Launching into First Grade Reading

Last night I watched the orientation video for BJU Press Distance Learning for first grade Reading. It's really first grade Composition, Phonics/English, Handwriting, and Reading.

I've now done 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th grade Reading with my children through BJU Press, as well as 7th, 9th, and 10th Literature.  I was an eclectic curriculum-switching homeschool mom for years so this is quite a record. ;-)

One of the reasons I love using BJU Press Distance Learning for Reading is it covers so much more than just reading.  For instance, in the Reading lessons, there are often activities involving composition, art, or music. Some reading units are truly unit studies in the areas of Science, Heritage Studies, or Bible. They've also been a huge motivator for my children to read additional chapter books and have provided great booklists for extra reading. My Paperback Swap account is always filled with book requests from their reading videos.

BUT. . . this will be my first experience with 1st grade reading. I've done most of my first grade reading teaching with very few resources - Explode the Code, TATRAS, and some readers. I tried adding A beka one year and that was definitely not our style.

I have the privilege of working with many other consultants at homeschool conventions during the summer AND having customers rave about their favorite products. First Grade Reading gets excellent reviews, and I'm quite excited about having a first grader to try it out with.

First of all- it's a good deal. The distance learning combines 3 subjects for the price of one. Reading/ Phonics & English / Handwriting. You also get books for all 3 of those subjects, so if you are purchasing them anyway, you can get the distance learning package for not much more.

The class is broken into 4 subjects and is done in this order:  1. Composition  2. Phonics (2 parts) 3. Handwriting  4. Reading

After seeing my friend's child's composition notebook, I think the price of this package would be worth it just for composition. Mrs. Walker is a fantastic encourager. She gives them a topic each day and encourages them to write. She also has "Chip" a little computer guy that she encourages to write. At the beginning, my first grader will "write" by dictating to me.

Phonics includes new teaching and review teaching each day. Mrs. Walker goes over 20 service words. (These are high frequency words that don't follow phonetic rules.) Phonics is taught by phonograms (word endings, more specifically, from the vowel to the end of the word). This way of teaching phonics makes sense and is backed up by loads of research.

Handwriting is a short lesson. Mrs. Walker teaches letter formation in a font that also makes since. It is still print, but it is a curvy print that transitions easily to cursive. Letter formations are taught in a way to minimize pencil pick-ups further easing the transition to cursive. (Cursive is taught later in 2nd grade when fine motor skills are more developed.)

Reading is the last part of the lesson. I'm expecting this to be much like the other Distance Learning Reading programs we have done through BJU Press. There are six units: God's Colorful Creation, Creatures Great and Small, Special Deeds and Inventions, Adventures, Making Melody, and Treasures. There are also 3 optional booklinks:  Once in Blueberry Dell, Buttercup Hill, and Looking for Home.

I watched Mrs. Walker's orientation video last night. I so wish BJU Press would make these orientation videos available for our customers because they give an in-depth overview of the course. Mrs. Walker's incredible teaching skills spill over for parents as well. She teaches US to be a great encouragers for our children, and I can't help but think homeschool parents are getting an "education" on being a great educator when they watch Mrs. Walker teach.  (This isn't our first course with Mrs. Walker as the teacher.)

I do admit I had some hesitations about purchasing this course.

#1) A 70 minute video is a long time for a first grader to sit still.
They are not sitting still. Mrs. Walker has them "doing" quite a bit.
It is broken into segments. There are lots of pauses for activities. It's also broken into 4 segments so you could have a snack, a walk, or playtime in between segments.  Besides that, it's mine to use as I want and if I want to do only 1/2 of it in a day I can.
Also, someone told me I could get a little exercise ball for his little bouncy self to sit on. Moving while you learn is actually good for your brain. I think he'll be fine in a regular chair, so I don't plan on actually doing this unless we need to. If you have an especially wiggly little one, I do think it's a good idea.

#2) It seems to move pretty fast (especially since my little one is hard of hearing).
I can slow it down. He also might do just fine with the pace and I need to give him a chance. I'm always amazed at how much first graders can learn in a year.

Mrs. Walker's orientation was definitely an encouragement to me.  I wanted to share it with you while it was fresh on my mind. I'll have to post another review after we actually use the course.

