Combining Build Your Library Level 1 & Torchlight Level 1 II Literature based Homeschool Curriculum 

We are combining TLK and BYL0 with our 5 year old, but using Torchlight as our base since their books list is more modern and diverse. We absolutely love all the literature! We are taking our time with the this level since I want my son to be a bit older once we start level 1 in both programs. I am excited to see how year 1 works for your family :) I am also excited to see your prehistory review. We plan on tackling that between levels K and 1, but adding in Blossom and Root's prehistory unit to BYL.

Oh I Just bought both BYL and TL level 0 for my kid too! So I am excited to see that I am not the only one on board in this double dare :) Thank you; always appreciate your insight

I’m currently combining BYL0 and TLK for my 5-year-old, and planning to take 1.5yrs to complete the curriculum. I’m so happy that you are a year ahead of us so I can follow along and learn about what is coming up next :)

We used both of those curricula this past year! We're still wrapping up, taking our time, but definitely enjoying it! So many good books!

Thank you so much for this! We are a Christian family that uses secular curriculum too! I love Build your Library, but I’ll definitely check out Torchlight!

Great video! I had never heard of either of these curricula and I’ve been homeschooling for 7 years!

I know you already have your reading curriculums but I use writing with ease for my 4th grader and it’s really helped him with reading comprehension and narration. Basically you read an excerpt of a story and the book has the questions that the teacher should be asking. It also has prompts for the student if he’s stuck on how to summarize the story. It’s helped my son soooo much to form his ideas and answers.

I found your channel because I was looking for BYL 0 reviews. I was so excitedly shocked that you’re a Christian mama who wants a secular curriculum. I felt like I was the only one. Haha. I prefer to weave my beliefs into the curriculum much like I see God pop up in so much of life. I went to the aquarium with my 5yo who decided she wanted me to read the information blurbs for each animal and she was so curious about the lion fish which is an invasive species. I got to explain ecosystems and how God designed ecosystems in a special way for proper balance, but when a species gets introduced where it doesn’t belong things can get out of balance. I love those moments of showing God in everyday things. I’m told I have a knack for it and that’s something that I want my children to see and catch from me. I’m also hoping to have them in public school by middle school so I want them to have that skill of seeing God even when He’s not really being taught in the curriculum. I also value having my kids learn what the world is learning and getting to talk through why some people believe and thing and I don’t. I hope my children will believe in Christ but if they do I want it to be their choice and not just the default, that’s very important to us. All this to say thank you. I’m so glad I’m not alone and I look forward to seeing you discuss it in a future video (please do!).

Man oh man!! So much in this video. Thank you so much for explaining your view on secular curriculum. You make such great points. And I’m pretty sure you have convinced me to look into Story of The World. As always, thanks for sharing!!

I have pretty much decided to do this as well. I use two math curriculums (MUS - spine and BJU - review) for my older children and tutoring child. I have three foster children that will be adopted in the next few months and plan to use MUS, BJU, and Rightstart Math next spring with the little ones (ages 3 and 4 next spring). I have been homeschooling for 21 years with 3 grown children who homeschool their children. I love, love, love homeschooling. TL and BYL seem to really line up with who I am and my teaching style.

Can't wait to see your BYL Prehistory unit review! We are planning for this unit next :)

YAY! I'm combing BYL and Blossom and Root Prehistory this summer, then combining TL and BYL 1 next year, so I'm taking notes on all of your videos lately!

I love Sonlight and use that as our main curriculum. I add in books from other curriculum that goes with what we are learning about. The library has a lot of Torchlight and Build Your Library books.

Thank you for sharing all of your insights. We are also a Christian homeschool family and I would be very much interested in learning how you integrate Christianity and a biblical worldview into the secular resources you use. I tend to gravitate toward distinctly Christian resources most of the time, but learning your process in how you go about integrating faith into them would be super helpful and allow me to broaden my resources and curriculum options as well. Thank you

This is something missing from our homeschool! Thanks for the info, definitely checking these out ☺️

Not exactly related, but we are using history quest (with the teacher guide). If you want to add even more to your history, there are some cool activities like making a mummified apple face, and cardboard ziggurat etc as well as extra reading for different times. But that said, there is only so much be can do!

I’m currently using TLK and supplementing some of the books from BYL in. I find TL on its own, to be a bit overwhelming so we’ve started taking one week and spreading it to two. But I love the idea of making BYL the primary focus and picking and choosing which parts of TL you use (because there are SO many books!).

Last year I combined BYL k and TL k. I am looking forward to doing the same for next year 1st grade. Which groups are you connected to?

I use both and I also add in Lightning Literature for our ELA I was thinking of just incorporating whatever BYL or Torchlight uses and get lesson plan ideas from BookPagez so she is still learning grammar and composition. But I haven't decided yet! I bought the next year of Lightning Literature so I may just stick with it one more year.

