BJU Press Blog

Simplified Homeschool

You know that organization is the key to a smooth homeschool day. We share tips on planning your time and lessons as well as advice from other homeschool parents. There are also highlights from our Distance Learning daily video-lesson program, which is designed to simplify your homeschool.

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Don’t Just Google It: Seeking Counsel Mom-to-Mom

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Image of two moms drinking hot chocolate and having a conversation at the table.

It was our first house, and it needed some work. One of our first projects was tearing out the old stained carpet in the master bedroom. At a carpet store, we browsed the rolls of discounted carpet pieces, and the salesman convinced us to purchase a lonely roll that was supposedly of much higher plush quality than the other colors. The only problem—the color was white. At the time, we didn’t think having white carpet was a big deal, but we didn’t realize it would spotlight every speck of black sock fuzz and every minor stain.

We have all made major or minor decisions that we now regret. We might have avoided them had we taken the time to ask those with more experience for advice. Proverbs is full of instructions about seeking counsel from others, as in Proverbs 15:22 (NKJV): “Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.”

As I begin homeschooling, I want to intentionally seek out advice from wise mothers. Whether they’ve homeschooled their children or guided them through traditional school, they can lead me down a time-tested route and warn me about detours or potholes.

When I have a question about homeschooling, my first inclination, as a child of the digital age, is to Google it. While I’m thankful for the convenience and wealth of information online, I want to guard against the dangers of wasting time and having information overload. Before I realize it’s dinnertime, I have forty-six tabs open on my browser with opinions of people I don’t know from Adam.

If I lived fifty years ago and had a question on teaching or raising my children, the obvious course would have been to pray about it, talk with my husband, and call a trusted friend or relative. While the Internet brings the world together, it threatens to isolate us from true relationships. I know many wise, godly mothers that I can go to for counsel, and many of them happen to be homeschool moms as well. By approaching them, I’m going to sources I trust, and I’m building relationships with women who can encourage me and pray for me.

Seeking personal counsel is worth the extra effort, and integrating our lives with other believers’ lives is the biblical pattern. In Titus 2, the apostle Paul encourages the older women to mentor the younger women so that their lives might honor God’s Word. He told Titus to teach

the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. (Titus 2:3–5 NKJV)

So what about you? How have you found ways to balance the convenience of online information with the value of a trusted advisor? How do you balance social media with face-to-face relationships ?

Have Homeschool Questions? We’ve Got Answers.

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Questions are important. They help us all learn more. When you ask us a question, we at BJU Press are able to help you better understand our products and services. In turn, your questions help us learn when, where, and how we can better serve you. Sometimes the answers to your questions are helpful for others too. Today, we’re sharing a few questions that we frequently hear and our answers. We hope they help!

Question: How do I know if the edition I have is compatible with new materials?

Answer: While it is sometimes possible to make textbooks from different editions work together, we suggest using textbooks and support materials from the same edition.

As a general rule, when new editions are released not only are the page numbers and structure of the materials different, but much of the content is also new. However, sometimes we need to update the same edition of a textbook but only for copyright purposes. In that case the edition stays mostly the same and the new item’s title includes the words “copyright update.” These products may be compatible with earlier ones.

Something else to consider when deciding what edition to use is our limited supply of earlier editions. Once a product has been replaced by a copyright update or new edition, it is no longer being reprinted.

Question: I’m using Distance Learning (Hard Drive or DVD). Why did I not receive a Teacher’s Edition? Does my Parent Guide include everything I need?

Answer: Surprise! You do have access to a complete Teacher’s Edition (TE). As part of your Distance Learning Hard Drive or DVD lease, you can access your TE from your bjupresshomeschool.com account and even download the PDF to your personal device (computer, tablet, or smart phone). Follow the instructions below to locate and download your TE.

  1. Log in to our website using your email address and password. After entering your login information, the site will take you to your account info page.
  2. Select the Your Distance Learning Products link.
  3. If using more than one format of Distance Learning (such as DVD or Hard Drive) you will also need to select which formats’ (DVD or Hard Drive) materials you wish to view. Then you should see the options described in the next step.
  4. Select the View button for one of your Distance Learning products.
  5. If you’re interested in downloading the TE as a PDF, right click and select the Save As option.

