SonlightBlog.com

Look What I Got

2010-03-16T14:37:00.004-06:00

It's coming...

Request your Sonlight Catalog today!

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

Do You See Yourself in Your Kids?

2010-03-15T15:04:00.014-06:00

"I think I know why she did it," she whispers into my ear.

"Huh?" I look at the clock. It's well after midnight. I'd been asleep.

My wife scoots a little closer to me, glad I'm awake. "I can't sleep. I think I know why she got back on the potty right before bath. She's like you: She's a routine person and she always goes potty before bath."

"Huh." I pretend I don't care. I need to go back to sleep. Thinking about it would hurt too much. And, besides, I don't have a good response.

'Maybe I'll blog about this tomorrow,' I tell myself as I drift off to sleep, leaving my wife to her thoughts.

***

Six hours earlier the older child had just finished going potty. She got off to get ready for the coming bath. I started the water and she ran back into the bathroom. Her sister was heading in and looked like she might need to go.

"I need to go potty," the older one said.

I eye her suspiciously. She has a history of claiming to need to go potty when she really is just trying to kill time or stall. On top of this, her sister is walking a little cross-legged, which isn't a good sign. But the older one is already back on the pot. Guess I'll wait and see.

And wait we do as the steam slowly fills the bathroom along with the chatter of two excited little girls.

I'm waiting. There's no way she's going to go again. My suspicious are confirmed:

"All my pee-pees are out!" she proudly announces.

I'm furious. We've been working with her on this. We've been trying to communicate that she needs to tell the truth, that this is unacceptable behavior. On top of that, her sister looked more than a little uncomfortable waiting for her to finish the business she didn't need to do.

***

I've heard it said that the things we hate the most in others are the very things we do. And if it's true that she got back on the potty because of our routine, then all my assumptions and frustrations were unfounded.

The possibility brings tears to my eyes. The possibility that she and I are too much alike and, because of that frustrating fact, I couldn't see what was happening. I couldn't help her and encourage her to become a little more open to change. I was too busy focusing on what I was sure was going on that I might have missed a glimpse into who she is.

It's a good thing I have a wife who can look at both of us and see the similarities.

Some days the wife and kids teach me more about myself than I could possibly offer them: I'm a pretty poor husband and surrogate father. How many more times do I need to climb onto the proverbial potty before I get that out of my system?

Homeschooling, it's not just for the kids. I've still got a lot to learn as well.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

Genuine: One of Those Days

2010-03-12T18:34:00.012-07:00

We wake the girls up for our new Friday morning routine and discover that both had thrown up on their pillows in the middle of the night. The good blogger that I am, I thought about snapping a picture.

The good blogger that I am, I decided against it and took the sheets down to be washed instead.

Laundry

My morning had started five hours earlier when I woke up with the distinct impression that I needed to throw up. So I headed to the bathroom. I didn't, but those thirty minutes "on the pot" weren't all that pleasant; I would have preferred to have been happily sleeping.

Things weren't going well and it wasn't even 7:30 yet.

Then, I got a call at about 9:00 telling me that the main line of my house had clogged and water was filling the laundry room.

Fantastic.

It's been a long and rather frustrating day. Nothing like this day, but long and frustrating nonetheless.

Oddly enough, this is a benefit of homeschooling: Our kids get to experience life in the real world. They get a genuine experience. They see us at our best and our worst. We get to introduce them to the Plumber and explain how he helped fix the toilet so we can flush it again. They see us rip off the sheets in frustration to then tromp off to the basement. They get the good and the bad.

Sunday school teachers, instructors, coaches, anyone in a professional or paraprofessional leadership role will tend to present the world as stable and under control. In fact, this is such a common experience the two exceptions I've encountered in my life stand out in stark contrast. And while this professionalism is essential to a public situation, that's not where most of us need improvement. We're all pretty good at behaving in public.

