BJU Press Blog

Embracing the Unfamiliar in Math and Handwriting

May 24, 2018 by Megan

I have a confession to make. When I started homeschooling last year, I was scared. I was scared of messing up my children’s education. I was scared that my carefully ordered life was about to be turned upside-down. And I was scared of two subjects in particular—math and handwriting.

As I read through the Math 2 and Handwriting 2 Teacher’s Editions in preparation for the beginning of our homeschool year, I began to get really nervous. I knew, of course, how to write in cursive and how to add and subtract. But this teaching methodology, this style of writing—all of it was new. I couldn’t help thinking to myself this is not how I learned it.

My memory of second grade isn’t perfect, but I remember drilling math facts, the long homework papers filled with math problems, and the stressful timed tests. I didn’t learn cursive writing until third grade, and my uppercase Ts, Gs, and Fs looked nothing like the letters that I saw on BJU Press’s handwriting chart.

Maybe you find yourself having similar thoughts as you evaluate the BJU Press math or handwriting curriculum. Like me, you might want to avoid the unfamiliar in favor of the familiar. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind that I hope will be a help to you.

BJU Press math is different because it emphasizes understanding.

I grew up with a “drill and kill” math curriculum that heavily emphasized the memorization of facts, formulas, principles, and so on. And I did fine . . . until I had to actually apply the math. Since I had no real depth of understanding, I struggled to apply what I learned.

Without ignoring the need for learning math facts, BJU Press aims to develop a depth of math understanding that leads to application from the very beginning. I personally learned so much as I was teaching second-grade math—I went from a mindset of “I didn’t learn it this way” to “I wish I had learned it this way.”

BJU Press handwriting is different because it’s based on how kids naturally write.

Many young children struggle with writing. I know I did. In first grade, I even had a tutor to help me with my handwriting. Straight lines and round circles aren’t easy for small hands to form. That’s why BJU Press developed the PreCursive handwriting style. It’s simpler for little hands. Plus, it makes the transition to cursive a breeze.

It took me a couple weeks to retrain my own pen strokes, so kids who didn’t start out learning BJU Press PreCursive from the very beginning might need a little time to get used to the new handwriting style. But once they learn it, it will be easy for them to produce neat writing.

BJU Press math and handwriting have been a big blessing to our homeschool. I no longer consider them odd—I think they’re awesome.

Check out our math and handwriting products for yourself, and see what a difference “different” can make.

Cooking Classes with Kids

May 22, 2018 by Guest Writer

Kids can be notoriously picky when it comes to new foods, but when you involve them in the cooking process, suddenly the dish has more appeal! Plus, cooking with your kids helps them build valuable life skills. They won’t always have you there to cook healthy meals for them, so they need to know how to assemble and prepare food on their own. Check out these easy recipes and cooking tasks that you can do with all your kids as part of your homeschool.

Food Safety Basics Class

Food-borne illness is a serious matter. It’s never too early to start educating your kids about the safe way to handle food in the kitchen. You could start with a demonstration about germs and how they spread, using a Glo Germ Powder Kit or a similar experiment. After showing them how germs are transferred, have your kids practice handling raw meat or fish, then washing their hands thoroughly. Teach them to sanitize counters, to use separate cutting boards for items like vegetables and raw meat, and to wash their hands after using raw eggs in a recipe. Talk about safe temperatures for different foods and about washing a knife or dish after it has come in contact with raw food.

Cooking Essentials Classes

Do your kids know how to crack an egg? Can they boil pasta, peel a potato, measure flour accurately, snap beans, or cut up vegetables? Make a list of essential skills that you want your kids to learn, and create mini cooking classes for your homeschool. One mini cooking class could cover all the different ways to prepare a particular vegetable, such as potatoes or carrots. Another class might focus on dexterity-related kitchen skills, such as cracking eggs, chopping onions, or flipping pancakes.

French Bread Pizza Class

Remember to keep the cooking classes tasty and enjoyable for the toddler set as well. These French bread pizzas are fun to make, and they’re the perfect size for little kids to handle. Even the smallest children can spread sauce on crusty bread, and they’ll be delighted to choose their own veggies, meats, and cheeses for topping the pizzas. After eight to ten minutes in the oven at 375 degrees, the delicious personalized pizzas will be ready for the table.

