Faith Schooling vs Sonlight for K–5 reading and math

Which one fits: the short answer

Sonlight sells an All-Subjects Package: a box of real books — history, Bible, geography, read-alouds, readers, language arts, handwriting or spelling, science and math — scheduled day by day in a 36-week Instructor's Guide, Kindergarten through Grade 12, with Preschool and Pre-K programs below that. Faith Schooling stops at Grade 5 and publishes far less: reading, language arts and phonics; cursive; a K–5 math student-text sequence; and a free set of Apostolic Bible resources. You print the pages and teach every lesson.

The difference is method and scope, not quality. Sonlight teaches through stories and conversation, across every subject and every year of school. Faith Schooling teaches reading explicitly, advances on demonstrated mastery, and publishes no history or science at all. If you want one publisher from preschool to graduation, Sonlight is built for that and Faith Schooling is not.

Where each program came from, and how a day runs

Sonlight tells its own beginning this way: in 1989, stateside missionaries John and Sarita Holzmann wanted a Christian education for their children, no complete ready-to-use program existed, and Sarita began gathering and scheduling the best books she could find. Thirty-five years on, the Instructor's Guide is still the center of it — thirty-six weeks of daily plans, notes and discussion questions, four-day or five-day, around a History / Bible / Literature spine. Sonlight writes some of what it sells and schedules the rest: Math-U-See in every K–5 package, Handwriting Without Tears in the early grades, Spelling You See from Grade 4.

It prints daily time expectations on the package pages, which is more candour than most publishers offer. Kindergarten reads "Child: 1.5 - 2 hrs; Parent: 1 - 1.5 hrs"; second and third grade give the child two to three hours; fifth grade three and a half to five, with two to three parent hours. That is a full-subject day, and the parent is in it. Faith Schooling asks less of the clock because it covers less: a scripted reading block totals 45 to 55 minutes, of which roughly 10 to 15 is the child's own written work, and cursive adds another 10 to 15. With no read-alouds, no history and no science, families pair it with something else — often Sonlight.

Side by side

Every Sonlight fact below was read on Sonlight's own website on 4 September 2026. Levels, options and prices move, so build your own cart on sonlight.com before deciding anything — no comparison table, ours included, is a substitute for that.

How reading is taught, which is the real difference

Sonlight's phonics lives inside its early language arts. Its phonics page says it "offers complete phonics programs, combining language arts and age-appropriate readers for K through 4th Grade," already in the packages, and it sells Explode the Code, I Can Read It! and MCP Phonics as add-ons. Underneath is what Sonlight calls natural learning: copying and dictation, learning to write by imitating writing worth imitating. Sonlight is unusually straight about the trade-off — its philosophy page says the method "is not as obviously logical as standard workbook methods" and "is, in some ways, slower than the traditional workbook method," then makes the case for it: when children finally get a principle they have struggled with, "they will never forget it." For a great many children that is exactly right.

Faith Schooling makes the opposite bet: one phonics skill a week taught directly, with drill, decodable text written to that skill, a daily exit ticket and a weekly check. Three hundred original decodable readers keep practice from running ahead of instruction, and the week-by-week scope and sequence is printed on every reading grade page before you join. Which is right depends on the child. One who absorbs print easily often flourishes on stories and discussion; one who guesses at words from the picture, or who has stalled, usually needs the explicit route.

What a year costs, and what the box actually contains

From Sonlight's product pages on 4 September 2026, at the prices listed there — which Sonlight describes as carrying its "biggest discount (save 20% off retail!)" for buying the package whole. Kindergarten: $1,065.39 four-day without required resources, $1,275.27 four-day with them, $1,334.18 five-day with them. Four-day with required resources by grade: Grade 1 $1,295.89, Grade 2 $1,284.31, Grade 3 $1,409.81, Grade 4 $1,419.69, Grade 5 $1,343.47. Required resources are the Timeline Book, the Markable Map and markers, the Math-U-See Integer Block Kit and, early on, handwriting manipulatives — bought once and used, Sonlight says, "throughout your Sonlight career." Shipping is free to the lower 48 over $250.

