homeschooling – The Oaxacaborn Blog

Learn Eastern Hemisphere history with Sonlight's History / Bible / Literature F homeschool curriculum for middle school grades

Disclosure: Sonlight provided me with History/Bible/Literature F: Eastern Hemisphere (4-day version) and compensated me financially for this post. I have used many Sonlight products in our homeschool prior to reviewing this product. All opinions — and photographs! ;) — are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review.

The case for exploring non-Western cultures in your homeschool

Finally, Level F! I’ve been waiting to study Eastern Hemisphere countries with Sonlight ever since we opened our first big blue binder years ago. And at last, Aveline is the right age. I’m so excited!

Sonlight’s History / Bible / Literature F: Eastern Hemisphere (HBL F) — designed for students ages 11-14 or grades 6-9 — is a year-long history and literature curriculum focused on non-Western countries. I don’t know of any other program quite like this! (Take a look.)

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Curriculum Reviews, Homeschooling

Creating an American History Lapbook with Sonlight

June 11, 2023June 11, 2023 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Disclosure: Sonlight provided me with a lapbook kit and compensated me financially for this post. I have used many Sonlight products in our homeschool prior to reviewing this product. All opinions — and photographs! ;) — are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review.

I tend to struggle with keeping engaged when it comes to American history. I’m so much more of a globetrotter in my preferred reading material! But Sonlight’s American history literature selections are impressive. (I rave about them here.)

In addition to reading through Sonlight’s extensive US history booklists this year, my twelve-year-old has also spent hours pouring over Sonlight’s incredible US history lapbooking kits.

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Book Reviews, Homeschooling

Stealing Home Book Review: Japanese Internment in Canada

March 25, 2023 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Non-fiction history graphic novel for learning the history of Japanese internment during World War II in Canada

Tough topics aren’t always fun to teach. It’s not fun to talk about the Holocaust, or Japanese internment, or concentration camps, or Holodomor.

But we must know history.

We must know the truth about what happened, or we risk repeating history’s horrors. We must not shy away from difficult periods of the past. We must learn from them, and then remain vocal and vigilant so such tragedies will not be repeated on our watch.

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Book Reviews, Homeschooling

What Happened After “The Endless Steppe”?

March 24, 2023 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Creative writing enrichment lesson idea for The Endless Steppe

Have you ever wondered what happened to the main characters after the last page of a book? My sixth-grader did.

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After reading The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia with her liberal arts class at St Raphael School, Aveline continued to think and talk about not just The Endless Steppe, but about history and injustice in general.

This book, actually, impelled Aveline to read a whole stack of books about the Holocaust, and listen to radio theater productions of both Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom and The Hiding Place. One good book — in this case, The Endless Steppe — can open up Big Conversations about difficult topics, and plant a seed for courage against injustice.

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Curriculum Reviews, Homeschooling

Create Pixel Art with Pix Brix: Great Wave Off Kanagawa Review

March 22, 2023March 22, 2023 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Aveline has spent the last several weeks creating a pixel art reproduction of Katsushika Hokusai’s famous woodblock print The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. (Do you think Hokusai realized we’d still be obsessed with his views of Mount Fuji all these centuries later?) With 13 different shades of blues, greys, and browns, she’s brought Hokusai’s masterpiece to life — I love it so much.

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Curriculum Reviews, Homeschooling

Using Sonlight Hands-On History as Homeschool Enrichment

March 20, 2023April 28, 2023 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

A cheerful student sits at a table, unboxing Sonlight Curriculum's Hands-on History project box.

Disclosure: Sonlight provided me with a Hands-on History box, and compensated me financially for this post. I have used many Sonlight products in our homeschool prior to reviewing this product. All opinions — and photographs! ;) — are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review.]

Sonlight is synonymous with literature-based learning. Think Sonlight, and you immediately think excellent books. (The phrase “no more boring textbooks” leads Sonlight’s educational philosophy.) But over the past several years, Sonlight has added more and more hands-on homeschool options to complement the treasure trove of literature.

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Homeschooling

What I Did After Singapore Math (& Other Math Fails)

March 19, 2023June 8, 2023 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Help! What math comes after Singapore Math? Your Guide to Homeschool Algebra and Other High School Math

Homeschool algebra options for high school and middle school

When I was a homeschool kid, there were really only handful of ways to handle algebra: Saxon, Abeka, the Christian university publisher which shall not be named, or the local community college. If you got stuck, you consulted Key to Math workbooks. Now, there are so many options for teaching homeschool algebra, it’s hard to narrow them all down! Yet if there’s one question I get asked more often than any other, it’s this —

Help! What comes after Singapore Math?

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? Let’s tackle it.

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Curriculum Reviews, Homeschooling

A-Z Magnatab: A Hands-on Activity for Teaching Preschoolers Letters

March 13, 2023March 25, 2023 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

It’s been so fascinating watching as Lochlan (age 3.5) begins to be enamored with the alphabet. Aveline was obsessed with letters from an early age, but since I knew her journey wasn’t typical, I didn’t expect Lochlan to be the same. I assumed he wouldn’t show much interest on his own, and imagined I’d teach him his letters at five or six, especially since — as everyone keeps reminding me — “He’s a boy!“

But I also believe in honoring the marvelously individual child God created, truly seeing their unique individuality, and following their cues.

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