HBL J is designed for students ages 13-15.
Through Sonlight's all new History / Bible / Literature and Language Arts J: History of Science, you'll follow the path of scientific inquiry over the last 4,000 years. This fantastic new program shows you physicists, astronomers, and chemists throughout history as they explore the nature of the world in which we live...and of the universe itself. And it tells the story in Sonlight's signature style: through top-notch, award-winning literature.
When Sarita read through the books, she kept saying, “I am getting so much smarter!” That’s the same feeling you and your children will have, too, as you work through the program:
- When you follow Pythagoras as he proves his famous theorem without using mathematical digits, only clear thinking and a stick in sand.
- Or when you read how the ancients accurately calculated the size of the world using the angle of sunlight in a well on June 21.
- Or when you consider that Newton compared the trajectory of an apple, a small terrestrial object, with the moon, a heavenly body, and wondered if maybe they were both subjected to the same force.
- Or when you accompany Einstein as he does his thought experiments about rockets traveling at near light-speed.
Explore the curiosity, egos, quirks, and flashes of brilliance from 4,000 years of people seeking answers to how the world works. As your students read the stories of how scientists discovered scientific and mathematical laws, they acquire a deeper understanding of scientific concepts in physics, astronomy, and chemistry. And they will be intrigued by fun facts like Tycho Brahe’s metal nose!
The History in HBL J: History of Science
The foundation of the course, the spine, is the three volume set of lavishly illustrated books by Joy Hakim. She obviously loves her subject and does an outstanding job of explaining challenging concepts, finding the fascinating details about the scientists themselves, and keeping the big picture. (It’s a little bit like reading Humans of New York, those shimmering vignettes that compel you to want to keep reading.)
Hakim’s books focus primarily on the advance of scientific thought in physics, especially. This is not the story of biology or geology, but a bit of chemistry and astronomy, along with the study of light, motion, energy, and quantum mechanics. How does the world work?
Of course, that’s not all! In History, you’ll enjoy almost a dozen additional books.
In String, Straight-Edge, and Shadow, you’ll read about the earliest scientists, from unnamed Egyptians through Euclid and their ability to figure out basic math using only the three items in the title:
- the proof of Pythagoras on his basic theorem
- the discovery of the root five rectangle (the Golden Mean) by Eudoxus
- and how, a couple hundred years before Christ, Eratosthenes accurately calculated the size of the world using the angle of sunlight in a well on the summer solstice
These people didn’t have mathematical digit symbols! Can you imagine figuring out these complex proofs without using math, just logic? It’s unbelievable what they were able to reason out!
Moving forward in time a few millennia, in The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern Way, the author explains how a science club called the Royal Society changed the way we think of the world. It’s a marvelously entertaining look at the early scientists who went about their scientific enquiry with collaboration and curiosity.
Continuing with nonfiction titles, in The Mystery of the Periodic Table, you’ll read how people looked at the diverse world and put the elements into the clear chart we know today. So much brilliance, to make something as intricate and varied as the world into something as orderly as the Periodic Table!
The thrilling real-life spy story Bomb tells about the race to build—and steal—the world’s most dangerous weapon. It’s a marvelous retelling of the spy network and sabotage teams of the Los Alamos top secret lab and the incredible collaboration behind the first atomic bomb. The countdown to the Trinity explosion is one of the best examples of writing you’ll ever read; you’ll understand why this nonfiction book won the Newbery Medal.
And in Stuff Matters, the author describes ten everyday materials. Here are a few questions he asks and answers:
- What is so special about the experience of eating chocolate?
- How does opaque sand becomes transparent glass?
- How long does it take concrete to dry out (or even if it does)?
This book is an absolute delight!
Biographies in HBL J: History of Science
HBL J, of course, includes several biographies, too. Archimedes and the Door of Science tells about the Greek mathematician. Longitude, by Dava Sobel, tells the story of John Harrison, the man who invented clocks that told precise time at sea—vitally important so that sailors could more accurately plot their location. His development of the chronometer took forty years and a whole lot of tinkering. It’s a great story.
Almost all Sonlight programs include at least one missionary biography, and this one has a an inspiring one!