Homeschooling allows our children to learn from how we handle stress, frustration and disappointment. They go through the experiences with us and learn how to cope. Sobering thoughts for those of us still in the process of learning how to roll with life's punches.

I'm writing this post to remind myself that even days that start off not so well are excellent opportunities for me and my children to learn and grow together. And if it turns out that your three month long project in the basement wasn't ruined, you had a coupon for half off the plumbing service and you were taken out to dinner by some friends, perhaps it's important to celebrate the blessings of life as well. I'm not nearly grateful enough because I'm too often focused on dealing with the things that went wrong.

So, here I am, at the end of one of those days sitting back and thinking, "Life is good."

How's yours?

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

Homeschool Priorities: Pick Your Battles

2010-03-11T15:04:00.011-07:00

You're busy.

My wife is busy too. We're having guests arrive four hours earlier than anticipated so she's probably pretty active at the moment making the house ready. And that's on top of the things she normally does like, you know, tend to the children, make meals and all that.

You may not have guests showing up, but I'm sure your life has it's own unexpected twists. Even without those, you're plenty busy. And if you're anything like me, every once in a while you lose the ability to determine the most important things to focus on. I have so many pressing items on my schedule I seem incapable of completing any of them. Worse still, many of them have wait times associated with them, so I can't even "just do it a minute" and be done with it.

And in these moments do we really care about eschatology? My world already feels like it's falling apart, I don't care when the Tribulation is supposed to hit!
Hermeneutics? A child is trying to tell me something from the bathroom, I need to investigate that first.
Age of the Earth? Today already feels like a contradiction: I've only had ten minutes to do anything but I feel like I've been doing it for a million years!

I could go on, but you're busy.

As finite creatures we have to make priorities. We must pick our battles. And some days, our priorities require that we forgo participating in even our pet conflicts.

I'm not saying that the things listed above--or the numerous other topics like organic food, abortion, pollution, politics, evangelism, etc--aren't important. But for the time being, your time may be needed elsewhere.

Where?

Only you know that. But if you're having trouble focusing, perhaps it's time to remind yourself of your homeschool goals and work from there.

I need to work out my priorities as well. I think it would help me tremendously.

If only I could find the time...

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

Holzmann Family Update

2010-03-10T14:50:00.014-07:00

...well, my branch of it, at least.

For those of you just joining us, let me catch you up:

My wife and I are in the process of adopting three children. Two years into the process...
In the meantime, we're pseudo-fostering two girls.
We're doing Sonlight P3/4 with them.

And that's pretty much the last I've said of it.

Until now.

My good bloggy friend Mrs. C emailed me and asked how things were going. And while I'm still going to email you back with specifics, Mrs. C, I thought it'd be a good idea to post an update here.

First things first: The girls really like the Sonlight stories. They currently love Go, Dog, Go! and will often ask me if I like their hat. I once got it wrong by saying I did like it, not realizing I was supposed to not like it three more times. It's also not uncommon to hear, "Go! The light is green now!" as they run laps around the coffee table.

Second, we've received a few new pictures of our kids in Kyrgyzstan. Unfortunately, due to adoption law, I can't share them with you until the adoption goes through. And, near as we can tell, it's still just as stuck as it was over a year ago when the clog stopped up the pipe.

Third, the life of pseudo-fostering continues to be hard. Your prayers are much appreciated. However, Brittany and I recently decided to make conscious efforts to accept that the girls are part of the family. Not that they weren't accepted before, but that we hadn't yet consciously moved out of babysitting mode. It was exhausting to always be "watching" them. As we try to relearn how to go about our lives, now with children underfoot, we are trying to figure out how to incorporate them into what we do rather than waiting for them to go down for a nap before we start doing chores. Writing that makes it sound so obvious that we should have done that from day one. But some of us are just slow, I guess. Especially since we're still figuring it out...

