BJU Press Blog

learning

How Children Learn: Words, Pictures, and Actions

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I am not a teacher—I’m an artist, a “picture person.” But when our third child, Christopher, finished kindergarten without knowing the alphabet, numbers, or colors, I was determined to help my son learn. During the summer, I made the letters of the alphabet from chenille wire and tried to teach him that way. It was like trying to communicate with someone who didn’t speak my language. But the shaping of the wires into letters did seem to help him learn.

I will never forget one day when I was beginning to get discouraged about helping Christopher understand the names of the colors. We were sitting at lunch, and I picked up an orange and said to him, “Do you know what this is?”

He replied, “An orange.”

I said, “OK, now what color is it?”

I could actually see the light go on in his little head. He said, “Orange!” Yes, he got it, and the other colors came more easily after that.

Later, I started using a reading program to help him learn some of the letter sounds. I remember that he had a hard time understanding how to pronounce the short i. A hand scratching an arm was pictured with the short sound as in itch. He got that—a difficult concept made easier by a picture. The Lord was helping me to see that the media most familiar to me—pictures and three-dimensional objects—made concepts clearer to Christopher.

I worked with Chris in the evenings to make up for what he had not grasped in the classroom. The Lord graciously provided me encouragement and help through knowledgeable people at BJU Press. I used BJU Press textbooks, kept a close watch on Chris’s assignments and tests, and communicated regularly with the classroom teachers.

One night Chris and I settled in to study for his Bible class. I wasn’t looking forward to the topic—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the wives, and the children. I personally have a difficult time studying the Old Testament because I can’t remember names. But there, in the Bible Truths worktext, was a family tree complete with small pictures of Bible-time men and women. I was reading aloud with him the names by the pictures—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—and counting the sons—1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 sons. The twelve tribes of Israel! Seeing the names paired with the pictures and grouped as a family tree, Chris could make the connection (and both of us could remember the names). That was when I realized that art is a more effective teaching tool than I had thought.

In third grade Chris was tested for learning disabilities, but none were revealed. The tests did show, however, that he couldn’t process information given in a classroom setting when lecturing is the main method of presentation. I began to check into the ways people learn.

howchildrenlearnblogpost

Auditory learners learn best by hearing. I call them “word people.” Then there are visual learners, who learn by seeing and can actually visualize and remember things as pictures in their heads. They are what I had been referring to for years as “picture people.” Kinesthetic learners, the most difficult to teach in the traditional style, may be called “hands-on” or “action people.” Our son does learn best by actually doing things. His knowledge of cars comes, I’m sure, from the time he has physically worked on cars with his dad, who is an automobile mechanic. Ever since he was age ten, Chris has been able to do a great brake job!

In grade six, Chris received the B scholarship award. He began seventh grade with a good attitude about his studies. He receives help from teachers who understand how he learns, and I continue to work with him at home. His organizational skills have improved, he knows how long he must study, and he plans ahead for that time. Past successes have motivated Chris to keep striving. Those successes have also been a real encouragement to his teachers, including my husband and me!

After recognizing Chris’s specific approach to learning, I developed a list of techniques to use in helping my kinesthetic/visual-learner son. Perhaps they may help you with your children too:

  • Label pictures. The visual learner integrates the words with the picture, and he produces one unit in his brain. He will remember by actually seeing that grouping in his head. When I produced a diagram of a knight and his armor for Reading 6, I used what I had learned from helping our son. The diagram introduces unfamiliar terms so that the student will be able to read the accompanying story with understanding.
  • When making study guides, type important facts and names in bold.
  • Encourage highlighting while studying.
  • Make graphs.
  • Arrange events on a timeline so that the student can get the big picture.
  • Have middle school and high school students take notes while listening, in the books if possible. The act of writing the words and looking at them helps children to recall the information.
  • Group things together to study in little bites. For example, as Chris studied for a history test, the whole chapter of information overwhelmed him. I helped him to break down the chapter on the Renaissance into four groups: Writers, Arts and Music, the Church, Education. We used one piece of paper for each group. Drawing pictures where possible and highlighting important words allowed him to “see” the information in a logical order.
  • Use pictures that compare. A visual comparison will make a fact memorable. (For example, show the size comparison of two rockets with pictures.)

