Sonlight Curriculum
Helen Hegener
A few colleagues and I were discussing unschooling the other day, and
Amy Hollingsworth (she's written many good articles for Home
Education Magazine and is now our PR/Media Liaison), made the
following observation (shared here with her kind permission):
Speaking of unschooling, I was pleased to see that John Holzmann of
Sonlight has amended his commentary on unschooling in his April 2001
catalogue (which I received in the mail yesterday). The catalogue
used to say (at least for the last three years):
"Though we believe we ought to capitalize on our children's
inquisitive natures ... we do not adopt the philosophy most
'unschoolers' seem to prefer. As we said before, we believe we have
a responsibility before God to help our children acquire the maximum
knowledge possible while they are young, under our care, and have the
time. ... We require them to study and practice certain skills or
behaviors even though they don't think it is fun, fulfilling or
profitable. We try, always, to explain why we are convinced that
this unpleasant task is profitable. But whether the child is
convinced or not, we believe that, as parents, we must take the lead
and guide our children to maximal achievement." [Italics mine]
Now it says: "Sonlight is structured .... That doesn't mean you are
under obligation to the structure. ... But if you are committed to a
spontaneous lifestyle, or an educational philosophy that dictates you
follow your child's heart interests, you may find you have to "buck
[our] system" more than you'd prefer in order to maintain your sense
of spontaneity. ... Several unschoolers have told us they think we
fit right in with what they want to do: we give them the books, they
work our structure around their interests and inspiration. ... Still,
if you are committed to go with the flow and prefer not having to
'check yourself' against someone else's plan, we fully understand.
While you may enjoy buying many of our books, you will want to
proceed with caution when you consider the possibility of purchasing
a Sonlight Curriculum Basic program."
Amy
Here's the link to John's site:
http://www.sonlight.com/
Helen
Amy Hollingsworth (she's written many good articles for Home
Education Magazine and is now our PR/Media Liaison), made the
following observation (shared here with her kind permission):
Speaking of unschooling, I was pleased to see that John Holzmann of
Sonlight has amended his commentary on unschooling in his April 2001
catalogue (which I received in the mail yesterday). The catalogue
used to say (at least for the last three years):
"Though we believe we ought to capitalize on our children's
inquisitive natures ... we do not adopt the philosophy most
'unschoolers' seem to prefer. As we said before, we believe we have
a responsibility before God to help our children acquire the maximum
knowledge possible while they are young, under our care, and have the
time. ... We require them to study and practice certain skills or
behaviors even though they don't think it is fun, fulfilling or
profitable. We try, always, to explain why we are convinced that
this unpleasant task is profitable. But whether the child is
convinced or not, we believe that, as parents, we must take the lead
and guide our children to maximal achievement." [Italics mine]
Now it says: "Sonlight is structured .... That doesn't mean you are
under obligation to the structure. ... But if you are committed to a
spontaneous lifestyle, or an educational philosophy that dictates you
follow your child's heart interests, you may find you have to "buck
[our] system" more than you'd prefer in order to maintain your sense
of spontaneity. ... Several unschoolers have told us they think we
fit right in with what they want to do: we give them the books, they
work our structure around their interests and inspiration. ... Still,
if you are committed to go with the flow and prefer not having to
'check yourself' against someone else's plan, we fully understand.
While you may enjoy buying many of our books, you will want to
proceed with caution when you consider the possibility of purchasing
a Sonlight Curriculum Basic program."
Amy
Here's the link to John's site:
http://www.sonlight.com/
Helen