BJU Press Blog

Successful Learning

You want your children to succeed in their education. We do too. We offer practical tips for teaching your children math, science, writing, and more! These tips can be applied to any homeschool curriculum. There are also highlights of our new textbooks with examples of how our curriculum trains your children to have success in their learning.

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Learn Your Child So Your Child Learns Best

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do you know how to learn your child?
I have four daughters, and they are all very different. They are individuals who have different interests, different personalities, different strengths, and different weaknesses. And I have found that I can’t homeschool them all in the same way.

One of the great strengths of homeschooling is the ability to tailor instruction to your individual child. But in order to do that well, you have to learn some specific things about your child. Here are a few to start off with.

1. What motivates your child?

My two oldest daughters are night and day different. One is a bookworm and a bit of a tomboy, the other is an artsy girly-girl. So it’s no surprise that different things motivate them. It’s fairly easy to motivate my bookworm—she loves to read so much that she checked out the library’s entire shelf of Civil War books when she was studying that period in history. But there’s no way my girly-girly would do that. She would be much more motivated to learn about the Civil War if she could dress up in a hoop skirt and give a video presentation.

You can probably figure out what motivates your children by paying attention to what they choose when given a choice. What do they do in their free time? What do they order off the menu at a restaurant? For birthdays, what do they want?

Whenever you have the opportunity to incorporate your child’s interests into their schoolwork, do it. Let them make a video of themselves reading or doing a science experiment. Let them dress up as a story character, write silly sentences in English, or create and decorate their own multiplication tables. When your child is interested and engaged in what he or she is learning, that learning is going to stick.

2. What is your child really good at?

When I was in school, I never particularly enjoyed studying grammar, but I was really good at it. It made sense to me. Unfortunately, it didn’t make sense to a lot of my classmates. So those grammar lessons were excruciatingly slow. I got bored while my teacher explained concepts over and over.

If your child is really good at something, it’s okay to speed up your instruction. You can even skip over lessons if you’re confident that your child understands the material. Remember that you are in charge of the curriculum.

3. What does your child struggle with?

Our children aren’t perfect. Each of them has unique struggles. Maybe you have a struggling reader like I do, or your child is barely passing math class. Maybe you have a horrible speller or a child with illegible handwriting.

Don’t be discouraged. You as a homeschool parent are in a unique position to help your children through their struggles. You can slow down instruction and customize it to get more senses involved in the learning process. And you can tweak assignments and many other things to help your children learn best.

4. How does your child learn best?

A lot of homeschoolers will talk about learning styles. There are basically four types of learning styles: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and read/write. As I wrote in a previous blog post “Learning Styles and Multisensory Learning,” knowing your child’s preferred learning style isn’t essential for homeschooling, but it is helpful. Paying attention to your child’s learning style can help you figure out how to help your child understand difficult concepts.

Not every homeschool is the same because not every child is the same. Learning how to motivate your child, recognizing his or her strengths and weaknesses, and paying attention to his or her individual learning styles will empower you to help your child learn best.

Tips for Teaching Left-Handed Writers

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teaching left-handed writers to write
If you have young lefties, you may be unsure of how to teach left-handed writers. But don’t worry! At first their natural tendencies may appear backwards or confusing to you but teaching them writing is very similar to teaching a right-handed child. There are just some important things you should keep in mind when you start teaching them.

Proper Pencil Grasp

Just like righties, they should use either tripod or quadrupod grasp. You should emphasize how to correctly hold a writing utensil. Holding the utensil with poor positioning, like using every finger or wrapping the thumb over the index finger, makes it difficult for lefties to see their own writing. The tripod grasp involves the thumb and index finger pinching the sides of the pencil while the pencil rests on the middle finger, allowing for better control. The quadrupod is a similar grasp but they will pinch with both the index finger and middle finger while using the ring finger for support. Also, having a higher grasp, about 1 to 1.5 inches from the tip, allows them to see the paper better.

