Successful Learning

You want your children to succeed in their education. We do too. We offer practical tips for teaching your children math, science, writing, and more! These tips can be applied to any homeschool curriculum. There are also highlights of our new textbooks with examples of how our curriculum trains your children to have success in their learning.

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Make Your Kindergarten Curriculum Work for You

How to Teach Paragraph Writing

Quizzing with Hands-on Activities

Why Teach History From a Textbook, Even at Home?

October 22, 2015 by Ben

I love standing in the history section of the library and scanning the titles that line the shelves. Historical narratives tell true stories that are far more captivating than fictional stories. That’s why I head for that section of the library most often. Here are a few history narratives I’ve read recently.

City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas by Roger Crowley
The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan by Russell Shorto
Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan

These and other well-written historical narratives grip my attention as well as providing analysis and insight on the past. As a history enthusiast, I’m tempted to share these books with my daughters as soon as they’re capable of reading at that level. The founding and development of Dutch Manhattan is fascinating, but most textbooks only give it one or two paragraphs!

Can’t children just skip the history textbooks and get straight to these gripping stories?

I don’t believe they should. History textbooks play a vital role in children learning about the past. There are two reasons I want my girls to learn about history through textbooks before they read books like the ones I listed above.

The first reason is related to helping children learn about history the best way—through organized units of information that are balanced and chronological. History textbook authors put information into digestible portions, making it easier for children to master. But the real key is balance when it comes to historical figures and events. That way, children begin to grasp the comparative significance, for example, of the Teapot Dome Scandal and the Great Depression. The textbook also provides clarity on sequence in a narrative form.

As you can see from the titles I’ve mentioned, if my daughters’ history education focused on my favorite historical narratives (or even their favorites) it could create problems in their understanding of the past. They might be confused about the order of certain events. Their knowledge of the past would skew towards my interests. Just as a building’s framework provides structural form and support to everything that comes next, a historical framework (provided by history textbooks) will provide form and support for my daughters’ understanding of the past.

The second reason I want to use history textbooks relates to the worldview I want to teach my children. History is not just an account of events, actors, and places. It is an interpretation of the historical data. And all historians have a perspective that shapes their interpretation of the past.

Take for example Nixon and Mao, a fascinating account of skirmishes on the Russia-China border, ping-pong diplomacy, and Kissinger’s trip to China—a trip so secret that even the State Department didn’t know about it. MacMillan’s book would interest anyone intrigued by the Cold War. But her book isn’t without worldview implications. She makes this point in The Uses and Abuses of History, another one of her books on writing history:

In a secular world, which is what most of us in Europe and North America live in, history takes on the role of showing us good and evil, virtues and vices. Religion no longer plays as important a part as it once did in setting moral standards and transmitting values.

In Margaret MacMillian’s assessment, religion no longer gives us our worldview—history does. I enjoy this author’s work, but I don’t want her works of history to shape my children’s worldview. Instead, my family uses a tool that provides an organized and biblical worldview of the past. That tool is a BJU Press Heritage Studies textbook written from a biblical worldview.

One day, I want my daughters to enjoy learning about Nixon’s Chinese diplomacy and other historical narratives. But before they learn about these places and events, I want them to have a framework for these events. And that framework needs to be constructed on the foundation of a biblical worldview. After that framework is in place, my daughters can learn about the past from varied historians and correctly evaluate the worldview of those historians.

Taking the Learning Outdoors

October 20, 2015 by Guest Writer

One of my favorite things about being homeschooled was taking a field trip on a whim, whenever the weather was especially beautiful. My brother and sister and I loved going on picnics, taking hikes, or visiting a blueberry patch during the late summer and fall. If a crisp, clear autumn day arrives, bringing with it incredibly blue skies and fresh breezes, call a field trip day and take the education outdoors. Check out these fun, fall-friendly excursions that are also learning opportunities for you and your kids.

Farm or Orchard

If you live in the United States, you probably have an orchard or a farm within driving distance of your home. Autumn weather is never more delightful than when you and your kids are out among the trees, picking apples with your own hands, or scouring a pumpkin patch for the perfect pumpkin pie. Often, farms and orchards have a few animals that the kids can feed, a hayride or tractor ride, or other enjoyable activities.

While you’re having fun, you can add an educational emphasis with a discussion of seeds, farming methods, and growth cycles. Your kids may have some questions to ask the farm or orchard personnel, so encourage them to speak up and take an active role in their own learning experience.

Zoo

With the cooler weather beginning, it’s a great time to visit the zoo. Instead of sticking to the shade and staying still as they did during summer’s heat, the animals are more likely to be active, so your kids will find the excursion more fascinating. Remember to bring along water, snacks, and a camera.

