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Q & A: Can I use the same textbook for multiple ages?

February 23, 2016 by Justin

“Will a fifth-grade science textbook work for my third and first grader as well? The younger kids might not understand it all, but all of the information is there. Won’t it just challenge them more?”

Every now and then I hear a question like this from someone wondering whether it’s a good idea to use one textbook for multiple children. The answer is generally no, and here’s why: Grade levels are important because spiraling is important.

Have you heard about spiraling?

It’s important that concepts are repeated in each grade. Imagine taking a pen and a sheet of paper and drawing a series of expanding circles without lifting your pen. The first circle is small, but each circle after that gets a little bigger and covers more of the paper. The paper represents a concept from a textbook, and each circle is a new layer of knowledge about that concept. The layers build on each other, and eventually the entire concept is explored.

My father grew up in the 1960’s with very little exposure to technology. Only in the past few years has he started using a computer. Recently he got a smartphone. He asks me for a lot of help, generally when he is trying to learn something that is new to him. I often I have to repeat procedures to him. He’s catching on, but slowly. I never had these growing pains because technology has surrounded me from a very early age. When smartphones came out, I caught on quickly. They were like second nature to me.

Good homeschool textbooks seek to make academic concepts second nature by surrounding your children with them at an early age and repeating and building on them in each grade. This process leads to a fundamental understanding that isn’t easily forgotten. When new ideas come along, students are able to quickly and easily absorb them because the foundation is already there, and they don’t have to learn everything all at once. This educational approach is called spiraling.

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How does spiraling actually work?

Elementary science curriculum from BJU Press teaches weather in grades 1, 3, and 5.

In Science 1, weather is explored in a very basic sense. Children are introduced to concepts such as temperature, wind, clouds, rain, and snow, using colorful illustrations of sailboats and flags to present information in a way a six-year-old can easily relate to. They’re not only reading about the idea; they’re seeing it in a way that is meaningful to them with nothing else to clutter the experience.

Science 3 approaches weather in a more complex way. It introduces ways of measuring weather, using thermometers, rain gauges, weather vanes, and more. Again, illustrations are used, but there is much more text that digs deeper into the concept.

Science 5 explores layers of the atmosphere, weather fronts, weather forecasting, and more. Because the basics were introduced in earlier grades, a child is ready to dive into these advanced concepts instead of having to start at the beginning.

By the time children reach Science 5, they have built a foundation of science knowledge and understanding that even more complex ideas can be built on.

Have other questions about homeschool curriculum that you would like us to address in a future post? Let us know in the comments.

Filed Under: Simplified Homeschool Tagged With: ages, grades, multiple, science, spiraled, spiraling, textbook

Putting on Your Worldview Glasses

February 4, 2016 by Kevin

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The Need for a Biblical Worldview

We have always lived in a fallen world, but it seems to be going from bad to worse (2 Timothy 3:13). The issues are snowballing; rebellion against God rages like an avalanche overtaking any chance of escape (Psalm 2:1–3). Will the rebellion of this world swallow up or smother your own children?

Truth claims and moral values that were once clear to many Christian parents are now being questioned by their professing Christian children. Some of the classmates I grew up with—who still profess Christ—have fallen into the traps that seem to be everywhere: justifying their indulgence in immorality, downplaying compromise with evolution, or gravitating toward the edges of orthodox Christianity.

As godly parents, you watch your young people growing up and see that they’re about to depart from home. You’re rightly motivated to equip your children to respond with biblical wisdom to the cultural upheaval: gay marriage, the murder of babies for profit, “safe zones” for the entitled on college campuses, and frequent mass shootings. The cultural situation is grim.1

The biblical worldview team at BJU Press is motivated to provide the tools you need to equip your young people to face the chaotic world in which they live and to stand firm. That’s why we wrote Biblical Worldview: Creation, Fall, Redemption—to protect Christ’s little ones who truly belong to Him by providing them with biblical worldview glasses.

Biblical Worldview: Creation, Fall, Redemption

This one book brings together the biblical worldview approach that is integrated into all of BJU Press’s curriculum. First, it helps students understand what a biblical worldview is and its significance to all of life. Second, it helps students to specifically understand the biblical worldview of Creation, Fall, and Redemption. Third, it guides an application of this worldview to multiple social institutions and disciplines (marriage and the family, government, science, history, and culture and the arts).

In the process, it introduces students to apologetic methods and guides them to discern and refute false worldviews. Particular attention is given to motivating students to contribute positively to the social institutions and disciplines—to rebuild them according to a biblical worldview.

Four distinctives summarize our approach to teaching a biblical worldview:

  • Focus on a biblical worldview: The goal is to focus students on a constructive presentation of Creation, Fall, Redemption rather than to overwhelm them with information about a multiplicity of false worldviews. False worldviews will be evaluated, but always in the context of reinforcing the true biblical worldview.
  • Bible-first perspective: The starting point, the ultimate authority source, is God’s Word. It’s the standard by which all evidence and claims must be evaluated, and not vice versa.
  • Emphasis on evaluation and positive response: Students should be challenged not only to evaluate ideas intellectually but also to apply the biblical worldview as they become salt and light in the culture.
  • Content that is both accessible and compelling: This textbook was purposefully written in a style that’s more enjoyable to read and draws from several conservative Bible translations. Rather than introducing students to an encyclopedic overview of abstract philosophical concepts, our approach to worldview studies is designed to be engaging by being set in the context of the unfolding story of the world.

The Student Text is complemented by these additional resources: Teacher’s Edition, a Student Activities Manual and Student Activities Answer Key, and Tests and Tests Answer Key.

Take a look inside the book to learn more.

1. Ken Ham, “The Chasm Is Widening: Are You on God’s Side?” Answers in Genesis (website), April 29, 2013; D.C. Innes, “The Fight for Religious Liberty,” World (website), January 26, 2015.

Filed Under: Shaping Worldview Tagged With: biblical worldview, Creation, Fall, high school, new, Redemption, textbook

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