BJU Press Blog

early learning

A Mom’s Experience with Focus on Fives

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focus on fives
I have a confession—I never wanted to homeschool a kindergartner. I was afraid to. My training didn’t include early childhood education. I didn’t know how to teach someone to read. And I didn’t think that I was a good enough to teach my child all the foundational skills that she would need to succeed in her education. But the Lord made it abundantly clear that I was to be my daughter’s kindergarten teacher. I wrestled with the Lord about it, and He reminded me of the promise of I Thessalonians 5:24, “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.” The Lord did equip me for the task of homeschooling my daughter, and the main means that He used was the Focus on Fives curriculum from BJU Press.

An Introduction to the Focus on Fives Curriculum

The Focus on Fives curriculum replaces BJU Press’s former kindergarten curriculum, K5 Beginnings, and it is a major upgrade. The pedagogy—or teaching methods—and the scope and sequence are very similar to K5 Beginnings, but the format is streamlined and the content, including the artwork, has been updated.

When you order the Focus on Fives textbook kit, be ready for a lot of stuff. You receive 6 teacher editions—which initially looks very overwhelming, but it’s actually wonderful because everything you need as a teacher is in one place. Your child receives 2 workbooks—a general workbook and a phonics workbook—as well as 34 full-color reading books. You’ll also get the K5 Phonics and Review Cards, the Write Now! workbook, the Phonics charts, and the teaching visuals packet.

BJU Press is releasing the Focus on Fives video course for the 2020–21 school year. Mrs. Becky Rulapaugh teaches this course. She currently teaches the K5 Math video course that my daughter loves. She’s very good at keeping my daughter engaged.

Lesson Features of Focus on Fives

Heritage Studies and Science

Every Focus on Fives lesson starts off with a heritage studies or science connection. For example, the program starts off with a unit about community helpers. We learned about police officers, firefighters and fire safety, postal workers, doctors, and dentists. The program introduces the topics with a listening story or a composition activity to encourage critical thinking skills. Some lessons also include simple activities, like demonstrating how brushing helps your teeth, to enhance comprehension.

Phonics Foundations

At the heart of every lesson is language arts instruction. BJU Press teaches children to read using a combination of a phonics-based word-family approach along with sight words. The word-family approach ensures that every new sound your child learns can be easily “hooked onto” previous knowledge, and the use of high-frequency sight words helps your child read meaningful text even before you’ve introduced all the sounds.

Language Arts

In addition to phonics instruction, the language arts portion of the lesson covers basic English topics like sentence punctuation, capitalization, the use of plurals and other concepts necessary for reading comprehension. Some lessons will also use phonics characters to help your child identify syllabic patterns to aid them in reading unfamiliar words. Finally, all lessons include handwriting instruction and practice.

Enrichment Activities

Every lesson also includes a list of enrichment activities that go along with the lesson’s topic. The teacher edition includes suggested read-alouds, games, crafts, special snacks, and more. I don’t usually have time to do all the suggested activities, but I do like to pick and choose as time allows.

Reading Books

Although we practice reading every day with short phonics stories, the highlight of our week is our reading book lesson. On those days, we unveil our “big book” of the week. These 8-page, 4-color books reinforce everything that we have learned during the previous weeks and give us good opportunities to develop comprehension and critical thinking skills.

What I love about Focus on Fives

The Focus on Fives teacher editions, in my estimation, are invaluable because they have given me the confidence to teach my daughter. Everything is laid out for me in one place, so I know exactly what I need to do each day. And even though the lessons are not scripted, the teacher edition gives me all the help I need. It’s kind of like having a relative with medical training come with you to a doctor’s appointment—that relative might not be the one in charge, but his or her expert presence certainly makes you feel more confident.

I also love how the curriculum is very flexible. It’s easy to figure out what is necessary to cover in every lesson and what is optional. If I only cover the essentials, we can get through a lesson in about 45 minutes. However, I try to include 1 or 2 of the optional activities every lesson, so usually it takes about an hour a day. And it works fine with my 4-day-a-week schedule even though it’s set up for a more traditional 5-day-a-week schedule.

