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How to Plan for a Writing Project

May 10, 2016 by Meredith

It’s that time again. You’re probably starting to do some homeschool planning for next year. The browser history on your phone might be full of pages from your favorite homeschool websites. You might even have notes either typed or handwritten comparing and contrasting the textbooks you might switch to. But deciding what curriculum to use is only one piece of the planning process for next year. There’s also planning the day-to-day schedule, extra activities, chores, household details . . .  You understand.

Planning a writing project may not be quite as involved as planning for the next homeschool year, but in both situations the results are affected by how well we prepare. Just as you use a homeschool planner to organize your day, your child can use graphic organizers to plan his writing project. Let’s take a look at some planning tips and graphic organizers that can help your child succeed with his writing projects.

Planning, the first step in the five-step writing process, helps make writing the first draft easier by creating a clear framework for the entire project. The writer (your child) is able to see the flow of thought he wants to communicate. A good way to start planning is by having him answer these questions.

  • What topic are you writing about?
  • Why are you writing?
  • Whom are you writing for?
  • How are you going to format your writing?

As he answers these questions, have him take time to brainstorm (and possibly research) ideas and information related to his topic. A practical way to group these details together and decide the order to arrange them in is with a graphic organizer. Some graphic organizers work better with different writing projects.

Plot Pyramid

A word web is one type of graphic organizer. It can be used to organize details about a topic, an event, or even a character in a story. After listing out details, your child can number them in the order in which he wants to write about them.

Creating a senses chart is another way your child can plan out a writing project. Just like it sounds, this chart relates to the five senses and is great for helping your child write a description. Have him draw five columns on a blank piece of paper and answer the following questions:

  • How does it look?
  • How does it sound?
  • How does it taste?
  • How does it smell?
  • How does it feel?

Have your child list sensory words in each column to describe the object. This list of words should include terms that help the reader mentally see, hear, taste, smell, or feel what is being read. (Sometimes only a few senses can be used to describe an object.)

A plot pyramid is a graphic organizer that establishes the beginning, middle, and end of a story. (Its counterpart for planning nonfiction writing would be a time-order chart.) Visually showing the arc that takes place in a creative story is important to help children see that the problem (usually a conflict between characters) and the solution are the transition points of their whole story.

You and I both know that taking time to plan brings benefits in multiple areas of life. Teaching your child to be a good, clear communicator for the glory of God begins with the planning stage.

Find more graphic organizers and writing resources in the BJU Press elementary English curriculum.

Filed Under: Successful Learning Tagged With: language arts, planning, plot pyramid, senses chart, word web, writing, writing process

The Role of a Lifetime: Dignity Reclaimed

May 9, 2016 by Cosette

I asked myself when I first picked up The Role of a Lifetime if an author dealing with gender issues could be both frank and encouraging at the same time. Can a writer be really truthful and still communicate encouragement and gentle solace? Claudia Barba proved to me that it’s possible. This Bible study succeeds in telling it like it is and how beautiful it can be, “it” being life as a woman, and─yes─that in today’s world.

BJU Press book cover of The Role of a Lifetime: The Script God Wrote for Women by Claudia BarbaThe curtain rises in The Role  of a Lifetime at Creation. Then comes . . . the Fall. What begins as exquisitely harmonious becomes devastatingly divided. Our Creator establishes something special for us, which, when severed from the Divine, ends up twisted, marred, and spoiled beyond recognition from what was meant to be. Barba is frank here and refreshingly real. We all experience the consequences of the Fall every day, and knowing the devil’s game is exceedingly helpful.

After highlighting the promise given in Genesis that the woman would crush her enemy’s head, Barba comes to the New Testament. A woman conceives her Savior, and a glorious hope is born. He is there in the beauty of meekness for us to behold. From manger to tomb, the Lord Jesus loves to Himself a colorful variety of women from a smorgasbord of backgrounds and circumstances. Barba shows that His instructions are always appropriate, His manner always gracious. And He always, always opens the women’s eyes to His beauty, so they can in turn see their own.

The Role  of a Lifetime goes beyond just dealing with gender-role dos and don’ts. It’s for the woman who wants to dig and to use what she learns in fruitful service.  For women married or single, it sets the stage for a rich and compelling study of Scripture and vividly sets forth God’s plan of salvation for us.

Download the free study guide for group use.

Filed Under: JourneyForth Tagged With: battles, Christian living, gender, Role of a Lifetime

Cycle of Life, Circle of Love

May 5, 2016 by Guest Writer

When you first imagined motherhood, you may have envisioned glowing, beautiful moments—rocking a soft, sleeping baby in a lovely nursery, or leading a wide-eyed toddler through a world full of wonders.

Then the tiny human arrives, and you feel waves of powerful love, more love than you knew you had. At the same time, your life gets very, very hard. You live from moment to moment—struggling to stay awake during yet another midnight feeding, or carrying a protesting toddler out of the grocery store for yet another lesson in obedience.

You want to freeze your little ones in time so that you can enjoy their sweetness forever; yet you can’t wait for them to grow up a little so that you can have a few moments to rest.

Time inevitably ticks away.

Your daughter dissolves in tears over a squabble with a friend, and you comfort her. Your son becomes frustrated over a tough subject, and you encourage him.

"Time goes by--minutes inching and rocketing past. You laugh and learn and make memories together."

