technology

When Does a Tool Become an Idol?

January 16, 2018 by Justin

Technology is great. Computers allow us to do work not possible before. Smartphones give us access to a world of information in the palm of our hand. Even video games can be a good way to unwind or socialize. But what happens when technology becomes more like an idol than a tool?

You’ve probably seen a group of friends or family members sitting around a table without saying a word while everyone stares into his or her smartphone. Ever see a child who’s so fused into an iPad that she can’t be content without it? What about a young man who spends most of his life in a virtual game world to the neglect of his education, his career, and his walk with God?

Are these really idols?

When we think of idols we usually picture statues made by pagans that are worshiped as gods. We may not worship our electronic tools, but sometimes we give them a level of attention that only God deserves. The Bible says the greatest commandments are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:36–40). So when does technology become an idol? When it hinders our ability to act on those commandments.

Here’s a personal example:

Last week I sat on the couch with my four-month-old son on my lap making silly faces and laughing. I usually make a special effort to limit my smartphone usage around him and give him my full attention, but my pocket vibrated. Completely without thinking I pulled out my phone to read the notification. It was not important, but I proceeded to let it hold my attention until I noticed that the huge smile on my son’s face had become a pushed-out bottom lip. I felt terrible and convicted.

My attention to my phone was preventing me from showing my son the love that the Bible commands me to. Would I want someone to suddenly ignore me for an email? Of course not.

What can we do?

• Be aware

Sometimes the most dastardly idols are the ones that disguise themselves as a normal and necessary part of our lives. I often ask myself, “Could I reasonably live without this?” If the answer is no, the reasoning had better be that it helps me fulfill a biblical mandate such as providing for my family, loving God, or loving others. If the thing doesn’t meet that criteria and is taking up a sizable amount of my time and attention, it might be time to cut back.

• Power down or put away

Ever since the incident with my son, I’ve been trying to be extra careful. I put my phone in my office when I get home, and it stays there until I check it for important notifications before bed. The ringer is on loud enough for me to hear it ring if someone calls. At our house, video games are an infrequent activity that we do as a family, not individually. I know many families that have successfully boosted family time and reading time by limiting device usage at the dinner table and in the evenings. Do whatever works for your family.

• Clean house

Sometimes completely getting rid of a device is the best way to remove the temptation to idolize it. This has been hard for me in the past because technology is valuable and throwing it away or selling it at a loss seems wasteful. In these cases I’ve found that the best thing to do is to stick it in a closet somewhere. If it’s a game or app, uninstall it for a while. Taking a few weeks or months off from something can be eye opening. If you don’t miss it, you may not need it at all. If you miss it greatly for the wrong reasons, you’ve identified an idol.

What steps have you taken to identify and remove potential tech idols from your home? Let us know in the comments!

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What Is STEM and How Do I Teach It?

October 19, 2017 by Justin

If you’re like me, you have a hard time keeping up with all the new buzzwords in education. When you hear about STEM, it’s usually being talked about as if it’s a subject all its own—one more thing you need to worry about teaching your kids. The reality is that you’re probably already teaching it, especially if you are using BJU Press textbooks for science and math. We were doing STEM long before it was called STEM.

What STEM Is

STEM is an acronym for

Science
Technology
Engineering
Math

Technically, any lesson that falls into one of these subject areas is a “STEM lesson.” But the term is typically used when describing activities that seek to teach kids how to apply those subjects to real-world applications. If hearing about STEM brings to mind pictures of kids building robots, that’s because robotics and programming are examples of real-world applications. They are definitely STEM, but STEM isn’t limited to electronics. Exercises can also include chemistry experiments, math equations used to design buildings or vehicles, weather analysis, and more.

Why It’s Hot

The acronym actually dates back to 1998 but has recently gained a lot of popularity. Experts in the United States determined that we were behind other countries in these areas in terms of test scores and the number of college graduates holding degrees in those fields. The majority of high-paying new jobs fall into the STEM category, and there aren’t enough graduates to meet that demand.

Why It Matters

Homeschoolers usually aren’t big on educational fads, focusing instead on time-tested approaches that we know work. The acronym STEM might be trendy but the idea isn’t new. The fundamental processes used in math and science never change, but the way we apply them to the real world has to because the demands of the job market change. If we’re going to bring up our children to be good stewards of God’s creation and to love their neighbors, we have to equip them with the tools they need to accomplish those things in a modern world. That’s why BJU Press has been including these real-world applications in our science and math textbook lines from the beginning.

