US History

New Homeschool Video Courses

February 18, 2020 by Jenna

New video courses are available for homeschool families! Each course includes age-appropriate segments, opportunities for hands-on learning, and video demonstrations. We’re excited to use some colorful new textbooks and materials with several of these courses. If you’d like to get a sneak peek at these courses, we’ll be introducing them all on our Facebook page, and you can look for the sample videos on our website!

Upcoming Video Courses for 2020

Focus on Fives with Mrs. Rulapaugh

This past year, Megan—one of our blog writers—had an opportunity to use the new Focus on Fives materials with her daughter for K5. Because of her experience with the textbooks, she’s had a wonderful time with her daughter. On the other hand, the video course gives you an opportunity for the same experiences with the added benefit of having a teacher. This new video course takes advantage of the materials for an exciting introduction to early learning. Mrs. Rulapaugh, who also teaches K5 Math, prepares her students for first grade with lessons in phonics and reading as well as heritage studies and science. This course is absolutely packed with exciting video segments that keep kids engaged and learning. It has animated stories and songs, biblical themes, phonics stories, science explorations, activities with Hopscotch, and more.

A day’s worth of lessons averages 60 minutes, but children will have many opportunities for breaks, games, and activities that keep them having fun. Mrs. Rulapaugh is excited to help her students love learning!

Reading 3 with Mrs. Walker

Kids who enjoyed Reading 2 with Mrs. Walker will be excited to join her again for Reading 3! This course uses Adventures in Reading 3 (3^rd edition) with a travel theme. Mrs. Walker wants to inspire wonder and discovery in her students as she embarks on thoughtful discussions about each reading. As they journey through the material, children will have an opportunity to practice critical thinking and phonics skills. In this reading adventure, each lesson will include colorful segments of animated poems, story times, and more. As always, Mrs. Walker ends her lessons with a giggle to bring fun and joy to learning!

Pre-Algebra with Mr. Harmon

In this new Pre-Algebra video course, Mr. Harmon seeks to help students understand math by using simple explanations with real-life examples. Students will expand on the concepts they learned with him in Fundamentals of Math so that they can be prepared for Algebra 1. Math-Splaining segments use an illustrative approach to explain difficult math concepts for students.

United States History with Mrs. Bullock

A history class should be far more than a dry recitation of dates and facts. Mrs. Bullock encourages her students to get into the minds of historic figures so they can consider the thoughts and attitudes that led to events in American history. In addition to knowing the facts, she also wants her students to ask why things happened the way they did. This course uses the new United States History (5^th edition) materials and covers history from the discovery of the American continents through to the present day. Mrs. Bullock includes segments that offer glimpses into the lives of American families, present unique historical perspectives, bring primary source documents to life, and provide dramatic readings of speeches.

Spanish 3 with Mrs. Kuhlewind

This course builds on the principles Mrs. Kuhlewind introduced in Spanish 2 and continues to help students develop skills in speaking, reading, listening, and writing. Her goal is for her students to become comfortable with a new language so that they can have confidence in using their new language skills. To that end, Mrs. Kuhlewind’s segments offer opportunities for Spanish listening and vocabulary building. The segments also provide introductions to Spanish cultures, architecture, cooking, and dialects.

Please note that this course will only be available as an online video course. A DVD option will not be available at this time.

Precalculus with Mr. Matesevac

The key to success in advanced mathematics is perseverance. Mr. Matesevac encourages his students to press on to master the challenging concepts of Precalculus so that they will develop wisdom and maturity. For students who apply themselves, this course provides a solid foundation for college-level math. Students will use the new Precalculus (2^nd edition) materials which balance study of the foundations of calculus with practical, real-world applications. Mr. Matesevac works out difficult problems through Math Applied video segments to give students a different perspective on each problem.

Please note that this course will only be available as an online video course. A DVD option will not be available at this time.

Our team has been working hard to develop these video courses and fill each lesson with useful segments. We can’t wait to share them with you and your children! Which course are you most excited for?

Why History Seems Boring and How to Make It Fascinating

October 5, 2017 by Ben

It’s not unusual for children to find history boring. But that wasn’t the case with me. I’ve been a history nerd ever since my dad took me on a homeschool field trip to a World War II aircraft carrier. But I understand that not everyone shares my enthusiasm for studying the past. Does your child get bored with history?

There are plenty of reasons some children (and adults!) think history is uninteresting. Here are just two of them—and my suggestion for how to fix the problem.

