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My 5 Favorite Things to Give a Homeschool Mom

May 4, 2017 by Guest Writer

hot-chocolate-in-Montsalvat-Melbourne-gifts

As thunder roars and lightning flashes, seven children huddle around Maria. In a strange new place, she must comfort these frightened kids, ranging in age from preschooler to teenager. She rises to the occasion with one of The Sound of Music‘s best-known songs, “My Favorite Things.” Maybe you or someone you know is having a “Maria moment”—a time when you need a bit of encouragement in the form of a favorite thing. Here are some of my favorite things to give my fellow moms!

#1: A Piece of Chocolate

Whether it comes in neat squares or gooey bars, chocolate is one of God’s greatest gifts to woman. Studies show that dark chocolate actually increases blood flow to the brain, enhancing your mood through endorphins and improving your reaction time and problem-solving abilities.

#2: A Part of Nature

Gather an armful of blooms from your backyard or fill vases with green boughs collected from a nearby forest. Just looking at God’s beautiful creation and breathing in its freshness may be enough to lift someone’s spirits.

#3: A Pocketful of Change

A little spending money is a lovely gift for a homeschool mom who spends all her resources on her children. Is a woman you know struggling to keep her head above the homeschool waters? Hand her a gift card to her favorite store or coffee shop, and watch her eyes light up.

#4: Playthings for the Kids

Sometimes, all a homeschool mom wants is a few minutes of quiet time. Put together a bag of inexpensive items like puzzles, glow sticks, books, and playdough and deliver it to a homeschooling family you know. While the children dive into the delights of the bag, the mom enjoys the gift of ten to fifteen minutes all to herself.

#5: A Pampering Kit

Few homeschool moms have the time to hit the spa. One of my favorite gifts to receive or to pass along is a personal spa kit. You can put all kinds of delights into a basket—nail polish, a nail file, softening cream for calluses, a homemade foot scrub, bath soak, essential oils, or soft slippers.
With a few dollars and a little thoughtfulness, you can help another mom weather one of life’s storms.

What would you add to this list of favorite things? Tell me in a comment.

• • • • •

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.

Filed Under: Simplified Homeschool Tagged With: early learning, encouragement, homeschool, homeschool mom, preschooler

6 Books for Curious Preschoolers

March 7, 2017 by Justin

Since we have a little one on the way, I decided to get a head start and shop for some books that my son and I can read together over the next few years. I found some great options for curious toddlers and preschoolers. I like these books because they cover everyday things that children interact with and love to learn about. They’re simple—the kind of book you can go back to over and over again and never get bored.

Freight Train by Crews

Less is more. Modern illustrations and minimal text leave the door wide open for mom or dad to inject their own “choo choo” effects as the train barrels down the tracks toward its destination.

Amazing Airplanes by Mitton and Parker

Planning a trip? This fun book about airports and airliners will make your preschooler an expert before check-in. I would have loved this as a curious kid who was fascinated with the baggage-claim carousel.

City Signs by Milich

The title says it all. This book is nothing but phtographs of signs, signs, and more signs. Ever wonder how some kids figure out what they all mean before they can read?

Hands: Growing Up to Be an Artist by Ehlert

This very creative book focused on making things by hand has photographs that show raw materials, tools, and finished products of various crafts. It explains (in simple terms) how the object was made. A great learning tool!

Meet the Orchestra by Hayes

If you’re like a lot of parents, you probably play some classical music for your kids. This book identifies a wide range of musical instruments and the sounds they make. It’s perfect for reading while listening to your favorite compositions.

If Everybody Did by Stover

This one is a favorite among parents around our office. It answers that age-old question, “What would happen if everyone did that?” Silly illustrations teach valuable life lessons. A must-read for every child.

I’m looking forward to reading these books with my child to capture the many benefits of reading together. I hope my sharing them will help your family find many hours of enjoyable reading time.

Have book recommendations? I’d love to hear them! Drop them in the comments below.

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Filed Under: Successful Learning Tagged With: book list, books, early learning, language arts, oral reading, preschool, reading

Unlocking the World with Phonics

March 2, 2017 by Guest Writer

teaching phonics with k5 beginnings

Before I learned how to read, I pretended to read books aloud. With some of my favorite picture books, I could quote the text by heart as I turned the pages. The actual process of reading was a lot harder than rote memorization—it involved forming connections, remembering patterns, applying principles, and a lot of phonics. I still remember the thrill as the pieces clicked into place, and suddenly I was reading for real.

Your child already knows how to speak English and understand it. Now, as a homeschool parent, it’s your job to teach him to read and write it well. As you prepare your child for success in reading, you have to start with what he knows—the sounds of language, or phonics.

Sights and Sounds

You may have begun teaching phonemic awareness earlier than K5. But if not, don’t worry. The BJU Press K5 Beginnings program will help your child learn to listen for specific sounds and connect those sounds with letters and letter combinations. Before long, your little one will begin to realize that the letters of the alphabet don’t just have names; they represent sounds. Combined together, those sounds can form words.

BJU Press curriculum emphasizes phonics as the basis for reading excellence, but the Beginnings program incorporates plenty of sight words as well. Learning these common, recognizable words helps kids move more quickly through a text and gives them a head start with building their vocabulary.

Exceptions and Rules

The English language is full of strange rules and odd exceptions that can be very confusing for kids who are just learning to read. If your child is struggling with remembering some of those rules and exceptions, it’s time to turn the lesson into a game.

Children love stories, so why not make phonics seem like a wonderful story filled with lovable characters? In the K5 Beginnings program, you’ll find Miss Silent E and Bossy R along with other characters who serve as guides for phonics comprehension. By lending personality and depth to these abstract concepts, the program helps children remember and apply them.