There's more to say, I'm sure, but I've run out of steam. I think my emotional regulator just kicked in and shut off oxygen to my brain, ceasing all thought.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you have, or provide more details for anything you're interested in. Please just leave a comment and I'll try to get to it. If you have no questions, that's fine: I would absolutely appreciate your prayers.

Thanks!

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

The New Sonlight Logo

2010-03-09T16:37:00.007-07:00

Last month I mentioned that our old logo had been removed from the building.

Today the new logo was installed:

A Work in Progress

A Few of the Pieces

Sonlight's New Logo

Pretty cool...

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

He Who Defines, Wins

2010-03-08T14:02:00.008-07:00

I really like words. That's one of the reasons I share "Words of the Day" with you when I stumble across them:

Autochthonous:^* indigenous; originating where it is found

Brought to you by Milton Gaither

Definitions are important because, without them, we lose meaning and the ability to communicate. In debate they say that "he who defines, wins" because if your definition is accepted you can direct the conversation where you want it to go. A few examples:

Is abortion a medical procedure or murder?
Is swatting your child's hand training or abuse?
Is evolution a scientific fact or a godless lie?
Is homeschooling selfish and vile or a wonderful opportunity?
Is eating meat productive or immoral?
Is the use of "he" instead of gender neutral pronouns acceptable or chauvinistic?
Is this blog fantastic of lame?
Is Luke Holzmann a ninny or brilliant?

Ultimately, much like the last two, neither answer is entirely accurate--or, perhaps more accurately, both answers contain a certain level of truth. Logicians call what I gave above a false dichotomy. But the point remains: If you can convince people to accept your definition, you are more likely to sway them to your side.

The difficulty, then, is determining what definitions are correct. And when there is disagreement, discover what drives the two sides. Why do they define it that way? And what's influencing that definition?

Are you a parent or a teacher? Are your offspring your children or your students? And what in the world is a Core or an Instructor's Guide anyway?

I spent some time today working on a lexicon for a potential new Sonlight product. It was amazing to me how difficult it is to find words that will be wildly recognizable without leading to wrong impressions or confusion. Schedule or Calendar? Asset or Resource? Teachers Manual or Lesson Plan? Course or Program or Study Unit?

May the words you use today be edifying and understood by those around and closest to you.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

^*Yep, I had to look up the pronunciation too.

The Problem with Routine

2010-03-05T12:50:00.012-07:00

...is when you have to break it.

I'm a routine guy. More than that, I'm a schedule guy. I don't always have to be on time ...as long as I'm early. I park in the same spot every day. I have a morning routine. I have a evening series of events. I do the same thing every Saturday night and Sunday morning (Movie Night and church, respectively). My body is so used to my order of life, I wake up at 6am on mornings I forget to set my alarm (which is great because otherwise I'd throw a hissy fit because my groove was thrown off. Not proud of those moments).

You get the picture.

Today, my routine was broken.

Garage sale season has started; there was one this morning. And for that one garage sale I got up early to do a little work, then drove my wife to meet my sister and my mom, watched the girls for a couple hours with my brother-in-law, drove home and then, and only then, was able to come into Sonlight--four hours later than I usually do.^*

I was grumpy.

And that's the real problem with routine: I feel entitled to it. The problem is me. Routine is fantastic, even beneficial in many ways. But like so many good things, it's how we use it and respond to it. Vegetables are great, but they aren't if I were to go ballistic on the kids over them. Money is wonderful, but an unhealthy focus on it leads to trouble.

You get the picture.

Are you like me and need to have a solid routine? Or are you on the other end of the spectrum--with my wife--and fight against repetition? I'm guessing neither extreme is super healthy. That's why I'm so thankful for Sonlight's approach to scheduling: Consistency with flexibility. Every Sonlight Instructor's Guide allows you to plan your day how you want so you can quickly adjust when you need to. Like when garage sale season starts....

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

^*My wife accused me of wanting to get to work so desperately I almost drove down to open the building at 6:30. I still maintain that I had responsibilities that were thankfully covered by another.