Dinner Series

If you have older kids who have already mastered the basic skills, you can work on more advanced meal preparation. Make a list of five to ten simple dinners, and then create an instruction sheet for each meal, complete with ingredients, recipes, and instructions. Each week, help your older kids make one of those dinners. When they’ve gone through the entire set of meals, they have a final test—to choose one of the meals and create it again, this time on their own without any help.

Doing mini cooking classes with kids might be frustrating and messy at first, but if you persevere, you’ll have the joy of knowing that your kids can handle food safely and skillfully. It’s well worth the effort—and you might find that you love having a couple of little sous-chefs in the kitchen!

• • • • •

Rebecca is a work-at-home freelance writer, novelist, wife, and the mom of two bright-eyed little ones. She credits her success in writing and her love of books to her own mom, who homeschooled three kids from pre-K through high school.

Learning Place Value with a Hands-on Activity

May 17, 2018 by Ben

$place value cover$
As a homeschool dad, I found it easy to fall into the trap of believing that my young child understood a number because she could say it and count to it. When my second daughter was in kindergarten, we enjoyed skip counting to a trillion by 100 billions. She felt like she grasped the number 1 trillion. But I was overlooking place value and the role it plays in deep understanding of foundational math concepts.

The concept of place value is crucial not only in gigantic numbers but also in more relatable numbers. It’s so easy for a six-year-old to recognize and count to a number such as 23 but not understand what the 2 and the 3 mean in practical, real-life experience.

One of the best ways to develop your child’s understanding of place value is through less-than and greater-than activities. Doing hands-on exercises develops number sense that will enable your child to solve real-world problems.

Preparing

Cut out twenty small squares of paper and ten strips of paper (ten squares each). [You can make strips and squares using the first page of the printable, or use the counting cubes from the Math 1 Student Manipulatives packet.]
Label three sheets of paper, the first as “Ones,” the second as “Tens,” and the third as “Answers,” or use pages 2–4 of the printable.

Maneuvering

Give your child the following instructions orally, and guide him in carrying them out.

Position the Tens paper and the Ones paper side by side with the Tens on the left. Make the number 32 on the top half of the Tens paper and the Ones paper.
Skip count the tens aloud (i.e., count 10, 20, 30).
Count the ones aloud (i.e., count 1, 2).
Write the number on the answer sheet (i.e., 32).
Now make the number 23 using the bottom half of the Tens paper and the Ones paper.
Skip count the tens and count the ones.
Write the number immediately below the 32 on the answer sheet (Example 1).

Observing

This is the key point in the activity. You’re ready to ask your first-grade child to make some comparisons based on what he’s observing with the manipulatives.

Ask, “Which group is bigger, the one on the top (32) or the one on the bottom (23)?”
Follow up with, “Which one has more ones?” and “Which one has more tens?”
Finally ask, “Which place should you look at to determine which number is bigger (greater), the ones place or the tens place?” Have your child respond by circling the correct digit on the answer sheet.

Repeating

Remove the strips and squares from the Tens and Ones pages. Go through the process of building 19 and 45 but without the counting steps.
Tell the child to write the numbers side by side with a box in between (Example 2).
Ask which number is larger. The child should indicate his answer in the box by drawing the < symbol in the box.
Now have your child pick two numbers (greater than 10 and less than 50) to repeat the activity.
Have your child guess which number is larger before building the two numbers.
Guide him in writing the numbers with a box in between and then drawing the correct symbol in the box (Example 3).

Practicing

Write out five or six less-than or greater-than problems for your child to practice what he just learned. Encourage him to make each number on the Tens and Ones pages before writing in the greater-than or less-than sign.

Try to spend about twenty-five minutes on this activity before moving on to something else.

Do the the activity again on another day with different numbers to continue developing your child’s number sense and understanding of the critical role that place value plays in determining how large a number is.

Darkness in Dystopian Fiction and the Hope After

May 15, 2018 by Jenna

In the last few years, there has been a trend towards dystopian literature in young adult fiction. Though the trend may eventually die down, the books it has produced are still popular. If your children start asking about reading these books or watching the movie adaptations, what will you say? It’s always better if you read them yourself first. But you may still find yourself uncertain about whether dystopian fiction is appropriate for your children.

