Tomorrow I get to teach a poetry lesson from Reading 2. My second-grade daughter and I are going to read Lillian Moore’s beautiful poem “Until I Saw the Sea.” I’m pretty excited because I get to introduce my daughter to an important literary device: imagery. [Read more…] about The Benefits of Studying Poetry
What Am I Accomplishing with My Time?
The other night I collapsed in bed after a long, exhausting day and took stock of my accomplishments. I couldn’t come up with much. Yes, I had sent two loads of laundry through the washer and dryer, but there were at least another three loads waiting for their turn. Yes, I had picked up dozens of stray toys and socks off the floor, but most of my house still looked like a disaster zone. Yes, I had spent over an hour fixing dinner, but three picky eaters had almost refused to eat it. It had been a discouraging day but not an unusual one.
As a stay-at-home homeschool mom, my days are filled with a lot of busyness. I stay plenty busy teaching as well as facilitating our Distance Learning courses. I never lack for dishes to wash, laundry to do, meals to make. But despite all the busyness, I rarely feel like I accomplish much.
On days like these, I often have to remind myself that my accomplishments are not always visible nor are there ever enough hours in the day to do everything. It’s essential for me to choose to spend my time doing the “best” things, the things that God wants and that will count for eternity. Here’s the list of “best things” that I try to focus on.
My Need for a Close Relationship with God
I can’t afford to cheat on this one—ever. For me, this means that I have to pull myself out of bed at 5:25 every morning. But the thirty minutes or so of quietness that I get to spend reading my Bible and praying is well worth it. This time fortifies my soul for all the craziness and unexpected turns of each day. (Psalm 119 records the myriad of ways that God’s Word benefits us, and in Psalm 145:18, God promises to be near those who call on Him.)
The Needs of My Husband
If my husband asks me to do something, that “something” moves to the top of my priority list once I’ve had my time with the Lord. It doesn’t matter whether the request involves making a phone call, sewing on a button, or taking the car in for an oil change. By making his needs my priority, I’m getting a chance to demonstrate love and submission. (Colossians 3:18 commands this of me!)
The Needs of My Children
My children have physical, spiritual, and emotional needs that take up a lot of my time. Sometimes it’s hard to pause my dinner preparations or my cleaning sprees and take the time to figure out the cause of an argument, patch up a scraped knee, or help a child through a challenging math problem. But when I readily put aside my own “to do” list, I’m demonstrating love and compassion to my children. (Titus 2:4 admonishes me to love my children, and John 15:12–13 helps me understand what true love really is.)
The Needs of Other Believers
Paul admonishes believers to “do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). Sometimes that might mean I cook extra so that we can take a meal to someone who needs it. Sometimes it might mean I let someone borrow our things. Other times, it might mean I take a few minutes to write someone a quick note of encouragement. The time I spend on these tasks is not wasted. It gives me a chance to exercise my spiritual gifts and show love to my brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Needs of the Unsaved
Every week my family and I minister at a Bible club for kids. Most of the children do not attend church and don’t know much about the Bible. Some come week after week. Others we only see once or twice. Whatever time that we have with these kids is precious because it is an opportunity to plant the seed of the gospel (or perhaps to water it). Again, I don’t consider this time wasted. Not only is it a good opportunity to teach my own children about ministry, but it’s also an opportunity to fulfill the Great Commission Jesus gave us to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:18–20).
Depending on your situation in life, your list of “best things” may look very different from mine, and my list certainly isn’t perfect. I struggle daily to keep my work properly balanced. Thankfully, I can claim the promise of James 1:5 and rest in the fact that God will give me wisdom about how to spend my time if I ask Him. He’ll give you that wisdom as well. So take some time at the beginning of this new year to prayerfully consider how God would want you to use the time He’s given you.
Learning About the Big Story in Reading
The world is preparing for yet another Christmas. My family enjoys a lot of things about Christmas—the lights, the food, the special family time, the gift-giving—but I don’t want us to become preoccupied with those things to the extent that we forget about why we celebrate the holiday in the first place. I want my children to understand how the Christmas story fits within the storyline of the Bible. BJU Press reading curriculum is helping me reach that goal.
One of the things I love about the third edition of Reading 2 is the Bible retellings. When BJU Press revised the curriculum, they added four Bible retellings (one in each reader) in order to help develop a child’s biblical worldview. These selections recount the main storyline of the Bible (Creation, Fall, and Redemption) and challenge the student to apply these worldview-shaping truths to other selections as well.
The first Bible retelling at the end of the first reader deals with the first two major parts of the biblical storyline—Creation and the Fall. Honestly, this was one of my favorite selections in the entire first reader, and I felt that it was one of the most profitable. My second-grade daughter has heard this story countless times at home, at church, and during the first couple of weeks of our Bible curriculum. But covering it during “reading class” was different because we were able, with the help of the Reading 2 Teacher’s Edition, to dig deep into the narrative. The questions in the Teacher’s Edition not only deepened my daughter’s understanding of the significance of Creation and the Fall but also paved the way for some needed spiritual conversations.
During this Christmas season, we’ll have the opportunity to read the second Bible retelling that’s located at the end of the second reader. This selection recounts the birth of Jesus and highlights how God fulfilled His promise to Adam and Eve by sending mankind a Redeemer. Again I’m impressed by the questions in the Teacher’s Edition. They will help my daughter understand the significance of the incarnation as well as its connection to the Creation/Fall narrative in Genesis. I’m already anticipating some good discussions about the evidences of true faith and the sovereignty of God. What wonderful truths to have on our minds throughout the Christmas season!