If you take time to read the posted information about each animal, the kids learn even more than they would through simple observation. Once you get home, you can look up more interesting facts about the animals that your family encounters.

Nature Preserve or Park

Fall weather gives you the perfect opportunity to take your kids on a nature walk or a hike. If your children are small, try a short walk through a patch of forest. For older kids or teens, a longer hike through a local nature preserve or state park is a treat.

A small bag or backpack for each child will allow them to collect treasures such as colorful leaves, unique rocks, or other found objects. You could bring along notebooks to sketch or write down the interesting things that you see during the hike. Why not give an older child a camera to snap photos of animals, plant life, and interesting rock formations?

If you plan a lengthy autumn expedition to the farm, the zoo, or the park, remember to layer clothing. Jackets are essential during the chilly early morning. Later, when the sun and the exercise warm everyone up, you’ll need an empty tote bag to stuff the jackets in so that you can carry them easily. Whether you’re talking about tree life cycles, crop rotation, or animal habitats, you can blend fresh air and a good education with fall field trips.

• • • • •

Rebecca is a work-at-home freelance writer, novelist, wife, and the mom of two bright-eyed little ones. She credits her success in writing and her love of books to her own mom, who homeschooled three kids from pre-K through high school.

Learning the Value of Grammar Lessons

October 6, 2015 by Megan

Many high schoolers question the usefulness of studying grammar. I know I did.

My parents started homeschooling when I was in seventh grade. I was a good student and had stayed on the honor roll throughout elementary school. I loved learning and generally spent my spare time either reading or typing out stories on my family’s computer. I enjoyed my distance-learning history and literature classes enough that I often watched the videos twice. But I loathed the English class in the distance-learning program that my parents chose.

During that class, I rarely paid attention, choosing instead to either doodle in the back of my notebook, write stories, or get a head start on the evening’s homework assignment.

I had several reasons for disliking English. Minor reasons included the fact that the teacher on the videos was annoying, the textbook was visually uninteresting, and I never felt like I learned anything new. But the main reason that I hated the class was that the content seemed useless. The distance-learning program that we used (not BJU Press) was effective at drilling the course content into my head, but it failed to answer my burning question of why the content should be learned in the first place.

It wasn’t until a few years later when I took a missions trip to Micronesia that I began to understand the usefulness of grammar. That summer, I traveled with some friends and spent almost a month on Majuro, the main island of the Marshall Islands with my aunt, uncle, and cousins, who were missionaries there. During our stay, my uncle gave us daily lessons in Marshallese. I had expected to learn a collection of useful Marshallese phrases such as “How are you?” “How much does it cost?” and “Where is the restroom?” Instead, we talked about things like pronouns and verb tenses and where to place adjectives in relation to nouns. All those grammar exercises in English class were finally coming in handy! I was so thankful that I knew the “lingo” of language. I knew what adjectives and pronouns were, and I knew the role they played in sentence structure. That knowledge helped me immensely, and I was able to learn quite a bit of Marshallese during that brief time.

Three years later, I was a sophomore in college taking an expository writing class and learning another use for all those grammar exercises. That semester, my professor used a lot of terms like gerunds, participles, and nominative absolutes as he tried to challenge us to experiment with sentence structure to create compelling prose. Again, I was thankful for those years of studying grammar. I knew the terms as well as the concepts, and that knowledge was helping me become a better writer.

Seeing grammar at work in the real world got me excited. I was beginning to see grammar not as a tool for torturing students but as an essential part of producing clear, God-honoring communication. I realized students needed to be taught grammar through this worldview lens. And I decided that I wanted to teach them. This former English-class-hater actually ended up pursuing a master’s degree in English education.

In the providence of God, I’m not currently teaching grammar in a classroom. I’m a stay-at-home mom with three daughters. But someday soon I will begin teaching them the fundamentals of English grammar. And from the very beginning, they will know its value.

Remember These Dates in October

September 29, 2015 by Meredith

Big advances have taken place in transportation during the month of October in American history. There were cars, and ships, and rockets—oh my!

October 1

The Model T was introduced by Henry Ford in 1908. It could go as fast as forty-five mph! For almost twenty years, this cheap, reliable car dominated the auto industry because of the increase in car production as a result of the assembly line. See how the “Tin Lizzie” impacted transportation in America.

October 4–10

This week is Fire Prevention Week. Teach your kids fire safety and preparedness with these activities from Sparky the Fire Dog^®. It’s also a good idea to practice what everyone in your family should do if your house catches on fire.

