, etc. It wants kids to understand and get to know the big 'ol world outside of their own city and state. What I love about Sonlight is the fact that it is literature-based. I don't care what subject you're studying (with the exception of math), you'll read a book to learn about it every day. I'm not talking about textbooks, either; I'm talking about novels and other types of reading material. I know my kids are certainly not extraordinary, but I am reminded each year by the PhD who does their assessments that they all read well above grade level, and that is due to Sonlight.

I actually left Sonlight one year, but was back within five months. Now, even though I know there are a multitude of great products out there, I can't imagine homeschooling with any other material. However, I do tell myself that I will only plan one year at a time, and that is what I have been doing for the last week or so, which is why so much time passed without an update!

I don't think I realized it had been so long since I'd posted--I was completely wrapped up in the Sonlight catalog and, yes, stressed trying to figure out just what to order this year. You see, Sonlight is insanely expensive, too, but it is worth every penny. I was drawn to Sonlight in the beginning because I knew that once I bought a "core" for one child, it could be reused for each subsequent child. And that is still mostly true, but because changes occur from one year to the next, I have discovered that I want to have the latest and greatest offering that they have at the time, and that is not free. (It is, however, 60% off!) Complicating matters was the fact that Sonlight has undergone some major revisions and making sure I was ordering the correct levels was of the utmost importance to me. I am relieved to say that I did finally get my order placed at 11:30 Friday night after literally two days, at least, of sitting in a chair muttering, "I'll be right there" as I scoured the catalog, flipping pages back and forth, back and forth, trying to determine just what I needed. Every once in a while one of the kids would saunter through and say, "What's wrong, Mom?" when they would catch that crazed gleam in my eye. I'm so glad that's over for another year!

I had a (brief) opportunity to get together with two friends for breakfast on Saturday, and the plan was to go to the local scrapbooking store and work for a few hours. I was there for roughly an hour-and-a-half (during which time I got exactly ONE page completed) and then my cell rang. It was Randy, asking for my "E.T.A." The thing is, Saturday was also the day we had been counting down on the calendar for a good two months--OPENING DAY AT THE BIG SPLASH!!!!!!!!! For those of you going, "Huh?" the Big Splash is Grove City's very own water park, and we've had a membership just about every summer since it opened. Memorial Day to Labor Day--those are the magic days. These are the days that my kids' hair turns about two shades lighter than normal, and for whatever reason Darcy is afflicted with "straw hair syndrome" because her hair just sucks up the chlorine! But oh, we love the Big Splash!

So the kids were champing at the bit, waiting (im)patiently for me to get home so we could load up and go swimming. I was definitely feeling the pressure, so I packed up my scrapbooking supplies and headed home, where I was greeted at the door by four voices shouting, "Mom, will you put sunblock on my back?" "Mom, do you know where my goggles are?" "Mom, are we going to bring any snacks to the Big Splash?" "Mom, this is an exciting day!" (That last one was Sawyer.) Surprisingly, it was not overly crowded and we had a lot of fun. Even though Sawyer technically can't swim, don't tell him that! Every year he amazes me with his fearlessness in the water, and each summer he sets a new goal for himself. Already, on Day One, he was swimming out into water up to his neck, and he would also go to the deepest part of the pool where he could sit without the water being over his head, but all I would be able to see were his eyes, like a little crocodile, which is exactly what he was trying to be!

Sunday was LIFE Group day, and our host family was out of town for the Memorial Day holiday so we invited another group (whose hosts were also absent) to our house for the study and a cookout. And then, due to the holiday, Randy promised the kids that they could have a "sleepover" which is really more of a camp-out in the living room. He brought their mattresses down from their beds, popped popcorn and let them watch a movie. I say that Randy did all this because I was up in our bedroom passed out. That happens to me occasionally; I get so tired that I don't drift off to sleep so much as just conk out. I couldn't even stay awake to work my crossword puzzle, so you KNOW I was tired!