More time goes by—minutes inching and rocketing past. You laugh and learn and make memories together.

Sometimes she rolls her eyes at you, and you keep loving like Christ. Maybe he mumbles a half-greeting on the way to his room, and you keep trying to communicate and connect.

They leave for college, for a job, or for an adventure. It feels horrible and wonderful at the same time—because you miss them so much, and yet you’re so proud of them.

You realize, at some point during those years, just how much your own mother did for you. Maybe she failed you in many ways, or maybe she was nearly perfect. Either way, she gave you life, and probably much more along with it.

When you become a mother yourself, you realize what your mother needs from you.

This Mother’s Day, tell her that you finally understand. Tell her that you’re grateful for everything she did for you, every minute of every year. Let her know that you love her.

Maybe you’ll buy her a card, some flowers, some candy, or a special gift. Just don’t forget to give her your gratitude, your love, and your time. That’s what you want from your kids, and she feels the same way.

If your mother has passed on, take some time to remember her on Mother’s Day. Share a memory, read her favorite Bible verse, or sing her favorite song. Maybe you are blessed with a legacy of godly grandmothers whom you can honor in memory or in person.

If you’re feeling weary in well-doing as you face the challenges of motherhood yourself, find some encouraging spiritual resources to sustain your soul for the journey ahead. One day, your own child may come back to you and say, “Mom, now I understand how much you love me.”

Sign up for our Homeschool Solutions eNews to receive news about a special Mother’s Day surprise we’re planning!

• • • • •

Rebecca is a work-at-home freelance writer, novelist, wife, and the mom of two bright-eyed little ones. She credits her success in writing and her love of books to her own mom, who homeschooled three kids from pre-K through high school.

Filed Under: Simplified Homeschool Tagged With: family, gift, honor, Mother's Day, motherhood, time

JEHOVAH

May 4, 2016 by Cosette

JEHOVAH—“I AM.” God has told us His name. If that is all we have, it is enough as we are told in Psalms 91:14:

“I will set him on high, because he has known my name.”

cover image of Wonderful Words

The Hebrew word Jehovah means the One who is. The root of the word is I AM (Genesis 3:14). The first occurrence is in Genesis 2:4, “The Lord God [Jehovah Elohim] made the earth and the heavens.” It was the voice of Jehovah God that Adam and Eve heard in the garden (Genesis 3:8). But God revealed His name first to Moses, who later wrote Genesis. “But by my name Jehovah was I not known to them” (Exodus 6:3). Asaph sang, “That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth” (Psalms 83:18). The prophet Isaiah wrote, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2). He later exhorts, “Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength” (Isaiah 26:4).
The name Isaiah means Jehovah is salvation.

GOLDEN THOUGHT: The Lord Jehovah is my strength.

[Excerpt adapted from Wonderful Words by Stewart Custer (May 4 reading).]

Filed Under: Devotions Tagged With: devotional, excerpt, Stewart Custer, wonderful words

The Creation Blessing

May 3, 2016 by Ben

Often when I leave for work, I say goodbye to my wife and children by offering good wishes. Have you ever thought about the common phrase “have a nice day”? Grammatically, it’s an imperative or command like “be good!”  The way it looks on paper it could be followed up with “or else” as in “have a nice day or else . . .” But no one ever says it that way. We say it more like “may you have a nice day.” We’re actually blessing one another in the form of a command.

Divine Blessing

In Genesis 1:28 we read about a blessing given in the form of a command. After creating humans male and female in His own image, God blessed them. The wording of this blessing is a command; so we often refer to it as the Creation Mandate.

Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

The-Garden-of-Eden

Divine Command

Unlike our good wishes, God’s blessing carries the weight of a command. We shouldn’t resist His blessing from Genesis 1:28 and expect things to go well for us. For example, in Genesis 11 Noah’s descendants rejected God’s command and all gathered in one place to build the tower of Babel. As a result of their sin, God confused their language and sent the people throughout the world.

Unbelievers can share in God’s blessing by following the Creation Mandate. In fact, many do. In BJU Press science and math textbooks, we highlight how scientists and mathematicians use their knowledge of God’s world to “have dominion.” They use their skill to care for the creation and use the creation for others’ benefit. Many of those professionals following the Creation Mandate are experiencing the common grace of God’s creation blessing in their lives.

Divine Reach

Because I’m human, the blessings I speak are little more than well-wishing. I may say, “I hope you have a nice day.” But while I’m at work, I have little immediate control over what happens at home, and some days my wife feels overwhelmed. In contrast, God’s blessing on the first man and woman had power behind it to confer that blessing on all of humanity.

God’s power is infinite, so His action in Genesis 1:28 reaches through time and space to all people. Not even the Fall overthrew His blessing to fill the earth and exercise dominion. The long line of impressive civilizations throughout history with all their remarkable achievements, technological advancements, and beautiful artwork evidences God’s power and kindness to humanity expressed in His first words to mankind.

As parents, we have a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate God’s blessing. We get to teach our children how to follow God’s blessing to care for the world. Since our teaching is influenced by the textbooks we use, it’s important to choose a homeschool curriculum that reinforces the truth of God’s creation blessing.

Filed Under: Shaping Worldview Tagged With: Creation, Creation Blessing, Creation Mandate, math, parenting, science

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