BJU Press Blog

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Truth in Action: Biographies that Teach Principles

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Biographies
Most homeschool parents realize the value of using biographies as a teaching tool to complement what their kids are learning. By reading biographies, your child can gain a much better understanding of how the people of a specific time period walked, talked, dressed, worked, and played; however, there is another important use for biographies—the teaching or reinforcement of Christian principles. As Jonathan Edwards put it, “There are two ways of representing and recommending true religion and virtue to the world—the one, by doctrine and precept; the other, instance and example.”

Biographies in Your Homeschool

While your child is reading about a particular historical era in Heritage Studies, introduce a book about one of the notable figures of that time. The biography might be about a Christian statesman or a missionary who served during that era. A biography of a notable scientist, such as Madame Curie, might pair well with your child’s studies in chemistry. A book about a brilliant Christian mathematician might inspire your child to strive for excellence in algebra.

Homeschool families can use biographies to reinforce their teaching of the Bible on almost any grade level. For example, if the child is reading in Acts about the missionary journeys of Paul, he can read some stories from the lives of famous missionaries including William Carey, Adoniram Judson, or John and Betty Stam.

The Popular Biography

To keep the kids engaged, it’s a good idea to choose “popular biographies” close to their grade level. These biographies draw information from reliable secondary sources and then dramatize the stories a bit with description and dialogue. A popular biography is designed to be a story about real-life events, rather than a report.

One example of a popular biography is With Daring Faith by Rebecca Davis. This book, written for children ages nine to twelve, focuses on a central theme—the faith that spurred Amy Carmichael to serve on the mission field of India. The biography handles Amy’s rescue of enslaved children with delicacy so that children can become familiar with the story and learn from it at an age-appropriate level. Another biography for the middle grades is Mary Slessor: Missionary Mother about the tough Scottish missionary to Africa. For younger readers (ages seven to nine), consider These Are My People about the life of Gladys Aylward

The Fictionalized Biography

Fictionalized biographies center on genuine historical figures but include fictional characters and dialogue. The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day by Scott O’Dell is a work of historical fiction about the life of William Tyndale suitable for teens.

The Critical Biography

Another kind of biography is the critical biography. The book doesn’t necessarily criticize its subject; the term critical means that the work is based on original sources such as letters, papers, or interviews and contains scholarly citations. A critical biography concentrates on presenting all aspects of its subject, good and bad. Parents and teen homeschoolers can enjoy reading and discussing critical biographies such as Merle d’Aubigné’s The Triumph of Truth: A Life of Martin Luther.

Fill up your family library with informational books as well as good fiction, and add in some quality Christian biographies. Stories of faith in action will provide your students with real-life illustrations of scriptural truth.

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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.

Tips for Finding Great Read-Aloud Books (Printable)

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Libraries are big places—the choices of books can almost be overwhelming. But not all books are worth reading. And if you truly want to experience the benefits of read-alouds that I discussed in a previous post, you need to choose your read-aloud books wisely. Here are some tips as well as downloadable reading lists for creating a good diet of books for your children.

1. Choose from a variety of different genres.

My daughters love a good mystery, but I don’t read mysteries to them every day, just like I don’t feed them the same foods for every meal. In order to become healthy, well-educated readers, they need variety in their reading diet. Below are some favorite books for several different genres. You can also download our reading lists for more suggestions.

  • Mystery. Mysteries are usually plot-driven, exciting for all ages, and can help develop thinking skills. My daughters enjoy books from the Boxcar Children series as well as The Mystery of the Dognapped Cat.
  • Biography. Reading biographies has helped my children gain an appreciation for people in the past who have had an impact on our world today. We especially enjoy reading biographies about people who have advanced God’s kingdom. Some of our favorites include These Are My People and George Mueller: A Father to the Fatherless.
  • Historical fiction. My oldest daughter’s love for historical fiction has fueled her love for history. She particularly enjoys the American Adventure series (unfortunately out-of-print) and stand-alone books such as A Father’s Promise and False Coin, True Coin.
  • Fantasy. A good fantasy will teach truth in a way that a realistic story often cannot. We have learned much from the classic Chronicles of Narnia series as well as a relatively-new fantasy series, The Green Ember. We have also enjoyed reading Brill of Exitorn, The Lost Prince, and The Princess and the Goblin.
  • Realistic fiction. Realistic fiction helps my children learn about places, cultures, and situations they have never experienced. Within this genre, we have enjoyed the Grandma’s Attic series as well as The Railway Children.
  • Poetry. I recenly wrote a post about the benefits of studying poetry. Although you probably don’t want to read an extensive book of sonnets during storytime, you may occasionally want to include some poems in your read-aloud diet. The poetry anthology Where the Sidewalk Ends is an excellent source for finding kid-friendly poems to introduce your children to the genre.
  • Nonfiction. Much of your children’s education will come from reading nonfiction books, so it’s good to include them occasionally in your read-aloud time as well. Choose some on topics that interest your child.