When you order a DVD or Hard Drive kit, you will also receive a Parent Guide. This guide includes all the information you need to complete any grading or preparation mentioned by the Distance Learning teacher. It serves as a roadmap for that specific subject. For more details, watch the Printed Materials How-to Videos.

If you are a Distance Learning Online user, your TE can be viewed when you log in to your parent account.

Question: When should I start a structured learning schedule for my bright toddler? What grade math should I use for my delayed learner? How can I motivate my child to complete the lesson?

Answer: Those are great questions that either of our two homeschool consultants would love to discuss with you. Both Pam and Emily have homeschooled their own children and hold degrees in special education. Their thorough knowledge of all our products and previous teaching experience allow them to share insight with you. You can connect with them by emailing hsconsult@bjupress.com or calling 800.845.5731 (Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm ET)  and asking to speak with a homeschool consultant. They love assisting you in your homeschool journey!

Have a question that we didn’t answer? Feel free to write it in a comment below. We’re here for you.

A Homeschool Graduate Embarks on Teaching Her Own Children

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Hello, I’m Karin, and I’m excited to begin blogging with BJU Press to share my homeschool experiences and discoveries. My blog posts will offer a glimpse into our homeschool life, share practical teaching ideas and Deuteronomy 6 teaching moments, pass on tips from veteran homeschool moms, and discuss ways of balancing homeschooling with homemaking. We will draw strength from Scripture as we learn to trust and obey the Good Shepherd, who will “gently lead those who are with young” (Isaiah 40:11 NKJV).

In the picture above, the excited student sitting at her desk is me, twenty-plus years ago. My mother has faithfully homeschooled her four children and is currently finishing up with my youngest sibling in high school. BJU Press was the backbone of our curricula, and that’s what my oldest sister is now using to home educate her children.

I still remember the anticipation of opening a new box from BJU Press—interesting textbooks and colorful workbooks of my very own that would become quite familiar throughout the school year. One of my favorite times was when my siblings and I would gather on the couch to listen to my mom read us a classic book. We’d always beg for “just one more chapter.” When I was in junior high, we started using BJU Press Distance Learning, which at that time was broadcast via satellite. I laughed and learned through science classes with funny Mr. Harmon and grew in my love for writing and grammar with Dr. Seibert.

I so relished my homeschool experience that after high school I continued learning from home through CLEP tests and distance learning college courses. At Liberty University, I completed studies for my BA in interdisciplinary studies with concentrations in English and journalism. I have enjoyed writing and editing for three different Christian ministries, doing mostly contract work from home.

God blessed me with a Psalm 1 husband that I met at my church. He grew up going to church, but in college, when God convicted him of his sin and caused him to be born again (John 3), he trusted Christ as his Savior and Lord. He had a good experience as a child going to public school in a small town, but we both agreed that we wanted to home educate our children. God has blessed us with two children so far, and we feel the weighty responsibility of the mandate to raise them in the “training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4 NKJV).

Having been homeschooled myself, I’m not bound by idealist notions of a Pinterest-perfect homeschool room with an always prepared teacher and ever eager to learn students. I know it’s difficult since as a child I was a challenge to teach at times. I remember on several occasions walking into my mom’s room and finding her on her knees in prayer. Only by God’s grace can our children learn to fear God, which is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). Only by His saving work in their hearts—through repentance and faith in Christ—will they have a home in heaven and a heart for learning and serving in God’s world. So we fall on the mercy of God and ask Him for strength to teach our children, trusting Him to reach their hearts.

Let Your work appear to Your servants,
And Your glory to their children.
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands. (Psalm 90:16–17 NKJV)

Family Calendars

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A few weeks ago, I left my phone at home on a Sunday morning. I didn’t realize it until we were on the way to church. When I gasped and told my family, there was silence for a moment. Then my husband semi-facetiously said, “How will we know what to do today?”

Like most families, our calendar is jam-packed with soccer practices, music lessons, youth group activities, school projects, orthodontist appointments, and more. Meeting those obligations in a timely manner is an important life skill that I’d like my children to learn. Another goal of mine is to help them meet their obligations without any of us having to endure my endless nagging! Something that I’ve incorporated recently is the Google Calendar™ tool. My kids are in or near their teens now, so each of them has a mobile device or tablet.