But Does it Work?

I have really enjoyed seeing my daughter thrive with this curriculum. She gets excited every time I introduce a new sound or a new word family—she loves dreaming up sentences for the new words she learns. She reads with confidence, and she reads with joy.  And I have confidence that she’s going to do great as she continues in her journey.

To learn more about the Focus on Fives materials, check out the subject kit on the BJU Press Homeschool website!

How to Develop Critical Thinking Skills in Young Children

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Developing critical thinking skills in young learners
Critical thinking skills are essential for success in today’s society. But they’re not something you can cram into your child’s head right before they graduate. The ability to thinking critically has to be developed. And developing it takes a lot of time.

What exactly is critical thinking? Critical thinking, sometimes called higher order thinking skills, or HOTS, includes the ability to make applications, analyze, evaluate, create, and synthesize information. Critical thinkers don’t just know information; they know how to use it. They can solve problems and think for themselves.

So if the development of critical thinking skills is such a crucial part of any homeschool, how can you as a homeschool mom start developing these skills in your young children?

Encourage Imaginative Play

First of all, you can give your young children plenty of unstructured play time. Play is an important part of childhood—it is truly the “work” of children. When kids play, they have opportunities to “try out” different roles and activities. I see this a lot in my home—my youngest daughter is just starting to enjoy pretend play. Last night she pretended to be a restaurant worker, and I was the customer. Her little two-year-old mind had to work through what she needed to fill my order. I ordered tea and salad, but  for me to enjoy my “meal,” she needed to bring me a cup, a plate, a pile of pretend lettuce, and a fork.

When my older daughters play, their fantasies are a lot more complex. Sometimes they’re early American settlers trying to survive in the wilderness. Sometimes they’re managing orphanages or teaching in schools. But they’re always solving problems, applying the things that they know to different scenarios and exercising their brains. They aren’t wasting time.

Ask Questions to Encourage Critical Thinking Skills

• Ask a lot of questions.

Another important way you can develop critical thinking skills in your young children is by asking them lots of questions—and not just yes-no questions. Ask them open-ended questions that require  thoughtful answers. The BJU Press reading curriculum is full of this type of questioning. You can read about how these questions help build interest and develop critical thinking skills in my  article “Make Reading Lessons Interesting with Questions.”

You can use this type of question in everyday conversation too. For example, my oldest daughter is a voracious reader. One evening during dinner, my husband asked her about one of the books she had just finished reading. She immediately began to summarize the plot. But my husband was more interested in the moral tone of the book, so he began asking her questions such as “Why is that character considered good? Did that character do the right thing? How do you know?” Questions like these help her to analyze and evaluate the things that she reads.

• Get them to make predictions.

Second, ask your kids questions to help them make predictions. When my kindergartner learned about dentists and dental health, we decided to do an experiment that was suggested in the BJU Press Focus on Fives teacher edition (vol. 1). I hard-boiled three eggs and soaked them in a dark-colored cola to show what sugary drinks do to your teeth. Before I placed the eggs in the cola, I asked my daughter “What do you think is going to happen to these eggs? Do you think the cola is going to be good for them?” Questions like these will help her develop cause-and-effect reasoning abilities that are necessary for making applications.

• Ask them to compare and contrast.

Finally, ask your kids to compare and contrast things. This past week, I taught my kindergartner about the letter e. She was having difficulty writing the uppercase E and kept writing the numeral 3. So I started asking her questions: “How does an E look like a 3? What’s different about it?” This comparing and contrasting exercise helped her distinguish between the two because it helped her analyze the parts of each one.

Allow Your Kids to Fail (and Help Them Learn from It)

Our kids will never learn to think for themselves if we do all their thinking for them. So give them permission to try new things, and be prepared to let them fail. When I was about eleven, my mother was so sick one night that she let my brother and me make dinner without her supervision. We ruined thirteen potatoes that night learning how not to cook a potato. But we did eventually figure out a way to cook them to everyone’s satisfaction. Sometimes the best way to learn how to do something is to experience what doesn’t work.

