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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This week is the last part in the “virtual tour” of how we develop our Distance Learning courses. So far we’ve covered the people behind the scenes working on videos, and who plays a role in putting each video together.
In this video you’ll see where everything comes together. We hope you enjoy the tour!
What is your favorite part of this process?
To be a poet—at least a very good poet—one has to be more than a little “disturbed,” or so it would seem. After all, the biographies of a number of the greats form a litany of dysfunction and instability. But such is not the case when you consider the lives of Victorian poets Robert and Elizabeth Browning.
The casual observer might be skeptical at first given that the couple eloped because Elizabeth could not secure the blessing of her father. Robert was six years younger than Elizabeth and had significantly less income. Though sickly and frail, Elizabeth upstaged Robert in poetic reputation. Robert revealed to her that he had fallen in love with her poems before he met and fell in love with her! Nevertheless, their romance proved to be the stuff of legend—as enduring as their pens prophesied it would be. Despite their love’s somewhat difficult beginnings, the couples’ biography bears the scrutiny of curious students much better than the scandal-ridden profiles of a number of their contemporaries.
The Brownings’ poems reflect the Victorian culture into which they were born, with its strict adherence to poetic forms and strong emphasis on morality. However, their verse is not without innovation and drama. In the following two lines, from her most famous poem, “Sonnet 43” in Sonnets from the Portuguese, Elizabeth exalts both purity and faithfulness in love:
I love thee purely, . . .
I shall but love thee better after death.
Robert embraces a fortitude and optimism towards death that resonates with the Christian’s confident hope in a future resurrection. He ends his poem “Epilogue” with this conviction:
Never doubted clouds would break,
Never dreamed, though right were worsted,
wrong would triumph,
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
Sleep to wake.
With passion and skill equal to that of their more controversial counterparts, the writings of the Brownings are a worthy and relatively wholesome consideration for young students of poetry. They bring a God-fearing steadfastness to the checkered world of troubled artists. A welcome and colorful study, they and their works await discovery by a new generation.
Links for further study:
Last week we listed the different teams involved in creating a Distance Learning course. We also introduced a scene shop team member and the head drama associate, who shared in their own words about the roles they play. Today, you will meet three more people—a teacher, a video specialist, and a production manager.
Mrs. Walker—Teacher
How would you describe your role?
I’m one of the content teachers. I’ve been here since we started in 1996. My first love is teaching reading, but I have taught math and heritage studies when needed. I use the BJU Press teacher’s editions and curriculum to teach in a one-on-one style.
What excites you about including biblical worldview, sound education, and joy of learning in your lessons?
I try to include something in each lesson that will pique the interest of students. (I call it the “dinner nugget,” something that they care enough about to mention at the family dinner table.) If I can get them to enjoy learning—to really love learning—then they will pay attention long enough to get a sound education that’s God-centered. Each reading, history, and even math lesson can present situations that encourage the student to think about what he would do; then I give him Scripture and point him to what he should do. Daily exposure to this biblical integration will help him develop his own biblical worldview! The Bible is not just for Bible class!
Mary—Video Specialist
How would you describe your role?
I run cameras, sound, and a switcher while recording live video for lessons and special segments. Depending on the day, I may go to a brainstorming meeting for one of the classes, edit segments, and record lessons.
How much time does it take to record a lesson?
It may take around an hour to record a lesson with the need to start and stop in parts of the lesson, but [many] hours may have already gone into the recording and editing of segments for that lesson.
Juanita—Production Manager
How would you describe your role?
As the senior manager of video production, I get to oversee a very talented group of writers, producers, artists, and video specialists as well as a dedicated crew that helps distribute video content to our customers.
What impact do you hope BJU Press Distance Learning courses have on students?
I hope we are making an eternal impact, helping to train disciples for Christ who are well educated and able to think critically, who can go out into this world and make an impact in their own generation for the Lord. For example, we recently heard about a Distance Learning student who came to faith in Christ. The Lord used the teaching in his Bible class and the testimony of his teacher to stir his heart. A report like that reminds us why we do what we do.
Check back next week to see where everything comes together. We’ve created a special video tour just for you!
Patrick, son of Calpornius, lived in the village of Bannavem Taburniae in Britain. While the year of his birth is not known, he probably lived from around 390 to 460. Patrick was probably raised in a wealthy home, as demonstrated by his knowledge of Latin. Virtually all that we know about Patrick is found in two surviving letters that he wrote: “Confession” and “Letter to Coroticus,” with most of the information coming from the first letter. He begins “Confession” with the words, “I am Patrick, a sinner, most unlearned, the least of all the faithful, and utterly despised by many.” This work was penned near the end of his ministry and provides many interesting details about his life.
Patrick was about sixteen years old when he was carried into captivity during an assault on his village by Irish raiders. He and thousands of other Britons were sold into slavery, with Patrick being taken to Ireland. He was bought by an Irish farmer and sent out to tend the livestock. At the time Patrick was captured, he was not a Christian. In his own words, “I did not know the true God.” However, while serving for about six years as a slave, he turned to God in prayer and received Christ. Following a time of fasting and praying, he dreamed about a man who told him that his captivity would soon end and that a ship was ready for him. Patrick ran away from his master and walked “perhaps two hundred miles” to get to a port, where a ship was preparing to depart for Britain. Through many challenging and dangerous episodes, Patrick managed to make his way back to his family.
He continued to study the Bible and soon had his own “Macedonian call” in the form of a vision that prompted him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Over the next several decades, he tirelessly witnessed—suffering opposition, physical attacks, and imprisonment—to win thousands of Irish people to Christ. Many of these Irish believers demonstrated the reality of their faith by participating in believer’s baptism and thus became targets of persecution, alongside Patrick. While most of the Irish remained pagan and opposed to Christianity, Patrick established many churches and laid the foundation for a strong Christian presence in Ireland.
A number of legends are also connected to Patrick.
This brief recounting of his life should answer the question, “Who was Saint Patrick?” If you’re wondering why Christians should remember and honor him, it’s because he was a humble believer who bravely endured decades of harsh resistance in order to bring the gospel to many people in Ireland. He loved the Scripture and quoted from it nearly a hundred times in his two surviving letters. Patrick loved God and gave Him credit for everything he accomplished in his life.
Works Cited
Holmes, J. M. The Real Saint Patrick. Greenville, SC: Ambassador, 1997.
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Dennis is the lead writer for BJU Press secondary-level heritage studies materials and holds a PhD in church history. He is the author of First-Generation Anabaptist Ecclesiology, 1525–1561 and occasionally speaks at Christian school conventions and to other groups on various topics, including Islam, Israel, and key events in church history.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1:27
God created us in His own image. Because we are created in the image of God, we have the ability to think, to create, to communicate, to foster relationships, and much more. We are patterned after Him.
March is Women’s History Month—a great opportunity for us to take the time to remember women who have used their God-given gifts and abilities to influence the world around them. Throughout this month, you may want to take time with your students to study the lives of some notable women in history. Download our Women in American History crossword puzzle (view answers) and clue sheet to survey famous women in the United States, or check out some of the resources below.
What resources have you found helpful when teaching your students about the women in our history?
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