BJU Press Blog

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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A Mother-Daughter Reading Club

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Christy was not a reader. Neither was Karen, her mother. So they weren’t excited about the idea of a Homeschool Mother-Daughter Book Club—until they tried it. The dry run, which took place at their home, was so successful that the two decided to take part in several other club meetings!

The elements included in their reading club included four or five girls of similar ages, their mothers (age is not an issue here!), a book that they all agreed on, and a pair of hostesses with adventuresome spirits. Once the members had committed to reading a specific book by the day of the club meeting, the mother-daughter teams made their own reading schedules.

mother and daughter sitting on a porch reading from a tablet

 

What Mother Daughter Book Club Looked Like

Karen and Christy chose to set aside reading times through the week. Most days they tried to read on their own. But when Christy got bogged down, Karen would read to her. As the club meeting time drew closer, Christy often read aloud while Mom did the ironing. The other reading teams plugged along too, some making better progress than others, but everyone still keeping her eye on the goal—reading the whole book by the meeting time.

Activities to do at the club meeting evolved as Christy and her mom talked about the novel. They decided to start the meeting with a quiz to see who could match the characters with quotations from the book. Christy also searched for foods mentioned in the novel and then typed out the sections, including page numbers, where she found each one. She and Mom had to use some imagination, but those sections from the book determined what they served for refreshments at the meeting. Typed in a special font and printed on colored paper, the quotations made classy looking labels for the different foods. They brainstormed for other ideas and came up with a funny song from the novel’s time period and a game that families of that era used to play.

Excitement was high on the evening of that first Homeschool Mother-Daughter Book Club meeting. Even the few who hadn’t quite finished the book liked getting together, talking about the characters, and comparing favorite parts of the book. Of course, the snacks were a hit too. The meeting ended with another mother-daughter team claiming hostess duty for the next event.

If you’d like to start your own Homeschool Mother-Daughter Book Club, here’s a list of suggested titles to get you started.

Suggested Titles by Grade Level

Grades 2–3

Find adventure as Carolina Putnam’s family moves by covered wagon to the plains of Nebraska.

Jenny, an orphan, learns to trust God and people who love her.

When Danae’s family goes on furlough, she has a difficult time “finding roses” in America.

Rigel, the smallest bee in the hive, works to be dependable.

Grades 4–6

Captured by a Cheyenne raiding party, Carrie learns to depend on God.

Feather is terrified when vicious raiders kidnap her and take her far from her village.

A biography of Mary Slessor a missionary to Africa

Connie better understands her family as she solves the mystery of the golden cowrie shell.

Elizabeth Ann’s life is turned upside-down when she goes for an extended visit to the Putneys.

Grades 7–12

Miss Ellanor Fitzhugh finds herself in the middle of a dangerous political game as she enters society.

As a wilderness tour guide, Jacy can get along with almost anyone until she meets two new hikers.

An orphaned Jewish teenager, Mala meets Jesus of Nazareth, who changes her life.

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Written by Gail Y.

Grandmothers Can Be the Best Teachers

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image of a grandmother and granddaughter video chatting.With Mother’s Day just around the corner, I don’t want to overlook a very important group of women. They’re called grandmothers. And every child, no matter how old, knows just how grand they are. In fact, grandmothers often have the ability to encourage, inspire, motivate, and instruct children in a way that their own mothers cannot. At least, that’s the role my grandmothers have played in my own life, especially during the years I was homeschooled.

Distance often kept me from seeing my grandmothers face-to-face, but that didn’t stop them from taking an active part in my education. Here are some of the ways they got involved.

Language Arts

Grandma knew written words could make people feel special, and when I had to practice letter writing, she became my pen pal. Her round, flowing script wasn’t always easy to read, but what she wrote told me that I had sent her something important.

Another favorite past time Grandma shared with me as a child was reading. She would often send me books that Mom would incorporate into my lessons. Some of my favorite stories were the ones we read out loud while seated on her high, comfy bed. Uncle Wiggily was and still is quite the character.

Other ideas: Kids love solving puzzles, so try asking your grandkids to help you solve the newspaper’s daily crossword puzzle. Playing a simple game of hangman can reinforce proper spelling. Or start a reading club with just the two of you and later expand it to include their cousins and friends.

