Ben

It Is God That Teaches

March 1, 2016 by Ben

“For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him” (Isaiah 28:26).

My family recently received some flower bulbs to plant. The package told us to plant them in early spring. Of course, our children wanted to plant the bulbs right away and asked why we needed to wait.

“Because the package says to wait or the flowers will die in the ground.”

“How does [the package] know when to plant?”

I really didn’t have a good answer for my daughter. Actually, I myself don’t know how farmers figured out when to plant different bulbs. But the Lord knows. In Isaiah 28, He asks the people of Israel a rhetorical question. To paraphrase the question, God asks the people of Israel if farmers prepare the earth by plowing and then plant different seeds in their appointed places (Isaiah 28:24–25). The answer is, of course, yes. That’s what good famers do.

If you asked those farmers who taught them to carefully prepare for harvest, they would probably say, “My father and his father before him.” But God declares that He is the one who instructs the farmers how to plant their crops (Isaiah 28:26).

Careful Attention to Creation

So how exactly did farmers learn how to effectively grow crops? The Lord didn’t reveal these methods in the Bible. In the beginning, God created the world to function in certain ways. Even after the Fall, God’s world works in predictable ways. When farmers pay careful attention to creation, they learn to use it to serve their needs. So every farmer who discovered an effective way to produce crops learned from God’s good creation. Or in the words of Isaiah 28:29, every one of these advances “cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” Yes, the farmers learned from their fathers, but that knowledge ultimately came from God.

God Teaches in Education

The instructions for planting and caring for my family’s new bulbs come from skilled horticulturalists, who have learned from God by studying His world. If we follow their instructions in the spring, we’ll enjoy beautiful flowers.

And the same principle applies to other knowledge. When we open a science book or math worktext, we’re beginning to learn about how God has ordered creation. Have you learned about gravity and long division? Have you mastered an algebraic formula or dissected a fish? When we do, we’re learning from God.

When Christians, including children, study with faith in the Creator, they’re worshiping Him. For it is God that teaches.

March Events

February 25, 2016 by Ben

The month of March is full of memorable events you can include in your homeschooling. Check out these highlights.

March 2, 1836

Texas declared independence from Mexico. Texans had been fighting small garrisons of Mexican soldiers since October of the previous year. The Texans disagreed over the purpose of their fighting. Some wanted Mexico to return to an earlier, less restrictive constitution. Others were interested in independence. When the Mexican central government dispatched an army under the leadership of General Santa Anna in February, the rebels began to unify by establishing the Republic of Texas. The Battle of the Alamo was underway while the Texans were declaring independence. I enjoyed visiting the Alamo in San Antonio with my family when I was homeschooled.

March 10, 1876

Alexander Graham Bell placed the first telephone call in the history of the world. It was to an assistant in the next room. Among the most prolific communication technology inventors, Bell used creativity and determination to serve generations. His exercise of dominion allows us to create communication connections with ease. So let your children pick up the phone and call a family member or friend!

March 15, 44 BC

Julius Caesar was assassinated. (Every year I use the Shakespearean phrase to warn my children: “Beware the ides of March!”) Caesar’s death sparked the final civil war of the Roman Republic. At the conclusion of the war, the Caesar Augustus mentioned in Luke 2:1 established an empire and a general peace within the Roman Empire. God choose this period of military peace to send His Son and to begin building His church.

March 20, 1852

Harriet Beacher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Her depiction of the realities of slavery encouraged the abolitionists in the 1850s, but the supporters of slavery were enraged. Stowe’s work illustrates the power a novelist can wield in society. When we teach our children about this book and its effect, we should point out that the literary skills they’re learning, such as theme, plot, character, and so on, are useful and not a waste of time.

March 24, 1882

Robert Koch announced his discovery of the cause of tuberculosis, a previously mysterious disease. Koch had been developing methods for identifying organisms that cause diseases for Germany’s department of health. By isolating the bacterium that caused tuberculosis, he laid the groundwork for developing a treatment. In 1905, Robert Koch was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery. What a tremendous use of science to show love to one’s neighbor!

March 30, 1870

The Fifteenth Amendment went into effect, guaranteeing that the federal government would defend every citizen’s right to vote. This amendment to the Constitution was the final one in a group of three amendments that eradicated slavery and established protections for the rights of all citizens. In this election year, we can remember that it is the fifteenth amendment that protects our right to vote.

Is there a special event I missed? Let me know in a comment what your family is remembering this month.

Quizzing with Hands-on Activities

January 19, 2016 by Ben

The Lord has gifted my first two daughters very differently. My six-year-old enjoys quiet, motionless activities such as reading. Even before she could read, we would find her curled up with a picture book, soaking in the illustrations. Our second daughter is always in motion. Even when she colors, she bounces in her seat. She seems to learn best when she is moving. She is four now, and we’re still working on letter and shape recognition. In a standard learning environment with pencil and paper quizzes and tests, she probably wouldn’t get good scores. For example, if my daughter was in second grade and had to sit still long enough to label a map, she probably wouldn’t do well—not because she isn’t capable, but because she learns best through activity.

More Than Pencil and Paper

The good thing is that away from public schools and high-stakes testing, there’s more freedom to adapt the learning to the child. Activity-based learners, like my four-year-old, can engage in hands-on projects to master what’s being taught. After reading together, we can playact a story to improve reading comprehension. Our driveway can become the “paper” and sidewalk chalk the “pencil” when we practice writing our names.

