BJU Press Blog

Creative Teaching: Homeschooling Is a Practice

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two children work on a creative painting project
Have you experienced frustration when trying to teach your own children? I can remember sitting at the table with one of my daughters, going over a simple sequence of events in American history, and she just couldn’t get it straight. The thought of “why can’t she learn this simple idea?” quickly led to “I’m such a failure as a homeschooler.” As a homeschool grad and a homeschool dad, I’ve had experience on both sides of this disheartening scenario. Often our frustration grows from our expectations about teaching. If we have a better understanding of teaching as a creative practice, we can also have better expectations for our children.

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Will Group Learning Work in My Homeschool?

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children doing group learning with notebooks
“Can I teach this subject in a group learning setting to students of different grade levels?” This is a common question from homeschooling parents who are struggling with the time requirements of teaching multiple children of different ages. Specifically, parents want to know if they can do group learning with their textbooks. But often, questions like this just don’t have a simple answer. One family might be able to make it work, while another might not. Alternatively, it could work in your family with one subject, but not another. Before you give group learning a try, here are a few tips that might help you on your journey.

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Using Sensory Play to Entertain Little Ones

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young child playing with sand during sensory play
Small children want your attention, especially when you’re busy. You know the feeling. An easy way to appease them is to hand them your phone. I was guilty of this recently when my daughter was getting restless and noisy as we sat in a meeting. Sometimes playing a game or watching a show on your phone is a good solution. But during school time, you would like for your young children to be learning and developing too. Sensory play is the perfect way to help small children learn and develop motor skills while you are busy teaching your school-age children.

Learn how to use sensory play in your homeschool!

Strategies for Encouraging Emotional Growth

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mother and child working on emotional growth
Our children are growing every day. They are not just growing taller—they are also growing in their understanding of the world and in their ability to interact with it in a meaningful way. God created our children as emotional creatures—they respond emotionally to the world around them. We can observe these emotions in our children from very young ages. Babies scream when their world is unpleasant—when their diapers are wet, or their bellies are hurting. Toddlers sometimes display their temper when something doesn’t go their way. It’s important for our children to grow in their ability to express and manage their own emotions and empathize with others. They won’t be able to function well as adults if they don’t learn these skills. As homeschool parents, we get to encourage and observe this emotional growth.

Much of our children’s emotional growth occurs…

New Homeschool Bible Curriculum from BJU Press

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homeschool Bible curriculum
BJU Press’s new Bible curriculum is a tool to help you train your children to walk in truth. Many forces in our world want to capture the hearts and minds of your children. We want this curriculum to help you teach your children to know and love God’s Word. This program provides opportunities for you to teach your children a foundation of Biblical truths. It also emphasizes equipping your children to understand, analyze, and apply the Bible for themselves. Ultimately these materials seek to bridge the gap between head and heart knowledge in your children. All of these courses are available as parent-led subject kits.

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