We have history quest, and was trying to use it this year. I think it is a very solid curriculum. But, it was a little too much for my 6 year old son. Part of the problem was I was still in my rigid phase and trying to use it exactly as the schedule recommended. I held onto it because the book with the stories is so good that we will definitely be using it somewhere down the road, but I won’t be using the schedule in the student workbook, or maybe not use the workbook at all and just fill in with other fun activities. So long story short, the stories from history quest are great and very thorough.

I would love to see a video using secular material as a Christian homeschooler! Thank you for considering doing a video on that.

I’m combining BYL with Blossom & Root! 💕

Very interested in how you homeschool with secular curriculums with being religious, curious if you omit anything from BYL. We do the same, you are my curriculum twin! 🤣 we use AAR, Singapore and BYL. Just completed BYL 0 and taking a break for a year just till my daughter is a bit older. I also went ahead and purchased the older version of BYL 1 and 2 because I think we will prefer SOTW. I love BYL so much, but I was tempted to find something religious this year. I can’t find anything that I like as much though. I’ve heard great things about Torchlight, but I haven’t really investigated. I can’t imagine combining! BYL with everything else is all I can seem to manage. 🤪

I am also a Christian that uses secular curricula. And I love these two! I wanted to use the Literature from BYL with the History from Torchlight but I decided it would be too confusing so I am just going to try to stick with Torchlight because I prefer Curiosity Chronicles for their broader diversity and great chronology but Torchlight is going to be super expensive and overwhelming. I will have to see how I can make it simpler. With our intense Science, Bible, Spanish LA and Math I can only do so much 😅

Do you still use byl at all? I’m interested in combining byl, saxon math, timberdoodle (critical thinking and stem), and Sonlight science. Did you swap to Sonlight science bc byl experiments weren’t enough? I love all the engineering in Sonlight’s 5 day. I’ve also debated buying all the engineering books recommended separately to combine with byl to cut costs. I come from a family of contractors so I would love to guide my child into engineering. It’s hard to find much info up front on the experiments in byl. I do remember you saying some of the byl books weren’t sensitive enough for your kids.

I would love to hear how this has gone for you, have you spoken of it in one of your videos? If so, can you please point me to the right one? If not, I would love it if you made a video about your experience with combing both curricula as I am considering doing this next fall.

Hi!! Do you still own BYL level 1 when it included SOTW instead of quest? Im not able to find it on their website and we would love a little walk through or tu buy it❤

Thank you for this video. I love book rich education, so this sounds perfect! Can I ask before I pay for the curriculum? Is there a tonne of books I’d need straight away? Since you have been planning this for a year, I’m concerned I cant just throw it together and start soon, x

So I saw that you decided on So light for next school year... did you start this and it ended up just being too hard to manage and schedule. Or did you just change your mind about this and not do it at all?

We get rid of dust jackets, too. My kids hate them.

Comparing trying BYL level 0 and TL level K right now. I'm interested to see who you enjoy both and utilize them in different ways.

I'm currently using torchlight 2 for my 9yo and was thinking of going back to level 1. Do you think that's doable with an older child? I hear alot- just add more to it but is there suggestions as to how? Being new to this, I worry we don't do enough. My 13yo is most likely doing BYL7 and I've got a kindergartener who will probably do torchlight k. I'm kind of overwhelmed but so want to make this work ❤

Your hair looks great like that!

Would love to see a video on using secular resources as a Christian homeschooler 🙏💗

Do you ever feel your kids don’t grasp everything or enough with the chapter books? I worry that some maybe too advanced but then I don’t want my fear to hold us back

I’d love to see a video on being a Christian family, but using secular curriculum. I have a first grader and I’ve been picking a choosing pieces from different curriculums as well.

The new BYL lvl 1 is out now! A lot of the supplements are the same, but Art did change.

My DVD/Blu-ray player will play cds. Just an idea of how to play them.

I have a girl who turns 5 in July. Torchlight - I actually have looked into their curriculum - I ended up saving their booklist and just going down the list to borrow from the library as read alouds. History - I’ve been going back and forth on whether I want to use Story of the World with Magic Treehouse next year. But after your video and looking at the Build Your Library website and booklist, I am very intrigued by History Quest! The storytelling format is very similar to Story of the World but their “history hop” chapters seem very interesting. I would love a comparison video between Story of the World vs History Quest and see which one reads more easily and more fun with young kids!! Another note - we might start with the prehistory unit first as inspired by your video also and maybe that will give me some time to see if you will share how History Quest goes 😅

The BYL year 1 looks so interesting. We are hoping to send our kindergartener to public school for first grade if COVID gets better by then. But I still might buy the curriculum to do read alouds as as a family in the evenings and to do nature on the weekends. She loves discovering nature so much and I don’t think it will feel like school to her to add in the activities for family time.

Hi Angie! I was thinking of making a video about being a Christian who uses solely secular homeschool curriculum... Feel free to dm me on IG to discuss collabing :)