Ida Scudder, for example, grew up in India, the daughter of missionaries, but she didn’t want to be a missionary and she certainly didn’t want to live in India as an adult. But Ida went to India as a young adult in order to help her sick mother. One night—yes, all in one night—three men came to ask Ida if she would help their wives, all of whom were struggling in labor. Ida’s father was a doctor, but all three men refused the help of Ida’s father. It turned out that they would prefer to let their wives die than break religious taboos against a man seeing a woman in such condition. And, as it turned out, all three wives, and all three babies, did die.
The events of that evening changed Ida’s heart and the course of her life. Ida is nowhere near as well-known as Mother Teresa, but she probably ought to be! But you’ll have to read her biography to find out why.
Enjoy the best of STEM and liberal arts in this complete curriculum for ages 13 and up.
See History / Bible / Literature J
Christian Thought in HBL J: History of Science
Moving from missionary biographies to Christian thought in general, the Hakim books and The Clockwork Universe assume Darwinian evolution is true, with the underlying assumption that no thinking person still believes those silly myths about God. This perspective runs through these books, even though nothing in the books is specifically about evolution. (As previously noted: these books don’t deal with biology.)
And yet, the scientific findings are not so monolithic. Even if Hakim suggests that there is scientific certainty, that is not true—there are other scientific studies, other areas of inquiry, that suggest a different interpretation of the data.
Sonlight’s program includes two such books.
- Censored Science offers a smorgasbord of studies, all of which seem to put holes in the generally accepted model. Author Bruce Malone writes from a Young-Earth Creation point of view. Whatever your current belief about the origins of life, you should find this book interesting, filled with fascinating information and helpful explanations.
- And in Evolution 2.0, we find a different perspective from a different Christian author. Faced with his missionary brother's move toward atheism, author Perry Marshall had to figure out what he really believed about the origin of the earth. This is by far the most technical book in the program, but it is still understandable, filled with important information, thought-provoking and well researched.
The Bible in HBL J: History of Science
Bible J includes daily Bible readings and weekly memory verses scheduled in the Instructor's Guide (IG). Designed to prepare your students for faithfulness in high school and beyond, the program includes Disappointment with God, Finding Truth, and What’s So Amazing About Grace—award-winning books that are beautifully written and a joy to read.
If your students haven’t already experienced some setbacks in life, you know that they will at some point. Philip Yancey’s Disappointment with God takes on the big questions, "Is God unfair? Is God silent? Is God hidden?" He points out that the Israelites in the desert had a fair, vocal, visible God . . . and it didn't help them to live more righteously.
How do you deal with disappointment? Yancey says,
“One bold message in the book of Job is that you can say anything to God. Throw at Him your grief, your anger, your doubt, your bitterness, your betrayal, your disappointment—He can absorb them all. As often as not, spiritual giants of the Bible are shown contending with God. They prefer to go away limping, like Jacob, rather than to shut God out. In this respect, the Bible prefigures a tenant of modern psychology: you can't really deny your feelings or make them disappear, so you might as well express them. God can deal with every human response save one. He cannot abide the response I fall back on instinctively: an attempt to ignore Him or treat Him as though He does not exist. That response never once occurred to Job."
More is going on in the heavenlies than is visible, and we don't know what our faith is doing on a cosmic level, so be faithful. Disappointment with God is an outstanding, helpful book.
Nancy Pearcey’s Finding Truth offers an excellent worldview overview, so that students will be alert and prepared when they come across such views in the world.
And What’s So Amazing About Grace is a book-length treatment of one of the basics of Christianity, something we believers don’t talk about enough. The world can’t duplicate grace, and yet it craves the hope and transformation that grace brings. Explore the church’s great distinctive in action: shocking, scandalous, and amazing.
This is a preparation-for-life Bible program, beautifully written and a joy to read.
The Literature in HBL J: History of Science
The Readers and Read-Alouds for HBL J’s Literature are loosely gathered under the theme “Award-Winning Titles and Authors.”
As you can tell, the History portion of this program is not light reading—it is beautiful and comprehensible but also includes many new, thought-provoking topics and ideas. In order to balance this intensity, the Literature is compelling and interesting, and the Instructor’s Guide is full of excellent discussion questions and introductory literary analysis. These books are not, for the most part, stretching or challenging in the way that, say, Hamlet is stretching and challenging. These are thoughtful books that don’t require slow reading to ensure comprehension. There’s enough of that in the History.