Math

Most of my time with both grandmothers was not spent in a kitchen. But in recent years, I’ve had the opportunity to collect their special family recipes and cookbooks. Cooking and baking can be great ways to practice math fractions, especially since the hard work results in a tasty treat.

Other ideas: Counting games are another way to teach sums and times tables. They can be done around the house or while running errands. If you work from home or own a business, your grandkids could play “office” by calculating orders. This teaching moment might work best with a mature young person.

History

Grammie told me stories she remembered about our family heritage. When I had a family genealogy project in elementary school, she sat on the couch for hours telling stories. This trip down memory lane for her gave me a deeper understanding of our family and broader perspective on the society in which she grew up.

Grandma took day trips with me and Mom to historical sites. It became “the thing to do” every time we visited. We often explored places on Georgia’s Antebellum Trail as well as the home sites of famous authors.

Other ideas: Share your perspective on a historical event that has taken place during your lifetime. Introduce your grandkids to people of character that you’re related to or who come from your area. This teaching moment can be done by viewing pictures or art, reading newspaper clippings, and visiting different places.

Science

Every morning Grammie would check her blood sugar and prepare her insulin. That daily routine of hers greatly fascinated me as a young child. It also helped me realize that science has many different facets—even if I didn’t want to learn them!

Other ideas: Demonstrate a plant’s life cycle by asking your grandkids to help you plant flowers or do yardwork. Spend time stargazing on a clear night, and share how our wonderful God made this planet a special place for us to live.

My grandmothers were my favorite teachers because they made ordinary events extraordinary and mundane tasks exciting. They helped me to gain perspective on the past, present, and future. But most importantly they simply invited me to be a part of their lives.

To all grandmothers: Thank you for choosing to invest in the next generation. May God bless you this Mother’s Day!

A Tale of Microwaves and Greenhouses

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Did you ever have one of those moments when you just wanted to test something for yourself? Many good ideas never progress beyond the thinking stage because of a lack of resources, but every once in a while, the opportunity to make that idea a reality presents itself. My coworker Stephen Garrison and I experienced this recently after discussing internet claims that microwaved water causes death or deformation in plants. During our discussion, we gradually realized that we didn’t have to just talk about it; this was something we could test ourselves.

Our conversation might have never have been anything more than another one of those unfulfilled good ideas if biological sciences teacher Ginger Ericson hadn’t needed an example of a controlled experiment for her upcoming seventh-grade Life Science Distance Learning course. Our idea seemed perfect because it would be a fairly simple experiment and because it would test a question that buzzes around the internet.

At the beginning, the biggest obstacle to our plan was finding a location to carry out our experiment. This time of year, temperatures can vary wildly in Greenville. Furthermore, the effects of the different water treatments, if any, would be diminished if the plants were exposed to rain. So we needed a controlled environment, one that filtered out factors such as rain and temperature fluctuations.

We were able to gain access to a fully climatized glass-metal greenhouse. This type of greenhouse is completely enclosed, so no rain can get to the plants inside, and the internal temperature can be kept constant.

Our setup was fairly simple.

  1. We filled fifteen four-inch pots with wet potting soil.

shoveling dirt into a pot for plants

  1. We planted three or four Brassica rapa (turnip) seeds in each pot.

turnip seeds in the palm of a person's hand

  1. Three groups received a random group of five pots:
    • a control group
    • a group to be treated with water previously boiled for five minutes on a hotplate
    • a group to be treated with water previously boiled for five minutes in a microwave

five pots of three groups for a science plant experiment

  1. We placed the pots in the greenhouse and allowed the seeds to germinate.

greenhouse used for BJU Press Science 7 plant experiment

  1. Now that the plants have germinated, we continue watering each group with the corresponding water treatment and recording measurements for
    • plant height,
    • number of leaves, and
    • number of flowers.

control group plant

These data should give us an indication of what effect, if any, the different types of water have on the plants. Check back with us in May to find out the results of this good idea turned into reality.

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Elwood holds a BA in biology and an MA in English from Bob Jones University. After working with the video lesson department at BJU Press for five years, he now serves as a secondary-level science writer at BJU Press. When not working, he enjoys taking random college classes, reading, playing disc golf, and hanging out with his wife and three kids.