Interested in strengthening your child’s learning? Sign up for our homeschool email and receive more helpful teaching tips.

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Written by Kathy Pflug

What Is Age-Appropriate Learning?

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green bean casseroleMy go-to fall/winter side dish is green bean casserole. It’s impossible to mess up the recipe because there’s no such thing as too many fried onions or too much cream of mushroom soup. I always make green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. It’s gotten to the point that my aunt doesn’t even ask me what I’m bringing to her house for the family meal.

Should our roles ever reverse and the whole family came over to my place for the Thanksgiving feast, I think I might be in trouble. Despite the hours I spend in the kitchen happily cooking and baking, I’ve never had to roast a turkey. There’s not even a roasting pan in my kitchen.

The pleasure I find in preparing food can quickly turn into frustration or anxiety when I’m asked to prepare a dish that goes beyond my skill level. It’s the same way with your child’s academic learning. You want to challenge her potential but not frustrate or overwhelm it. What she learns should be age appropriate.

Is your child’s education the right kind of learning for her age? Your child’s learning should be guided by what is right for her age based on her cognitive, emotional, social, language, and motor skill development. There are three elements that contribute to age-appropriate learning—teaching style, book layout, and student assessment.

        1. Teaching Style—How a topic or subject is approached can make a difference in your child’s learning. A science lecture on frogs’ muscular system is not appropriate for a seven-year-old any more than playing leap frog would be for a teenager (although you might be debated with on that point!). Activities, discussions, lectures, guided questions, and manipulatives all have their place. How you teach should also be influenced by your child’s learning style.
        2. Book Layout—Illustrations are the more obvious contribution to age appropriate learning with their numbers, sizes, and styles (painting versus photograph, imaginative versus realistic, simple versus detailed) varying by grade. But the text in a book also plays an important role. Font size, color, and placement all assist in captivating your child’s attention and inviting her to learn. Compare these pages from BJU Press Reading 2 (page 45 on left) and Explorations in Literature (page 89 on right).BJU Press Reading 2 page 45 and BJU PRess Explorations in Literature page 89
        3. Student Assessment—This element may sound scary, but it’s simply an evaluation of your child’s understanding. Having your five-year-old find the triangle would be an appropriate assessment and so would asking your twelve-year-old to label triangles as acute or obtuse. Assessments can be questions, writings, or presentations. They can also be formal (like tests) or informal (like discussions). The purpose of an assessment is to find out if your child understands what you’re teaching.

How age appropriate is your child’s learning? It’s important to know whether she is overwhelmed or not challenged enough. Your child probably has strengths and weaknesses in different areas than other students her age. Here’s my challenge to you: Find good materials that increase your child’s learning appropriately. As you teach at home, customize her education by slowing down or speeding up.

You’ll be glad you did, and she probably will be too.

Gaining Joy

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image of BJU Press homeschool branding gaining wisdom and knowledge and joy.

What is joy?

In his book Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life, C. S. Lewis characterizes joy as an unexpected, elevated emotion that comes over you at times when you least expect it. Not a bad description, but there may be even more to it. The dictionary describes joy as “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.” But then it muddles the issue a bit by speaking of “tears of joy.” So joy is something that makes you so happy that you . . . cry?

Well, yes, that’s sometimes the case. I remember the first time I had that experience. I was five or six years old, and my mom had been in the hospital for more than a week. I was staying at my grandmother’s house, and one afternoon suddenly there was Mom, home from the hospital! My brother and I ran to her and hugged her, and all of a sudden all three of us were crying. A very confusing moment for a young boy! So my brother and I covered our embarrassment in a typically masculine way. Each of us pointed at the other and laughed at him.

