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My Wife’s Teacher’s Aide

October 27, 2016 by Ben

My wife is doing a tremendous job in her first year of homeschooling. She is a fantastic planner and with some regularity is able to get our family ahead in covering the material. But homeschool is a family effort. So instead of just providing funds for the curriculum materials, I have decided to be my wife’s teacher’s aide.

My Wife's Teacher's Aide

In a traditional school setting, a teacher’s aide does menial tasks for the teacher. Lots of tasks—like stuffing papers into folders and grading worksheets—are things anyone can do and don’t require much evaluation. They just take time.

I’ve tried to support my wife by doing these types of tasks for her. When she had to organize manipulatives for the math program, I pitched in. Also, I usually do the daily grading of my daughter’s worksheets. It takes about ten to fifteen minutes of my time. Each of these tasks is small, but the reasons I do them are important.

Here are three motivations I have for choosing to serve as my wife’s teacher’s aide.

  • Loving my wife: The Lord commands me to love my wife as I love myself. Pitching in at the end of the day is one small way for me to show her I love her. I don’t want her to have to stay up fifteen minutes later or give up some personal time to grade these papers. When it comes down to it, I wish I could do more for her.
  • Seeing my child’s progress: It’s great to see how my daughter is progressing and what she’s learning. When she does great work, I have the opportunity to praise her. Sometimes, when she’s careless, I can challenge her to do better. I’ve seen her respond to praise and my challenges to do better. Her work keeps getting better.
  • Supporting our homeschool: Homeschooling allows our family to provide our children a Christian education, which is one of the most important gifts we can give them. I don’t want to stand on the sidelines of this journey of learning my children are on. Being my wife’s teacher’s aide allows me to actively support homeschooling on an everyday basis.

I enjoy being a teacher’s aide because of the ways it enables me to support my wife and children. I would encourage homeschool dads to consider similar ways they could get involved in the day-to-day homeschooling routine.

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Filed Under: Simplified Homeschool Tagged With: Christian education, Christian Homeschooling, homeschool, Homeschool Dad

SHEPHERD

October 26, 2016 by Cosette

The work of a shepherd is not for the faint-hearted. The 24/7 needs of a flock of sheep leave no time out for stormy weather or bodily fatigue. And perhaps most difficult of all, sheep are rarely grateful and mostly oblivious to the sacrifices of careful leadership. Long before His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus was giving His life for the sheep. His earthly ministry was one that began in His mother’s womb.

cover image of Wonderful Words

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). “But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. . . . And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice” (John 10:2, 4). Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). “I am the good shepherd. . . . And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, . . . and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. . . . My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life” (John 10:14, 16, 27–28). “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will” (Hebrews 13:20–21).

GOLDEN THOUGHT: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

[Excerpt adapted from Wonderful Words by Stewart Custer (October 26 reading).]

Filed Under: Devotions Tagged With: devotional, excerpt, Stewart Custer, wonderful words

Meet Nick Newton

October 24, 2016 by Cosette

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Jumping into the world of Nick Newton is like waking up in a faraway place in an imaginary era. The abundance of intriguing gadgetry immediately establishes Nick Newton Is Not a Genius by S. E. M. Ishida as fanciful. But there’s something captivatingly simple and wholesome about this family of eccentric artists and inventors that will remind readers of a bygone era.

The story opens with everyone trying to decide what to do about Nick. His application to genius school has been rejected, leaving his parents scrambling to find an alternative source of quality education for him. (Being a non-genius makes him somewhat of a novelty in his family.) After observing the limited success of homeschooling conducted by the family’s butler, Nick’s parents decide to place the fifth grader in the school of a Mr. Solomon Volk, who was himself a bit of an academic misfit and whose school is run almost exclusively by robots.

Robotics is not new territory for Nick Newton. Having found a robotic bird in pieces in his attic, he reassembles it and takes it for his personal pet. So Nick feels right at home in the Volk Institute. But his school days are soon marred by a tragic error in judgement that ultimately unites him and his teacher in a common cause—the quest for a mechanical heart. Uncertain as to whether a prototype still exists, they embark on a determined search that leads them to an untidy mansion, a lonely widow, and the name Draicot. Never could Nick have anticipated the history he would uncover in their search and how the discovery would help him piece together certain elements of his own life.

Chock full of respect for family values, brimming with the-sky’s-the-limit creative energy, and ending with the satisfying triumph of the extraordinary, Nick Newton Is Not a Genius by S. E. M. Ishida is a launching pad to send the imagination of your young reader soaring!