Do not set that against $39 a month as though the two were the same purchase. Sonlight ships a year of real books for every subject, science supplies and math blocks in the carton, and nothing is printed at your house. Faith Schooling delivers files: $39 a month, no annual plan, cancel whenever you like, one household and every K–5 child — but the printer runs at your address, and paper and toner are a real line in the budget. Siblings matter on both sides: Sonlight's Couch Subjects™ can be shared by children within about three years of one another while Table Subjects™ such as math and language arts are bought per child, so a second child close in age costs far less than a second box.

Where Scripture and worldview sit

Sonlight states that "from the start, an evangelical Christian missions worldview has defined and shaped Sonlight," and Bible reading and memorization are scheduled inside the History / Bible / Literature program. It is equally open about a point families weigh differently: although many of its books are written from a Christian perspective, "you'll also encounter differing viewpoints," and the guide's notes supply the talking points for engaging books "written by Christians and non-Christians ... from a strong, biblical perspective." Its Balanced Perspectives section says the goal is children who "understand first and judge second." Some families want precisely that in the elementary years and others would rather wait; Sonlight says it plainly on its own site, so you can decide before you buy rather than mid-year.

Faith Schooling handles it differently. Scripture rides inside the academic work: a week of reading pairs its phonics skill with a Bible hero, a virtue and a verse, quoted from the New King James Version and never paraphrased. Doctrinal teaching is kept in its own place, the Apostolic Academy, which is Apostolic in conviction, says so, and is free in full.

When Sonlight is the better choice

There are families for whom Sonlight is plainly the right answer and Faith Schooling is not. These are the honest cases, and none of them is small.

• You want one publisher for every subject and every year. Sonlight runs Kindergarten to Grade 12 and includes history and science; Faith Schooling publishes neither and stops after Grade 5.
• You need preschool or Pre-K materials now. Sonlight offers both, with their own guides; Faith Schooling begins at Kindergarten.
• You do not want to print. A Sonlight package arrives as books, science supplies and math blocks included; Faith Schooling hands you files and a printer bill.
• You have several children within about three years of one another and want them learning together. Sonlight's shared Couch Subjects™ are built for that, and the saving is real.
• Your child already reads fluently and loves being read to. Explicit phonics drill would solve a problem you do not have; a year of excellent books would serve that child better.
• You would rather spend your teaching hours reading aloud and talking than running drill. That is the daily texture of Sonlight, and a legitimate way to educate a child well.
• You want a refund path after really using the materials. Sonlight gives you a full year to work through the first eighteen weeks of a complete package and still return it. Faith Schooling has nothing comparable: thirty days to report a problem, and no change-of-mind refund.
• You want your children reading widely, including authors outside the Christian tradition, with the guide's discussion notes beside you. That is a deliberate design decision at Sonlight, not an oversight.
• You want a person to talk to before committing. Sonlight offers a free fifteen- or thirty-minute consultation and an advisor team at no cost.

Why families choose Faith Schooling

The case for the other side is narrower: direct reading instruction, evidence of mastery before a child moves on, and one price for the whole house.

• One subscription, not one per child. Three children in Kindergarten, Grade 2 and Grade 5 cost what one child costs.
• Reading is taught in a straight line: six full-year student textbooks, the same sequence repackaged as 210 weekly lesson sets, and 300 original decodable readers.
• Building Number Sense is a K–5 student-text sequence across all six grades, with a coordinated workbook and teaching guide in Kindergarten through Grade 2.
• Advancement waits on evidence rather than the calendar, so a child who needs three more weeks on short vowels gets them.
• The free tier is large and is not a trial: HARVEST placement, the learning games, worksheet samples, and the whole Apostolic Academy, The Hidden Word included.
• An independent publisher run by one family in Denmark, Wisconsin. No school, no enrollment, no accreditation — you keep your own records and grades.

How to decide this week

Four steps, in order, none of which costs anything.

1. Download the first three weeks of a Sonlight Instructor's Guide and read a complete Faith Schooling teaching guide. Reading them side by side settles most families.
2. Sit your child down with HARVEST and keep the printed report. The reading section is about twenty minutes and it names the grade and quarter to open.
3. Write down the daily hours honestly. Sonlight publishes its own estimates by grade; Faith Schooling scripts a 45-to-55-minute reading block. Choose the one you will still be doing in February.
4. Decide whether you need history and science from the same publisher. If you do, that settles it, and Sonlight is the one built for it.

HARVEST reading placement The K–5 curriculum map