Sonlight's 2010 Catalog Proofs

2010-03-04T14:42:00.014-07:00

Stop the presses!

Sonlight's Catalog is heading off to the printer.^*

Today we looked over the "blue lines"--whatever that means--of the catalog and it should be back to the printer soon. I can't believe it's already March 4th. April 1 is coming so quickly...

2010 Catalog Proofs

The Red Pens of Marking

When we find mistakes, we mark them on stickies. Rebel that I am I used my blue pen instead of the red.

This Blog is Getting Some Love! That makes me super excited <smile>.

Are you excited about the 2010 Catalog?

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

Deportment: demeanor; the way a person behaves toward others

Brought to you by Mrs. C

^*Come on, that was punny.

Multitasking

2010-03-03T13:35:00.011-07:00

My wife can hold three small children at the same time. She can make dinner, tell me to stop looking in the fridge for a snack and keep an ear open for the plaintive wail of a distressed child. She can listen to a podcast and play WoW or be in Second Life. She's a pretty impressive person.

But she can't multitask.

You can't either.

NPR has an interesting article on this. But I think, 'Perhaps I'm different. Perhaps I really can do multiple things at once.' If you're anything like me, I suggest you give yourself a practical test via the Multitask flash game. [NB: There are ads for webgames on this site. While I didn't notice any offensive ones when I hit the site, that does not rule out the possibility that they exist.] It took me all of about a minute before I realized that my constant switching in focus didn't cut it.

Businesses--I hear--have found this to be true as well. People are far more productive if they sit down and focus on a task. Unfortunately, the world of instant messaging, email, phones, Facebook, Twitter, RSS and the like make it difficult to stay on target. I know I get distracted when a message pops up telling me that I just got a new email.

I found it interesting, then, to read about a school that is excited that giving their students laptops "helps them multitask." I don't see how this would be a good thing. I heard that recent studies have found no benefits to trying to multitask.

Case in point: I know when my wife is multitasking while I'm on the phone with her. She's far less communicative if she's also checking Facebook or looking for a cool new app... she may be able to juggle a bunch of kids, but she still can't multitask.

Instead of encouraging your children to practice being distracted in the hopes that it will make them more prepared for the world of new media, encourage them to focus on a book or story and then switch their attention fully to the next subject at hand. This is a great skill to have when talking to people too: Give them your full attention.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

P.S. Despite what I say above, I think it was great that my mom let us play quietly with Legos while she read to us. My sister sometimes doodled as well. There is something to be said for freeing children to focus on something other than merely "staying focused." So, perhaps--just perhaps--moderation is a good thing as well...

Always Be There to Help Your Students

2010-03-02T15:04:00.010-07:00

Jerri Ann asked, "When do you quit [helping with] homework?"

It's the homeschooler in me that answers, "It depends."

If a student is truly confused, why wouldn't you help them? Because they need to figure it out on their own? That is a great skill to learn. But if we believed that people should always figure things out on their own we'd never try to teach them anything. The learning process is a give and take that, when applied well, leads a student to move beyond what the teacher has taught. Confusion is a terrible state. Sure, don't spoon-feed answers, but simple clarification can be the difference between giving up and a light bulb moment.

If a little instruction will help a student move forward, help them! I am grateful for the friends who help me with things even here at Sonlight. And if I'm not too old to still benefit from a few pointers, I doubt your student is either.

Ultimately, though, I think this sums it up: Learning is far more important than "going at it alone." In fact, pushing students to figure it out on their own may actually reinforce the idea that building on what others have learned is a bad thing... and that would be a terrible mistake. We should all strive to stand on the shoulders of the giants who have gone before us.

I'm not advocating, however, that students should always get your help. I know there were times when I was mentally "dragging my feet" instead of applying myself. In those cases, it was good for my mom to leave me alone. Hand holding wasn't going to help me.

As a teacher you are your student's weightlifting partner. You're there to help lift the bar when the weight becomes too great. But you'd do no favors if you carried the burden instead.

