Megan

A Mystery Reading List

April 26, 2018 by Megan

Stories are a big part of my children’s lives. My husband and I read regularly to them, and the oldest two sometimes read to us. But most often, my children read alone. They can frequently be found curled up in a comfy chair or stretched out on the hard floor with a book. And usually the book in their hands is a mystery.

Mysteries are fun to read. Their suspenseful storylines tend to “hook” even the most reluctant of readers. Besides that, mysteries can actually help learners become better at reading. Here are a couple of ways mysteries benefit readers of all ages.

Mysteries Encourage Attentiveness to Details

Whenever my children and I read a mystery together, we always try to guess the solution before the protagonist does. In order to do that, we have to pay close attention to the clues the author leaves in the text. That skill of paying close attention to details helps us every time we read.

Mysteries Encourage Rereading

Have you ever been surprised (even blindsided) by the ending of a mystery? Whenever I am surprised by an ending, I usually go back and read the book again to see if I can pick up on missed clues. Rereading is especially good for young readers because every time a young reader rereads the same book, he or she will comprehend more of it.

Below are some mysteries that my children and I have enjoyed. If you have any to add to our list, please let us know in a comment below.

Younger Kids

• Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner: A series of books relating the adventures of the four Alden children with storylines that are easy for young children to follow and that broadly appeal to both genders

• Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald J. Sobol: A series of books about boy detective Encyclopedia Brown, with each book containing several short mysteries

• Cam Jensen series by David A. Adler: A series of books featuring Cam Jensen, a girl detective with a photographic memory

• Cul-de-sac Kids series by Beverly Lewis: Short books by a Christian author that revolve around a group of children solving neighborhood mysteries; excellent for kids transitioning into reading chapter books

• Three Cousins Detective Club by Elspeth Campbell Murphy: Short books by a Christian author with each book highlighting a different biblical theme (such as “love your neighbor”)

• Crimebusters, Inc., series by Milly Howard: Books by a Christian author that feature a group of friends who have started their own detective agency (The Case of the Dognapped Cat and The Case of the Sassy Parrot)

• Sherlock Jones series by Ed Dunlop: A series by a Christian author about adventurous pair Jasper (a.k.a. “Sherlock”) Jones and Penny Gordon

Older Kids

• Professor Van Dusen, the Thinking Machine by Jacques Futrelle: A classic* including ten short mystery stories that all highlight the brilliant logic of the eccentric protagonist Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen

• Adventures of the Northwoods series by Lois Walfrid Johnson: Adventure/mystery books set in the early 1900s

• Jewel Cases: Five short classic* mysteries that have one thing in common—jewelry theft

• The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne: A classic* murder mystery set in an old British mansion

• Scarhaven Keep by J. S. Fletcher: A classic* mystery involving playwright Richard Copplestone’s hunt for a famous missing actor

*This edition has been abridged to make it more accessible to today’s young adult readers. The language in the original manuscript has been modernized, and the plot has been streamlined for increased readability.

A Sensory Poem Writing Activity (Printable)

April 3, 2018 by Megan

April is National Poetry Month. Here in South Carolina, it’s also one of the most beautiful months of the year—the temperature is nearly perfect (no stifling heat and humidity yet!), the mosquito population is under control, and the worst of allergy season is behind us. Do my kids and I want to sit inside and write poetry? Not really.

Thankfully, writing and studying poetry doesn’t have to be an indoor activity. In fact, the great outdoors is the perfect place to practice writing a sensory poem.

A simple definition

A sensory poem describes a scene, an object, or an idea with vivid words that appeal to the five senses. It tells how the subject looks, feels, smells, tastes, and sounds.

A workable plan

• Plan an outing

Take advantage of a beautiful April day and head outside. Even if spring hasn’t quite sprung where you live yet, you and your children will probably benefit from some time out of the house. Head to a local park, walk around the block, or plan an outing to somewhere you haven’t yet explored. Be sure to block out enough time so that you and your children won’t feel rushed.

Before you go, take time to explain to your children the purpose of the outing. Explain what a sensory poem is and share some examples.

• Observe something special

While you are out, look for things that spark your child’s interest such as an unusual plant, an insect, or a special vista. The things that excite your child will make good subjects for his or her sensory poem. Use our sensory poem planning printable to help focus your child’s observation skills. You will also want to take pictures (or even a short video) of the subject for later use.

• Draft a sensory poem

After your child has finished planning his or her poem, it’s time to write. Sensory poems don’t have to stick to a certain meter; they don’t even have to rhyme. Encourage your child to refer to the completed planning sheet and describe how the subject sounded, smelled, looked, and felt. You might want to challenge an older child to try including some sound devices such as assonance, consonance, or onomatopoeia in the poem. Be sure to have your child illustrate the final copy of the poem with a drawing or a photograph.

Find out more about sensory poems in our English 3 Worktext.

When Homeschooling Gets Hard

March 27, 2018 by Megan

Sometimes homeschooling is not fun.

Like when you’ve been up most of the night with a sick baby. Or when you have serious cabin fever after being stuck inside for days. Or when your to-do list is overwhelming you—again.

In the craziness of trying to manage a busy household, sometimes it is tempting to look for an easier way. A different schooling option. A curriculum that requires less work from me.

I’ve had moments when I’ve wanted to completely abandon this homeschooling adventure, and if you’ve homeschooled for any length of time, you’ve probably have had those moments too.