Proper Paper Choice

Use loose leaf paper with your lefties as they are learning to write. Try to avoid three-ring binders and spiral notebooks, because these are uncomfortable for lefties to rest their arm on when they write on the right-hand page. It’s the same discomfort right-handers feel when writing on the left side of the page. The best writing situation for young writers, regardless of which hand is dominant, is to write on loose leaf paper with a hard surface right underneath. All of our early worktexts and activity books in K4 through Grade 3 use a hinge binding, so the pages can be easily removed and used outside of the book.

Proper Paper Placement

Teach your lefties to tilt the paper to the right. Paper tilting allows your children to naturally rest and move their arm and wrist. The hooked wrist associated with lefties is a compensation so they can see the text to the left of where they are writing. However, hooking the wrist results in smudged ink or graphite on the side of the hand and poor penmanship habits. Having students tilt their paper helps them place their wrist in a comfortable, correct position and keeps the text to the left of their hand visible.

Model Character Placement

Most traditional worksheets place character models on the far-left side of the page. However, it’s harder for lefties to see models on the left-hand as they write. Instead, models should be either the row above where the student is writing or on the right-hand side of the page. Here are some worksheets for our cursive font that place the models in a place where lefties can easily see them while writing. If you have worksheets with the model on the left side, you can create your own model in a different place for your children’s reference.

Proper Letter Formation

Your left-handed writers should learn to form letters in the same way that a righty does. For example, they should make their o with a counterclockwise stroke. Learning the strokes this way will increase the speed of their writing, because proper letter formation involves minimal strokes and naturally leads to the next letter.

The only difference in strokes will be that lefties will likely cross their letters right to left, “pulling” instead of “pushing,” specifically with lowercase letters “t” and “f” and with capital letters that have a bar like A, G, H  and F. This difference is fine, and shouldn’t slow them down.

Correcting Mirror Writing

Some lefties may initially default to “mirror” writing where they form letters backwards and write from right to left. One way to train them out of this habit is to put a sticker or mark on the left hand of the page where they are supposed to start the line.

Keeping these tips in mind can help you and your left-handed writers have a solid start to handwriting. Some things may be confusing or difficult for your lefty at first. But with proper techniques and practice, they can become comfortable and confident in their writing.

Harvest Themed Homeschool Activities

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harvest themed homeschool activities
What’s not to love about fall? Cooler weather, colorful leaves, apples, and pumpkins are the perfect inspiration for harvest-themed homeschool activities you can enjoy with your family. It’s an ideal season for both indoor and outdoor creativity, so here are just a few ideas to jumpstart your fall plans.

Crafts

Pumpkin Carving

Probably the easiest one to start with is pumpkin carving—a classic harvest tradition. What’s great about it is you can carve just about anything you want into your pumpkins: family initials, leaf shapes, animals, words, etc. If you don’t relish the thought of taking out the insides of pumpkins, you could simply use craft paint to create all sorts of fun designs and pictures on the outside instead of carving them. (Tip: I’ve tried the pumpkins made of foam; they are just as fun to carve and a lot less messy!)

Acorns

Last year, our daughters came up with their own fall craft. We have oak trees behind our house that drop loads of acorns on the ground. Our girls decided to collect acorns and paint them, and in a couple of weeks we had a bowl full of colorful acorns. The girls had fun experimenting with colors and designs. They painted stripes, polka dots, and swirls on the acorns; they painted faces on some of them and made others that looked like bees and ladybugs. It was an easy, cheap activity that provided hours of amusement!

Preserving Leaves

Another popular fall craft is preserving leaves, and this is a simple one to do with younger children. There are several methods, but perhaps the best one for preserving leaves the longest is by using glycerin. You can find it at health food and craft stores or online. Mix a solution of one part glycerin to two parts water in a shallow pan. Place the leaves in the solution and place a heavy pan or dish on top to completely submerge them. Then all you have to do is wait two or three days; by then the leaves should be supple and soft. If they’re still dry, leave them in the solution for another two to three days. When they are pliable, remove them from the pan and gently pat them dry.

