Tag: education

A Ray of Sonlight – Updated April 2025

Photo from Our First Sonlight Unboxing Day

Twas the night before Homeschool Semester two, and I could have panicked about planning but had nothing to do.

How could I be so relaxed for the next day? Because the Sonlight curriculum outlined much of the way!

Based mostly around books and reading to my son, it didn’t matter that ice and snow threatened to make the power not on!

Full disclosure, when we started looking at curriculums for homeschool Kindergarten, Sonlight was not on my radar whatsoever. In fact, when Mr Kisby and I attended a homeschool convention last April, we didn’t stop at their booth. We left with no Sonlight material sure that we wouldn’t be using them. However, fast forward to June, and I still was uncertain about what we were going to use. Somehow I got an ad from Sonlight about a FREE (my favorite price) virtual homeschool summit they were doing, and all attendees would get a coupon plus one lucky attendee (it wasn’t me) would win a full curriculum package! Free and winning are two of my favs plus the days of the summit we were traveling, and I needed something to pass the time, so I signed up!

Going into the summit, I wasn’t expecting to be blown away. I thought I would hear some of the same information that I’d heard at other free homeschool summits. Boy was I wrong! I was immediately impressed by the concept of using read alouds as a way of teaching! Essentially fiction and non-fiction books are used to teach concepts across various curricula areas. Secondly, I loved that people who worked for, but mote importantly used, Sonlight were answering my questions immediately. I assure you I had a lot of questions, and they were on the ball! As a parent, one of the things I was most impressed by was their free instructor guide sample which included a delightful chapter book. Additionally, I was impressed that they had free assessments to see what materials were most appropriate for your child. This had been a concern as I had no idea of where to begin for sure. After our free sample came, a few assessments, and several more questions with an advisor, we became a Sonlight family!

Now that we’re a semester in, how do I know that Sonlight is working for LilKsby? My readers know I love a good Top Ten list, so drum roll please!!!

  1. For Christmas LilKsby asked for additional books from two series that were started as part of our read alouds: Heartwood Hotel and Humphrey. He even insisted we start reading the second Heartwood Hotel book during our break!
  2. He brings up things from our read alouds in conversation. For example, he tells people about how the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians would eat lying down. He talks about the Vikings and what it would be like to live in a longhouse!
  3. A couple months after reading some of the books, he recalls things that happened in them and can recall the names of characters.
  4. He enjoys learning a scripture each week and discussing what it means. To go with this, we’ve started keeping a journal where we write the verse and our thoughts about it. This has been a fun way to bond over the Word!
  5. He loves the big map and looking at where locations from our read alouds are. We’ve also used the map to make comparisons to where we are relative to book locations!
  6. LilKsby likes the timeline book (though sometimes he just wants to play with the stickers instead of putting them in) and seeing how far apart events are. He’s always especially curious to see how far things are from Noah. He also likes that we’ve included notes from things we’ve learned from our field trips, music appreciation, art history, and poetry studies in our timeline book!
  7. LilKsby likes that the curriculum doesn’t force him to do a lot of his least favorite thing: handwriting. It has him do just enough to show that he’s learning the basics without it feeling like a chore.
  8. LilKsby enjoys the narration days in the Language Arts curriculum. We’ve started a notebook just of our narrations, and he’s even willing to do extra narrations as he enjoys storytelling. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed hearing things from his perspective!
  9. LilKsby loves the Book of Living Long Ago and has been fascinated by ancient civilizations. He’s intrigued by the differences and similarities to today, and he enjoyed some of the hands on activities!
  10. He looks forward to school (though he will say he doesn’t), and I believe it has a lot to do with the books! He’s loved reading since he was a baby, so the fact that our curriculum is centered around reading is kind of magical!

Bonus to LilKsby’s Top Ten? As a parent, I’ve enjoyed the support of the Sonlight app. I can ask questions any time, and I get answers from other parents as well as Sonlight advisors!

So as you can see, thanks to Sonlight, I’m relaxed and excited to continue our homeschool year. In fact, as I lay in bed typing this and listening to the ice storm, I’m giddy about tomorrow even if we have to do our readlouds by candlelight!

Since first writing this blog, I have become a Sonlight affiliate. To learn more about all of the great things that Sonlight has to offer click here. This is an affiliate link, and I may be compensated for any purchases made.

XOXO,

The Great Kaysby

Heart School

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

When we began homeschooling, I knew that I wanted to teach our child a variety of topics: reading, math, music, art, writing, drama, poetry, history, science, Catholic life, etc. What I didn’t know at the time is how much I would love teaching LilKsby lessons of the heart. Throughout our Kindergarten year, we have had the opportunity to dig into different emotions and life lessons using literature (side note…I love our Literature Based Curriculum with Sonlight), field trips, and friendships. It’s like instead of homeschool, we have heart school.

What do I mean? Instead of just learning the academics (which he is), he is learning things like how to help the hungry, ways to give to those who may not have necessities, and how to interact with ALL (capitalized for emphasis) people. He’s learning how to make people feel important; he’s learning to show love to everyone (always doing it is a different work in progress). He also understands why things like putting someone in a hole because of their beliefs is wrong, and he likes to have conversations about why people would do this or other bad things. Sometimes when we are having these heart school moments, I forget that I’m talking to someone in Kindergarten! It’s also these moments that remind of why exactly we are on our heart school journey!

