Sonlight Science K - What it looks like at our house

We have been using Sonlight Science K in a secular manner for the last 7 weeks and it is a hit! From Sonlight I purchased the 5 day program (minus the supplies kit for K as it is a biohazard to Australia) but I did also get the non-consumable science supplies kit.

First let me say that the K level isn't hard to make secular at all. None of the books used have 'God' references and it is very easy to skip the parts of the Teachers Manual which are religion centred. Most references to 'God' are for discussion purposes.

Once I received all of the materials I had the student pages from the Teachers Manual copied and bound into their own book for Flossy to work through.

Most weeks follow a similar progression. Scheduled days 1, 2 & 3 are reading followed by comprehension questions on the student pages. Day 4 is experiment day where not only do you get to try the experiment yourself you can watch the Discover and Do DVD and see how it is supposed to work. Day 5 is additional reading which is scheduled. The Teachers Manual also contains suggestions for other activities that you might like to do and discussion topics.

So how does that work for us?

Typically we do science twice per week. On day 1 we cover days 1 & 2 from the Sonlight schedule and on day 2 we cover days 3 & 4. The program really is light enough at this level to not feel overwhelmed or like you are spending loads of time on science even doubling up lessons in this fashion. Day 5 in the schedule is reading the 'extra' books they add to the 4 Day program so we are saving those to use as lapbook or unit studies at the end. We school year round so it will make a nice change before we head into the next science program.

Each time we read from The Children's Encyclopaedia we take the time to look up the links on the computer and see if there is anything awesome there. So far we have found some wonderful sites and I think this is one part the kids enjoy most. The other part they love of course are the experiments! Here are some pictures from a couple of things we have done.

Here we are making a weather vein.

Observing how icebergs are mostly submerged under water.

Purchasing the supply kits means you have everything at your fingertips. No need to make a special trip to the hardware store for an obscure item.

I give Sonlight Science K 5 stars.

Flossy gives Sonlight Science K 5 stars.

Bugsy gives Sonlight Science K 5 stars (he wanted to give it 6!)

So there you have it an overwhelming success at our house.