Filed Under: JourneyForth Tagged With: Character, genius, JouneyForth, Nick Newton, robots

Does My Advanced Reader Need a Reading Curriculum?

October 20, 2016 by Megan

Last spring, my daughter’s first-grade class took the Iowa Assessments®. The test confirmed what my husband and I already knew—my daughter excels at reading. At that point she was already reading at a third-grade level, and I have no doubt that her reading skills have only increased since then, considering that she reads during almost every spare moment of the day.

So why am I teaching Reading 2 this year? Why didn’t I skip Reading 2 and go straight to Reading 3? It’s not uncommon for homeschoolers to skip grade levels in certain subjects. It’s also common for homeschoolers to skip the reading curriculum altogether if they have a child who is an avid reader. So why do I use a reading curriculum at all?  Why don’t I just let my daughter loose in the public library? Below are some of my thoughts as I struggled with some of these questions.

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The Importance of Reading Choices

Many homeschoolers as well as educators in traditional schools write about the benefits of allowing students to choose their own reading materials. They argue that students who make their own reading choices read at a higher reading level than those who read only from a prescribed reading list. They’re right. Allowing students to choose what they read does result in higher reading comprehension. Why? When students are more motivated to read, they tend to choose materials that contain vocabulary they’re already familiar with.

My husband and I do give our daughter some freedom to choose her own reading material. She spends most of her free time reading historical novels that were written for a fourth- or fifth-grade audience. She’s being stretched as a reader, and that’s important.

The Power of a Reading Curriculum

But we knew that we also needed a reading curriculum. We needed a curriculum that would give me opportunities to teach my daughter literary and critical thinking skills so that she can wisely evaluate and appreciate what she reads.

BJU Press’s reading program combines a basal reader with the study of a novel in order to help me accomplish those very goals. I love all the opportunities I have to help her develop literary skills.  Right now, in her first reading book, we are reading a dramatized version of the book A King for Brass Cobweb. Before we started reading, we discussed features of drama such as stage directions, the role of the narrator, and the separation of the plot into different acts. We also discussed some key vocabulary words such as what it means to be a citizen. All of that preparation work helped boost both her comprehension level as well as her appreciation for the piece.

BJU Press’s reading program also does a phenomenal job of teaching critical thinking skills. These higher-level thinking skills take time to develop, but they’re a critical part of the educational process. The development of these skills was one of the main reasons we decided to use Reading 2 this year (as opposed to using Reading 3).

Because of my daughter’s reading abilities, I have made some adjustments to the curriculum. I rarely spend any time on phonics although there is a phonics component to almost every lesson. Sometimes we pick up additional books from the library to supplement some of the nonfiction selections. I also use the included Book Activity lessons and Sustained Silent Reading lessons to encourage my daughter to read books that more closely correspond to her reading skills.

 An Essential Combination

Letting a child choose his or her own reading materials or working through a reading curriculum are not mutually exclusive approaches to developing reading skills. Instead of pitting one approach against the other, use them both to develop reading skills and passion.

My daughter isn’t bored by her reading curriculum. She has enjoyed the selections that we’ve read and is always eager to start reading class. I am too. BJU Press has made it easy for me to share with my daughter my own enthusiasm for reading, and I’ve enjoyed watching her grow in her ability to critically evaluate and appreciate what she reads. However, I know that a lot of her reading success doesn’t come from the reading curriculum. It comes from her almost constant reading of books and other materials that she enjoys. Through them, she is developing a lifelong love of learning that will keep her mind challenged for years to come.

You can view the BJU Press Reading program I’m using here.

Filed Under: Successful Learning Tagged With: language arts, reading, reading choice, reading curriculum, reading level

SEND

October 19, 2016 by Cosette

“Sent” is a small but mighty word. It can serve to comfort the most homesick missionary, nerve the most trepid warrior, direct the most perplexed king, and bring honor to the one deemed least likely to succeed. The strength of it lies in the sender, and His all-powerful backing.

cover image of Wonderful Words

“O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill” (Psalm 43:3). “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17). “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world” (John 17:18). “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14).

GOLDEN THOUGHT: O send out Your light and Your truth.

[Excerpt adapted from Wonderful Words by Stewart Custer (October 19 reading).]

Filed Under: Devotions Tagged With: devotional, excerpt, Stewart Custer, wonderful words

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