Sonlight Music

Sonlight's Music page groups the music products it sells under four headings: memory aids, music appreciation resources, instrument lessons, and additional resources. This review covers those items rather than a single Sonlight-named music program, and it does not cover Sonlight's History / Bible / Literature programs or the Sonlight publisher as a whole.

Last updated: 2026-10-08 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Varies by item. The Music page lists songs for memorizing Scripture and geography, listening-based music appreciation, and piano and recorder instruction
Worldview	Sonlight describes itself as Christian (see the publisher review). The Sing the Word albums set Bible passages to music; the Music page describes its other items by their musical content
Grades	Item by item. Sing the Word is for Sonlight K through G, the Classical Music Start-Up Kit is for junior high school students and above, SQUILT is described as suitable for all ages, and Bastien Piano Basics lists ages 7 to 11
Formats	Includes CD and digital download (Sing the Word), printable PDF guides (Songs About America, Musical Era Bundle), albums with booklets (Classical Music Start-Up), a game-based piano program (Piano Prodigy), and books (Nine Note Recorder Method)
Cost tier	Budget (Every Homeschool classification) for individual items; prices are in the cost section below, as Sonlight displayed them in October 2026
Parent intensity	2 (Every Homeschool rating, 1 to 5)
ESA-common	Sonlight's ESA page says it is an approved curriculum vendor for select state ESA programs; the page does not list individual products
Accredited	Sonlight says accreditation does not apply to its curriculum because it is not a school or educational institution
Established	No start date for these items on the publisher's pages; the company's dates are in our Sonlight publisher review
Website	sonlight.com/pages/music

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	3	Our assessment. The Music page lists memory songs, appreciation resources, and instrument lessons, and says Piano Prodigy teaches piano, sheet music, theory, and history
Ease of teaching	4	Our assessment. Sonlight says students use Bastien Piano Basics to teach themselves with virtually no parental knowledge or skill required, and says the Classical Music booklets describe what is happening as you listen
Content quality	4	Our assessment. Sonlight says Meet the Composers covers 30 composers from 1600 to the present and that the Classical Music Start-Up Kit has 43 musical clips with two 40-page booklets
Flexibility	3	Our assessment. Items are sold individually, Electives packages are matched to a History / Bible / Literature level, and the Sing the Word albums come with History / Bible / Literature and All-Subjects Package purchases for K through G
Value for money	4	Our assessment. Items on the page are priced from $8.99 for a Bastien Piano Basics theory book to $70.00 for the Musical Era Bundle; see the cost section
Worldview scope	3	Our assessment. Sing the Word sets Bible passages to music, and the Music page describes its other items by their musical content
Visual/design	3	Our assessment. Sonlight describes printable flashcards, 40-page booklets, and a spiral-bound recorder book with a built-in easel stand and a fold-out fingering chart
Support resources	4	Our assessment. Sonlight's Bastien Piano Basics page directs families with questions to a Sonlight Advisor, and it lists an Advisors page and the Sonlight Connections community

Who the publisher is

These items are sold by Sonlight, whose contact page lists the company name as Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd. The company's dates, ownership, and stated faith as its pages describe them are in the publisher review.

The Music page is titled Homeschool Music Curriculum. Under music memory aids it lists Geography Songs, Sing the Word, Bible Singalong, and Songs About America. Under music appreciation it lists Classical Music and SQUILT, which links to the Musical Era Bundle. Under learning to play an instrument it lists Piano Prodigy, the Nine Note Recorder Method, and Bastien Piano Basics. Additional resources include a soprano recorder, color piano key stickers, and Piano Prodigy Holidays.

The core pedagogy

Sonlight's pages describe each item differently. The Geography Songs set has 34 songs on the continents, oceans, planets, 225 countries, and the states and provinces of Canada and the United States, and the kit page says it is included in Sonlight B+C and C. The Sing the Word page says each album carries the Bible memory verses of one History / Bible / Literature program. The Songs About America set has 21 songs spanning over 200 years, with a printable PDF guide.

For appreciation, the Classical Music Start-Up Kit is two volumes with 43 clips in 154 minutes and a 40-page booklet with each volume; the page says each volume takes two to three hours of listening and reading, and the product options label Volume I A.D. 1500-1825 and Volume II A.D. 1825-1945. The Musical Era Bundle is a PDF download using the SQUILT listening technique, with four musical eras of ten lessons each. Meet the Composers is a set of printable flashcards on 30 composers with links to 60 videos.