Joy—an elevated emotion, a feeling of great pleasure and happiness that can come over you when you least expect it.

What does joy have to do with education?

Let’s skip forward a few years . . . I’m now in college, and the professor in my life science class is giving a lecture on DNA and RNA and how DNA is replicated. I remember sitting there completely lost and very downhearted. I could usually pick things up pretty quickly, but this concept had me very confused.

A big part of my problem was that I hadn’t done the assigned reading for that day. I remember after class taking my big fat college science textbook to the campus library, finding a study carrel way out of the traffic pattern, and burying myself in the chapter on DNA replication. I was totally absorbed in this confusing topic—I was determined to understand how it worked.

As I read the chapter, what happened? It all unfolded before my eyes. I understood how the DNA strand unzipped, what the RNA did, and how the whole process worked. “I get this! I get this!”

Although I couldn’t explain DNA replication to you today, over thirty years later, my point is that what I experienced that afternoon was unquestionably joy! I felt so much joy that I still remember that afternoon today.

No doubt you’ve had similar experiences with your children. Such moments are rare jewels. As you work through the daily challenges of homeschooling, treasure those moments when your child gains knowledge . . . when your child gains wisdom . . . and when you and your child experience a feeling of great pleasure and happiness that comes over you when you least expect it.

“I get this! I get this!” That’s joy!

This post is part of our series highlighting our 2015 theme Gaining Wisdom and Knowledge and Joy. Steve serves as director of content development for BJU Press. He and his wife are the parents of five adult children. They homeschooled for over ten years.

Gaining Knowledge

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image of BJU Press homeschool branding gaining wisdom and knowledge and joy.

With a runner on first base and only one out, a ground ball is hit to the shortstop. Where does the shortstop make a play—first base or second base? How does a person know the best answer to this baseball question? A ball player learns the game by practicing, asking questions, observing games in person or on TV, listening to the coach, and playing the game. Finding answers to baseball questions illustrates how we learn facts and find answers to questions about a particular academic subject; we find them in the process of gaining knowledge.

Knowledge is gained through personal and vicarious experiences and through studying various sources. A student learns best when his educational experiences are age appropriate, developmentally suitable, purposeful by design, and regularly evaluated. Gaining knowledge is not just for the sake of having knowledge. It is the means to a much greater end—glorifying God in whatever task He has placed before the student.

Methods and Knowledge

The baseball player needs a coach to present the “how-tos” of the game. Just as in baseball, the student needs a teacher to present the academic subject in such a way that the facts are understood and learned. However, the student needs to do much more than just accumulate memorized facts. The student needs to gain knowledge by way of understanding and remembering those facts with an emphasis on analyzing and appying them so that he can evaluate and create. How does a teacher know the student is truly learning? By giving a student opportunities to demonstrate his knowledge through formal and informal questioning, individual and group projects, academic tests utilizing many different types of questions, and presentations.

Curriculum and Knowledge

As a baseball player has rules and plays to learn, a student has concepts and facts to learn. Gaining knowledge takes place best with a curriculum that blends factual knowledge and critical thinking skills with a biblical worldview. Textbooks are an essential part of gaining factual knowledge. However, all textbooks are not created equal. To be most effective in facilitating knowledge acquisition, the textbook’s worldview, methods of teaching, depth of content, and literary quality should promote critical and creative thinking that is foundationally biblical.

Proverbs 18:15 says, “The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.” The discerning student should always be ready to pursue and expand his knowledge and to learn more in order to have a greater opportunity to glorify God in following His leading.

This post is part of our ongoing series highlighting our 2015 theme Gaining Wisdom and Knowledge and Joy. Jeff has served in local church ministry, secondary education, and higher education for more than thirty years. Jeff holds a doctorate in education and is the senior manager of academic integrity at BJU Press. He and his wife have three children, five grandchildren, and two goldendoodles.

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!