Now I just mixed my metaphors...

Lifting Weights on the Shoulders of Giants

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

Cowboys, Facebook and Stuff I'd Write About

2010-03-01T15:05:00.010-07:00

I mention cowboys and Sonlight's catalog on my blog and no one comments. No one mentions it on Facebook. I mean, I realize it was toward the end of a post, but I thought I'd get at least one giggle or "yeehaw" or something.

I got crickets instead.

Then I noticed that Facebook never published the post that mentioned cowboys and catalogs and contests. Say wha? What's going on here?

I fiddle. I tinker. I poke around. Finally I add the "Notes" tab and, lo and behold, there the post is... but it's still not on Sonlight's Facebook Wall. First it was Twitter that just stopped updating my stuff. Now it's Facebook. The social media world has conspired to bring me a slow social death.

<tears>

I've got several things I want to blog about, but they are sensitive subjects that require more thought and much more wisdom than I have. A few others would be better to post about at a later date. One is perfect for Father's Day (though I wrote it last week).

Needless to say, I'd rather be writing about other things than trying to sort out the mysteries of social media tools that simply stop working all of a sudden...

...and, please, someone tell me you thought having a cowboy on a page that said "Whoa! Hang on a minute there, cowboy" would have been hilarious. Otherwise, I'll have to post the crying cowboy sketch again...

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

A New Beginning and a Quickly Coming End

2010-02-24T15:45:00.006-07:00

Great news: Sonlight.com is back online!

We got the site back up before noon today--almost 6 hours ahead of schedule. There were only a few kinks (that we've heard of thus far). Other than that, things are moving along beautifully on our new server.

Important news: The T-Shirt Design Contest ends this Sunday! Submit your designs before then. You've only got a few more days...

Other news: I'm not going to be here the rest of this week, so no posts tomorrow or Friday. But I wanted to let you know that I have radically--yes: radically--updated the Widgets page to make it more user friendly and better than ever. In fact, if you already have one of the Sonlight banners, badges or widgets on your site/blog, you'll want to consider replacing what you have with the new code. It's sweet!

And people have started asking, so I thought I'd just toss this out there: If you were to, say, request a Sonlight catalog right now, you just may land on a page that originally had a cowboy on it before we decided my humor wasn't for everyone...

I'm just sayin'.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

Suggesting Sonlight

2010-02-23T15:04:00.012-07:00

I noticed a spike in tweets about Sonlight yesterday. What further piqued my interest was that they were mostly directed toward one person who had asked for homeschool curricula suggestions.

Why had this person generated so many tweets?

I swung by her blog to see if I could figure it out. It was very nice. Then I noticed something...

Whoa. She has almost 6,000 followers!

Suddenly I was back in the pool as a college student. I frequently won races. I held school records. I was super cool! Until we attended a meet with some of the really big schools--like Standford and BYU. I took 86th in the 500. I doubt I had been bested by 85 people over the course of my entire swimming career prior to that.

Any dreams of Olympic gold that may have been budding in my subconscious died a gruesome death that day, mercilessly drowned in the pool of competitors that were way outside my league.

I was reminded of two things:

1. I should never, ever, ever look at my blog stats. It's depressing.

2. I am so thankful for you because you promote Sonlight so much better than I will ever be able to. I am grateful that so many Sonlighters take the time to share their love of Sonlight with others. Don't forget: We started the Sonlight Rewards program as a small way of saying thanks.

And speaking of Twitter, I should work on a Twitter widget thingy for the Widgets page...

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

Three Things I Do Not Understand...

2010-02-22T14:40:00.011-07:00

...four that cause me grief.

The inability for a DVD replicator to properly print, the madness that is .pdf exporting, a case of the Mondays and mass emails that need to be sent.

