BJU Press Blog

FEAR, REVERENCE

March 2, 2016 by Cosette

Reverential fear is an essential characteristic of the Christian and may well be the litmus test as to whether a person has genuine faith. It knows no boundaries of age or status. In Psalm 115:13, the psalmist wrote “He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great.” Without fear we deem God to be our equal. But when we revere Him we find Him to be very great indeed.

“The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever” (Psalm 19:9). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil” (Proverbs 8:13). “The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened” (Proverbs 10:27). “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death” (Proverbs 14:27). “Servants, obey in all things your masters . . . not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God” (Colossians 3:22). “Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28). “Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great” (Revelation 19:5).

GOLDEN THOUGHT: Let us serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

[Excerpt adapted from Wonderful Words by Stewart Custer (March 2 reading).]

It Is God That Teaches

March 1, 2016 by Ben

“For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him” (Isaiah 28:26).

My family recently received some flower bulbs to plant. The package told us to plant them in early spring. Of course, our children wanted to plant the bulbs right away and asked why we needed to wait.

“Because the package says to wait or the flowers will die in the ground.”

“How does [the package] know when to plant?”

I really didn’t have a good answer for my daughter. Actually, I myself don’t know how farmers figured out when to plant different bulbs. But the Lord knows. In Isaiah 28, He asks the people of Israel a rhetorical question. To paraphrase the question, God asks the people of Israel if farmers prepare the earth by plowing and then plant different seeds in their appointed places (Isaiah 28:24–25). The answer is, of course, yes. That’s what good famers do.

If you asked those farmers who taught them to carefully prepare for harvest, they would probably say, “My father and his father before him.” But God declares that He is the one who instructs the farmers how to plant their crops (Isaiah 28:26).

Careful Attention to Creation

So how exactly did farmers learn how to effectively grow crops? The Lord didn’t reveal these methods in the Bible. In the beginning, God created the world to function in certain ways. Even after the Fall, God’s world works in predictable ways. When farmers pay careful attention to creation, they learn to use it to serve their needs. So every farmer who discovered an effective way to produce crops learned from God’s good creation. Or in the words of Isaiah 28:29, every one of these advances “cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” Yes, the farmers learned from their fathers, but that knowledge ultimately came from God.

God Teaches in Education

The instructions for planting and caring for my family’s new bulbs come from skilled horticulturalists, who have learned from God by studying His world. If we follow their instructions in the spring, we’ll enjoy beautiful flowers.

And the same principle applies to other knowledge. When we open a science book or math worktext, we’re beginning to learn about how God has ordered creation. Have you learned about gravity and long division? Have you mastered an algebraic formula or dissected a fish? When we do, we’re learning from God.

When Christians, including children, study with faith in the Creator, they’re worshiping Him. For it is God that teaches.

March Events

February 25, 2016 by Ben

The month of March is full of memorable events you can include in your homeschooling. Check out these highlights.

March 2, 1836

Texas declared independence from Mexico. Texans had been fighting small garrisons of Mexican soldiers since October of the previous year. The Texans disagreed over the purpose of their fighting. Some wanted Mexico to return to an earlier, less restrictive constitution. Others were interested in independence. When the Mexican central government dispatched an army under the leadership of General Santa Anna in February, the rebels began to unify by establishing the Republic of Texas. The Battle of the Alamo was underway while the Texans were declaring independence. I enjoyed visiting the Alamo in San Antonio with my family when I was homeschooled.

March 10, 1876

Alexander Graham Bell placed the first telephone call in the history of the world. It was to an assistant in the next room. Among the most prolific communication technology inventors, Bell used creativity and determination to serve generations. His exercise of dominion allows us to create communication connections with ease. So let your children pick up the phone and call a family member or friend!

March 15, 44 BC

Julius Caesar was assassinated. (Every year I use the Shakespearean phrase to warn my children: “Beware the ides of March!”) Caesar’s death sparked the final civil war of the Roman Republic. At the conclusion of the war, the Caesar Augustus mentioned in Luke 2:1 established an empire and a general peace within the Roman Empire. God choose this period of military peace to send His Son and to begin building His church.

March 20, 1852

Harriet Beacher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Her depiction of the realities of slavery encouraged the abolitionists in the 1850s, but the supporters of slavery were enraged. Stowe’s work illustrates the power a novelist can wield in society. When we teach our children about this book and its effect, we should point out that the literary skills they’re learning, such as theme, plot, character, and so on, are useful and not a waste of time.

March 24, 1882

Robert Koch announced his discovery of the cause of tuberculosis, a previously mysterious disease. Koch had been developing methods for identifying organisms that cause diseases for Germany’s department of health. By isolating the bacterium that caused tuberculosis, he laid the groundwork for developing a treatment. In 1905, Robert Koch was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery. What a tremendous use of science to show love to one’s neighbor!

March 30, 1870

The Fifteenth Amendment went into effect, guaranteeing that the federal government would defend every citizen’s right to vote. This amendment to the Constitution was the final one in a group of three amendments that eradicated slavery and established protections for the rights of all citizens. In this election year, we can remember that it is the fifteenth amendment that protects our right to vote.

Is there a special event I missed? Let me know in a comment what your family is remembering this month.

EYE

February 24, 2016 by Cosette

Cast out. Homeless. Destitute. With child. Hagar, Abraham’s servant-mistress was utterly alone. Then “the angel” found her, bringing direction, assurance, promise. “Thou God seest me.” God’s eye was enough for her. It is enough for me.

“Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy” (Psalm 33:18). “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry” (Psalm 34:15). “He that formed the eye, shall he not see?” (Psalm 94:9). “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Psalm 119:18). “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling” (Ephesians 1:18). “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him” (Revelation 1:7). “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns” (Revelation 19:12). “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying” (Revelation 21:4).

GOLDEN THOUGHT: God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

[Excerpt adapted from Wonderful Words by Stewart Custer (February 24 reading).]

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.

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.