Ben

Remembering the 100th Veterans Day

November 8, 2018 by Ben

This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the end of World War I. It was a war that transformed the world and planted the seeds of conflict that would erupt again and again over the next century. But in the days immediately after it ended, Europeans were grateful to be free from the devastating war. More than 15 million people lost their lives during the war. Many today recognize the US military’s contribution to breaking the stalemate in France and bringing the war to an end.

Benefiting Others

America didn’t mobilize for war in 1917 to establish an empire. Our forces went across the ocean to counter an invading force in France. We went into the war knowing the risks. The use of chemical weapons and trench warfare meant more fatalities. Yet the American public grew convinced that Germany was at fault for the war. Americans were particularly outraged over the Germans’ unrestricted warfare (e.g., the sinking of the Lusitania and other brutal attacks on civilians). So without any interest in acquiring territory, America raised an army and built a navy to counter the German forces.

Making a Difference

American forces arrived at a crucial time. French troops had brought the German invasion to a standstill. In the end, they and their British allies were incapable of driving the enemy out. They needed help. At the same time Russia, collapsing into civil war, was ready to make peace with Germany—a development that would free thousands of German soldiers to move into France.

In a series of coordinated attacks (the Hundred Days Offensive) resulting in perhaps as many as a million Allied casualties, American, British, and French soldiers broke through the German lines. This was the bloodiest offensive American soldiers had ever participated in. The victory was decisive, and Germany was ready to admit defeat.

Celebrating Victory

Since the Armistice, or cease-fire, took effect on November 11 (at 11:00 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month), Americans established an annual commemoration of the victory on that day. Of course, the soldiers who survived were the celebrities of the celebration, which was only fitting. They were victorious warriors returning home. But they didn’t come back bringing the spoils of war. They came home with something far more valuable—the gratitude of the peoples of Western Europe. Every year since 1918, Americans have celebrated this event. Eventually, President Eisenhower renamed the celebration from Armistice Day to Veterans Day because we recognize the veterans not only of that war but also of subsequent wars.

Remembering Veterans Day

And Americans are not the only ones to pay homage. Every year Belgian schoolchildren make their way to a small American war cemetery at Flanders Field to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” to honor the fallen US soldiers who came to drive out the brutal invaders.

We in the United States have also benefited from their service and ought to give thanks. Around 18 million veterans of various American wars are still living. On this hundredth anniversary of the first Veterans Day, let’s honor their service for us.

Teaching the Constitution Early

September 13, 2018 by Ben

Recent surveys show that many Americans don’t know much about their own nation’s governing document. In our homeschool, one of our main objectives is to teach our children about the US Constitution. As believers, we want our children to exercise godly stewardship when it comes to voting (in the future). In order to help them understand the Constitution, we have decided to start early.

Framework

It’s important to provide children with an overview of the framework of the Constitution. A helpful place to begin is with the three branches our Constitution divides the duties of government into. Since our family is using BJU Press heritage studies textbooks, we introduce this concept in first grade. Every year, we repeat it—with more detail added each time. This might seem basic, but only one in four American adults can identify these branches, and even fewer can identify the duties of each. When children understand that the Constitution dictates who makes, enforces, and settles the laws, they have a solid working knowledge of what the it does.

If you’re wondering if your little ones are ready for something as big as the Constitution, remember that this is just an introduction. Also, you can teach them with hands-on-activities. I found that even our verbal learner was helped by doing an activity. You can read how we used Legos® to learn about the Constitution .

Narrative

One thing that often makes studying government documents dull is a narrow focus on the mechanics of governing. The learning is more engaging if you place the Constitution within a narrative context. The Constitution arose out of a certain set of historical events, such as Shays’ Rebellion. Studying the document within its historical context provides interest and understanding.

Narrative also helps us understand one especially critical part of the Constitution—the Bill of Rights. Throughout our history as a nation, various people, groups, and movements have attacked our liberties . For example, even our second president, John Adams, threatened our First Amendment right to free speech. Exploring these historical events can help children understand what their rights are under the Constitution and how they’ve often been threatened in the past.

Capstone

Even though we lay a framework and expand understanding, we need to pull it all together in a single course. When I was in high school, I joined another group of homeschool seniors and juniors for an in-depth study of American government. That class brought together the various threads of the Constitution I had learned through the American history I had studied over the years.

Teaching the Constitution enables our children to engage wisely. But if we try to pack it all into the final year of homeschooling, they’ll likely find it overwhelming and dull. Instead, we should attempt to give our children a foundation that they can build on all through the early years.

4 Reasons to Include Labs in Your Homeschool

August 16, 2018 by Ben

Let’s get real for a moment. Teaching high school science is intimidating. I still remember how nervous my homeschool mom was about high school science. When I got to physics, we couldn’t find any labs kits. It was a nightmare. My dad helped me do one physics lab without a kit. That single lab cost us around $75 in supplies. We also spent hours creating the tool we needed for the lab. And when we finished, it didn’t even work. We couldn’t collect reliable data, and I never finished that particular lab.