You’ll find a lovely array of genres:
- memoir
- fantasy
- gothic horror (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
- adventure
- survivalist tale
- a Christmas seasonal novel
- sci fi
- dystopian
- mystery
- mythology
- coming-of-age
- historical fiction
- missionary biography
- poetry
You’ll read Newbery Honor and Newbery Medal books, and more titles by authors who have either won those awards or others (like Joan Aiken, author of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, who won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. This award is given annually, can only be won once per author, and is selected from a panel of British children’s writers. Quite the honor!)
The J Literature is such a good collection!
Add-on Language Arts for J
HBL J does not include—you are not required to purchase—a Language Arts program. However, it has an associated Language Arts Guide that is based on the books in the History/Bible/Literature J program. As in all the other Sonlight middle school LA IGs, you’ll find grammar and mechanics instruction and writing prompts. (There is no separate Parent and Student IG; that structure starts with the 100-level programs.)
Three Goals of Sonlight's History of Science Curriculum: HBL J
We had three goals in mind when creating this program:
- Teach scientific thought to the present.
- Present different perspectives. You don’t need to have all answers now, but know the questions, and engage with a curious mind.
- Prepare a student for further study, equipped with both humility and enthusiasm.
So what do you get in History / Bible / Literature J?
A walk through scientific thought. Various biographies. A spy story. Three different takes on the origin of the earth (standard Darwinian evolutionist, Young Earth Creationist, and a third alternative that uses non-Darwinian evolution to demonstrate God’s greatness). Clear, concise, elegant descriptions, and gorgeous illustrations make this lavish feast for the mind both attractive and understandable.
No other homeschool provider we know of offers a similar program—one that appeals to both STEM-minded students and liberal arts lovers.
When to Use History of Science HBL J
HBL J is intended for students from about age 13 on up. It fits into the Sonlight catalog between H or W and 100—the last program before high school, or an early high school option. In format, it is similar to the other middle school programs, but in content it could work for high school. So HBL J is considered an 8th grade program, but it's flexible enough to use with older students as well.
(Note that Sonlight does not ever plan to release an HBL I. That would be indistinguishable from Roman numeral 1, and sounds vaguely pretentious as well.)
If you have older children, or a well-thought-out plan already, and now you’re wondering how you can possibly fit this program in—here’s an idea: order J and one of the high school literature courses. Do the J Readers and Read-Alouds over the summer, and use the History along with the high school literature program of your choice.
Or order J as a summer program entirely. One of Sarita’s grandsons worked through J History last summer, and the plan is to go through the Literature books he hasn’t yet read over this coming summer.
And Sarita’s daughter can vouch that this is an excellent program for adults, too. If you want to know more about the fascinating history of science, you won’t find a more engaging program out there. It might take you a year or two to read through it yourself, snatching twenty minutes here and there. But it is intellectually satisfying, and, indeed, aesthetically pleasing.
History of Science HBL J is definitely something to think about, and look forward to!
Enjoy the best of STEM and liberal arts in this complete curriculum for ages 13 and up. See History / Bible / Literature J
Kaycie Kelly of Muldoon, TX joins Jonathan Edwards in praying, “Lord, stamp my eyeballs with eternity.” Her longing is for Christ, to make Him known to all nations, that His Kingdom would come. This has shaped all of her learning, thinking, serving, endeavors, and relationships. Independently, Kaycie supports missions prayerfully, relationally, and financially, using money she earns from her jobs babysitting and as an office assistant. Her leadership in her 4-H club helped her team reach Nationals. Noted for her kindness, her “humble ferocity to the faith,” her creativity and service, Kaycie lives her life by the word of God, reaching out to those in need. She has used all the Sonlight programs from C on up, including all the high school programs. She even added on British Literature to read over two consecutive summers (a great idea for all book lovers), and looks forward to attending a Great Books program in the fall.
Daphne Gwozdz of Peoria, AZ has used Sonlight from preschool on. It served her well, with an SAT score of 1500! On track to receive the AWANA Citation Award (for ten years of intense Scripture memory and study), she also leads and serves at church. More importantly, as one adult mentor said of her, “her group of friends is eclectic and she has unconditional love for all of them. She is very caring and encouraging. She is always kind and thoughtful. I have never heard a negative or unkind word from her.” As a child, she wanted to go to Arizona State University (the alma mater of both her parents) and play softball. But since then, she’s fallen in love with writing. Fan Fiction, NaNoWriMo, blogging, youth group devotionals, video scripts—she passionately pursues good stories. And, through her stories, hopes to introduce people to the story of Jesus. She plans to study creative writing when she heads to Colorado Christian University in the fall.