For instruments, the Piano Prodigy page describes a game connected to a keyboard, with 50 songs, 50 video lessons, and 50 book lessons on theory and history, and says a MIDI keyboard that connects to a computer is required. The Nine Note Recorder Method page describes 125 songs and over 80 duets for soprano and tenor recorders. The Bastien Piano Basics page describes a graded series of piano and theory books that students use to teach themselves.

Sonlight also sells music inside its Electives packages, which it says match the History / Bible / Literature level a student is using. Electives D includes A Child's Introduction to the Orchestra, Electives E includes a recorder and the Nine Note Recorder Method, and Electives G and Electives W include Classical Music Start-Up volumes.

Signature mechanics: (1) Scripture-memory albums. The Sing the Word albums are included with History / Bible / Literature and All-Subjects Package purchases for K through G, per the Sing the Word page. (2) SQUILT listening. The Musical Era Bundle page describes reading some background information, listening once, then listening again while filling in a notebooking sheet. (3) Instrument books and games. Bastien Piano Basics is described as a series students use to teach themselves, and Piano Prodigy as a game with integrated video and book lessons. (4) Level-matched Electives packages. The Electives page says each package aligns with a History / Bible / Literature level.

A day in the life

Sonlight's product pages do not describe a daily music schedule, so this section reports the steps they do describe. For a Musical Era Bundle lesson, the product page says families read some background information, listen to the piece once through, super quiet, and then listen again and fill in a notebooking sheet on four things: dynamics, rhythm and tempo, instrumentation, and mood. It says children who are not yet good writers can use a printable to draw what they hear, and that each era includes ten lessons.

For the Classical Music Start-Up Kit, the product page says each volume requires two to three hours of listening and reading, guided by the booklet. For the Sing the Word albums, the Sing the Word page says each CD features the memory verses of a particular History / Bible / Literature program.

What they do exceptionally well

Items matched to different needs. Sonlight's Music page covers memorization songs, listening resources, and instrument lessons in one place. In our assessment, a family can choose one item without buying a whole program.

Specific descriptions of what each item contains. Product pages give song counts, clip counts, booklet lengths, lesson counts, and system requirements. In our assessment, this lets a family judge fit before buying.

Music inside the Electives packages. Several Electives packages bundle music items with other electives for a given level, per the Electives page. In our assessment, this is convenient for families already buying a Sonlight level.

What they do poorly

No single music program. The items are separate products for different ages, and the Music page does not lay out one sequence across them. In our assessment, a family wanting a year-by-year music plan will have to assemble one from the items.

Technology and equipment requirements. The Piano Prodigy page says a MIDI keyboard that connects to a computer is required and lists system requirements. In our assessment, families should read those before buying.

No stated credit course. Sonlight's pages do not describe any of these items as a high school music credit course. In our assessment, families who need a transcript entry for music should look elsewhere or document the work themselves.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick Sonlight's music items if: you are already buying from Sonlight and want music memory aids or listening resources added; you want to choose individual items such as an appreciation set or a piano or recorder book; you want Scripture-memory songs matched to a Sonlight History / Bible / Literature program.

• Skip Sonlight's music items if: you want one planned music sequence from one publisher; you do not want Bible passages set to music; you need a program described as high school music credit.

Cost honest assessment

As displayed on Sonlight's product pages and retrieved October 2026, individual items were priced at $9.99 for a Sing the Word album, $12.95 for the Geography Songs CD and $22.95 for the kit, $17.00 for Songs About America, $49.98 for the Classical Music Start-Up Kit (or $24.99 for each volume), $70.00 for the Musical Era Bundle, $20.00 for Meet the Composers, $49.98 for Piano Prodigy, $14.95 for the Nine Note Recorder Method, and $9.99 for each Bastien Piano Basics piano method book.

Four of the Electives packages that include music were $64.98 for Electives D, which also includes a thinking-skills book, $50.95 for Electives E, which also includes a drawing book, $144.99 for Electives G, which also includes an online computer course, and $74.97 for Electives W, which also includes an art book. Sonlight's FAQ says prices can change without notice, so confirm the figure on the product page before ordering.

ESA eligibility notes

Sonlight's ESA page says Sonlight is an approved curriculum vendor for select state ESA programs and lists Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The page does not say which products each state marketplace carries, so families should ask their program administrator whether a specific music item is an eligible purchase.

Alternatives

• Hoffman Academy, a family comparing music programs can read the publisher's own description on its Every Homeschool page.
• Music for Little Mozarts, a family comparing music programs can read the publisher's own description on its Every Homeschool page.
• Simply Music, a family comparing music programs can read the publisher's own description on its Every Homeschool page.