So what could my mom do? She knew she needed to keep homeschooling through high school—and that she needed to include labs. Before I tell you how she made high school labs work for our family, here are four reasons she was committed to teaching with labs.

1. Creational Approach

Science at its core examines the works of God. We’re looking at what He did at creation and how His creation functions. As much as nature documentaries and science textbooks can evoke awe and wonder at God’s creation, they’re only presenting what others have discovered by investigating God’s world. If we teach our kids science without incorporating close, hands-on examination of creation, we’re doing it wrong.

2. Deep Understanding

There were a number of chemistry concepts that I thought I understood. After all, I could ace the reading quiz. Then we did the lab over the concept. I discovered I didn’t understand it nearly as well as my quiz grade suggested. Labs are where head knowledge meets real-world experience and critical thinking. If I hadn’t completed the labs, I would have only superficial knowledge of chemistry without deep understanding.

3. Student Scientists

We aren’t teaching our children science so they can win on a TV game show or in a trivia competition. That would reduce science to superficial answers for esoteric questions such as, “Why is the sky blue?” That isn’t what science is at all. Instead, it’s a powerful tool for investigating and solving real-world problems. So when we teach our children science, we want them to act like junior scientists instead of students learning about science facts. Labs are where children act like scientists. This is especially true in high school science. We need labs to give our students the opportunity to behave like scientists.

4. Required Courses

Many states require lab sciences for high school graduation. And even if your state doesn’t, the college your son or daughter wants to attend may require it. And colleges may view non-lab science courses with suspicion. So how many labs should you include? A good rule of thumb is thirty hours of labs for each course. If you figure your setup time, lab time, and post lab time, each lab can last two to three hours. So aim for ten to fifteen labs.

Making Labs Happen at Home

So what did my mom do? She found kits. A number of kits helped us complete high school biology and chemistry. These kits made high school labs achievable. My sister and I could do most of these labs without any parental aid. They also made it affordable. We could have spent thousands of dollars if we had tried to pull together all the individual components that were in these kits. Instead, they cost my parents around $200.

For me, these lab kits made science creational, deepened my understanding, and gave me an opportunity to practice being a scientist.

At BJU Press, we’ve worked with Logos Science, Inc., to create lab kits for all of our secondary science textbooks and video courses. If you’re looking for something to help you bring labs to your homeschool, check out our Logos Science Kits.

God’s Word to His Creation

July 31, 2018 by Ben

Our family enjoys gardening together. Even our toddler likes to explore the climbing pea vines and touch the ripening tomatoes within her reach. In the South, we’re able to plant early. We can put out plants vulnerable to cold by the beginning of April so that we can start enjoying their fruit in May.

However, this spring, we experienced three late frosts. My eight-year-old enjoyed wrapping the plants with rags and towels to keep them safe from the light frost. Despite our efforts, we lost a zucchini plant and a bell pepper.

While we scurried around to keep our plants safe, it was comforting to reflect with my daughter that the Lord was holding all things in His hands.

The World—By His Word

Paul tells us that Christ holds all things together (Colossians 1:17). It isn’t that God created the world and left it to operate on its own without His intervention. He actively maintains it.

And Peter identifies God’s means of maintaining the world: His Word (2 Peter 3: 5–7). God keeps the world by the same word by which He created the world.

Snow—By His Word

In Psalm 147:15–18, the poet meditates on the role of God’s word in the coming and going of snow.

He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.
He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.
He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?
He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.

These images depict God’s word running across the face of the earth, scattering snow like wool. Then, He sends another word and it melts the snow. God is able to speak to every single particle in the universe. And since He is infinite, He still has unlimited capacity to listen to His people and answer.

The psalmist concludes that “he sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel” (Psalm 147:19). The word of God to creation and His written Word are laid side by side. So let’s compare these two sets of words.

Similarities

The words have the same author. And so those words have the same authority. His commands are perfect. And the Lord is unchanging. He’s consistent. He never fails to hold the sun together. And His precepts will never change.

Dissimilarities

God’s written Word is clear. While interpreters have disagreements about the meaning of some difficult passages, the vast majority of Scripture is plain, while His words to creation are unintelligible to us.

Another dissimilarity is how the words are obeyed. God’s words to creation are never disobeyed. Yet we routinely ignore the written words of God.

God’s Word and Natural Laws

Scientists have identified some theories that hold up under testing so often that they call them laws. I believe that the laws of science persist because the Lord is constantly speaking to creation. Bodies of mass always attract (something we call gravity) because of God’s speech. If the speech of the Lord is observed in creation, we ought to observe the effects of God’s speech in nature. These observation will help us know how to live well in God’s world by living according to His creation.