Hannah Hastings of Kerrville, TX, a Sonlighter since 2004 (using A-400!) has enjoyed everything from war reenactments to volleyball, from 4-H to Bible study—a wide range of activities, but all unified by her love for people. She has spent scores of hours on the Student Council, participating in a variety of community service projects to bless another person’s life in some way. Hannah also has volunteered at Camp Blessing the last five years, a Christian summer camp for young people with special needs. She was one-on-one with a camper at all times, including one week with a nonverbal camper, where she “showed unique perseverance” in finding ways to communicate. Because of her passion for people with disabilities, she looks forward to becoming the fourth generation of her family to attend Texas A&M University, where she’ll study communications, with the end goal to promote disability awareness and inclusion.
Mallory Fehl of Fishers, IN lived in Ethiopia for her first sixteen years. When she read A Long Walk to Water in Sonlight F, she saw the walk for water literally happening around her, and saw how her parents—digging wells, running a medical clinic, planting churches—were laboring for the gospel. She spent a summer at Schloss Heroldeck in Austria, a ministry retreat center that can keep rates low for weary laborers by using volunteer workers. When her aunt taught her to crochet in 2012, she soon taught others. Their Crochet Club made blankets for the orphans at Embracing Hope in Addis Ababa. And one of Mallory’s crochet students taught the craft to male evangelists, who now crochet, preach, teach crochet, and answer questions as they speak to interested audiences. “I never thought that crochet could be used as an evangelistic tool, but it can. It turns out God can use anything.” Mallory looks forward to studying elementary education, in hopes of returning overseas after her education.
Jeoffrey deSpelder of Lansing, MI, a Sonlighter since 2005, has been part of the three-time National Homeschool Soccer Champions and has won the Ingham County Right to Life Speech Contest. When studying Sonlight’s government program, he took the initiative to get an internship with a Michigan State Representative. What he talked about most, though, was the last four years he has spent volunteering with the after school program Fire-Up for Life. Working with children who have been “bullied by classmates and ignored by parents,” who sometimes behaved badly, he was ready to quit. Then he realized that the Lord didn’t give up on him, but loved unconditionally. Renewed, he carried on, demonstrating that he was one of the “rare few” who “not only have the skills but the heart to effectively reach this difficult demographic.” Having finished three years of Arabic study, Jeoffrey plans to study pediatric medicine, in order to volunteer in the Middle East, a region that first interested him when studying Sonlight F.
Evan Ellis of Broomfield, CO has used Sonlight from PreK-H, along with several high school modules. The adults in his life universally commend Evan: “He consistently will help without complaining on any request,” and, beyond that, looks for ways to serve. Having volunteered on annual work-service trips with his church, and volunteered in a hospital since 2014, he hopes to become a nurse to support another passion—the theater. Over the years, he has been involved in over 20 shows. He loves the stories told in performances, and he loves the people in the theater arts: “one of the most hostile cultures when it comes to Biblical teaching,” as he says. To serve in the medical field by day, share the light of Christ in the theater on off hours, and serve the church at every opportunity, Evan is excited to continue a life of serving the Lord, and others, with joy.
Cory Messerschmidt of Holland, NY, Sonlighting since 2007, has innate curiosity: a ham radio operator; owner of a paracord business (making bracelets and such out of survival cord); a golfer whose enthusiasm persuaded his father to take up golf; a photographer who captures the moment no one else sees, and shares that beauty with others; a volunteer at the Christian TCT Television Studios, running cameras for live events; is a three-time qualifier for the National Bible Bee, (which each year requires memorizing around 900 verses); and CERT trained (Community Emergency Response Team, with emergency training, drills, and preparedness). Cory has “an amazing ability to connect with everyone he meets.” When one neighbor was caring for her husband with Alzheimer’s disease, she was impressed that Cory “would always make sure to speak to her (non-communicative) husband as well as her.” Cory plans to double major in business administration and accounting, with concentrations in management and finance, as he looks toward building a business that will leave a lasting legacy for the glory of God.