• Just the (Boring) Facts

Sometimes studying history feels like the mindless memorization of unrelated dates and names. As they read historical narratives, kids may get the sense that dates pop up without warning, sometimes causing them to wonder why particular events have dates associated with them and others don’t.

And then there are the names. Certain people have some action or achievement associated with their names that we exhort our children to remember. Take the Age of Enlightenment as an example. There are so many philosophers and so many scientists—each with a discovery or book title attached to his name. Trying to keep track of it all can feel overwhelming.

• Not Relevant (to Me)

Not only do the dates and names feel overwhelming, focusing on facts makes it difficult for your child to see what all this has to do with him personally. He’s hearing about a bunch of dead people who haven’t done a thing for centuries. And when is anybody ever going to use the fact that 1,285 years ago this month Charles Martel defeated the Moors in the Battle of Tours? It just doesn’t seem to make any difference in our day-to-day lives.

Big-Picture Approach

Those are two common complaints, but what can we do to help our children see the significance and relevance of people and events from the past? We can turn “boring” history into a fascinating study by using questions to focus our children’s attention on the big picture. An important aspect of this is teaching history as a narrative in chronological order.

And here are a couple of effective questioning strategies you can use to help your children see the big picture of the historical narrative they’re reading. This involves going beyond the regular surface-level questions like “When did . . . ?” and “Who wrote . . .?” Big-picture questions enable students to synthesize historical data into an overarching view of the past.

• Before-and-After Reading Questions

These questions are most effective when given to children as preparation before they read something and as follow-up afterwards. Before children wade into material chronicling a series of bureaucratic changes, scientific advancements, or philosophic treatises, they need to know what they’re looking for. Guiding questions like the ones below from World Studies (page 152) can help. Having a purpose in their reading will lead children to see the bigger picture.

• Critical Thinking Questions

A second type of big-picture question can also help your children refocus on the important ideas after reading through the details, like this one from Heritage Studies 4 (page 171).

Such questions generalize history, making it more relevant. They help your children move from superficially recalling details to thinking critically because they have to synthesize the details in order to create a generalization. All those pesky details are important, but if children don’t develop critical thinking skills, they won’t see the significance.

By understanding chronological order and generalizations of historical events, students can make appropriate analogies to things that are happening today. While no past event is a perfect match for a current event, there’s often significant overlap. The differences mean we cannot use the past to predict the future, but we can use the past to give us moral clarity about the present. A student with a biblical worldview and an understanding of historical context will be better able to navigate the complexities of current events. Ultimately, those connections to worldview and the present will make history interesting to your child.

Use effective questions in history so your children will learn to value history as they see its connection to the present.

Scope & Sequence: A Homeschool Game Plan

September 19, 2017 by Ben

As a homeschool dad, I wonder about taking children who can’t read and preparing them for college. It seems like such a huge climb. How do we take five-year-olds and prepare them for what the Lord has planned without overwhelming them? To help with the process, I like to think about board games.

I’ve always enjoyed playing board games. I remember whiling away the summer hours with Monopoly and Risk. As an adult, I’ve come to enjoy playing Settlers of Catan. So I want to introduce my children to board games. But finding a game that engages everyone is challenging for two reasons.

1. It Can’t Be Too Hard

2. It Can’t Be Too Easy

If the game concepts are too complicated for my children to understand, they get frustrated and don’t want to play. But if the game concepts are too easy, they learn them quickly but soon lose interest because the game no longer challenges them. The best games are simple for everyone to begin playing. However, the best games have enough depth to them to accommodate the complex thinking of mature players. That’s why games like checkers have such longevity. They’re simple to learn, but as children grow they can use increasingly complex strategies.

Preparing children for what God has planned works in a similar way. If children are given concepts that are too intricate or abstract, they get frustrated and want to quit. If the material is too easy, the child gets bored and loses interest in learning. The best learning is carefully planned to be challenging without being frustrating.

Scope & Sequence

Curriculum publishers typically have a teaching plan called a “scope and sequence.” These documents are like maps that show a path through content that moves children step by step from awareness of material to mastery of the material.

If there were a scope and sequence for checkers, it would start with basic moves. For the child who has developed an understanding of how to move the pieces, the scope and sequence would include basic tricks for capturing pieces. Later, older players describe and model the broad strategies for winning the game. Finally, the child would have the opportunity to create his own strategy for winning. Then he can refine that strategy through playing with increasingly challenging opponents.