A Day in the Life of Our Homeschool

I often find myself trying to explain that just because we use textbooks doesn't mean we do nothing but worksheets. I thought I’d give you a few details from our day yesterday that show you.

#1) I see Samuel coming down with the microscope because Mrs. Vick used a microscope in science class today. Hannah can’t resist and she joins him for a while looking at things under the microscope. Samuel asks me to please let him know the next time I let bread mold so he can look at it.

#2) Faith goes to violin lessons. A neighbor takes her for me.

#3) I have a conference with Isaac. I assign specific due dates for a response to literature, a memorization quiz for the preamble to the constitution, a chemistry lab, and history project involving the names of local areas. I had watched the lessons on the response to literature the evening before, and was again reminded how much I love this curriculum with its encouragement of a personal walk with the Lord.

#4) Faith has a lesson on Beatrix Potter. Since Justin is studying “authors” and “illustrators” this week in K5 with an emphasis on Beatrix Potter, I let him watch the lesson with her. Faith has a print out of the characters that she cut out and attached brads and straws so they are movable. She plans to do a shadow play with them today.

#5) Samuel insists that I go back and watch Lesson 46 in his reading. So, I sit and watch it with him while eating my lunch. It is a hilarious poem about a girl who talks to her plants. The teacher discusses alliteration, assonance, and reading aloud with appropriate emphasis. She also explains “overstatement” and Samuel prints off a cartoon page where he can write his own overstatements. We giggle about those all day, and everyone he shows it to comes up with their own ideas.

The teacher also shows different kinds of plants and how to put them together into a gift basket. She explains to the students that this can be a type of ministry for them. (We did a similar thing for a grandma recently and this is why Samuel wanted me to watch it.) I learned that I can plant my daffodils behind my hastas and hide them after they’re no longer pretty. In the afternoon, Faith and Samuel dig up some tiny cedar trees that were going to be trodden and replanted them for future gift basket use.   

#6) Faith asks me to get her a notebook or folder to save her special work in. She’s especially proud of her poem about Tow Trucks with the picture she drew.

#7) I find Hannah on the porch with her portable DVD player and her math book. Yes, it’s a beautiful day! She’s watching her math lesson and enjoying the great outdoors at the same time.

#8) Faith has made a game (looks like some sort of board game) and is playing it with Justin. I’m not quite sure what lesson that went with, but I have time to bake a meal for a new mama.

#9) Justin asks me how to spell several words for a birthday card for Faith. He also draws a really neat volcano just because he wants to.

I love all this activity in my house. I wouldn't like directing all this activity at my house, but I love smiling and encouraging their projects.

Free Educational Websites I Actually Use

Spelling –

Spelling City   www.spellingcity.com

Missed words from their writing and spelling journals into Spelling City. I put them straight into here and send them to work on those words when we have a small block of time to fill.

Writing-

Kidblog   www.kidblog.org

Set up a private classroom blog. Editing is allowed. We put in Grandma and Grandpa from out of town and they LOVE it. It’s also great for keeping members of our family who sometimes “miss” things “in” on things.  

Math-

Xtra Math  www.xtramath.org

This is great for fact practice. They practice each day for a very short time. They log in by clicking their name.  It tells them when they’re done. I get an email report of progress once a week, and a notification email if they don’t log in and do their practice. The student tries to get the facts in 3 seconds for a smiley face, but it gives him 10 seconds before giving the answer. It’s just what I’ve always wanted and it’s free.

Reading –

Book Adventure   www.bookadventure.com

Five to Ten Question Quizzes on lots and lots of books. Brian found this for me when I asked for something similar to Accelerated Reader. We don’t use it a lot, but it gives me an extra record of a few of the books they’ve read and reminds them to read carefully. I have started writing on my own books if there is a book adventure quiz to go along with them.

I know there are LOTS of other really cool websites – but there is only so much I can use! LOL!  

For Fellow BJU Press Users
*I use BJU Press as my "core" for all these subjects. These are great little extras in less than 10 minutes and fit well with BJU Press.
For Spelling City, I add words using words from their own writing mistakes. I mostly use their journal entries from spelling, but if I've noticed another word from another subject I'll add it as well.
I use Xtra Math instead of (or in addition to depending on the child) fact practice print-offs from the Teacher CD in the teacher's manual.
I use Book Adventure as a quick report of all that extra reading their reading teachers have encouraged :-).
We use KidBlog to tell about their projects, to publish their writing, to tell how much they love school (yes - they've done this), but mostly to tell their stories. :-)

New School Year Plan

Yep. BJU Press for just about everything this year – but it still took me forever to figure out what I wanted to teach, what I wanted to combine, and what things I wanted DVD or online for!

