BJU Press Blog

JourneyForth

Teaching the Constitution Early

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The Constitution of the United States
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.

 

The Story Behind Benjamin’s Sling

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When JourneyForth approached me about writing a Christmas picture book, I jumped at the chance. What could be more enjoyable? I loved writing, I loved the poetic possibilities of the picture book genre, and I loved Christmas. Of course, this was something I wanted to do.

But as I tossed around ideas for the project over the next several weeks, I couldn’t seem to settle on anything. What could possibly be said about Christmas that hadn’t already been said? Or perhaps the better question was how the age-old truth about the meaning of Christmas could be presented in a fresh way. I began to pore over the accounts of Christ’s birth in Scripture, and then I turned to mining my own experience.

book cover of Benjamin's Sling by Eileen BerryThe year before, my mother had become ill suddenly and unexpectedly. At Christmastime she had been a healthy, fun-loving woman in her sixties, still full of energy and zest for life. Then in May we learned that a form of cancer she had battled years before had recurred. I was able to spend only one last week with my mom before she entered the Lord’s presence on June 1, 2008. During the busy days following her death, I was a little numb, and I knew that God’s grace was carrying our family. But when the visits and cards of faithful friends stopped coming and life returned to a semblance of “normal,” I struggled with an emotion I had not expected to feel. I was afraid. I feared that the hollow feeling inside would never go away. I worried that others in our family would develop the same kind of cancer. I was afraid of experiencing more loss.

Gradually in those painful months, I came to realize that my problem was not caused by externals. My fear did not arise from my circumstances. It came instead from a fundamental problem between myself and God. I was afraid to trust the Lord who had redeemed me, written my name on His hands, and proven Himself to me over and over again. He was asking me to trust Him alone—with my past, with my present, with my earthly and eternal future, and with the future of those I loved. After all, He is utterly trustworthy. He can never be or do anything other than good.

When I looked back on all God had taught me over that year before the writing assignment, I knew that my Christmas story had to include both grief and fear. The problem Benjamin the shepherd boy faces is very similar to the one I dealt with. He has experienced loss, and he is afraid to trust. The solution to the problem is the truth of the gospel. Jesus Christ was born to abolish death forever for those who trust Him. He can be utterly trusted. Once I knew what must happen in Benjamin’s heart, his story seemed to write itself. It’s my story. And I hope that it’s your story too.

Read Cosette’s review of Benjamin’s Sling.

Daniel: Courage for Teen Leaders

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JourneyForth’s The Daniel Dilemma: Real Courage for Real Life by Rand Hummel is the perfect Christmas gift to jump-start your teen’s study of Scripture in the new year. After hearing adults sing Daniel’s praises for years, your teen may view the prophet’s youthful diligence and lifelong loyalty in the face of immense pressure as a little unreal. In this book, Hummel succeeds in lifting Daniel off the flannelgraph, fleshing him out, and polishing him to a brilliant sheen. Even better—he showcases Daniel’s great God. 502369

The Daniel Dilemma is divided into two sections. The first tells Daniel’s story with due attention to what he was really up against. Talk about a stressful life! Hummel points out that Babylon’s strategies of isolation, indoctrination, identification, and intimidation are the same ones used to cripple Christians today. From Nebuchadnezzar to Belshazzar, the enemy’s darts─pulled from Satan’s age-old arsenal of “brainwashing” techniques─were custom-made for Daniel. And today’s teens are the new target—as they make their way in a largely nonbelieving world. But the author goes on to show that it was the consuming desire of Daniel and his companions to glorify God that steadied and kept them faithful in middle of the political storms the Lord put them through.

The second half of the book is an in-depth look at what constitutes courageous leadership. Scripture texts from Daniel introduce each chapter, and Hummel follows up with practical application, personal testimony, and anecdotes—all communicated in the fatherly tone forged by the author’s many years as a youth pastor and camp evangelist. Enumerating fourteen “laws of courageous leadership,” Hummel tutors his readers in how to be what he terms “show and tell Christians.”

The Daniel Dilemma: Real Courage for Real Life will help teens to better know Daniel’s God as their God—the strength of every generation in the face of any temptation.

Read a sample chapter of The Daniel Dilemma: Real Courage for Real Life.

Meet Nick Newton

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Jumping into the world of Nick Newton is like waking up in a faraway place in an imaginary era. The abundance of intriguing gadgetry immediately establishes Nick Newton Is Not a Genius by S. E. M. Ishida as fanciful. But there’s something captivatingly simple and wholesome about this family of eccentric artists and inventors that will remind readers of a bygone era.

The story opens with everyone trying to decide what to do about Nick. His application to genius school has been rejected, leaving his parents scrambling to find an alternative source of quality education for him. (Being a non-genius makes him somewhat of a novelty in his family.) After observing the limited success of homeschooling conducted by the family’s butler, Nick’s parents decide to place the fifth grader in the school of a Mr. Solomon Volk, who was himself a bit of an academic misfit and whose school is run almost exclusively by robots.

Robotics is not new territory for Nick Newton. Having found a robotic bird in pieces in his attic, he reassembles it and takes it for his personal pet. So Nick feels right at home in the Volk Institute. But his school days are soon marred by a tragic error in judgement that ultimately unites him and his teacher in a common cause—the quest for a mechanical heart. Uncertain as to whether a prototype still exists, they embark on a determined search that leads them to an untidy mansion, a lonely widow, and the name Draicot. Never could Nick have anticipated the history he would uncover in their search and how the discovery would help him piece together certain elements of his own life.

Chock full of respect for family values, brimming with the-sky’s-the-limit creative energy, and ending with the satisfying triumph of the extraordinary, Nick Newton Is Not a Genius by S. E. M. Ishida is a launching pad to send the imagination of your young reader soaring!

Do You Have a Girl in the Mirror?

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231423 The Girl In The MirrorBack when I was growing up, face time could have referred to the hours my peers and I spent critically evaluating our faces in our bedroom mirrors, playing with different hair and clothing styles, and yes—removing any annoying zits that dared to tarnish the “landscape.” No one had to tell us to be sensitive about appearances, and no one had to coax us to (unwisely) compare ourselves to others. That’s what teens are famous for as they go through that time of searching not only for acceptance but also for answers.

Those of us whose outlook on life used to be entirely peer-driven want more for our own daughters (and granddaughters). We find as parents that our young people are quite unaware of how deeply we yearn to be positive role models—examples of strong and consistent faith that will mold their values during these crucial years. And we welcome tools that offer them the biblical perspective, which is so at odds with the pop culture that surrounds them.

The Girl in the Mirror, JourneyForth’s signature Bible study for teen girls, is a trustworthy and appealing venue of instruction for the young women who are important to you. Drawing primarily on the book of Proverbs and especially the Proverbs 31 woman, author Michelle Grover addresses such teen-relevant topics as Christian fidelity, dependability, appearance, relating to authority, sound speech, personal discipline, and many other aspects of a teen’s public and private life. The author’s approach is sympathetic, personal, and grounded on the premise that the fear of the Lord offers the only solid foundation for godly womanhood.

Presented in easy-to-follow lessons with questions and fill-in-the-blank follow-up answers, The Girl in the Mirror is well-suited for group interaction as well as personal Bible study. Notably feminine in its approach, you’ll find Grover’s priorities completely in step with your own as a Christian parent.