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Spelling Skills for the Real World

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BJU Press SpellingOne morning, my second-grade daughter was taking a heritage studies test when she complained, “Mom, this question doesn’t make sense.”

I came to look and immediately saw the problem. My husband, who writes the heritage studies tests for our daughter, had accidentally typed on instead of own so the resulting question was confusing. Once I fixed the spelling mistake, my daughter knew immediately what he was asking and was able to complete the test without much difficulty.

Poor spelling often leads to poor communication. Any mom who has received notes from very small children knows this. My five-year-old daughter often gives me invitations to pretend parties that she throws for her dolls. I usually have to ask her to confirm the details because I have no idea what words like kokes (cookies) and juse (juice) refer to.

Clear Communication

The main reason we teach our children spelling is because we want them to be clear communicators. One of the reasons I love the BJU Press spelling program is that it offers more than just a list of words to memorize every week. It uses an interactive approach to teaching so that my daughter will understand why words are spelled the way they are and will be able to apply reliable spelling patterns to words not on the weekly spelling list. This understanding enables her to apply what she’s learning to real-world written communication.

My daughter gets a lot of opportunities to practice written communication skills in spelling class because her student worktext is filled with writing activities such as writing a recipe, a letter, an invitation, or a journal entry.  My daughter has also learned how to use a dictionary and is regularly challenged to proofread short paragraphs.

Application

Even now, when my daughter sits down to write a thank-you note for a birthday gift or compose a creative story, she’s careful with her spelling and takes the time to look up how to spell words she doesn’t know. And every once in a while, she’ll point out spelling errors in the tests that my husband and I write for her. I’m proud of her—she’s a better speller than I was at her age.

If you’re interested, you can take a look at the Spelling 3 materials we’ll be using in our homeschool this coming year. I’m sure you’ll love them as much as I do.

STEM Activities and Real-World Learning

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stem activities and real world learning
Have you ever considered how no single career your child could pursue leads back to just one subject? An artist draws on knowledge gained in both math and literature classes, a historian uses skills learned in science class as well as in heritage studies classes, and an astronomer needs strong foundations in both math and science to be successful. Even as a writer, I find myself drawing on skills from all subject areas to do my job well. That’s why interdisciplinary studies—studies covering several subjects—are so important in education. And STEM in particular is a big deal for parents and teachers alike. Let’s take a closer look at the world of STEM learning and what your children get from these activities.

What Is STEM?

STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. You might also hear it called STEAM, which simply adds Art (or the arts) into the mix. But STEM and STEAM aren’t all that different because design is an inherent part in every such activity. STEM activities require students to use their knowledge in each area to complete a task or to solve a problem. For example, consider this activity for building a better thermos. Designed for high school students, the exercise is similar to an insulation experiment in Science 5. To complete it, students need to know something about heat and energy, they need to use technology resources to craft their container, they need to understand principles of engineering and design to make their container practical and functional, and they need math skills to measure the components and test the container.

Why Include STEM Activities?

STEM activities are a chance for your kids to apply otherwise isolated skills to real-world situations. In other words, it’s the reason your students have been learning all those weird math formulas and science facts. It’s one thing to learn how to calculate the surface area of an object in math and to understand how different materials and sound waves interact in science. It’s quite another to apply that knowledge to designing something to amplify sound coming from a small speaker. But doing STEM activities goes beyond simply applying skills.

STEM activities also help your children to understand what they can do. As Christians, we are called to be responsible caretakers of God’s creation. How can we take hold of that responsibility? What can we do for the world? The simple act of creating something that is useful and serves a purpose can help children to understand what they are capable of doing as human beings created in God’s image. God didn’t create some people to be geniuses who solve all of the problems and the rest of us to muddle through as best we can. God has given each of us tools to accomplish His will—whether in caring for His flock or His creation. STEM activities help your children to see how—through study and a bit of hard work—they can do some pretty cool things.

Does this mean that now you have to go and find a whole bunch of STEM activities to add to your lesson plans? Not at all. Chances are, many of your science and math activities already include elements of STEM, even if they’re not labeled as STEM activities. Just take the time with each activity to let your students learn everything they need to.

Teaching Preschoolers with a Biblical Worldview

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two children hugging

Our children are a gift, given to us from the Lord to train for His service. When your children are preschoolers, it may be difficult to imagine them as adults. You are probably just looking forward to the day when they will put on matching clothes or keep their bedroom neat. But in reality, we only have our children in our home for a very short time. We only have a very small window of time to teach preschoolers a biblical worldview, so we must start young because it can be one of the most valuable and foundational beginnings to our homeschool journey.

How do you teach preschoolers to think with a biblical worldview?

Homeschooling Language Arts from a Biblical Worldview

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letters

Thinking back to when I chose a curriculum for homeschooling language arts from a biblical worldview, I remember what I wanted my three young sons to learn most of all. Nothing was more important than them knowing the truth of the Bible—that God loves them, and that the greatest joy and purpose in life come from living in relationship with the God of the universe.

Of course teaching my boys these truths began way before the days of homeschooling. My husband and I began sharing a biblical worldview with our boys at home as we read our Bibles, prayed at bedtimes, explored the world God made, and celebrated holidays. Our church supported us as the kids learned in Sunday school, vacation Bible school, and worship. When the time came for the kids to begin school, my husband and I knew we wanted a homeschool curriculum that also supported our faith values. Since language is how humans learn all things, making sure our language arts curriculum was built on a biblical worldview was a priority.

Learn about language arts with a biblical worldview

Teaching Math from a Biblical Worldview in Your Homeschool 

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boy writing math equations on chalk board

If you have ever wondered whether it is necessary to teach math from a biblical worldview, you are not alone. Math seems like a neutral subject, driven by numbers, facts, and logic. But the very orderliness of math reveals a rational and orderly God. Biblical integration in math should do more than make reference to the Bible. Rather than merely trying to find math in the Bible, you want to help your students realize that God is at the foundation of all of life, including math. Teaching math or any subject from a biblical worldview means that your curriculum must start with the underlying assumption that the Bible is true and that it informs every area of life.

A Christian math curriculum assumes that mathematical and physical laws work because God created a consistent world. When you teach math from a Christian perspective, your student should come away with insight in how mathematical design shows God’s masterful work.

Learn about math from a biblical worldview