Justin-

                BJU Math 1 with Mrs. Lawson – We’re training Faith now to keep the manipulatives organized                                   and to get him started. He’s loving this.

                BJU K5 Beginnings with Mom – We’re almost done w/ Week 4. He’s eager.

                Explode the Code – (Take 5- as in child #5 to do this book) We’re on C and hope to make it through at least Book 2

                Bible Story Books – He’s really enjoying the Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes right now, but I have                                                a collection. J I’m hoping to sing with him every day too.

                Reading – I bought an extra shelf for the school room and pulled all the books I want to make                                    sure we read to Justin this year. I have LOTS of great science readers at this level.

                Speech – I haven’t set this up yet, but he’ll need this too. I think he’s advanced enough we might                            be able to get away with quarterly or longer evaluations. Hope so.

Faith – BJU Books Mom teaches – Math 3, Handwriting 3

                BJU Books with Samuel  & Mom – Spelling, History, Science, Bible

                BJU w/ DVD – Reading & English (until spring she’ll start Math 4 DVD

                VIOLIN lessons – after answer to prayer, and Gymnastics

Samuel – BJU Books Mom teaches –Handwriting 4, English & Math in the spring

                BJU Books with Faith & Mom – Spelling, History, Science, Bible

                BJU w/ DVD – Reading, English, Math (until Spring)

                And maybe Teaching Textbooks 6 in the spring

                Speech work – specific words and /th/

Hannah – History with Faith & Samuel, with lots of additional readers & God’s World News

                  Bible with Mom & Isaac

                BJU DVD – English/Lit, Life Science, Fundamentals of Math

                Spelling continued & lots of use of her new Spelling Corrector J

                She really wants to learn more about sewing. I can cut and stitch but hate machines. I’m hoping                                                we can find someone to help her.

Isaac – BJU Online Grade 11 with 10^th grade English and Spanish 1  - sounds simple but it’s lot of work for               him (not so bad for me.) – We still have some other grade 10 subjects to do, but will do them next year. It's cheaper for us to combine these subjects this year.

                Bible with Balancing the Sword (and Hannah and me), Ludy sermons

Everyone - Lots of writing on our Family Blog with both sets of Grandparents - We'll call this "Introduction to Social Media" :-)

Week 2 is done and I only have the high school Bible and lower grade history to add in next week. The first couple of weeks we go slow and spend time getting everyone used to the routine, where to find things, where to put things, and so on. So far, it’s going surprisingly well. I’ll post more specifics later in the year.

Isaac's School Plan

School Planning: High School

That would be Isaac. He’s in 10^th grade this year. Several of his courses are technically Grade 11. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a year ahead. He’s doing ALL his core courses with BJU Press Online Distance Learning. I’ve come to the place where I technically could teach these subjects, but I have difficulty doing them justice with the time in my day. I did feel a little bad when I found an old note from Isaac that said, “I’m glad I have a mom who can teach me algebra.”  We got lost in Saxon Algebra 2 and with its spiraling style I couldn’t figure out where we got off track. No biggie – he’s a 10^th grader. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!

Here’s the short version:

American History

Algebra 2

Chemistry

Spanish 1

Writing and Grammar 10

Literature 10

For Bible, I’m combining Isaac and Hannah and teaching the Bible Truths C. (A BJU Press book – but not the one used for distance learning.) He’ll continue working in Balancing the Sword and watch a lot of online sermons.

Other extras – a little bit of Rosetta Stone, a little bit of music theory & piano & maybe guitar, continue photography, Haiti trip, lead some P.E. days with the younger children, and spend some time at the gym.

I’d love to do Spanish 1 with him “just for fun” – I can probably do it through the first couple of weeks. LOL!  Ja, Ja, Ja!