When it comes to homeschooling our children, we want a plan that keeps them engrossed in learning. The best plans increase the complexity of the materials in coordination with the child’s maturation.

Applied to History

I’ve enjoyed watching my daughter develop in her love for history. So teaching her in the evenings after work has been a special time for us. The BJU Press Heritage Studies curriculum does a terrific job of challenging her without being frustrating.

As she enters third grade, I’m excited to teach from the Constitutional Convention up to the Civil War. So much happened in that time period involving executive actions, legislative compromises, and judicial review—in other words, some complicated stuff.

But we’ve been preparing since first grade. Here’s how my daughter’s been getting ready, through the curriculum, to tackle the formative aspects of our nation’s history that we’ll cover in third grade.

First Grade Heritage Studies

In an introductory way, we covered local leaders, national leaders, rights, and voting.

Second Grade Heritage Studies

We returned to local, state, and national leaders, but we added more detail. The president, Congress, and judges were given more specific definitions. We learned that the Constitution guarantees our rights and our responsibilities to get involved in elections by voting.

To make this learning more concrete, we also role-played an election and wrote a “law” for our house.

Third Grade Heritage Studies

We’ll review the interplay of local, state, and national leaders. But now, we’ll add detail about how the legislative, executive, and judicial branches work together. This time, it’s within the context of the Constitutional Convention and the first presidency. So we can see how presidents administer policies through their cabinets and how Congress has two groups.

At this point, my daughter is ready for the drama of this early period. She’s ready to understand Hamilton and Jefferson’s fight over the national bank and ready to explore the legislative compromises that lead to the Civil War. She’s prepared to learn this material because we followed a plan. As in the game of checkers, the basic concepts were easy. Each step made the next one easier. It wasn’t simple, but the increasing challenge of the material has made it fun.

Take a look at the Scope & Sequence BJU Press offers, a game plan carefully designed to help your child be a winner.

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How Timelines Build Historical Understanding

April 14, 2016 by Ben

When I was young, my parents had a history book called the Adams Synchronological Chart or Map of History. It was actually a gigantic foldout timeline. I enjoyed the wonder of unfolding the leaves of the timeline as it stretched all the way down our hallway and into the living room. The book began history at creation and tracked events up to the time it was published (late nineteenth century). Strands that represented various nations would grow, be absorbed, and then suddenly be dissolved.

Recently my wife and I agreed that I will teach our daughter Heritage Studies 2 next fall. I’m so excited about sharing my passion for the past with my daughter. Since I enjoyed timelines when I was learning history, I’m particularly excited that BJU Press uses timelines to develop children’s historical thinking.

Building Understanding

Often, children struggle with history because it’s taught as an assortment of dates, names, and places. A nationwide report card on eighth graders’ knowledge of US history shows that only 18 percent demonstrate proficiency in that subject. When children encounter the past in little bits and pieces, they cannot get a sense of the time period they’re studying. As a result, they have difficulty remembering the facts, but they also have no basis for developing the critical thinking skills that studying history encourages.

Timelines provide a visual representation of people, events, and places. Most learners, but especially visual learners, can more easily see the connections between the three elements.

Take, for example, this simple timeline of the Revolutionary War from Heritage Studies 2. Here the broad outline of the war is overviewed in a simple, easy-to-grasp way. Children can see the order of events, and the inclusion of the French and Indian War suggests a possible cause-effect relationship.

Building Thinking

When students see connections to other events, they understand the past. That understanding creates a platform for them to begin developing critical thinking. Once events are arranged chronologically on a timeline, children can begin to visualize potential cause-and-effect relationships. They can ask questions about the influence historical figures may have had on each other.

But the most important benefit of the timeline is that it helps children think through the order of events and their relationships to the other events.

Building Teaching

Timelines also help the teacher. When I’m teaching my daughter, I can use timelines to test her understanding of the time period we’re studying. Instead of testing my daughter with a lot of multiple-choice questions, I plan to give her a timeline to fill out. I can relieve any stress she might have by calling it a “timeline activity” instead of a quiz, but ultimately the result will be the same. I will be able see how much she understands of the history that I’ve taught. In the end it will be a far richer test than if I had just asked, “When did the Revolutionary War begin?” I will find out whether she can think sequentially as well as remember events from the past.

Consider using timelines to help your children build their understanding of history. If you need some help with resources, check out our elementary Heritage Studies program.