English

Remember These Dates in November

October 29, 2015 by Meredith

November has a heritage of blessings! There are many things to celebrate. It must be the start of the holiday season! I hope you and your family take time to reflect on God’s blessings this year (James 1:17). To start us off, here are two month-long observances worth mentioning.

Native American Heritage Month

Remember this month’s observance by highlighting the notable Native Americans mentioned throughout this post. You can also find more teaching resources from the National Archives.

NaNoWriMo

What’s the most words you’ve ever written? Try cranking out fifty thousand words this month, just for fun. Yes, fun! This special challenge does my literary-loving heart some good, although I must confess writing that many words (and having them all intelligible) seems overwhelming. Start small and find ways to incorporate National Novel Writing Month into your kids’ learning with ideas from Write a Novel in a Month.

November 4

The discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb occurred on this date in 1922. It wasn’t until about a month later that the archeologists were able to open the tomb and discover what treasures the Egyptians had placed with his mummy. View these images of the earthly wealth that surrounded King Tut, and take an opportunity to discuss how as Christians, we can lay up treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:19–21).

November 7

Marie Curie was born on this date in 1867. She taught physics at the Sorbonne in France but is probably most famous for her work with radioactivity. It was through this research that Marie and her husband discovered two elements (polonium and radium). Marie also won a Nobel Prize in chemistry and another in physics for her work. This chart of the Periodic Table inspires me to remember all the elements! Can you find curium, named for Marie and Pierre Curie?

November 11

Veteran’s Day honors all the men and women who dedicate their lives to serving in the American armed forces. While this federal holiday started as a remembrance for those who served in World War I, it now serves as a day to show tribute for all service men and women from every American war.

In particular, there’s a small, but significant group who helped to defend our nation at a critical time in history. Known as the Navajo “Code Talkers,” this group of Native Americans worked with the US military during World War II. This communication system is the only unbroken code in military history. The code itself was so complex that even native Navajo speakers would not be able to make sense of the cryptic messages. Because of the classified nature of this code, these veterans were not recognized for their efforts until decades after the war ended. Watch these Navajo Code Talker interviews.

November 17

On this day in 1805, Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean. Their journey took about two years—now we can travel across the continent in just hours! The purpose of their exploration was to chart the land west of the Mississippi River contained in the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis and Clark took notes on plant and animal life, geography, and Native American tribes. Their journey started in Missouri, and they went all the way up to Oregon (where they saw the Pacific Ocean) and back again.

The success of their expedition depended in part on a Native American woman named Sacagawea. She helped the corps with her insights into Native American culture. Sacagawea’s best- known contribution to the exploration came when her own tribe, the Shoshone, agreed to provide horses to carry the corps. Checkout this interactive lesson about the expedition!

November 20

On this day, the three-position traffic light was patented in 1923 by Garrett Morgan. Since previous traffic lights offered no warning between go and stop, this invention helped to decrease the number of auto accidents. Remember to drive safely especially if your kids are soon-to-be backseat drivers! I think a game of red light, green light would be great to include for today’s family activity. Don’t forget to add the yellow light (walking) too!

November 21

The Separatists completed the signing of the Mayflower Compact in 1620. This document listed the rules the colonists agreed to live by as their ship landed in “new” territory outside of the land granted to them by the English government. Read the text of the Mayflower Compact. Does your family have a similar “code of conduct” that your kids can relate to?

November 26

In the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the fourth Thursday in November. We often think back to the first Thanksgiving shared by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags. Many details about this event may be mythical, but we do know that the Pilgrims took a day to celebrate God’s goodness.

One of the blessings God gave to the Pilgrims was a friend named Squanto (Tisquantum). His ability to speak English gave Squanto opportunities to help the Pilgrims as they established their colony in the New World. He taught them how to live off the land and served as a negotiator between them and the surrounding Wampanoag tribe. Squanto’s efforts allowed peace to exist between the two groups for almost fifty years. Find ways to celebrate this special holiday by being a blessing to others and spending time with family. You’ll also want to be on the lookout for a Thanksgiving-themed roundup post I’ll be sharing in a couple weeks.

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.

How We Build a Solid Foundation in Our Elementary English

September 3, 2015 by Meredith

building bricks — Building Bricks by Hannes Grobe/Wikimedia Commons/CC 3.0

Children love building tall towers. Their goals can be quite lofty (literally) and sometimes others are enlisted to complete the project. At some point, the simple tower always seems to come crashing down. For an unsuspecting child, his response to the fallen tower is often tears or outbursts of frustration. But a “demolished” tower made from building blocks can easily be rebuilt.

When it comes to your children’s education, the process of building their tower of success is more intricate and complex. It requires establishing a solid foundation before adding more levels of learning. Their future is at stake, and that’s not something to play around with.

One subject that affects your children’s educational success “tower” is their mastery of the English language. It plays a key role in preparing them to communicate clearly through their academic papers and projects now as well as for their meeting presentations in the future.