Outdoor Homeschool Activities

Nature Walks

A great way to take advantage of cooler fall weather is to take a nature walk with your children. Engage them by asking questions about the different things you see. For example, “Why do the leaves change color and fall?” or “How do we know that fall will continue to come every year?”

Nature Scavenger Hunt

Another enjoyable outdoor activity is a nature scavenger hunt. My husband and I have made a list of several items for our daughters to look for in the woods, including yellow flowers, mushrooms, butterflies, pine cones, moss, a red leaf, a unique rock, and any animal that lives in the woods. The goal is to find as many of these things as possible, and it’s fun to search for them as a family.

Hopefully these are some homeschool activities you can use to create your own special fall family memories!

• • • • •

Jennifer is a pastor’s wife and mom of two young girls and loves homeschooling them. During her own twelve years of being homeschooled, Jennifer developed a passion for reading and writing. She earned a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and relishes writing during her free time.

When Homeschooling Gets Hard

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don't quit when homeschooling gets hard
Some days, I’m not sure that I can do this homeschooling thing. Some days, I want to quit.

Homeschooling is really, really hard. It might not look hard when you are browsing curriculum catalogs or listening to a veteran homeschool mom on a podcast. But just about any homeschool mom has had the moment—the moment when the task of homeschooling is so overwhelming that she wants to quit entirely. I’ve had that moment. I’ve had many (hundreds?) of those moments. But before you give up homeschooling, consider the following.

Take time to remember why you are homeschooling in the first place.

There are a lot of different reasons why families choose to homeschool their children. Some of you may be homeschooling right now in order to give your children stability in this uncertain time. Some of you may be homeschooling because of health reasons. Or some of you might be homeschooling because of dissatisfaction with the government school systems. Your choice to homeschool was a brave one, and more than likely, it’s still the best choice you could have made.

When I am feeling discouraged about homeschooling, I often think back to why my husband and I decided to start homeschooling four years ago. We had some great schooling options at the time, but my husband and I chose homeschooling because we felt that homeschooling would give us the best opportunity to instill in our children a biblical worldview. We still feel that way. So whenever I feel like giving up, I encourage myself with the fact that the big thing I am doing—instilling in my children a biblical worldview—is really, really worth doing.

Take time to remember the end goal of homeschooling.

I think homeschooling is a lot like exercising. The individual workouts can be brutal. How many of us really want to do those last two minutes on the treadmill? I know I definitely don’t. My whole body screams in protest. But I run those last two minutes because I know that in the end, the hard work will be worth it. My body will grow stronger.

It’s that way with homeschooling too. Individual days can get really discouraging. Like the day not too long ago when one of my children cried her way through her science test. Or the day when we spent way too long struggling through a math page. Days like those can make us feel like failures. They can make us feel completely inadequate for the task of homeschooling. They can make us want to quit. But we endure those rough homeschooling moments because homeschooling is worth it. Our children are getting the best education that we can give them.

Take time to count the homeschooling wins.

Even in the rough days, there are some bright spots. We just tend to focus so much on the bad moments that we overlook the good ones. For example, on the day my child cried through her science test, that same child took the initiative to do an extra, unassigned math page to be “extra prepared” for an upcoming test. That was definitely a big win. And that day when we spent a very long time struggling through math? There was a big win on that day too—my reluctant reader really got into her reading lesson that day and didn’t want to stop.

There may be a lot of homeschool wins in your home that you have been overlooking. Take the time to count them up. Homeschooling is probably going a lot better than you think!

Take time when considering if you need to make adjustments to your homeschool.

This step is last for a reason. Some homeschoolers, when going through a time of discouragement, will try to make dramatic changes in their homeschool. They will buy an entirely new curriculum if they feel like their current choice isn’t working. That “fix” doesn’t usually end up really fixing the problem, and it can cause a lot of instability in your homeschool.

Small adjustments to your homeschool can often make a big difference. For example, I have one child who is very easily distracted by others. So a few weeks ago, I started having her do her school in a separate (but adjacent) room from my other two children. She can focus better, and her schoolwork has improved. Another adjustment we made this year was with our routine. My children prefer to do their favorite subjects first and leave the hard ones for late in the day. This year, my husband and I encouraged them to tackle the hard courses first thing in the day while their minds are the freshest. That simple change in routine has helped them do better in those challenging subjects and has helped us finish our homeschool day earlier. It was definitely a win-win!