I know that everyone begins a homeschool journey for different reasons. Some of them are positive, some of them are negative, and some are in between. However, no matter the journey, most have one thing in common: parents wanting what is best for their children. This is a very personalized answer that also has to come from the heart. For us, we wanted to raise a child by our priorities and what we feel to be the most important aspects of personal growth. If you know us, then you know that means a lot of heart lessons (and caffiene)!

If you have ever considered homeschooling, or you have questions about it, I encourage you to reachout to someone in your community who is doing it. Questions about curriculum? I highly recommend checking out Sonlight by clicking here (this is an affiliate link, and I may receive compensation for purchases made using it) and trying their literacy based curriculum. I wouldn’t recommend it if we didn’t love it! I hope that you are able to have the heart school your family needs!

XOXO,
The Great Kaysby

What Do You Do?

Whenever I am at a networking event, the question that is always asked is simple: “What do you do?” My first thought when I hear the question is usually some lyrics from the 2001 song by City High called “What Would You Do?” If you grew up in the 90s/00s you know the lyrics – “Boys and girls, wanna hear a true story? Saturday night was at this real wild party” – and iconic voice of Ryan Toby! After that quick thought, I usually give my quick answer, but then as my day continues, I tend to get really contemplative about the question: “What do you do?”

Sometimes I giggle and think the answer to “What do you do?” is clean a lot of poop and vomit. This answer is not glamourous and is not at all reflective of my entire day, but it’s what I tend to think after cleaning up after the Princess Cat with IBS and the Goofy Cat that gets way too many hairballs for being a short hair. Once I even laughed while doing this because I got to witness an ant literally eat shit and die. The reality is that cleaning up after animals is a very small portion of the day, but it does provide the grossest response and most comical considering there was a caricature made of me as a teenager scooping the litter box.

So what do I really do?

I suppose the best answer is a little bit of everything through a variety of channels!

  1. Be the Queen of Our Castle – includes homeschooling, household activities, travel planning, and more! See my previous post: https://thegreatkaysby.com/2024/05/30/help-wanted-stay-at-home-parent/
  2. Bring people joy and hope by offering skincare and glamour consultations and instruction (joy) and fundraising for community events (hope) through my MK business.
  3. Publish! Being a published writer was one of my DREAMS for as long as I can remember. I started writing short stories in elementary school, and it has always been a sometime hobby of mine. Never in a million years would I have believed that the dream of seeing my work in print could become a reality. Then along came a super supportive husband – Mr Kisby – and the self publishing tool called Amazon KDP. Since August 2023, we’ve published 42 titles (some are lined notebooks). Even if we never make a dime, the creative process has been super fun and rewarding!!! thegreatkaysby.com/letters-lore
  4. Teach/tutor others! Just because I left teaching doesn’t mean the desire to teach left me. I use my love of teaching to first and foremost homeschool LilKsby, but I also use it to tutor others online. I absolutely love helping people prep for the ACT, become better writers, and assist with College Application Essays! To me teaching skin care and glamour is even a form of using my joy of teaching. I will always find fulfillment in teaching others!
  5. Volunteer and help those who need a voice to have one! I used to do this a lot more, but I realized that my over extending myself to help others was taking a toll on my home life. It can be very easy to neglect those you love – including yourself – when you put all of your energy into helping others. However, I have found that what you fill your cup first, you can give a lot more! You might even find creative ways to do so! One of my favorite organizations? Camp TESSA!
  6. Listen to music from the 90s and 00s! There is no mood lifter for me greater than jamming out to boy bands and bubble gum pop. Currently listening to BSB and *NSYNC on loop! There is also something about listening to music live that is good for the soul. I cannot pinpoint exactly what it is, but when you can feel the rhythm coursing through your veins, it is life changing!
  7. Re-watch shows/movies I’ve seen a million times! This one is because it is a comfort. Hearing familiar jokes, crying familiar tears over endings even when you know they’re coming, seeing your favorite faces who feel like your friends is comforting. Obviously, I know that Niles Crane isn’t real, but there’s something about the comedic portrayal by David Hyde Pierce that always makes me think that I know this guy, and I’m laughing with him and not at him!
  8. Read! I believe that being an avid reader is a gift. Reading books opens up the doors to so many great things! You can immerse yourself in fantasy worlds, experience emotions that you never would have encountered, learn new skills, and make travel plans all from reading books. Libraries are one of the greatest assets that we have in the world!
  9. Artsy Stuff! Typically I hate to use the word stuff; however, I don’t really know a better word to sum up all of the artsy things that I do. Sew? Check. Scrapbook? Check. Paint? Check. Draw/doodle? Check. Find creative ways to repurpose things? Check. I like to think of myself as Glue Gun Guru!
  10. Be outside! Now, I don’t do this one as much as I should because I sweat and am chunky. However, there is something invigorating about hiking, gardening, kayaking, swimming, etc. It gets me in a great mental space! Even just walking outside for a few minutes at night to look at the starts is game changing.
  11. Planning! I love to plan things! This is why at different times in my life I’ve thought that it would be cool to be an Event Planner or Travel Agent. (Especially this one if it means discounted travel. Remember this started as a food and travel blog!)

The reality is that I do a lot of different things even though sometimes I’m sure it appears that I just post on social media all day (usually it’s a clue that someone is sick, I’m on a long car ride and not driving, or doing an idle activity like watching TV because try as I might, I cannot only do one thing at a time typically).

I want to know, what do you do?

XOXO,

The Great Kaysby