Madeleine Patten, of Rogers, AR, a Sonlighter since 2003, has “a love for God, a love for people, and a love for learning.” As her mom continues, “In many ways, Sonlight Curriculum has helped to shape all three of these loves over the years.” A gifted musician, she won first place in her regional piano competition, and was Principal Oboist for the Ozark Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. When she realized that she had developed a quiet reserve because of frequent family moves, she challenged herself to begin one conversation wherever she went and joined a speech club for competitive speech. After battling her own mysterious illness for almost two years, she has found an interest in caring for others. She spent six weeks caregiving for her grandmother, and when her mother was called away for some months, she managed the homeschooling and household care. “When I arrived home, all the boxes in the big blue Sonlight binder had been checked off and all the girls were right on schedule!” Madeleine looks forward to studying nursing, a natural extension of her love for the biological sciences and her love for people, at her mother’s alma mater.
Catherine Riley of Chelsea, ME, a Sonlighter since 2005, scored an impressive 1560 on her SAT. A National Merit Finalist, a black belt in karate, and on track to earn the AWANA Citation Award (awarded to those who memorize 836 verses and read the entire Bible, among other things), her mentors praise her tenacity, her organizational skills, her focus, and her character. “Catie is the kind of person we wish for when we dream up our heroes: smart, funny, hard-working, dependable as morning, principled, kind, respectful of others, self-controlled, and tougher than she looks.” She has served in various volunteer capacities: rebuilding a home after a national disaster, doing community outreach, lifeguarding at camp, serving as stage manager for local theater productions, helping in her dojo. And she has an adventurous side: driving a motor boat, paddle boarding, taking a flying lesson, climbing Mt. Katadin. In her next adventure, she looks forward to studying mathematics, in preparation for a career as an actuary.
Madison York of Juneau, AK, Sonlighting since 2005, scored an impressive 1490 on the SAT. A National Merit Finalist, she says, “My main dragon—my arch nemesis, as it were—is math. Not one second of teaching myself Algebra 2, Pre-Calculus, Trigonometry, and Calculus was easy. Even when I took Calculus I through the university for a prerequisite, I barely scraped an A minus. But it was strange: that A minus—which normally would have crushed the perfectionist in my soul—was the most beautiful thing I ever saw. The difficulty, the work, the negotiating-with-the-
Micah Tseng of Hoffman Estates, IL, a Sonlighter since 2005, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia when he was 18 months old and went through three years of chemo. After two years of physical therapy, he learned to walk again, but the chemo left him with learning disabilities in reading, writing, and spelling. Through grit and perseverance, though, he has, for many years, worked above grade level, and is currently taking college classes with no accommodations. Micah’s passion is live audio engineering (managing the sound board during an event, such as a church service), and he has spent hundreds of hours volunteering at his local church, making sure the mics work, that the balance from the different instruments and voices is aesthetically pleasing, and that there are no distractions to steal attention from the message and the worship. He has spent ten weeks each of the last two summers interning on the production teams of large churches, developing knowledge and skills. One mentor said, “I know of no other student his age with the maturity and drive to handle this kind of work and responsibility, willingly devoting so much time and passion to using his gifts in church ministry,” and spoke of his servant heart, his sense of integrity, his passion to learn, his heart for the Lord, and his creative thinking. Micah plans to continue his engineering studies when he heads to college in the fall.
Abigail B. of Slatington, PA grew frustrated that her private school education was not offering her enough self-directed education. When she started Sonlight in 7th grade, she had time to add subjects that interested her, including languages, Biblical Greek, art, piano, and photography. In addition to working in the library and as a lifeguard, she has volunteered many weeks at several Christian summer camps, even serving as head cook—quite the responsibility for a high schooler! She has two uncles serving the Lord overseas, and her visits to them opened her eyes to the needs of the world. Abigail plans to study English, linguistics, and languages, in order to teach overseas. “I love to learn and do my school work, but my heart really lies in my desire to serve the Lord in a foreign country . . . to share the word of God until we can truly say that all have heard. My relationship with Christ has brought me through many rough times, and has given me more joy than anything else. I want everyone in the world to have the same opportunity to feel God’s love as I have. There is such a boundless well of joy and love and peace awaiting those who put their trust in Jesus.”