But then there are moments that remind me why I started on this homeschooling journey in the first place. For example, before Christmas, my third grader and I were reading an article in Reading 3 about astronauts and what they thought about God. After reading Gherman Titov’s remarks about how he hadn’t seen anyone out there in space so he couldn’t believe in God, my daughter stopped reading and said, “Well, of course, he couldn’t see God! God is a Spirit.”

And that wasn’t the only clue that she was beginning to see the world through a biblical worldview. One day, when we were on our way to our weekly piano lesson, she told me, “Even though I’m not very good at piano yet, maybe someday I’ll be able to play well enough to play hymns so other people can sing along to worship God.”

It’s sometimes tempting to think of homeschooling as a burden. But it’s not. Homeschooling is an investment. It’s an investment that costs me significant time and resources. But it’s worth it. My daughter is worth it. She’s getting more than just a quality education. She’s learning how to view the world around her through scriptural eyes. That’s the most important thing I could ever teach her.

Weary mom, take heart. You will never regret the investment that you make in your child. The days may be long now, but you, your children, and even your grandchildren will reap the benefits of your investment for years to come.

A Third-Grade Probability Activity

March 22, 2018 by Megan

$Probability activity with pom poms$
Probability. It’s the reason my kids are required to wear a helmet when riding a bike and a seatbelt when riding in the car. It’s what determines the rate I pay for home and auto insurance and what helps me decide whether it’s worth purchasing an extended warranty for my vehicle. And it’s a challenging concept for an eight-year-old to grasp.

I know because my husband and I tried to explain it when we introduced our third grader to the board game Settlers of Catan. But she didn’t get it. Probability was a brand-new concept for her and, as with all new math concepts, she needed a hands-on activity to help her understand how it works.

Thankfully, Math 3 from BJU Press uses a simple hands-on activity to illustrate the concept of probability.

Materials Needed for This Probability Activity

Five different colors of pom-poms (blue, green, purple, red, and orange)
Small opaque bag
Printout

Get Ready for Learning Success

Start by putting pom-poms in the bag (5 blue, 5 green, 2 purple, 2 red, and 1 orange). Explain to your child that the term probability refers to how likely or unlikely something is to happen. Ask him to predict what color pom-poms he will most likely get when he pulls out one. What color(s) is he least likely to pull out?

Deepen Understanding Through Discovery

Now, it’s the child’s chance to test out his predictions. Instruct your child to reach into the bag and pull out a pom-pom without looking. Then he should make note of the color by placing a tally mark in the corresponding column on the probability handout before tossing the pom-pom back into the bag. Do this twenty times. (Hint: If you have preschoolers at your house, this is a great activity to get them involved in “school” too. Have them pull out the pom-poms one by one and see if they can name the color.)

Communicate Results

Now it’s time to do something with that data. Help your child turn the tally chart into a bar or line graph and report the findings. Did his predictions match the results? Why or why not?

My third grader was so fascinated by this activity that she wanted to do it again. So she did—several times in fact. Each time she used a different mix of pom-pom colors and tried to predict the results. As her understanding grew, so did the accuracy of her predictions. And so did her excitement about learning. It was a great day.

Be sure to check out BJU Press’s Math 3 curriculum, which inspired this activity. You can get ideas for more math activities by clicking on the links below.
Dividing Fractions a Simpler Way
Activity for Simplifying Ratios

The Dangers of Comparison

February 15, 2018 by Megan

“Homeschool moms are like bullies. They can be brutal to each other.”

Ouch. My friend’s blunt statement shocked me a bit, but I knew it was true, at least to a degree. My own heart’s wounds bore testimony, and, if I were really honest with myself, I knew I had probably inflicted wounds on other moms’ hearts too.

Sometimes my wounds came from direct hits—someone would say something that would sting, that would make me want to run and find a quiet place to weep. Sometimes the hits were more indirect as I struggled with being left out of some of the homeschool subgroups around me.

But none of those wounds compare to the ones that I continually inflict on myself. The ugly truth is that I am my own biggest bully through comparison.

Discouragement and Defeat

A lot of my heart-wounds have come from comparing myself to other people. I’m very good at uncovering the ways I come up short in comparison to others. So my thoughts are too often filled with if onlys. If only I were smarter, prettier, more in shape, had better-behaved children and so on, things would be so much better. These lies do nothing but provide fuel for my feelings of discouragement and defeat.

Pride

Of course, comparing myself with others sometimes has the opposite effect, puffing me up with so much pride that I can’t see myself clearly. Sins go unnoticed and unconfessed. My relationships suffer. The damage is awful.

Fighting Comparison with the Gospel

So how do I fight back against my inner bully? By skillfully wielding the sharp, two-edged sword given to me by my heavenly Father—His Word. I must saturate my mind with the Bible if I am to have any hope of victory at all.

My best defense when I am tempted to compare myself with others is to meditate on the gospel. The gospel reminds me that I am precious in the sight of God—so precious that He paid the ultimate price for my redemption. I may not be as pretty as Mary, as smart as Jane, or as organized as Susan, but with all my faults and failings, I am beloved by my Father in heaven.

The gospel also reminds me that without Christ, I am nothing. So what if I excel in a particular area? All those feelings of self-righteousness are filthy rags before an all-holy God.

Comparison is a dangerous business. If you struggle with this like I do, I highly recommend the book The Battle Within by J. Robin Wood. She includes scriptural battle plans for fighting off pride and other damaging emotions as well as showing how to deal biblically with the expectations that we place on ourselves. If you’re interested in learning more about how this book has helped me, check out my earlier post “Hope for a Weary Soul.”