Let’s address a few of the basic questions you may have and point out some things to consider when approaching this genre of literature.

What is dystopian fiction?

Dystopian fiction is the opposite of utopian fiction. Instead of living in a perfect world, the characters typically live in a post-apocalyptic world with highly isolated societies. Dominant themes include an overly controlling, and often broken, government and a socialistic structure of society. Series such as The Hunger Games and The Giver are examples of popular dystopian fiction, but the genre is far from new. Though there is some debate, the earliest dystopian novel is either The Time Machine (1895) or When the Sleeper Wakes (1899), both by H. G. Wells. Rebellion against an oppressive government and violence because of that rebellion often characterizes the genre. It also has a tendency to be hopeless and repressively dark.

Why is dystopian fiction popular now?

Of course, a work of literature makes more sense when you understand its author’s background, but it’s also true that what a society chooses to highlight often reveals a great deal about that society. The culture that’s drawn to dystopian literature often identifies with the darkness, fear, death, and hopelessness that dystopian works portray. It’s a society that lacks security and dreads an uncertain future. It sees itself reflected in solitary heroes who try to repair a system that was broken long before they were born. It’s a society that is deeply afraid, with nowhere to turn. Even when their heroes win, it often feels like a broken victory.

The people in this society are your children’s peers and friends.

How can dystopian fiction be valuable?

Just like many other books, dystopian novels offer an opportunity to discuss a biblical worldview of the issues they raise. Naturally, mature children or those whose parents are reading along with them will be better equipped to critique those ideas. The following questions may also help direct your discussion of dystopian fiction: What does the Bible say about obeying the laws of governments? What does it say about obeying laws that are contrary to God’s law? How could the protagonist have handled a bad situation differently? What is a biblical response to a fearful and troubled society?

But perhaps even more importantly, familiarity with these stories opens up pathways of communication for your children with their peers. Yes, we live in a dark and broken world, but its future is by no means uncertain. We have a greater hope in Christ, who has already won a complete victory, and in His hands those who trust in Him are secure for all eternity. Your child might have a wonderful opportunity to share the hope we have in Christ with others who are deeply discouraged.

The High Calling of Motherhood

May 10, 2018 by Guest Writer

Two words come to my mind when I think of motherhood—servanthood and sacrifice—because the truth is that we can’t be the moms God wants us to be without either one of these. In fact, He commands all Christians to practice servanthood and sacrifice. Jesus told His disciples, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt. 16:24). However, there’s a big difference between serving our families and being a slave to them.

Servanthood doesn’t mean we should wait on our children hand and foot and make sure they always have everything they want. God put us, along with our husbands, over our children to be their parents—not their best friends or personal genies to grant them their every wish. But it does mean that we mothers are to willingly sacrifice our own desires in order to serve our families.

The Example

I think of my own mom and how grateful I am for her. She is a true Proverbs 31 lady who made our home a place of security, happiness, and love. She homeschooled my three older brothers and me—and lived to tell about it! She did it in a disciplined, organized, gracious, and patient manner. It wasn’t until I was in college that I began to really understand and appreciate all the work she put into our home education and just how well she prepared us for the challenges of higher education. But Mom helped prepare me for something even greater than earning a college degree—the high calling of marriage and motherhood. She not only modeled what a God-honoring wife and mother should be, she also helped me grow with biblical instruction and reproof. Those conversations served as a spiritual compass to guide me through life-changing decisions.

The Purpose

Now I’m the homeschooling mommy, and I’m more appreciative of the sacrifices my mom and dad made for our family. No doubt there are moms reading this right now who can echo this sentiment. You can relate to the unique responsibility of educating your children full-time, day in, day out. The lessons continue long after the school day ends. You are constantly switching roles as mother and teacher; and yes, it can grow wearisome at times. But you can also relate to the unique joy and fulfillment of homeschooling and agree that it’s worth the sacrifices. Because you have a higher purpose than merely grooming good children and good students: your goal should be to rear children who will grow up to love, serve, and glorify God.

We get one chance, moms. Embrace and enjoy the high calling of motherhood!