2. Choose a book that is the right level for your child.

Because of the differences in their ages, abilities, and even personalities, my daughters need different types of books to motivate and engage them. My toddler will pay attention to a story as long as it contains a lot of pictures and simple, easy-to-follow text. She prefers books that have a rhythmic, rhyming text with repeated phrases. Some of her favorites include The Cow Loves Cookies, Farmer Dillo Counts His Chickens, and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

My older daughters (first and third grade) can handle listening to books without illustrations, but the vocabulary needs to be mostly familiar and the sentence structures need to be fairly simple. I also try to choose books with short chapters because I know that they can only comprehend so much at one sitting.

3. Be prepared to deal with objectionable elements.

Very few books are completely free from objectionable elements, so you might want to consider using the GEM approach to help you evaluate the books that you bring into your home. But be ready to talk about any objectionable elements that surface in your reading. It can be a great teaching opportunity.

BJU Press and I have put together suggested reading lists filled with some of our favorite books and are offering them as free downloads. Of course, these lists aren’t perfect, so please use discretion when you choose what books to expose your children to. If you have any books to add to our lists, please let us know in a comment below.

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Getting Together with Books (Part 1)

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When I go out in public with my four young children, people make a lot of comments ranging from “Are they all yours?” to “Wow! You have your hands full.” But last week, while making a quick stop at a local grocery store, I heard a comment that I hadn’t heard before. An elderly gentleman stopped me and said, “I hope you read to these little ones every day. It’s the best thing you could do for them.”

Although, as a follower of Christ, I believe that teaching my children the gospel is the “best thing” that I can do for them, I know that reading to them is a very important part of their development. My husband and I do read to our children almost every day. We do it because we love books, but we also do it because reading aloud to our children benefits them in several ways. Here are a few of them.

1. Reading Aloud Opens Up Communication Channels

I’ve found that real teaching requires a relationship. A relationship, of course, is built on mutual trust, but it also requires mutual knowledge and shared experiences. I’ve discovered that sharing books with my children opens up doors for conversation. We can talk about a story’s characters, its underlying message, its plot, or the interesting setting. These interactions have provided wonderful opportunities to develop my children’s biblical worldview.

2. Reading Aloud Strengthens Verbal Skills

Poets and authors are linguistic artists; they create beauty with language. Through books, my children have been exposed to complex sentence structures and literary devices that they likely wouldn’t have heard in everyday conversations. I’ve also noticed that hearing stories read aloud has helped develop the vocabulary of all of my children.

3. Reading Aloud Prepares Your Child for Independent Reading

Two of my children know how to read. My rising third grader is an excellent, avid reader, and the one who just finished kindergarten is off to a good start. Story time is beneficial to them, but it’s beneficial in a special way to my three-year-old and infant. When my two younger ones sit on my lap for story time, they’re developing skills that will help them later when they learn to read. They’re getting the idea that print has a message by seeing how my eyes and attention move from the front of the book to the back, from the top of the page to the bottom, and from left to right on a line. My three-year-old is also beginning to develop comprehension skills as I ask her a few simple questions about what I read.

4. Reading Aloud Whets Your Child’s Appetite for Reading

Most of us who love books developed that love very early in life. I can trace my love for books back to when my parents used to read to me several times a day to keep me still while I received treatment for an ongoing health issue. Another BJU Press blog writer mentions a few of his favorite read-alouds in the post “The Benefits of Reading Aloud to Your Children” as he recounts how those books also helped him develop a love of reading from an early age.

Reading time at our house is one of my favorite parts of the day. My kids are usually in constant motion, so I love it when they snuggle up quietly for a few precious minutes while we experience a story together. In an upcoming post, I’ll share some tips for choosing a good read-aloud as well as a list of some of my favorites.

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3 Reasons Your Child Should Be Reading Informational Books

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homeschooler reading books

Do you have a child who’s a picky reader? One who will only read fiction? As a kid, I was always like that too. Most nonfiction was boring to me, and informational books seemed good only for pictures. You may be tempted to say that it doesn’t matter whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, as long as your child is reading good books.