 

In the Google Calendar™ tool, I’ve set up four different calendars—one master family calendar plus a calendar for each child. The master family calendar is for activities that the whole family needs to know about—church events, my husband’s business trips, and so forth. The individual calendars are tailored for each child (the other siblings don’t necessarily have access) and include soccer practices, homework milestones or due dates, doctor appointments, music lessons, and so on. I’ve set up alarms or reminders as needed. I’ve encouraged my kids to add their own events (and to-do items like chores and music practice) to their calendars. The various calendars have been helpful for me and for my husband too.

My two older children have done very well with the family calendar and refer to their own calendars regularly to make sure they’re prepared. My youngest still likes Mom’s personal reminders better.

What do you do to keep your schedule organized?

• • • • •

Jennifer has worked at BJU Press for over twenty years. A favorite aspect of her job is talking with home educators and teachers about their experiences. Jennifer is married, with three children. She enjoys cooking for her family, and is always ready to try a new recipe.

10 Tips for Your Homeschool Year

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How is your homeschool day going? Sometimes, you have a plan, are able to start the year following the plan, and everything goes according to that plan. (A miracle, right?) But other years the plan just doesn’t work for whatever reason—sickness, a new baby, family emergencies, new co-op classes, a new curriculum, and so on. In case you’re having one of those years when the original plan just isn’t working, here are a few suggestions for planning the entire school year and tips for when you need to readjust your plan.

 

Tip #1—Set goals for your school year.

While you’re scheduling your school year, encourage your children to set their own goals for their education. What are some things they’ve been particularly curious about or have wanted to know? Look for ways to incorporate those things into the overall academic goals, and your child will feel like an active participant in his or her education.

Tip #2—Get organized; stay organized.

All the books, papers, pens/pencils, and such can start to get out of control. Find a system that works for you and your kids to keep all their school materials organized. It may be a basket or drawer system that keeps all the work for one subject in one place. Or you may have a shelf designated for each child, and only his school stuff goes on that shelf. And those fun but easy-to-lose manipulatives? Try keeping them in manila folders or envelopes organized by month for easy access.

Tip #3—Make balance a priority.

Focus on developing a homeschool routine that is structured enough to accomplish your goals without losing sight of your students’ (and your!) need for occasional changes of scene and pace.

Tip #4—Maintain “administrator” unity in your homeschool decisions.

Dad and Mom need to be in each decision together so that the kids don’t get the idea that they can pit one parent against the other. The “teacher” supports the “principal,” vice versa, and the family as a whole contributes to the overall needs of the family.

Tip #5—Don’t measure the effectiveness of your schedule by other homeschoolers’ schedules.

Focus on tangible measurements of success—such as your children’s ability to apply textbook knowledge to real-life situations—and spend whatever time is necessary to encourage their growth. Do the best you can with the time you have.

Tip #6—Set and stick to regular homework deadlines.

Don’t let the convenience of a more fluid schedule distract you from an integral part of your child’s preparation for college and the workforce.

Tip #7—Organize a “school basket” for younger children to use during school hours.

Each younger child should have his or her own basket but only have access to it during the older children’s work hours. Fill the basket with fun activities, educational toys, interesting picture books, and puzzles that the child can do on his or her own.

Tip #8—Don’t let your curriculum completely determine how and what you teach.

Curriculum is a tool—a wonderful tool—but only you can decide how best to use it for your children. Capitalize on your students’ learning strengths while alternating with other learning styles to help them grow. For example, consider reading tests and homework assignments aloud to aural learners while having them follow along on the printed pages.

Tip #9—Keep detailed academic records.

You’ll need a selection broad enough to show your child’s curve of improvement throughout the school year. Remember, you can always throw out unneeded papers later, but you can’t get them back once they’re gone.

Tip #10—Enjoy homeschooling!

Life is short and you only have so much time with your children. The more prepared you are for the school year, the more time you will have to enjoy it and your children.

What other tips would you add to this list?