Additional Resources

If you’re interested in learning more about the importance of critical thinking and how BJU Press homeschool materials develop critical thinking skills, check out the following articles.

Getting a Head Start with K4

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K4 head start
I always knew I wanted to homeschool my children, and I even knew which curriculum I would use. Having worked in the marketing department at BJU Press for three years, I had become convinced of the excellence of their materials. But there was still that nagging doubt in the back of my mind: Can I really do this? I have no idea what I’m doing! What if I mess up and my kids turn out to be ignoramuses? K4 would be my first test.

When my older daughter was four, I bought a preschool workbook and taught her from it for several minutes a day. She was catching on quickly with letters, simple words and numbers. But I felt she still might not be ready for kindergarten. So after looking online at BJU Press materials, I decided the K4 DVD program would provide a solid bridge between “pre-preschool” and K5. I thought it might also help me as a first-time homeschooler to establish a consistent routine.

Happy K4 Kid

The K4 DVD program didn’t disappoint—in fact, it exceeded my expectations. The DVDs kept my daughter interested and engaged with colorful graphics, animal characters, puppets, and fun songs. She was always eager and excited to do her daily lesson. Her teachers presented the material in a way that was easy for her to understand. I love that the program taught my daughter to listen, pay attention, and follow the teachers’ instructions. It also introduced basic but important concepts of English, reading, and math through emphasizing the alphabet and counting. Finally—and most importantly—it centered on God’s Word and incorporated its truth into every lesson.

Happy Mama

As the parent, I appreciated the fact that the program was well organized and easy to follow. I also liked the length of the DVD lessons, about sixty minutes—not too long, not too short. Using the DVDs was convenient as well; I was able to pause or rewind the program as needed. And since there were only 153 lessons, I enjoyed the flexibility of choosing how many days per week to have school.

Ready for K5

By the end of the program, I felt confident that my daughter would be ready for kindergarten the following year. She had a good grasp of the fundamentals of phonics, reading, and math. She had also developed a love for learning that helped her look forward to kindergarten with great anticipation. We had established a good, consistent school routine that helped me to plan for the next year. And I felt much more confident about this whole homeschooling thing. Kindergarten went great (I decided to stick with the DVD format); and when my younger daughter was approaching school age, there was no doubt in my mind about where to start. Using the K4 program was one of the best decisions I’ve made as a home educator, and I would highly recommend it to both new and experienced homeschoolers with preschool children.

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Jennifer is a pastor’s wife and mom of two young girls and loves being able to homeschool them. During her own twelve years of homeschooling, Jennifer developed a passion for reading and writing. She earned a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and relishes writing during her free time.

Tips for Homeschooling with Little Ones

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homeschooling little ones
Have you ever suspected that your children are in cahoots with each other to wreak havoc to your homeschool plans? How else can the house go from peace to chaos so quickly? Just yesterday, my house was blissfully quiet, but as soon as I sat down to teach a reading lesson to my third grader, the baby woke up from her nap. I rescued her from her crib, found her some toys to play with, and sat down again. Then my preschooler burst into the room with a soaked outfit. “Mommy! I spilled the water!” So I got up yet again and mopped up a river in the kitchen. Our reading lesson did eventually happen, but it was while I balanced both a preschooler and an infant on my lap and tried to keep them from losing my place in my teacher edition. Not exactly the ideal educational situation. What do you do when homeschooling with little ones?

Thankfully, not every day is as chaotic as that one was. But I’ve found that trying to homeschool little ones at home is anything but easy. And I’ve found that I’m not alone in my frustrations.

One of my homeschool heroes, who successfully homeschooled seven children, recently told me that her most difficult years of homeschooling were when she was homeschooling with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in tow. I was grateful that she offered me a few suggestions that I’ve found helpful. I hope they will be useful to you as well.