Did you know that all our BJU Press elementary English textbooks have been written with those goals in mind? Each textbook presents the parts of speech in a similar chapter order and includes alternating chapters on writing to provide immediate application. Every grade level also adds a more detailed explanation so that your children understand foundational concepts before their knowledge is increased.

Sentences are defined as expressing complete thoughts in English 2. This concept is then used to help students identify and properly use the parts of speech. By the time your child enters sixth grade, his grasp of the English language should allow him to form compound and complex sentences.
Nouns may be the easiest part of speech to understand in comparison to the others largely because they relate to what children are already familiar with—people, places, and things.
Verbs come next. They add another layer of understanding by showing action. Other types of verbs such as helping and linking also receive special attention in a separate chapter.
Pronouns are gradually introduced in English 2 to make sure students can distinguish between a noun and a pronoun. English 3 through English 6 include a separate chapter just for this part of speech.
Adjectives are explained in English 2 by relating them to the five senses—how things look, smell, sound, taste, and feel. Specific types of adjectives are included in later grades.
Adverbs come in English 3 where they are compared with adjectives. This pairing of the two parts of speech continues all the way through English 6.
Conjunctions appear in English 3. The role of this part of speech is outlined more thoroughly as your child learns to write compound sentences.
Prepositions are first presented in English 4 after the nouns and pronouns are clearly defined. They are connected with learning about phrases.

Children try to build their towers so that they reach the ceiling, and all of us at BJU Press want your childen to reach their full potential when it comes to using the English language.

Check out the “Look Inside the Book” feature for our elementary English products.

Dates to Remember: August

July 30, 2015 by Meredith

Most people—especially students—would agree that learning should be fun and memorable. The question is how to meet that goal? One way is to include different events in your everyday life. With this idea in mind, I’ll be putting together a list of events to watch for each month. Here are some activity ideas for the month of August. Enjoy!

wood engraving of Francis Scott Key — Francis Scott Key/Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

August 1

Celebrate the birthday of Francis Scott Key (1779–1843) by singing our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” He wrote the lyrics after seeing the American flag proudly wave as “the bombs [were] bursting in air” during an important battle in the War of 1812. Did you know that there are four stanzas to the song? Read all the lyrics online and then have everyone in the family pick a part to sing. If you need a soprano, let me know.

Christopher Columbus arrives in America by L. Prang & Co., Boston/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

August 3

“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” This little rhyme helps me every time to remember the year that Columbus came here. This day marks when Columbus left Spain on his first voyage to the New World. He and his crew would arrive in the Caribbean several months later. Columbus’s discovery changed the course of history despite the fact that he never made it to the North American continent. Don’t Celebrate Columbus Day? offers discussion points for how Christians should identify this explorer.

August 9

It’s officially National Book Lover’s Day. Taking a trip to the library or acting out a story are just two ideas mentioned in Summer Fun Meets Summer Reading. But if it’s a rainy day, spending time reading aloud together would be my vote.

"Composite Photograph of all visible Perseid meteor activity on August 12th 2013 from 2:28 - 3:32am, as seen from Bracebridge Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. Image contains grain as a result of the high ISO and long exposure required for this type of photography. — © iStockphoto.com/SHSPhotography

August 12–13

Watch the peak of the Perseids Meteor Shower from your backyard, an open field, or a campsite. The meteor shower will last all night long and is best viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. Putting away electronic devices, dressing appropriately for any cool breezes, and looking at the sky for thirty minutes with the naked eye are all tips mentioned in this list of Meteor Showers 2015 from NASA.

August 13

Raise your left hand for International Lefthander’s Day! If you’re left-handed like I am, we can celebrate the fact that we’re always in our right minds. But sometimes our sanity doesn’t help when it comes to completing daily tasks in a dominantly right-handed world. We lefties often have our own “angle” for doing things as the article Tips for Teaching a Left-handed Child points out. Get out some paper and pen to see what each left hand can do; it’ll be fun, ink smears and all.

poetry in letterpress type — © iStockphoto.com/marekuliasz

August 18

If you aren’t very poetic, don’t worry because this day is National Bad Poetry Day. Maybe your family would enjoy a bad poetry competition. Share a haiku, sonnet, “Roses are red / Violets are blue” rhyme, or autobiographical poem on the BJU Press Homeschool Facebook page.

Street in Pompeii overlooking the Vesuvius. Pompeii is an ancient Roman city died from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. — © iStockphoto.com/scaliger

August 24

Get ready for an explosion of volcanic proportions! On this day in AD 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying Pompeii, Italy. The city remained covered up for centuries until it was discovered and archaeologists unearthed it. Make Your Own Volcano to demonstrate the force behind a natural eruption.

August 25

Visit the great outdoors for the birthday of the National Park Service (NPS). The NPS is ninety-nine years old! You’ll want to start planning the trip now since this day is a free entrance day for many national parks. Get tips on preparing for an enjoyable family hike and download a hiking trail journal from Hiking—A Learning Experience.

Subscribe to the blog to receive my upcoming event post about events in September.

Grandmothers Can Be the Best Teachers

May 5, 2015 by Meredith

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!