I chose Online because of online grading. I’ll admit it. I have a very difficult time keeping up with the grading of high school subjects. I’ll still have “homework” grading to do and test essay questions and wrting assignments– but they tell me what things to spot check. J

Getting Ready for School

This morning with an online Bible study group, a friend posted this status:

Matthew 12:34b "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." This is so neat. It's a really easy way for us to evaluate our own hearts and our kids' hearts. No wondering what is really in the heart. Do our words primarily build up? Complain? Argue? Thank? Express Joy? Love? Anger? Spite? Pride? Love? Judgment? etc. It's easy to look at other's words and know their heart, but sometimes it's easy to deceive ourselves. Maybe you/we could ask a close friend, child or husband what primarily comes out of your/my mouth? (If you truly want the truth). =)

I read it rather quickly, and decided I'd watch things I say today. (This is much easier than asking someone you love for the truth.)

A little later in the morning, I was making some last-minute phone calls to try to book fundraisers with the local schools. I have a dozen last-minute things I (notice the capital I) want to get done before our school year starts. Calling principals was top on my list. 

I like to read the principal's message on the school's website before I call. It gives me a little reminder of what they are like. This morning I read this principal's message. Here's the last part:

I can't wait to get started. When we get down to mere days before the start of school I get a huge surge of excitement. That is one of the many great parts of my job. It is just like being a kid again and getting excited for the first day of school. I will get to see all of my friends again. I usually buy new pens and notebooks, and even think about what I will wear for the "first day of school," just like I did when I was ten. I hope that all of our teachers, staff, students and families are just as excited and pumped for the new year. I know it will be a great one!!!

It really convicted me.

She’s excited about the upcoming school year.

Really excited.

Have I been that excited about our school year?

Um. No.

I don’t think I’ve been actually complaining out loud, but I’m afraid to ask.

Either way, I also haven’t been expressing abundant joy about the task.

That’s because I forgot to be thankful.

Ladies, it is a tremendous blessing to be able to homeschool our own children. My mother worked as her children got older. My grandmother worked when her children got older. We’re getting to spend some precious years WITH our children. MORE time than our grandparents had. We get to share both the gospel and the wonders of God’s creation. We have no constraints. We have no testing. We have no meetings we have to attend. We have no standards to meet but God’s and our own.

We should smile – a lot. We should tell the children how thankful we are that we can home school them this year. We should let them know that we are so excited to see them in the morning and to spend the day with them. We should set a high standard in the Lord and cheer with great joy as we watch them reach it. I’m getting pumped as I type!

Hmmm. . . what to wear?

Conservative pajamas?

Homeschool-mom skirt/blouse and a matching pen behind my ear?

Mad scientist outfit with a lab coat and crazy eye-brow glasses?

Wildflowers and tie-dye?

The kids would think I’m crazy, but they’d probably smile. ;-)

Why Four Year Olds Need to "Do School"

                For today’s lesson, we counted 100 pennies in groups of 10 and traded them for a dollar bill.

Me: Justin, can you remember what metal is in pennies?

Justin: Copperheads.

Me: A copperhead is a snake. When we talk about a metal, we just say “copper.”

Perhaps he’s heard that verse about the love of money being the root of all evil and associated it with snakes?

Me: Justin, do you remember whose picture is on the penny?

Justin: Abraham Lincoln

Me: Very good.

Justin: “Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham.”

Me: Different Abraham. This one was a president. Ok, Justin all those pennies in your hand are really heavy and it would be hard to get them all in the store without dropping them so we can trade them for this one dollar bill that will buy the same thing.

Me: Now this one dollar bill also has a picture of a president on it. His name is George Washington.

I lay the one dollar bill on the table perhaps with a bit of flair.

Justin: Slap George Washington.

Too much Slap Jack perhaps?

So there’s a reason to “do school” with your four year old. . . It’s just too funny to skip.

Oh, and certain four year olds need refinement.  

*Justin uses Footsteps for Fours from BJU Press. It's a pretty detailed curriculum if all you really want is a few workbooks to teach colors, numbers, letters, and shapes. For Justin, I wanted all the extra activities for listening skills, vocabulary development, etc.  If you considering it and would like to talk to a mom who has used it, you may contact me.

From my personal blog earlier this year

Hannah is all Set Up for the School Year

WARNING BEFORE YOU READ: I may sound like a sales lady ;-)

Hannah Is All Set Up for the School Year!

