Compare Sonlight with us
Sonlight sends literature-based Christian packages for a parent to teach. We give your child lessons that are written for them and graded as each one is finished.
Read-alouds with a parent or lessons that teach your child
Sonlight sells Christian, literature-based curriculum packages by grade and level, from preschool through Grade 12. The parent leads the readings and discussions.
Our lessons are written to guide your child through each idea, so a parent no longer carries each day's instruction.
Where your child starts
Sonlight offers assessments for reading, phonics, and spelling, along with math placement tests. The family uses the suggested age range to choose its combined literature level.
To start your child where they actually are, we write a placement test for each subject. It has 25 questions, or 12 for younger learners, and it adapts as your child answers.
From every answer, we estimate where your child is solid but not yet finished, and that's where they start. Each subject is placed on its own, so your child might begin in the middle of fourth-grade math and the beginning of fifth-grade reading. In grades 3 to 12, a child who prefers paper can print the free placement test, then upload a photo of the answer sheet for grading.
What a school day looks like
A Sonlight day follows the Instructor's Guide through readings, read-alouds, and discussion questions. A parent leads that work, using either the four-day or five-day schedule for the chosen package.
Our Parent Dashboard lays out today's lessons by subject. You can build the week around your family's hours and print it for the fridge.
Interactive articles weave in your child's interests, with images and videos made for them. Reading checks confirm understanding, then your child applies the idea in a project, such as optimizing lap times for F1 or working out a rocket’s fuel load.
When your child gets stuck
Sonlight's Instructor's Guide gives the parent teaching notes and answers. The parent leads the discussion and handles a child's follow-up questions, rather than the child receiving help inside a lesson on their own.
Our Always-On Mentor sits beside every reading and project, so help is there the moment your child needs it.
The mentor also steps in on its own when your child seems stuck, explains the idea another way, and can make it visual by drawing on its board. In a reading check or a project, it guides your child's thinking without giving the answer away.
Learning to keep a notebook
From Grade 3, our readings offer an optional Notebook guide to help your child organize their learning. It encourages lesson headings and unit labels, and the printable guide offers tips for taking notes in their own words rather than copying the article.
The guide encourages your child to note where they struggled and how they got past it. One tip is to star a useful takeaway, then gather those takeaways into a review page. When your child scans and uploads their notebook pages, we help them remember those ideas and shape practice problems around the places they struggled.
Who grades the work
Sonlight gives parents science answer keys and language arts rubrics to grade with. High school Parent Guides also include answers, so marking the submitted work stays with the family.
We grade everything your child submits as soon as they submit it, so grading never lands on you. When your child gets something wrong, we help them work through it, and projects come back with feedback so they can revise them.
Records, state paperwork, and the transcript
Sonlight includes a record-keeping system in its History, Bible, and Literature Instructor's Guide. The parent fills in completion dates, the student's initials, and notes as the family works through the course.
At TheHomeschoolingCompany, your child's school record builds as they work: daily check-ins log attendance, and everything they finish is saved automatically. Attendance logs and learning summaries are ready to export, and we draft the documents your state asks for from that same record, including portfolios with real work samples.
Our high school transcript builds from completed work, with courses, letter grades, credits, and GPA calculated for you.
Keeping faith in your school day
Sonlight describes its outlook as Christian and rooted in Scripture. It teaches History, Bible, and Literature as one combined course.
Our curriculum isn't a religious curriculum unless you want it to be. Add Bible study, Christianity, or any faith as a custom elective, and we build a course around it, graded and recorded like every other subject. You can also add faith as an interest, and we'll weave it into any or all subjects, so it doesn't have to be its own course.
Moving from Sonlight to us
School in a Box includes up to 12 subjects, from the core to custom electives on anything your child is curious about. Single Subject covers one course, if you would rather start there.
Start the 14-day trial and choose School in a Box or Single Subject.
Pick your child's subjects, including any topics they have been asking to learn more about.
Your child takes a placement in each subject, and their whole curriculum is built around them.
Other questions
- Can my child read lessons on paper?
- Yes. Lessons, reading checks, and projects can be done on paper. Your child scans and uploads the finished pages for the same detailed feedback as online work.
- Can a child who is not reading yet use it?
- Yes. Kindergarten through Grade 2 is spoken: your child hears each short lesson, answers out loud, and an adult stays nearby.
- Can brothers and sisters each have their own path?
- Yes. Each child is placed separately and gets their own lessons and records, all under one parent account.
- Can we use ESA funds?
- We are approved in Arizona, Alabama, New Hampshire, and Utah. Program rules apply.
Your child's curriculum. Your family's time.
Keep reading together for pleasure, with the daily course teaching handled for you.
$149/month per child after the trial.