In honor of my artist skillz--the "z" indicates they aren't actually there--I have taken a self-portrait entitled:

Frustrated with Technology

To alleviate some potential frustration you may encounter, please note:

Sonlight.com will be down for maintenance tomorrow and Wednesday.
(the 23-24 of February, 2010)

We are still around to help. You can find us at http://maint.sonlight.com/ until we're back online.

This blog will be here, the Sonlight Forums and Sonlight's Facebook page as well. Please swing by to encourage us. We welcome your thoughts and prayers as we tackle this major technological task.

Thanks, friends!

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

P.S. Spam was getting annoying, so I had to disable the Username/URL option for comments for a while. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you. I really do welcome your input!

Easy Gluten-free Cookie Recipe

2010-02-19T12:32:00.010-07:00

You visit SonlightBlog.com for three reasons:

The wit
The profound insights
My recipes

You don't come here for recipes?

Probably because I don't have many recipes and the few I do have I seldom share. But today, while trying to come up with something to blog about, I pulled out a peanut butter sugar cookie and started munching.

I Made This Cookie and I ate it too

Fun? Check.
Tasty? Check.
Easy to do? Check.
Homeschool related? Check.
Perfect blog fodder? Check.

These cookies take 20 minutes from start to finish. And I don't mean in the traditional cooking show way of: 20 minutes if you have everything prepping into those little bowls and the oven on and you don't need to look at the directions. I mean, 20 minutes from when you think, 'I think I'll make some cookies,' to when you can be munching. My kind of 20 minutes.

Step 1: Turn on your oven to 375°
Step 2: Mix 1cup peanut butter, 1cup sugar, 1tsp vanilla and 1 egg (a mixing machine makes this even easier)
Step 3: Form into balls on cookie sheet

Step 3b: (optional) Use fork to make pretty lines on cookies
Step 3c: (optional) Sprinkle sugar on top if a 1:1 ratio isn't good enough for ya

Step 4: Bake for 9 minutes
Step 5: Remove and let cool
Step 6: Eat a limited quantity ***this is the hardest part***

This is a great activity for the whole family (assuming you don't have a peanut sensitivity). You can discuss what happens when you heat sugar, the microbe-killing effect of cooking eggs, the importance of a healthy diet, displacement when force is applied to matter, and even the calming nature of a good snack. Chemistry, biology, dietetics, physics and sociology--not to mention cookies--in 20 minutes?

Not bad for a Friday afternoon.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

Changes Here at Sonlight

2010-02-18T15:20:00.008-07:00

We've been in the process of doing a major Sonlight brand overhaul for a couple years now. This has been further influenced by our 20th Anniversary. 20 years of serving the homeschool community. 20 years of improving our product. 20 years of leading in excellent literature-rich homeschooling.

But today, a physical change occurred here at Sonlight: Our old logo was removed from the building.

Ghost of Logo Past

This will be replaced with our new logo. As I listen to the scraping of the stucco workers outside, I am reminded of the hard work that has gone into getting us to where we are today. The continually improved curriculum packages. The yearly updated Instructor's Guides. The daily commitment to providing you with excellent support. And our commitment to serve you as long as God allows.

There's something almost melancholy--pensive--about this moment. Change, for all it's excitement, leaves something behind... like the ghostly shadow of the logo that is being scrapped off the building's facade even as I type.

May this year, and the years to come, see even more changes here at Sonlight; changes that benefit you and bless you in your homeschooling journey.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

Do You Have Questions About Sonlight?

2010-02-17T15:20:00.010-07:00

Sonlight Curriculum Advisors are here to help you. They can help you find answers to questions like:

What Sonlight program will work for my family?
How do I use Sonlight with multiple students?
Should I get the Core 1+2 or the Core 1 program?
What Reader pack should I get for my child?
If this book isn't working for my student, can I stop reading it?
and much, much more!

Each one of the SCAs--as we like to call them--are veteran Sonlight moms who can help you decide what will be best for you and your family. These are the perfect people to go to with questions, ideas you want to bounce off someone, and any other matters you want to discuss concerning the Sonlight materials you're using or hope to use.