Here’s what we’ve got –

Reading – My original BJU love! I love that Reading also includes subjects like Vocabulary, Dictionary Skills, Library Skills, & Map Reading. Reading selections meet my conservative standards and still qualify as good literature (Twain, Dickens, Browning, etc). Questions are asked on four different levels – critical thinking included. Only TWO Required Books to keep up with! The workbook tells plainly at the bottom of the page the lesson page and the corresponding reading text. Though it isn’t written to be used this way, I will teach the skill station days and a few of my favorite stories and let her work through the rest independently. She’s been asking for this Reading program.  Reading is one of her favorite things to do, so she’ll be raiding the library as well.

English – My 2^nd BJU Love. This will be Hannah’s 3^rd year to do BJU English. Each chapter is also organized around a theme – sort of like a mini unit study. That’s Hannah’s favorite part about it. She says she learns so much more than just English. I love the writing. Two weeks of grammar and two weeks of writing J. That means I don’t keep skipping the writing until the end of the year. She’ll be doing a personal narrative, a newspaper editorial, instructions a research report, historical fiction, a compare-contrast essay, a poem, and a cover letter. It sounds worse than it is. It is broken down into bite-size chunks, and Mrs. Overly will be explaining it all to her. I’m hoping we can make at least some of these assignments fit a scrapbook I want to make about all of her grandmothers. I’ll also be checking her work and answering her questions since Mrs. Overly doesn’t do that very well ;-).

Spelling – This will be Hannah’s 2^nd year to do BJU Spelling. Mrs. Liston will be teaching her. She has a passport ready to stamp as she learns to spell over 100 countries  along with many more words. She’ll be learning tidbits about the countries as she goes along. She’ll have a journal entry every week written for me to read, and I’ll write her back each week. Since she loves letter writing, I think this will be a nice personal touch to our school week. Also included is sentence dictation (an important listening and writing skill) and King’s English which describes not only the etymology but often a Biblical principal as well.

Heritage Studies – We’ll be studying the 20^th century. I read long ago that this is often the most neglected yet, most pertinent part of history. We’ll be making a century book. Each page will have the year printed and we’ll cut/paste/print some pictures to go with it. Samuel and Faith will be joining Hannah for this study. Some Grandma interviews will fit in here nicely too since most of them lived quite a few years in this century.  Mrs. Walker will be helping me with teaching this course. We’ve had Mrs. Walker before, and we absolutely love her.

Science – Mrs. Vick will be helping us with Science. Hooray for Mrs. Vick. I think this will be Hannah’s most challenging course. It includes all branches of science. It includes a lot of activities and observations, but it is so very organized that I don’t think it will be overwhelming. I really wanted to combine siblings in this, but it’s just too challenging for that. I’ll be teaching Science 4 to the youngers.

Math – Ok. Yes, we love teaching textbooks. Hannah made it through almost two levels last year, BUT our test scores came and found us lacking even though we supplemented it. This year- we’re using BJU and considering Teaching Textbooks the supplement. May the Lord reward her extra effort J

Handwriting – Sweet, Sweet Mrs. Cox. Hannah really wanted to have at least one course with her. This course doesn’t run all year, so she’ll also have time for typing. In addition to cursive, Hannah will learn Calligraphy through this course.  The course theme is careers, so she’ll be exposed to a few more things than what’s available in rural Kentucky.

Bible – Mrs. Cox teaches Bible too. Hannah will be memorizing several passages of scripture and creating a timeline. A KJV Bible is her textbook. (That should make her smarter ;-).)

What Else – music and art are largely included – but I’ll schedule a little music theory. Art will be a little digital scrapbooking and the calligraphy. Digital Scrapbooking will be a book of our Grandma’s which fits nicely with the last century which we’re studying for history. I’ll probably dig out Drawing Textbook and assign a few of those lessons. She has some online Horse lessons twice a week as well. For homemaking, she’s the main breakfast cook and she’ll also be making the list for breakfast.

I love the beginning of the year with all the freshness and expectation J.

My Slant on BJU Press Handwriting

      BJU Press offers Handwriting Worktexts and Teacher’s Editions for 1^st through 6^th grades. The printing is done with a bit of curve and a slant to make the transition to cursive easier. It is a pretty handwriting as well.

     Cursive writing instruction begins in the second grade.  A few letters are different than I was taught as a child. The lowercase “b” looks more like a printed “b.” I like this way better. The capital “I” and “J” and “Q” look different as well. The “Q” doesn’t look like a “2.”