Something to Celebrate

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WP-Story-Journal-2-2015My teacher friend Mary Beth invited me to come visit her kindergarten classroom. She had been reading aloud one the children’s books I wrote, and her students were ready for the last two chapters. “We thought it would be neat if you could come and finish the book for us,” she said. “My students would enjoy meeting a real live author.”

Before I even entered Mary Beth’s classroom, I could tell that for her, writing was something to celebrate. “Here are our snowman stories,” she said with a twinkly-eyed smile. “Some of the students dictated their stories, but many of them wrote their own.” I scanned the hall bulletin board decorated with painted snowmen sporting an eclectic mix of outerwear. I even noticed a story about a snowdog. Most of these South Carolina children had probably not seen a single snowflake since last winter, but obviously, their imaginations were healthy and active.

She opened the door to her room and began showing me around. “We’ve been talking about weather in science,” she said, indicating a large hanging chart decorated with rain and snow scenes and sunny beach pictures. A poem was also carefully lettered on the chart. “This is my poem. Don’t be too critical—it’s probably not very good. But my students were impressed that I actually wrote a poem.” I paused to read the four-stanza poem about types of weather, using a variety of age-appropriate words—and it was good.

When I sat down in the rocking chair with the children gathered on the rug in front of me, I could immediately tell that they loved being read to. Silence settled on them right away, and almost every eye stayed locked on my face as I read aloud. When I finished and asked for questions, a sea of hands went up. “Where did you get the idea for the kitten?” “Why did you write in chapters?” “Who drew the picture on the cover?”

Mary Beth walked to a shelf and took down a stack of stapled pages. “They’re very interested in books right now,” she said, “because we’ve just finished writing our own books.” I oohed and aahed over the books while here and there a student burst out with an enthusiastic comment about his or her story. “How many of you like to write?” I asked. Nearly every hand in the room shot up.

As I left Mary Beth’s room that day, I realized I was the privileged one—because I had met not just one, but an entire roomful of “real live authors.” I hope those students never lose the joy of writing that their teacher has worked so hard to instill in them. I hope they will never view writing as merely a chore to be done and a grade to be tallied. I hope they’ll always see writing as an art to be celebrated.

From Student to Teacher

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One summer as a young teenager, I begged my parents not to give me a teaching role in our backyard Bible club. My big sister was the one that all the kids adored, and besides, I got stage fright, even in front of a crowd of five-year-olds. Somehow, I still ended up teaching the missions story for the club. At the first meeting, I read the story directly from the book, making little eye contact with the children. To my surprise, they eagerly listened, and I slowly started to engage them more.

Another summer during my high school years, my parents sent me to a Christian youth camp that focused on preparing teens to lead Bible clubs. We learned how to creatively introduce, explain, and review memory verses and songs. We took notes on the components of a Bible lesson and the basics of classroom management. We practiced sharing the gospel. After our training, we spent the rest of the summer going into the neighborhoods of our city and leading week-long Bible clubs. It was during that time that my heart was irreversibly captured with a love for teaching children, especially teaching them biblical truth.

photograph of a teen teaching a group of children at a Bible clubThe next few years brought more opportunities to sharpen my newfound desire to educate—from teaching in Sunday school, vacation Bible school, and after-school Bible clubs to teaching English as a second language in China. I eagerly consumed articles, books, and courses on effective teaching. I even took notes while observing my favorite teachers at church, on BJU Press Distance Learning videos, and at college. Now I have the joy of teaching my own children, the most challenging and rewarding teaching role I’ve ever had. I’m thankful my parents gently pushed me into teaching, unlikely candidate though I was.

I’d like to encourage parents to think of ways they can give their teenage students opportunities to develop teaching skills. It may not come naturally, but students can learn through avenues such as mentoring under an experienced Sunday school teacher, taking a teaching class, reading a book on effective teaching, practicing with younger siblings, and volunteering for children’s ministries at their local church.

The benefits your students will receive from improving their speech and communication skills through teaching might initiate a lifelong career. Learning to teach will likely be an asset in their future families (perhaps even through home education), church ministries, and careers. How will you encourage your teenage students to step out from behind the student desk, face the crowd, and teach?