I find I recommend people chat with a Sonlight Curriculum Advisor almost every time they ask me something about Sonlight. So if you have questions about Sonlight Curriculum and Sonlight's homeschool programs, skip a step and go directly to the SCAs. They are here to help you find out what will be best for you and your students.

Petard: an explosive device used to break down a gate or wall

Brought to you by Suburban Correspondent (more here)

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

Uploading Images to Sonlight

2010-02-16T16:24:00.012-07:00

Remember that T-Shirt Design Contest I told you about?

Well, it's almost over.

Which means, you need to get your submissions in pronto.

'But, Luke,' you're thinking, 'I tried to upload my image. But I got a message about it being the "wrong file type" even though it was the right kind!'

Hmm... good point. Turns out--we discovered today--that Internet Explorer changed image MIME definitions to a non-standard form some time in the past and that threw off everyone who was ignorant of this issue (namely: me). I'm not even sure what a MIME type definition is, but thankfully I've got smart people here to help me. So, it's fixed.

In other words:

You no longer have an excuse!

Submit your design to Sonlight's 2010 T-Shirt Design Contest.

Do it.

Do it now!

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

Announcing Sonlight's 2010 Scholarship Winners

2010-02-15T15:48:00.002-07:00

Since 2000, Sonlight has awarded college scholarships. Check out the 2010 Sonlight Scholarship Winners. We will be adding biography blurbs for all the winners in the weeks to come, so stay tuned <smile>.

Do you have a student who will soon be a Sonlight graduate? Have you looked into applying for a Sonlight scholarship? You should.

Congratulations to this year's winners!

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

A Benefit of Reading: Love to Learn

2010-02-12T12:13:00.005-07:00

Fitting to speak of loving to learn right before Valentine's Day. And what better way to wrap up a series on the benefits of reading?

Books--at least goods books--are a joy to read. Far more than just providing enjoyment, though, these books teach you things. You can learn history, geography, sociology, philosophy and more through literature. In fact, I believe this is the best way to learn these things.

The stories help you make connections, understand what's happening around you and better articulate your response. More than that, you will enjoy doing so. You won't want to stop. You'll love it too much to quit!

Unlike other learning systems, reading great books will inspire you to learn more, not give up on an educational system. For as much as I enjoyed college, I feel no compulsion to go back to school. I'm done with the classroom setting. I'm sick of homework and tests and grade games. Yet I am still enthralled with learning. Sure, I don't make as much time for reading as I should, but when I find a great book I dive into it. I drink in the knowledge like a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice. I love it.

That is how education should be.

That is precisely how homeschooling with Sonlight is.

Sonlight combines all of the benefits of reading a ton of great literature and couples them with powerful tools that help you draw the most from the experience. I remember begging my mom to keep reading. I remember getting lost in a book. I remember homeschooling with Sonlight and all the wonderful benefits it gave me--as a student. I absolutely love to learn.

But wait, there's more!

Sonlight guarantees that your students will not only love to learn with our curriculum packages, but that you'll love to teach with them too!

As we look forward to a day full of chocolates, flowers and pink candies, there's really nothing more sweet than loving to learn together as a family.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

A Benefit of Reading: Greater Perspective

2010-02-11T15:46:00.003-07:00

Books can take you places you may never be able to visit in person. Limit finances--not to mention the space-time continuum--make it impossible for you to travel to certain destinations. But a good book will "take you there" for a couple of bucks and a few hours of reading.

Sonlight is packed full of such books. My mom gave a few examples in a presentation back in October. (She starts talking about this subject at 4:40.)

By experiencing different people throughout the world and history, we develop a greater perspective on life. This helps us grow a heart for the world--a fundamental part of Sonlight's educational philosophy.