What to Do

One of the best things about homeschooling is that you can do what’s right for your family. I believe STEM is very important, so here are two things I plan to do with my own son:

I’m going to make sure that the curriculum I’m using has plenty of up-to-date STEM exercises that will help him learn.
I’m going to personally come at the activities with a learner’s attitude. A lot of the lessons, especially ones involving technology and programing might be foreign to parents who aren’t actively involved in fields that use them, but I’m excited about learning along with my son and certainly won’t skip over lessons that may seem unfamiliar or difficult. We’ll get through them together.

Did you find this post helpful? Would you like to share a STEM activity that has worked in your homeschool? Be sure to comment below! Also, to get you started, here are six free STEM activities from BJU Press science textbooks.

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Teaching Technology at Home

August 30, 2016 by Justin

Technology skills are no longer optional; they’re a requirement for almost any job out there today. Many public and private schools are now incorporating classes on keyboarding, computer programming, web design, and so forth into their curriculum. Students who learn these skills at an early age are likely to catch on quickly, and this kind of know-how soon becomes second nature.

There’s no reason why homeschoolers can’t be on the cutting edge. Even without training, parents can teach their children the technology skills that will give them a major advantage in the future. Many of the available resources can make this an easy and fun learning experience for both parent and child. Here are a few key points to consider:

Promote Creation over Consumption

We’ve all seen it—young children who get separation anxiety when they are not using a device to play games or interact with friends. When used incorrectly, technology can consume our lives, but that doesn’t mean it has no purpose. In Genesis 1:28, God commands humans to subdue and have dominion over the earth. He also commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31). When used correctly, technology is a tool that can help us work toward these goals.

One way to show children the true purpose and value of technology is to purchase devices and use software that focus on creating content rather than consuming it. I recommend choosing a device with a keyboard and mouse for a child as opposed to an iPad or tablet. These devices can be used to teach important skills such as coding, graphic design, word processing, and data entry. Children who have accessed only an iPad may have a difficult time transitioning to the types of devices they’ll be using as they move into college and the workforce.

Keep Them Safe While They Learn

There are more threats online than ever before, and many parents rightly choose to limit their children’s access to technology for safety reasons. This is very important, but it’s also important to balance this with their need to learn. Most devices allow for supervised accounts that can restrict access to questionable content and riskier applications. Covenant Eyes^® is one resource for internet accountability and filtering for families.

You Can Do It!

Don’t fret if you’re a computer novice. Terms like computer programming and coding can seem scary and impossible to understand, but they don’t have to be. Many great (and free!) resources are available to help you and your child learn about technology. These tools often vary in difficulty based on your child’s age and relate coding and other computer-related tasks to fun characters children know and love.

Here are some outstanding resources to check out:

Code.org^® is a nonprofit website dedicated to helping people of all ages learn to code. It offers lessons for younger children, including early readers.

Codecademy is a more advanced coding website for older children and adults.

Raspberry Pi Foundation is a nonprofit organization that sells small, inexpensive single-board computers that can be used in many different projects including homemade robotics. Their website contains a lot of ideas about fun projects that can be used to help children learn.

Chromebook™ notebook computers are ideal for children since they’re inexpensive and require little maintenance. They also make it easy to set up parental controls and feature a keyboard and touchpad for content creation. That’s why they’re quickly becoming the tool of choice for students across the country.

Have a favorite tool or experience about teaching technology in your homeschool? Share your story in the comments below!

Editor’s note: BJU Press is not endorsed, sponsored by or associated with any of the websites or organizations listed above.

Unlocking Your Tools: BJU Press Resources

February 27, 2015 by BJU Press Writer

Do you ever feel like you’re not using a tool to its full capacity? Maybe you have an electronic device—like a smart phone, food processor, or cordless drill—and you know there’s so much you can do with it . . . if you only knew how.

I experienced a similar feeling with a new tool recently. A few weeks ago, I was excited to use my new cordless drill that I had received for Christmas. I charged it up and set to work screwing in some slats on a bunk bed for my son. To my dismay, the screws would go into the wood about halfway down, and then the drill would start making a clicking noise and refuse to screw them in any farther. After a few tries, I gave up and figured that I would just have to return my drill and look for another one to replace it.

The next day at church I asked a carpenter friend of mine if he could think of what might be wrong with my drill. After a few questions, he said, “You know about the clutch, right?” Slightly embarrassed at my lack of expertise, I asked him what that did. “It controls how much force is applied to turning the drill bit.” My drill suddenly became much more useful once I knew about the additional settings to help me do my work more effectively.

Just like my carpenter friend helped me with my cordless drill, I’d like to unlock some tools for you that can enhance your use of BJU Press products. These features are available on the BJU Press website. Maybe you already use them, but if not, please read on to learn more about where to find these resources and how you can best use them.

Where can I find textbook resources?

Go to bjupress.com/resources.

