I have only had experience with the Kindergarten (5-7 years) and the 1st Grade (6-8 years) All-Subjects Packages so that’s what I’ll be reviewing.

My Pros: The thing I loved most about this curriculum is the organizational system they set it up with. I still use this same “system” in my homeschool even without the use of Sonlight. You, as the teacher, will get a large 3-Ring Binder and 36 Tab Dividers along with all the lesson plan Weekly Calendars and Worksheets your student needs to complete. Your entire year of school work remains in one easy-to-access folder and all you have to do is turn to the correct week of the year and it’s all laid out for you.

Another positive is that you don’t always have to go based on Grade level, as they lay them out in Age levels too. SO if you have a couple, or even three different children close in age they can utilize the same kit and all do the same assignments. This saves money and makes learning more fun for the kids because they can work together if they so choose.

This curriculum is very school-like. What I mean by that is, if you use it as intended, it plays out like a “school day” where you have each subject individually and each subject has add-ons like a book to read along with a worksheet or, in Science, you will get an Experiment Box so you can do hands-on projects through out the year. There are games to play, manipulatives to add, and it’s very activity filled.

My Cons: There are just TOO many pieces involved! Which accounts for the high price, as well. For me, it just felt like busy work and required a lot of my time doling out the assignments, helping teach lessons, oversee projects, or read aloud books for my children that couldn’t yet read.

I also didn’t care for the hands-on approach to Science at that young age but I did like that the kit came with a DVD option to simply observe the Experiments if you’d rather stay hands-off.

My son absolutely despised the Language Arts portion of the curriculum. There was far too much copy work and honestly, I felt it was a bit too advanced for him in 1st grade so we ended up skipping L.A. altogether.

The last thing was that I know of at least one book that came with the kit that I didn’t align with, theology wise. We got through a little more than half of the year utilizing Sonlight before I called it quits (from exhaustion) and supplemented the rest with other options of my choice. Needless to say, it just didn’t fit my easy-breezy homeschooling style with its many recommended requirements.