October 11

Apollo 7 launched into space on this date in 1968 with astronauts Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham on board. It was the first mission to fly after the fatal Apollo 1 accident and kept us on track for reaching the moon. The space flight lasted ten days and twenty hours. During part of that time, the first live television broadcast from space was recorded. Take some time to explain an astronaut’s rocket launch and reentry process to your kids with this Space Coloring Page created by a BJU Press illustrator. My favorite picture is the parachute one!

October 12

Columbus Day is named after the explorer Christopher Columbus, who ironically never reached the North American mainland. So what’s important about today? Don’t Celebrate Columbus Day offers a biblical lens through which you can discuss the actions of Columbus with your kids.

October 19

In 1781, the British surrendered at Yorktown, recognizing that the Americans had won. This event formally ended the American Revolutionary War, but some fighting did continue until 1783. Without the support of French troops and warships allowing Washington’s total forces to trap the British in Virginia, the battle could have turned out quite differently!

October 29

The Stock Market crashed on “Black Tuesday” in 1929. Prices on the market continued to decline for three years during what we now call the Great Depression. During this period of time, millions of people lost their jobs and had little money for food and other necessities. There were many factors that contributed to this financial crisis in our nation’s history. Find four simple ways to teach financial lessons to your kids so that they can make good choices now and in the future.

Hands-on Learning Involves the Whole Mind

September 17, 2015 by Meredith

Family gatherings provide memorable educational experiences. When my dad’s side of the family gets together, we often spend time gazing up at the night sky. It can make for a long evening, but the whole experience is worth it!

Our family scientist sets up his telescope, someone checks the weather, and another person might pull up a star map of the night sky while the rest of us get chairs and blankets to make our hours outside in the cold night air more comfortable.

Once we’re all outside, the “lesson” gets started. We take turns viewing the surface of the moon, a nearby planet, or a passing meteor shower. Conversation centers on the local weather conditions, the size of a celestial object, the color something appears to be and why, or the speed of an object moving through our galaxy. Sometimes we just sit in awe of the greatness of our Creator.

By the end of our night together, we’ve all learned something new without even realizing it because our lesson has been conducted through hands-on learning.

Defining Hands-on Learning

Very simply, hands-on learning is involving one’s whole mind in understanding a concept or principle. The end goal is for the person to be actively involved in the learning process so that he or she can make connections and remember what has been taught. So how do you get that level of engagement for your child?

Involving the Whole Mind

There are two parts to facilitating hands-on learning. They also work hand-in-hand to make learning fun and memorable!

1. The Five Senses

God gave your child different senses that communicate to his brain and define memory. It’s through these experiences of hearing, seeing, smelling, touching, and tasting that he learns. These senses work together in that when something is experienced by more than one of the senses at the same time, that thing is more defined in his mind. There are times when his senses may be hindered (such as when he has a head cold). But maybe your child doesn’t have use of all five senses even when he’s healthy. God has given him everything he needs. If your child doesn’t have use of all five senses, he most likely has one or two heightened senses that compensate for any limitation.

2. Learning Styles

There’s more than one way to learn, but your child does have a predominant learning style that affects how he filters information. It’s important to understand what your child’s learning style is so that you can customize his lessons to fit his needs. Once you know how your child learns best, you can engage him in hands-on learning.

Applying Hands-on Learning

Hands-on learning involves including the different senses and your child’s primary learning styles as you teach and introduce concepts. Making connections in simple ways through different approaches (or senses) can be applied to all academic subjects. Here are some examples.

Science—constellations

View the night sky with your child. Sometimes the naked eye might work best when pointing out the whole constellation, but a pair of binoculars or a telescope could also be used. Your eyes will need about thirty minutes to adjust to the outside lighting.
Talk about the color, size, and distance of each star. Some constellations appear rather close together, but their stars are actually far apart.
Make a constellation finder or plot out the location of stars on a map of the night sky.

Heritage Studies—the American flag

Show your child a picture of the American flag. Point out the colors, stripes, and stars. Talk about the flag’s symbolism.
Listen to a recording of the national anthem and sing along. Be sure to point out the words that describe the American flag.
Draw, paint, or color a picture of the American flag. Discuss the proper way to display it.

Math—multiplication

Have an equation written out for your child to see. Another helpful visual might be to use a number chart.
Count out loud by a factor of the equation (2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, etc.) so that your child can hear the numbers.
Use math manipulatives to make simple groupings. Blocks, coins, and edible treats work well and can add some excitement.

Each of these ideas is simple enough to do at home. They make the learning experience much more enjoyable and engaging for the whole family. That’s hands-on learning at its best!