However, just as there needs to be a balance between subjects, there also needs to be a balance within the content of those subjects. The best reading programs contain both fiction and nonfiction selections. Here are a few reasons your child should read nonfiction, or informational books, plus some suggested titles.

1. They will expand your child’s vocabulary.

A carefully selected informational text can introduce children to each new word and connect it to a definition without their even realizing it. Well-written texts for a child’s age level will weave in necessary definitions or use illustrations and labels for easy reference. The focus is giving helpful information without breaking the flow of thought.

A popular series of informational texts, Eyewitness Books™, fills each page of each book with pictures and illustrations, and every illustration is carefully labeled. The more than one hundred titles in this series cover a wide range of subjects, such as plants, volcanoes, knights, and whales.

2. They allow young readers to explore their interests.

It’s easy for children to form impressions about topics or professions they don’t know much about. Informational texts that present each topic clearly and with as much detail as is appropriate will allow your child to come to a more informed opinion about his or her interests.

If your child is interested in farms, horses, and cows, Michael Rosen’s Our Farm presents a detailed picture of farm life through the responses of five children who live on a real farm. For one who’s more athletic, Dorling Kindersley®—the same company that created Eyewitness Books™—has also created a series of guides about playing certain sports called Superguides™.

3. They provide opportunities for practicing reading skills.

A series of basal readers, or reading books, gradually introduces your child to new skills and strategies for finding information. The text is controlled to ensure student achievement and understanding. However, an informational book typically doesn’t have a controlled text. New information and formats abound, and your child will need to call on various skills that have been taught during reading instruction. While a reading book contains selected vocabulary and limited content, an informational book may not be limited. Instead, it will provide as much information about the topic as possible. But perhaps most importantly, while a basal reading book from a Christian publisher may present information from a biblical worldview, an informational book from the library will require the reader to constantly be aware of what the author might be trying to teach and filter it through a biblical worldview.

Since they provide such an opportunity for building and testing new skills, informational texts make a great way to expand on topics your child is learning about in other subjects. A child who’s studying birds and animals in science might be interested in reading Susan H. Gray’s book Hornbill, Seymour Simon’s Horses, or Dawn L. Watkins’s Wait and See. These books give a lot of information in just a few colorful pages.

Encourage your child to start reading informational books by adding a couple to the summer reading list, or suggest that every other book should be nonfiction. He or she may quickly find a new passion!

Should Reading Take More Time Than Science in Your Homeschool?

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How to Balance Reading

Have you found yourself spending time emphasizing science rather than the language arts in teaching early learning and early elementary courses?

These days we see a lot of emphasis on science and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) activities in early education. That pull towards the sciences can change the emphasis of a child’s education. While it does encourage you to focus on a subject that’s often left behind, it also means giving less attention to another subject.

As a parent, you know that your child needs a balanced education, and this growing trend toward the sciences can cause you to take a closer look at what your child is learning. You may notice that, in the early grades, language arts can span across four subjects, and of those four, reading takes the most time. It makes sense to start balancing your child’s education by looking at the balance between reading and science in early grades—which leads to the following question.

How do you balance your child’s education?

Do you balance subjects by spending more time on one subject? Does equal time mean equal importance? Not necessarily.

Just as different kinds of matter have different weights, different subjects need more or less time for mastery. So a balanced education doesn’t mean equal time spent on all subjects. It simply means that you give your children enough time with each subject to develop mastery.

Why should reading take more time?

Since the best time for your child to master reading is by the end of Grade 4, it’s better to spend more time on reading in the early grades. Reading and the other language arts subjects are critical for your children’s early development. Proficiency in reading skills creates a foundation for their mastery of almost every area of study. Unless they first master reading, they will struggle to become independent learners, even in subjects they enjoy.

As much as one of your children may love doing science, he will be unable to comprehend his lessons or follow directions for experiments if he hasn’t first developed his reading skills.

What should you do?

Take time to build different reading skills—such as comprehension, critical thinking, and vocabulary—before Grade 4. Find topics that your children enjoy reading about and fill their shelves with books about those things. Books with strong visual and informational ties are a lot of fun to explore, and they build a foundation for research skills. Those visual and informational skills will better enable them to excel in the sciences later because they will be capable of comprehending the lessons and instructions that go along with studying those subjects.

As much as you want your children to have a balanced education, encourage them to become readers first!

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