Go to bjupress.com.
Select More at the top of the page.
Select Textbook Resources under the Resources section.

Once you’re on the Textbook Resources page, you can view resources by selecting the grade or subject you teach and then selecting the textbook.

What resources are available?

Most textbook resource pages have links to the following items:

Information and Pricing
Lesson Plan Overview
General Teaching Resources
Weblinks
Corrections (if applicable)

You may find two of these links especially helpful. The Lesson Plan Overview allows you to efficiently plan your teaching schedule. This document can be downloaded for easy reference.

Another great treasure trove of resources are the Weblinks. (Not all textbook resources include weblinks.) Many of the textbooks have multiple links related to topics covered in the course. For example, the Explorations in Literature resource page has links to a biography of Anne Sullivan, detailed information about the Wright brothers’ first flight, and many other links that expand on the themes and characters from the literature selections. Also, many of the weblinks for the Science textbooks expand on scientific concepts (like weather) or discuss those concepts from a historical perspective. If you are looking for more materials for your students to read or research, or just want to find a way to connect something they are learning about to real life, the Weblinks pages are a great place to look.

What other BJU Press resources have you found helpful in your teaching?

• • • • •

Andrew enjoys helping others use technology in a way that glorifies God. He leads the website team at BJU Press and looks for new ways to improve user-experience online. He and his wife help with the children’s ministries at their church. Along with their three sons, they like to read together about others’ adventures and then go out and have their own.

Organize Your Files in Two Steps

January 30, 2015 by BJU Press Writer

How much time do you spend looking for information that you know you have somewhere? What if you could get to any piece of information quickly? With a good organization system, you can quickly look through files as they come in and easily find what you’re looking for later.

1. Use an inbox folder.

Since this is a series focused on technology, I will explain how to use the filing system on your computer. One key idea in organizing files is to avoid as many “trips” as possible. When you are organizing things on the computer, you can eliminate a lot of clicks and random searches by storing everything in two main folders (subfolders are allowed).

Put unsorted items in one folder. This would be for things like an article you download from the Internet or a file you are only using temporarily. You could also use it for anything you don’t know where to file right when you receive it. Then, periodically (no less than once a week, please!) go through that folder from the first file to the last and move each file to its proper location. If you already know how you want to file something, don’t put it in the inbox folder, save it directly to the correct folder in your sorted location (see step 2).To move a file, you can click on it and drag it over to another folder.

Whether you have a PC or a Mac computer, you can use the Downloads folder that’s already on your computer as your inbox. Whenever you download a file from the Internet, it will typically go into that folder anyway, so it works well as a place to keep your unsorted files.

You can find the folder on a PC by clicking on the Start button and then on Computer, or click the file folder icon at the bottom of your screen on the taskbar (which opens Windows^® Explorer to show you your files). You should then see Downloads at the top left of the window that opened under Favorites.
On a Mac computer, opening Finder (the blue-face icon on the toolbar at the bottom of your screen) will allow you to see the Downloads folder on the left toolbar.

2. Keep sorted files organized in one place.

Files on the computer are stored in what is called a folder tree. It works a little differently from physical folders because it allows you to easily place folders inside other folders. To organize your files, use the Documents folder that comes preinstalled on your computer. You might be tempted to use your Desktop, but that is not really a good place to organize files. You have a limited amount of space on the screen, and just like with your physical desk, if you have a lot of things on it, you may have a hard time finding something you use regularly. It also adds another place to look for files you need to back up. Instead, use shortcuts on your desktop for files or even folders you use daily or very frequently. It’s easy to make a shortcut:

On a PC, right-click on the file or folder you want to have on your desktop, and choose Send to and then Desktop (create shortcut). You should now have a shortcut on your desktop.
On a Mac computer, click on the file or folder while holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and choose Make Alias. This will create a file just below the item with “.alias” at the end of the name. Click on that new alias file and drag it over to your desktop.

For organizing files in your Documents folder, you can create folders that match the way you think about your files. For example, if your files change every school year, then you could create a folder called 2015 School Year and then create subfolders in that folder for different subjects.

On a PC, once you are looking at your files in Windows^® Explorer, you can right-click on a blank space around your files and select New and then Folder. You will then have an opportunity to name the folder. You can move files into the folder by clicking and dragging them over to that folder.
On a Mac computer, once you are looking at your files in Finder, you can click on the gear icon at the top and select New Folder. You can name the folder and put files in it by dragging them over to that folder. By keeping all of your important files in your Documents folder, you have only one place to look when you need to find something.

Now that you know how to organize your files, check back on the last Friday of next month to find out how to use some of the electronic resources available to you as part of the BJU Press curriculum!

Microsoft, Encarta, MSN, and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
Mac is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

If you have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below.