Such activities can not only aid in teaching but can also help us measure or grade our children’s progress. Some children adeptly learn new material but aren’t skilled at filling out those bubble sheets or regurgitating a set of facts on paper. We can use an activity-based project to gauge our child’s progress even in a subject such as geography, where mastery is often measured by labeling a blank map with a memorized list of places.

Global Balloon Positioning

As a dad, I want my daughter to show us what she’s learned. I can’t imagine her (even two or three years from now) sitting her active little body down with a black-and-white image of the world and labeling the continents. But what if she could show her knowledge of the continents with scissors, tape, a balloon, and a rubber band? The BJU Press Heritage Studies 2 Teacher’s Edition includes this learning exercise. By completing the activity my child could demonstrate her understanding of the poles, the equator, and the relative location of the continents. I know my four-year-old would love and excel at this activity. While she was having a great time with her scissors and tape, we could “grade” her progress in developing map skills. It’s a win-win.

Memorize, Draw, Label, Repeat

It’s easiest to teach and grade with pencil and paper. It makes teaching and grading “standard.” But God uniquely formed each of us in our mother’s wombs. So we look different, we have different abilities, and we learn differently.

While some children excel when you have them memorize a map, draw a map, label a map, and repeat; other children do well when they’re moving. Others learn best when they can listen and then talk through the concept. It’s a blessing that we can individualize the learning for the children God has blessed us with.

Last Chance for Stanford 10!

January 7, 2016 by Ben

It’s that time of year—time to start planning for spring standardized testing. Remember, these tests shouldn’t be “high stakes.” They’re more like a checkup that monitors growth. When I was a kid, I loved testing. I was tested by our local homeschool support group every year from first grade through eighth grade. I know standardized testing was a headache for my mom (she coordinated the whole thing for about forty families), but it was great for us kids. There were three half-days of testing. Each day after our testing, we’d get to play together for a couple of hours. And when we were all finished, we had a huge pizza party.

Here at BJU Press we just finished mailing out our 2016 Testing Catalog this week. If you’re used to using the Stanford Achievement Test Series (known as Stanford 10), this is an important year. Pearson, the publisher of the Stanford 10, is discontinuing the test after this year. Pearson is also discontinuing the related abilities test called the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test^® (or OLSAT^®).

If you’re looking for an alternative to the Stanford 10, the Iowa Tests^® are a good option. The homeschool support group that my family participated in switched from Stanford to Iowa Tests when I was in third grade. In fact, the Iowa Form C is the most up-to-date standardized test available. BJU Press enables you to test any time of the year with the Iowa Tests. You can browse the Iowa Tests on our homeschool website. If you decide to use the Stanford 10, here are a couple of important dates to keep in mind.

April 30 is the last day to order Stanford Tests.

May 31 is the last day to send completed Stanford Tests back for scoring.

It’s very important to observe these dates. BJU Press is not permitted to fulfill any Stanford Tests orders after April 30, 2016, or to score Stanford Tests after May 31, 2016. And of course, no one wants to do standardized testing in the summer anyway . . .

Happy testing!

Starting History Close to Home

December 8, 2015 by Ben

Several years ago my wife and I bought our first home. It’s in the older part of town, and right outside the back door are the remains of a textile mill. A hundred years ago, when our house was built, the mill stood in the middle of a bustling village. Most of the inhabitants worked at the mill. There were a grocery store, several schools, some churches, and a mill-owned bowling alley. But today, the textile mill is out of business.

Since we moved into our home, I’ve had various opportunities to talk to the older residents in my neighborhood. Many of them worked in the mill back when it was producing textiles. They tell the history of their town with a mixture of pride and sadness—pride in what they enjoyed in their earlier lives, but sadness about the languishing state of their community. Their histories help me understand my community.

A Preschooler’s First Questions

As we drive across town, my oldest daughter asks questions about our community. “Where do we live?” “Why is that big building (textile mill) there?” These are natural questions for anyone to ask about their surroundings. It’s also natural to begin teaching history here, where our family lives. Knowing the history of our community helps me answer the questions my daughters ask, like “Why has our neighbor lived there so long, but the other house has a new family in it every few months?” The histories I learn help answer her natural questions.

One Sunday evening we were looking at the globe at church when she asked another natural question. “Where do we live?” We found our state, and then I explained that we live in a country called the United States of America. It is quite normal for anyone to ask questions about places and events closest to them. That tendency is natural and good. It helps people gather the information they need.

Family, Community, Nation, World

Our children should learn about their families, their communities, and then their nation before learning about the broader world. When you approach history in this fashion, it’s called expanding horizons. Children learn about their own families first, and a good curriculum teaches them a biblical perspective on families. It then explains the features of their community.

At this point, it’s appropriate to teach children about their nation’s history. They need to know their own heritage so they understand their own country, its symbols, its past, and most important, its people. Once they master a basic understanding of their country, they’re ready to begin learning about the rest of the world.

Knowledge of the Past to Serve in the Present

Providentially, my family is in America. We’re grateful for the place and time God has placed us in. And as citizens of His kingdom, we need to act in His interest. To do so skillfully, we need to understand our own nation here on earth. That’s why my wife and I want our children to have a thoroughly biblical worldview of America’s history. When our children understand the origins of our laws, institutions, conflicts, and people, they will be prepared for wise stewardship of their American citizenship for God’s glory.

Are your children receiving a firm American history foundation before learning other nations’ histories? Provide them this foundation with BJU Press Heritage Studies.

Ben