Later on this year, we’ll continue learning about God’s redemptive plan by reading two more selections: one about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and one based on future events foretold in the book of Revelation. Again, these selections cover material familiar to us. But they’re a vital part of my daughter’s education. They explain the big story of the world. They teach her to value the things God values. And they help her think biblically and rightly about the world around her.
Interested in learning more about this reading curriculum? View some sample pages from the student readers and the Teacher’s Edition of Reading 2.
Curriculum That Works Together
It happened for the first time during our second week of homeschooling this fall. After finishing her English lesson, my second-grade daughter pulled out her spelling book to look at the day’s assigned worktext page. “Mom,” she yelled excitedly, “alphabetical order! I just learned this in English. It’s like I’m doing English and spelling at the same time!”
Since we use BJU Press for every subject, this scenario happens a lot. Concepts from one subject frequently appear in another. Sometimes spelling words show up on our handwriting pages. Sometimes the same phonics generalizations highlighted in our weekly spelling list also get reinforced during our reading lessons. Sometimes my daughter gets to practice the capitalization rules she learned in English while she also practices handwriting. The overlapping of these concepts in different subject areas is a good thing—a very good thing, in fact—for the following reasons.
1. Repeating concepts aids comprehension
Most of us have probably heard that “practice makes perfect.” We probably even tell our kids that, especially at times when they’re struggling with a difficult skill. Repeating a task over and over usually does help people become more proficient at it. Good educators use this same idea in their teaching or writing (a method called “spiraling”). With this approach, concepts are repeated several times in different ways and in various contexts. Each time, the child understands the concept a little better.
2. Encountering concepts in multiple subjects encourages real-life application
Ultimately, we want our children to use what they’re learning in our homeschool environment in everyday life, especially in service to the Lord. We want them to be able to proofread a church bulletin, write a legible and error-free thank-you note, and research and evaluate information. When our children are exposed to the same concepts in different subject areas, they’re more likely to understand the broad application of that knowledge. No longer will capitalization rules only apply to English worksheets—as your child practices those rules in spelling, handwriting, and reading, he or she will likely get them right when writing a personal letter to a grandparent.
3. Reviewing concepts saves time
The overlap of concepts throughout a curriculum also has a big benefit for homeschool moms everywhere. It saves time. I get excited when I look at a lesson and realize that we’ve already covered a concept elsewhere. I don’t have to re-teach it. I just review it and move on, saving precious time in our homeschool day.
Watch this video to see the curriculum we’re using in our homeschool.
Does My Advanced Reader Need a Reading Curriculum?
Last spring, my daughter’s first-grade class took the Iowa Assessments®. The test confirmed what my husband and I already knew—my daughter excels at reading. At that point she was already reading at a third-grade level, and I have no doubt that her reading skills have only increased since then, considering that she reads during almost every spare moment of the day.
So why am I teaching Reading 2 this year? Why didn’t I skip Reading 2 and go straight to Reading 3? It’s not uncommon for homeschoolers to skip grade levels in certain subjects. It’s also common for homeschoolers to skip the reading curriculum altogether if they have a child who is an avid reader. So why do I use a reading curriculum at all? Why don’t I just let my daughter loose in the public library? Below are some of my thoughts as I struggled with some of these questions.
The Importance of Reading Choices
Many homeschoolers as well as educators in traditional schools write about the benefits of allowing students to choose their own reading materials. They argue that students who make their own reading choices read at a higher reading level than those who read only from a prescribed reading list. They’re right. Allowing students to choose what they read does result in higher reading comprehension. Why? When students are more motivated to read, they tend to choose materials that contain vocabulary they’re already familiar with.
My husband and I do give our daughter some freedom to choose her own reading material. She spends most of her free time reading historical novels that were written for a fourth- or fifth-grade audience. She’s being stretched as a reader, and that’s important.
The Power of a Reading Curriculum
But we knew that we also needed a reading curriculum. We needed a curriculum that would give me opportunities to teach my daughter literary and critical thinking skills so that she can wisely evaluate and appreciate what she reads.
BJU Press’s reading program combines a basal reader with the study of a novel in order to help me accomplish those very goals. I love all the opportunities I have to help her develop literary skills. Right now, in her first reading book, we are reading a dramatized version of the book A King for Brass Cobweb. Before we started reading, we discussed features of drama such as stage directions, the role of the narrator, and the separation of the plot into different acts. We also discussed some key vocabulary words such as what it means to be a citizen. All of that preparation work helped boost both her comprehension level as well as her appreciation for the piece.
BJU Press’s reading program also does a phenomenal job of teaching critical thinking skills. These higher-level thinking skills take time to develop, but they’re a critical part of the educational process. The development of these skills was one of the main reasons we decided to use Reading 2 this year (as opposed to using Reading 3).
Because of my daughter’s reading abilities, I have made some adjustments to the curriculum. I rarely spend any time on phonics although there is a phonics component to almost every lesson. Sometimes we pick up additional books from the library to supplement some of the nonfiction selections. I also use the included Book Activity lessons and Sustained Silent Reading lessons to encourage my daughter to read books that more closely correspond to her reading skills.
An Essential Combination
Letting a child choose his or her own reading materials or working through a reading curriculum are not mutually exclusive approaches to developing reading skills. Instead of pitting one approach against the other, use them both to develop reading skills and passion.
My daughter isn’t bored by her reading curriculum. She has enjoyed the selections that we’ve read and is always eager to start reading class. I am too. BJU Press has made it easy for me to share with my daughter my own enthusiasm for reading, and I’ve enjoyed watching her grow in her ability to critically evaluate and appreciate what she reads. However, I know that a lot of her reading success doesn’t come from the reading curriculum. It comes from her almost constant reading of books and other materials that she enjoys. Through them, she is developing a lifelong love of learning that will keep her mind challenged for years to come.
You can view the BJU Press Reading program I’m using here.