Sonlight Science K Hands On Homeschool Curriculum : A Full Product Review
If you’ve been a reader for a while, then you know I despise messy, supply-intensive experiments and projects. However, providing something hands-on and engaging for the Pre-K/K age group is so important. That’s what I’m thrilled to share the newly updated Sonlight Science K Program. We were given a chance to get our hands on the 4-day per week kit and have had a blast getting to know this program.
Finding a science curriculum for the little ones can be tricky. You want something that’s engaging, hands-on, easy to use, and thorough. You also don’t want to spend hours coordinating lessons and reading, or finding supplies for experiments.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are ‘affiliate links’. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission.
I received a Sonlight Science K program for free. I was not required to write a positive review, however, I’m extremely pleased with the program and share below my thoughts.
The balance between robust and a total bust can be difficult to find. However, Sonlight’s science program is the total package and solves the homeschool science dilemma.
Overview of Sonlight Science K
Sonlight’s Science programs are literature-based, hands-on programs starting with Kindergarten all the way through upper-level high school and college-level science courses. Their philosophy is that student learns by reading, discussing, and doing – and their science packages provide all the resources and materials to do just that!
Their science programs cover a broad range of scientific studies including:
- earth science
- health and anatomy
- physical science
- meteorology
- space
- electrical
- technological science
- chemistry
- biology
- robotics
- and so many more areas
As your child progresses through the modules each year they will circle back to topics previously covered in more depth. This is great if you plan to homeschool for an extended period of time or for your child’s entire K-12 education.
Sonlight science programs are designed to give you the option of a 4-day per week schedule or a 5-day per week schedule. I love that they offer this flexibility to fit your homeschooling lifestyle.
Their newly updated programs also follow the Next Generation Science Standards. This means the lessons and activities are built around great practices that are recognized by scientists, scientific institutions, and science-based businesses all over the world.
What’s Included with Sonlight Science K?
Sonlight Science K is an all-inclusive science program. Upon opening the package, you’ll realize that everything you’ll need (besides a few common household items) is included inside the box.
Easy To Follow Instructor’s Guide
I love a good teacher’s manual or instructor’s guide. The more to the more straight-forward, to the point, the better. I need to know what to say and when do to it. This is especially important to me in a science program.
The Sonlight Instructor’s Guide is extremely user-friendly. I’m not sure I’ve seen such a well-structured, open-and-go instructor’s guide for such a robust homeschool curriculum.
Quality
The manual is printed on a heavier-weight paper, so it will hold up for multi-year use. You can also purchase the consumable activity sheets separately, making this program easy to use with multiple kids year after year.
Easy To Use
The manual’s layout is crisp and clean. There’s a quick glance feature that includes the current week’s layout. This chart shows the daily pages to read from the literature book that week, which activity questions to work through, the experiment, do together activity, supplies needed (from your Discover & Do kit plus anything additional you’ll need to provide), and a shopping list for the upcoming week. (I know I’ve found my people when they remind me what I’ll need for the next week!)
Then you get a day-by-day game plan with instructional verbiage, discussion questions, and an overview of the activities. This is easily marked by day so you always stay on track whether using the 4-day or 5-day plan.
The Do Together activity is really a great opportunity to just sit and talk to your kids. I think of these activities as great conversation prompts. We did a fun one that discussed stages of life. We shared how we were similar and different in comparison to our kids at their current ages.
Answer Keys
Yes, answer keys are one of my non-negotiable items in a teacher’s manual. I don’t like to waste time creating an answer key or working through the problems unnecessarily. Answer keys are included immediately following each weekly lesson.
Honestly, if I had been shown only the Instructor’s Guide for Sonlight Science K, I would have been sold immediately. It’s really impressive and perfect for a family that wants to pick up and get started each day.
Discover & Do: Science Supplies Kit
The Discover & Do Science Supplies Kit comes in it’s own box inside your package. This kit includes dozens of pieces of materials and supplies for your hands-on experiments each week. Kits are included with levels K-C of Sonlight Science.
Our kit arrived in a bit of disarray but I’m chalking that up to delivery. All the pieces are things that might be a bit difficult to easily locate for hands-on experiments so I am extremely fond of having it already prepped for you.
Along with the supplies kit is an amazing Discover & Do Science Experiments book. This walks you through all 36 experiments in detail with beautiful, full color pages.
Library of Experiment Videos
The Sonlight Science K program includes online access to the Discover & Do experiment videos. These videos are perfect for the parent that may not be extremely confident in conducting experiments.
The videos cover all 36 experiments. Walking you through each experiment with an explanation is a very animated, funny character that my kid’s loved.
These videos are great to watch before the experiment to help set yourself up or right after your child conducts the experiment yourself. If you’re running short on time you could even skip the actual experiment and watch the video in it’s place
Benefits of Using Sonlight Science K
Easy-To-Follow Instructor’s Guide
I keep mentioning the Instructor’s Guide, but it’s only because it’s really that impressive. Being able to pick up and know exactly what is being covered, what to say, what materials are needed – all on one page – is such a huge benefit.
The conversational style of the lessons will also make this an easy program to do with multiple children at one time. Purchase additional activity sheets and hang onto your Instructor’s Manual so you can reuse the program.
No Experience Needed
With the Discover & Do videos, you don’t need to have any type of experience with scientific experiments. Between the amazing manual and the videos, each experiment is laid out and explained thoroughly. This is perfect if you aren’t a science lover (like me), have someone stepping in to help with their science lessons from time to time or just flat out stink at experiments (also me).
All In One Package
I love opening a package and knowing I have everything I need. Not having to make a separate list of books, worksheets, hard to find supplies and additional activities makes this program a winner.
All Scientific Areas Covered
After reviewing the K package, I was very excited to explore the other levels and courses that Sonlight offers. Not only can this program be continued through elementary school, but Sonlight offers middle school, high school, and advanced college-level science courses.
Seamless Integration
The cohesion between the literature and the hands-on experiments is amazing. Each week’s experiment aligns perfectly with the reading that week. this helps reinforce the information tremendously. It’s so great to see your child realize they are watching or experiencing what you’ve been reading about and studying.
Overview of Sonlight Science K
Do you struggle with what science to teach, how to teach it, or how to ensure your child is getting a well-rounded science background?
Want an open-the-box and get started science curriculum?
Are you trying to ensure great literature is included in your science lessons?
Looking for a homeschool science curriculum that doesn’t break the homeschool budget?
If you answered yes to any of these questions – this program is for your family!
Overall, Sonlight Science K does an amazing job of helping your student explore the world around them. It lays a great foundation for them to continue to build on as they progress.
This is a perfect science program for those new to homeschooling as well as veteran homeschoolers who want an easy-to-use science curriculum. The easy-to-follow instructor’s guide, perfectly paired literature and hands-on experiments will keep your child engaged and excited about science. One of the reasons we began homeschooling was to help our kids expand their love for learning and help them connect learning to the real world. This package definitely checks those boxes.
Head over to see all the Sonlight Science packages –
including the Sonlight Science K program!
Plus, check out the amazing giveaway that Sonlight is currently hosting!