One-on-One Time

Homeschooling takes a lot of our attention, and if we’re not careful, our little ones will feel neglected. I’ve found that giving them some special one-on-one attention goes a long way toward helping them be content during homeschooling time. BJU Press Distance Learning has helped me a lot because it has freed me up to spend time with my little ones. While my third grader watches her English, Bible, or science lessons, I try to use that time to read to my infant and preschooler or to play with them. Some days, if I’m really busy, I’ll ask my preschooler to help me with a kitchen project or a cleaning chore. She loves to help!

Special Toys

Several of my experienced homeschool friends suggested that I set aside some special toys just for homeschool time. This too has helped because it gives my little ones something to look forward to while I teach my third grader. The key is that these special toys or activities need to be something that little ones can do. I have found that simple puzzles and play dough work well.

Also, I have created some “busy bag” activities for our homeschool time. Here are some of my preschooler’s favorite busy bags that I’ve found on other blogs.

Learning Involvement

My preschooler also enjoys being involved in our homeschool lessons when possible. Sometimes when my third grader and I are reading a drama during our reading lesson, we’ll recruit my preschooler to “read” one of the parts (one of us will whisper her lines in her ear). During math, I sometimes give my preschooler manipulatives to play with. While I’m administering a spelling test, I will sometimes let my preschooler “take” it too. All of these activities have been valuable to get her excited about learning.

Homeschooling with little ones will probably always be challenging, but these suggestions have helped our family. I would love to hear about any ideas that have helped your family too. Please share them in the comments!

The Pressure of Preschool

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Preschool Playing“My son can already write his name!” says a proud mother. “My daughter is not quite four, and she has just learned to read!” says another. One mom shrinks back into her seat, wondering if she’s doing something wrong. Should her son or daughter be reading at age three or four? Should her two-year-old be learning to form the shapes of letters?

For decades, parents have felt the pressure to hurry their preschoolers’ learning. They don’t want their children to be left behind. For homeschool parents, the pressure is even greater. They may feel that the world is looking at them more critically, ready to point out any perceived underachievement. If you’re feeling the pressure to teach your child more aggressively or to start kindergarten early, consider these important factors.

Rates of Development

Babies learn to crawl, walk, and talk at different rates; there is no ideal timetable. It’s the same for preschoolers and kindergarteners. Some will learn to read quickly; others will catch on to math concepts; and others may simply be interested in movement and play. Trying to force a child to mature more quickly can lead to behavioral issues and a dislike of learning.

Freedom to Grow

Kids need time to invent, explore, and create. They need space to run, jump, and climb, especially during the formative preschool and kindergarten years. Giving them the freedom to experiment, discover, and move through their world builds their confidence and their ability to solve problems—things that will prove valuable when they begin their homeschool years.

Perceptions of Potential

If you stress reading too early, you might become frustrated and discouraged; you may even think that your child doesn’t have the potential to be a great reader. That’s not necessarily the case; he may simply be operating on his own schedule.  Instead of frustrating yourself and your child, wait until the time is right to begin a more organized style of homeschooling.

Statistical Proof

A study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research revealed that delaying kindergarten for a year had remarkable benefits for children. Kids who were seven when they started formal instruction were measurably more attentive and less hyperactive at age eleven than kids who began kindergarten at the “normal” age of five or six. The kids who started kindergarten a year later had more time to learn self-control and mental focus before beginning their school career.

Preparation for Kindergarten

You can introduce your child to text and numbers in many age-appropriate ways. There are numbers on calendars, clocks, mile markers, your house, and store receipts. Words are everywhere—on cereal boxes, toys, storefronts, street signs, letters, and clothes.

When you read storybooks together, ask your little ones to show you the pictures and point to text. You are developing your child’s “print awareness” which is a prerequisite to phonics instruction. Where are the characters? What are they doing in the picture? What will happen next? It’s a fun way to engage with your children and start teaching them about story components and progression without getting too academic.

Maybe your little ones would enjoy dictating stories or letters for you to write down and read aloud. These activities emphasize the relationship of thought to oral and written language. And if those little bodies start to get wiggly, maybe it’s time to switch to another kind of education—learning through play.

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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.