Why We Love Sonlight Language Arts Curriculum
If you want a curriculum that teaches grammar, mechanics, dictation, and creative writing all in one, Sonlight Language Arts curriculum is for you!
I have always struggled to teach writing effectively. I do my fair share of writing, and I also work as a freelance editor on the side. But I just cannot seem to teach those skills to my kids.
We’ve tried a variety of writing curriculums over the years, with varying degrees of success. Recently, though, I decided to try Sonlight Language Arts . . . mostly because we love their literature-based history curriculum.
To make a long story short, this language arts curriculum has been the perfect fit for my daughter. I’m excited to share more about it with you!
I received this product for free and was compensated for my time. All thoughts and opinions are my own; I was not required to post a positive review.
Literature-Based Language Arts Curriculum
Kendra recently started using Sonlight Language Arts G, which is (not surprisingly) the perfect accompaniment to History/Bible/Literature G. I love that many of the language arts exercises correlate with the literature books Kendra is reading.
However, if you like to choose curriculum from a variety of publishers to meet your child’s needs, rest assured that you can still use Sonlight Language Arts. It is a solid, high-quality curriculum that stands alone—it does NOT rely on the literature books in any way.
What’s Included in Sonlight Language Arts
Unlike many of the “big box” curriculums, Sonlight Language Arts covers grammar, mechanics, dictation, and creative writing all in one handy Instructor’s Guide. This is SO much more convenient than juggling teacher’s guides, workbooks, answer keys, test booklets, etc.
The Instructor’s Guide is worth its weight in gold. Seriously! It contains an easy-to-use one page schedule for each week, along with the teacher pages and student activity sheets. All you have to do is put the pre-punched pages into a binder, and your whole year of language arts is at your fingertips!
The teacher pages are simple and straightforward (read: easy to use). They contain helpful information about the lessons, answers to questions on the activity sheets, and grading rubrics for writing assignments.
The student activity sheets contain the dictation passage and grammar instruction for the week, followed by a few practice exercises. I love that the grammar exercises are brief—no boring repetition here.
I also appreciate that the activity sheets are written directly to the student, enabling some independent learning. Of course writing will always require an involved teacher, but it’s helpful for Kendra to be able to move through some parts of the lessons on her own.
Creative Writing in Sonlight Language Arts
I absolutely love Sonlight’s approach to creative writing, and Kendra is thriving on it. In fact, she said this is the BEST writing curriculum she has ever used—and her writing proves that.
The writing instruction in Sonlight Language Arts has several key features that have contributed to Kendra’s success this year.
- Each assignment has clear step-by-step directions. Kendra likes to know exactly what she is supposed to do, and the directions spell everything out for her.
- Each lesson focuses on one specific technique. For example, in one lesson the focus was on using very specific color words to make a paragraph more descriptive.
- Writing assignments are short (so far they’ve only been one paragraph), allowing her to focus on applying what she has learned that week.
- Assignments include high-quality model paragraphs that clearly demonstrate how to apply the technique she is focusing on.
- The writing process is broken into steps, with each step on a separate day. This keeps her from feeling overwhelmed or rushing through her writing.
Kendra has always enjoyed all kinds of writing, and she’s been delighted with the progress she has made in writing paragraphs that are more polished than ever before. I’m thrilled with her success.
Sonlight Language Arts WORKS for teaching writing skills without all the stress and frustration that comes along with other writing curriculums!
Stuck in a homeschool rut? Check out all that Sonlight has to offer!
Enter to Win a Lap Book from Sonlight
Sonlight is giving away a 50 States Unit Study Lap Book to one winner! All you have to do is enter your information in the giveaway form below for your opportunity to win.
Hurry! Giveaway ends June 30, 2024.
Can’t see the entry form? Click here to enter.