It's possible that this greater perspective I received from my Sonlight education is what has helped me avoid culture shock. I've traveled to several countries and have yet to feel like I'm in a truly foreign place. Sure, it's not home, but for all it's differences, it's not that unfamiliar. Could it be that all the "travel" I did as a child via the literature we read as a family prepared me for cross-cultural experiences?

I think so.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

A Benefit of Reading: Connections

2010-02-10T15:13:00.008-07:00

It's no secret that I really enjoy Chuck. And now my mom is hooked on it as well.

[Obligatory disclaimer: This show contains content that will not be welcome in all households. Just because I think it's hilarious--and my mom likes it--does not mean that you will find it wholesome or acceptable by the standards of your family.]

Chuck is jam-packed with nerdy cultural references. These connections add to the humor of the show and give me one more point of contact with the characters and the story. This just heightens my enjoyment and fandom.

Reading tons of great literature has a similar benefit. You will be more connected with other books. Plots and characters will make more sense. You'll be able to draw even greater insights from the richness of the text by noticing where the author connects with another work. Even Christ used literary connection to add depth to His statements.

Many Sonlight families find that the connections they get from reading together go beyond the world of literature. The "shared experience" books provide give many points of contact within the family. This knits us closer together as brothers and sister, parents and children. We can all smile or cry as we recall an event that happened in one of our books.

Beyond that, I think many Sonlighters feel a certain camaraderie with each other. We have enjoyed many of the same things through the literature we share.

What are some of your favorite literary connections?

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

A Benefit of Reading: Writing

2010-02-09T14:22:00.013-07:00

"The fog of sleep evaporated quickly as the sunlight hit his eyes."

Such a strong opening. What's more, I wrote it when I was in junior high.

There was a post somewhere about a kid who started a writing assignment with a similarly creative punch.^* When asked why he had begun his story with action instead of the typical "Once upon a time" opening, he replied, "That's how my Sonlight books start."

It's true.

"Trad found the white-haired stranger by nearly putting an arrow into him, thinking he was a rabbit."
~The Great and Terrible Quest

Sonlight's programs are packed full of Award-Winner books. But it's not just that these books are a joy to read or listen to. Consuming great literature like this will naturally impact your writing. This can be further encouraged with a Language Arts program that models these wonderful stories.

Reading great books will help your writing.

That's not to say that practice and hard work aren't essential to composition. But a heavy background in wonderful literature is an important foundation.

Interestingly, I was sent the following article this morning and found it incredibly relevant to this series: The Case for Literature. I was thrilled that so many of Nancie Atwell's points are precisely the things that Sonlight offers in its literature.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father

^*Unfortunately, I have long lost that post (was it on a blog? a Sonlight Momement? a customer comment?). If you wrote that story, please let me know so I can link to it!

A Benefit of Reading: Plots

2010-02-08T15:15:00.010-07:00

Sonlight uses a lot of literature. I doubt it's a literal ton, but there could easily be a thousand pounds of books in Sonlight's Pre-K through High School Cores.

My mom, however, reads a ton of books. Literally. All this literature has given her the ability to guess plots. Most notably was this:

***Spoiler Alert for a 2004 film***

We sat down to watch The Village. The movie opens with a community meal. A crazed young man claps his hands and stares off wildly into the forest.

My mom, who doesn't watch thriller type films, looks over at me and says, "Oh, it's a world within a world story."

What!?! Come on! How could she know that?

***End spoiler***

My mom said that it was "obvious" because "directors like to show you things with subtle clues."

Uh-huh.

That very well may be the case. But the fact of the matter is that my mom knows so much story theory that she can pick up on the arch of a tale within the first few minutes of it starting. You don't get that kind of knowledge from studying literature theory. You don't gain those insights by reading textbooks on authorial intent. You don't pick up on those subtleties when you write an essay on symbolism.

No. You gain that skill by enjoying stories. You gain that skill by reading a ton. And, thankfully, Sonlight provides the first half of that ton in our homeschool programs.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Surrogate Father