Memory Hacks

Songs are wonderful tools for remembering important facts and ideas, so the Beginnings program incorporates plenty of catchy tunes about phonics. You can use the phonics songs CD anytime to reinforce and enhance learning.

You can also hang up the provided charts displaying word-family rhymes, so your child has a clear reminder of those patterns. Word families are a major emphasis of the BJU Press phonics program, and with good reason! Knowing word families builds an excellent foundation for more accurate reading, whether the words are familiar or new.

Phonics Drills

In order for your kids to excel at phonics and reading, they must practice. The phrase “phonics drill” may not sound pleasant, but it can actually be an enjoyable experience for you and your kids. When you read sentences, your child can fill in the easy two- or three-letter words. Talk together about Mr. and Mrs. Short, who illustrate the rule that “a short vowel is always followed by a consonant or consonants.” You can look for Mr. and Mrs. Short, Miss Long, and the other phonics characters wherever you and your children are—at the grocery store, in the car, at the park, or on a walk through the neighborhood.

At first, the phonics drills will feel like a challenge; but before long, your kids will begin to realize how much of the world opens up to them when they remember their phonics word families and friends. And just like that, they’re reading.

Explore what you need to know about the K5 Beginnings program.

• • • • •

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.

Filed Under: Successful Learning Tagged With: early learning, early learning curriculum, homeschool parent, K5 Beginnings, phonics, sight words

Making Math Enjoyable with Themes

August 18, 2016 by Meredith

Memorizing math facts may come easy to many people, but some (myself included) have a harder time visualizing a numerical problem and solving it mentally. It’s not that we can’t do it but rather that numbers have little value when they’re separated from a real-life situation.

It’s the application of math that helps us understand the importance of knowing how to solve an equation. But sometimes learning best takes place when there’s an example of how someone else has used math in daily life whether that’s through household chores or an occupation. This type of example does two things. It shows how math can be used, and it also gives motivation to use it.

BJU Press elementary math introduces themes in every grade to help kids understand math and see how it applies to our everyday lives. Each grade has a unique theme that makes math more enjoyable but also relatable. Lower-elementary kids are introduced to special characters. Rhymes, songs, and stories about these characters are included in different lessons throughout the entire course.

MathK5

In Math K5, Cheddar the mouse lives on Kindergarten Lane in Mathville. He uses math to help Farmer Brown keep an eye on what’s happening on the farm. In one lesson, your child works with Mrs. Brown to count the number of cabbages in the garden row. Another day on the farm, shapes are found on Farmer Brown’s outfit (like buttons that are circles).

Math6

Once students reach the upper-elementary grades, themes provide your child motivation for using math. For example, Math 6 includes a search-and-rescue theme with read-aloud stories about search-and-rescue events for each chapter. Chapter 7 opens with the true account of Balto and other dogs that delivered a special serum to people who were sick in Nome, Alaska. The concepts learned in this chapter are multiplying fractions and decimals—an important skill for measuring out medicine just like Dr. Curtis Welch did when he treated the people of Nome.

See more examples of these themes in BJU Press math curriculum.

Filed Under: Successful Learning Tagged With: characters, early learning, homeschool, math, Math 6, Math K5, themes, understanding

Make Your Kindergarten Curriculum Work for You

August 16, 2016 by Megan

KindergartenStructure

Quite a few homeschoolers attend my church. Several months ago, I had nursery duty with three other homeschool moms. The topic of conversation? Homeschool curriculum. Even in that small group, everyone had an opinion about what curriculum worked best for certain types of learners.

There are a lot of curriculum choices out there, and each of them has different strengths. My school-age daughters have both used the BJU Press curriculum. My oldest daughter has used it for K4, K5, and first grade; and my middle daughter has used it for K4. They have very different learning styles, but one of the strengths of BJU Press curriculum is its flexibility.

The curriculum isn’t designed for one type of learner—it’s designed for all types of learners. In a lot of ways, the BJU Press curriculum is like a roadmap—the objective is the same for everyone, but you get to choose where you stop along the way and how long you linger at each place. Below are two examples of how you can customize the BJU Press kindergarten curriculum to fit your child’s needs. I’ve chosen to focus here on the kindergarten curriculum since I’ve had one child use it already and another child who will use it this fall.

Customizing Your Lessons

One way you can make BJU Press’s kindergarten curriculum work for you is by customizing individual lessons to fit the learning style of your child. You don’t have to do everything the Teacher’s Edition suggests. For example, the K5 curriculum includes a lot of songs that are designed to help kindergarteners remember challenging concepts (such as the difference between the hour hand and the minute hand on a clock).

My oldest daughter doesn’t remember songs well—the Lord hasn’t gifted her with that ability. I would have probably skipped over that part of the lesson. However, since my middle daughter loves music and singing really helps her learn, we will probably sing every song in the book multiple times.

Making Use of Optional Activities

Another way you can make BJU Press’s kindergarten curriculum work for you is by using some of the optional activities in the Teacher’s Resource CD to provide extra practice for your child if he or she is struggling with a concept. For example, BJU Press Math K5  introduces kindergarteners to the concept of fractions by teaching parts of a whole.

If my middle daughter struggles to understand that concept, I could pull out the Teacher’s Resource CD that’s attached to the inside back cover of the Teacher’s Edition. This CD contains an entire section of extended activities that are organized by chapter. Since I know that my daughter is a very kinesthetic learner, we would probably play the shape matching game that is explained in chapter 13.

You as the parent/teacher know your child best; you know your child’s strengths and weaknesses. So take advantage of the flexibility of the BJU Press curriculum and customize it to meet your child’s learning needs.

Filed Under: Successful Learning Tagged With: curriculum, custom, early learning, homeschool, kindergarten, kindergarten curriculum

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