God’s Word and Creational Norms

When we adjust our lives according to the way God made the world, we are finding creational norms. These norms enable farmers to plow, plant, and harvest in a timely manner to bring in the most produce. In some cases, God gives us explicit instruction in His Word. But we often have little direct instruction from the Lord. So we study creation through the lens of God’s Word. We observe, experiment, and adjust. When we do so, we are “listening in on” God’s speech to creation.

Finding Norms

The education of our children enables them to identify creational norms. Their study of math, science, language arts, and history is a collection of discovered norms that they should incorporate into their lives to live well in God’s world. That’s why education is so important to our children. It’s also reason for the need to learn in the context of a biblical worldview.

Building Understanding with Negative Numbers

June 19, 2018 by Ben

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By the time I got to junior high, I was really confused about negative numbers. At first it was simple, but concepts like multiplying negatives and absolute value taxed my understanding. Of course, I joined in on the chorus sung by every math student who doesn’t understand what he or she is supposed to be learning: “When am I ever going to use this?” Once I reached high school, I realized that negative numbers play a significant role in science. Today, negative numbers play a major role in my problem solving in home budgeting and in business.

So how can we set up children for success when they start using negative numbers so they can solve ever more complex problems? The answer is exposure, development, and mastery. We need to expose children to significant concepts well before they need them to problem solve. Next we need to develop their understanding on the path to mastery. Then, children will be ready for success later on.

Exposing a New Concept

I’ve learned that with negative numbers you need to expose your child to the concept in the elementary grades. A good time to begin is in the second half of fourth grade. At this point in their math journey, children are ready to explore negative values but not quite ready to perform mathematical operations with those numbers.

If you live in a northern state, your child may have been exposed to negative numbers through real-life winter temperature. In the South, we’re never sure what to do when the mercury drops below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, so my daughters will need some other exposure to real-world negative numbers.

Interacting with Negative Numbers

So how do we introduce children to negative numbers? As with all math concepts, we need to make observations with our children as we do hands-on activities—but how? What makes negatives difficult for children initially is that you can’t look at or touch negative three apples.

The best way to interact with negative numbers is with a number line. Try the following questioning strategy for introducing your child to negative numbers.

Materials

You can use this printable, which includes the following:

Number line (from negative 9 to positive 9)
Markers to cut out

(BJU Press has also created a fourth-sixth grade manipulative kit that helps children learn this and other math concepts.)

Activity

Give your child the number line and the markers.
Ask your child to place the blue marker above the number 5. This will be a point of reference.
Ask your child to place the red marker above the number 7. Ask, “Which of the two numbers is larger?” and “Is it farther to the left or farther to the right?” Point out that the larger number is to the right and the smaller is to the left.
Direct your child to take the red marker from 7 and put it above the number 1.
Ask, “Now which number is the larger?” and “Is it farther to the left or to the right?”
Have your child move the red marker above number negative 1.
Ask, “What do we call that first number to the left of zero?” Your child might say, “Minus 1.” Explain that it is called negative one and that any time that negative symbol appears before a stand-alone number, it shows the number is less than zero.

Seeing the Math

This is a critical point because your child is going to compare two negative numbers. In your child’s experience, 7 has always been more than 1. But when both are to the left of zero (negative), the 1 is larger. This may seem obvious to an adult, but to a child it is counterintuitive. Allow your child to be “wrong” without correcting. You can set up the manipulatives so your child can see the difference.

Leaving the red marker on the negative 1, ask your child to move the blue marker to negative 7. Ask, “Which number do you think is larger, negative 1 or negative 7? Remember when we compared 1 and 5, which number was larger? Was it farther to the left or farther to the right?”
Now ask your child to compare negative 1 and negative 7 again. Say, “Remember if the number is the farther to the right, it’s the larger.” Then ask, “Which number is larger, negative 1 or negative 7.”
If your child is struggling with how this can be true, ask, “What would you prefer, to owe me one dollar or seven dollars?”
Explain that a negative number is like owing money when you don’t have any money at all. It is less than zero. So the bigger the numeral, the smaller or less the value.
Try comparing several more numbers.

Developing Understanding

This is a basic introduction to negative numbers. In the next few days, have your child try these exercises to develop his or her understanding:

Give your child a number line with negative 10, negative 5, 0, and 10 marked. Have your child fill in the rest of the numbers.
Create greater-than and less-than exercises for your child, using negative numbers.
Give your child a set of four or five numbers (including both negative and positive) to arrange from smallest to largest.
If your child is familiar with coordinate graphs, try extending the x to the left beyond the zero and the y down below the zero.

Try a variety of these activities over the next week or two. Never take more than twenty minutes or so, and make sure you are keeping the time engaging. You will want to revisit negative numbers again in fifth grade. Once you review what you’ve already covered, you can begin to introduce adding with negative numbers.

If you introduce, review, and develop a mathematical concept in the elementary years, your child will be prepared to be successful in junior high and high school math.

Ben