A word of encouragement…

If you are homeschooling for the very first time this year, take heart. It does get better! The first year of homeschooling is extra challenging because both you and your children are learning how to make homeschooling work for your family. If you are feeling really discouraged and need some help navigating these first few months, please consider reaching out to your local Homeworks consultant. Chances are, she’s had some of the very same challenges, and she stands ready to help you.

Finally, I want to share one of my favorite verses that helps me when I am feeling discouraged about homeschooling or a myriad of other things.

1 Thessalonians 5:24: Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

The Lord will be faithful to you, and He will help you with this very important and very wonderful task of homeschooling your children.

21st Century Skills and 21st Century Homeschooling (Part 3)

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creating a 21st century homeschooling experience
The Actual 21st Century Homeschooling Part

Homeschool families have known for years that the traditional model for teaching children used in most public schools—reading, lecture, homework, repeat—simply doesn’t work for all children. This model produces students who are good at following directions and taking tests, but not at thinking for themselves. That’s why educators push teaching 21st century skills—the learning skills, the literacy skills, and the life skills. These skills, practically applied to the teaching process, produce a very different model for learning. It’s more than a departure from reading, lecture, and homework. It’s a restructuring of the entire system to make teaching these skills possible. And in your homeschool, you have every advantage in producing a learning environment that supports teaching any skill you want. In fact, you’re likely already well on your way to 21st century homeschooling.

Schools are often locked into one structure or system by the expectations they have to meet. You can forget those expectations and focus on teaching your children how to be better servants. You’re not chasing after grades or test results. You’re preparing your children for the rest of their lives in the 21st century. So how do you do that?

By giving them opportunities to practice the skills.

Practicing and Applying the Learning Skills

The learning skills are the skills that are most strongly supported by your homeschool curriculum. With that support, they’ll often be the easiest to practice. But just because plenty of opportunities to practice a skill exist doesn’t mean the skill itself is easy. Some things may come naturally, but others will take time and effort. Your children need to use the opportunities they have to develop the skills appropriately. Does that mean you have to make sure your children are doing every activity you come across? Does it mean requiring them to answer every essay question?

No, but it is important to make sure that your children do as well as they can on the activities they do work on. The process of developing the learning skills and encouraging good learners is just as much about developing perseverance, determination, and confidence as it is about the work itself.

Practicing and Applying the Literacy Skills

Because of the expense and unease often connected with using skills related to technology, you may hesitate to offer your children opportunities to use them. As you prepare your children for using and applying these skills, focus on preparing them to be wise about technology. They should know the dangers of using technology as well as the benefits of using technology properly. Most importantly, your children need to see you demonstrating in your own life the same wisdom and expectations with technology that you set up for them.

When you do give your kids opportunities to use technology skills, be present, be available, and start small. I remember in college, my freshman English classes required us to format our papers in specific ways. It wasn’t until I was teaching the same course several years later that I realized it wasn’t about making sure papers were pretty and legible. This requirement gave students a reason and an opportunity to learn about their word processors so they could match formatting requirements in future classes. It was a small start, but it helped.

Practicing and Applying the Life Skills

The life skills are so named because they come from life. These skills teach children how to be successful in their own lives. You can help your children practice and apply these skills by involving them in your life. Teaching life skills includes showing your children how to cook, clean, and do their taxes, but it also lets them see how you make decisions and interact with other people. As your children grow and learn, you can involve them more and more in your day-to-day life and work. Eventually, there will come a point when they will be able to take responsibility for their education and will be ready to make choices that will impact their futures. If they have been living your life with you, they will likely be more prepared to make wise and fruitful decisions for themselves.

With these 21st century skills, homeschooling families are often already ahead. There’s no place like home for teaching your children and preparing them to serve Christ, their families, their communities, and their employers.