     Again, I haven’t used BJU Press from the beginning. I have mostly used Handwriting Without Tears although I’ve used A Reason for Handwriting and Happy Handwriting as well. I’ve always thought my older children’s writing lacked a mature look, and I think it’s due, in part, to the lack of a slant in the writing styles I taught. As we work on better slanting with BJU Press books, their writing is becoming more legible and more mature looking. (I still think there are some wonderful tips in the Handwriting Without Tears books if you have a child with OT issues.)

     As a homeschooling parent, handwriting has not been my strong point. My own 1^st grade report was A’s and A+’s with a C- in handwriting. Handwriting gets sloppy because I forget to expect better handwriting. I’m getting better though. That’s your tip for the day: If you want your kids to have better handwriting, make them rewrite their work when it’s sloppy.

     BJU Press also offers practice in reading cursive handwriting. I know from experience reading cursive is a separate skill from handwriting. A few years ago, I had one of my children write some poems in cursive handwriting.  I decided to record him reading his poems. The only problem was, he stumbled through them and finally lamented, “Mom, I can’t read cursive handwriting.”  Perhaps only a few children would actually have this problem, but we don’t want to send any of them out into the world not being able to read a handwritten note from the future darlings. ;-)

     As with many BJU Press subjects, I love the themes that offer extra learning. My sixth grader is learning about all kinds of different careers with her distance learning course. One year focuses on world geography; another the states. Of course, verses and hymns are interspersed throughout.

     Another extra bonus. . . the sixth grade cursive also includes some practice in Calligraphy. What a great way to get an older child motivated to produce beautiful handwriting!

Ten years of Homeschooling - English

I’ve only been homeschooling for 10 years, but I have a pretty long list of English curriculums/resources I’ve used ;-).

Here goes:

Rod & Staff

Evan-Moor Grammar and Punctuation

Sonlight English

Easy Grammar

Learning Language Arts through Literature

Writing Strands

MFW 1^st grade

Editor and Chief

Total Language Plus

Wordsmith

English from the Roots UP

A Beka

Sandy Queen Language Lessons

And BJU Press

A few of these curriculums had pieces I really loved. I thought marking out prepositional phrases was a neat idea in Easy Grammar. I enjoyed the Orange Book in LLATL when we did poetry. I really enjoyed using the poetry selections from Sandi Queen’s Language Lessons and doubling them as speech work for my son who needed it. “Whose woods these are I think I know” is music to your ears when it is your own child reciting it. I loved Total Language Plus’s Amos Fortune Free Man study. It had such a neat correlation to our freedom in Christ. I liked the dictation part of that study, and I enjoyed reading things my kids wrote. I found Editor in Chief to be an excellent and challenging resource for proofreading. So there you know, I am aware of a world out there other than BJU Press.

I am now on my 3^rd year of using BJU Press English. It’s a record!

I’ll put a review of BJU Press English in another post soon.

BJU Press Spelling

It’s working! My kids are really improving their spelling skills.

I am teaching 3^rd grade BJU Spelling to two of my kids. Age wise they’re more like 2^nd and 4^th grade. My son with hearing loss has more trouble with spelling, and my daughter is a natural speller, so it works to put them together.

Here’s how our week looks:

Monday – I give all the spelling words for the pre-test.

Tuesday – Workbook pages

Wednesday – Trial Test  & Dictionary Skills. I’ve been homeschooling with an eclectic method for several years. I had largely left out dictionary skills. This is well worth doing!!! I don't always my 2nd grader to finish this page.

Thursday – Journal Entries.  The book gives us a topic and they write their journal entries as a letter to me. I love it! You would think since we’re with each other 24/7 that they wouldn’t have anything new to say, but they do!!!!  I write them back each week, and they really love that.

Friday – Final Test & Word Etymology – often Bible related

Sometime during the week, they correct  their journals and add their missed words to the back of their books. We choose two of those words each week to add to our spelling lists.  Occasionally, I will give them a check-up test just using these previously used words.

Grading is so easy. I drew a chart in the back of their spelling book and record their grades from their final tests there.

Themes: I love the themes of the spelling books. In fourth grade, the students learn to spell all the books of the Bible. In fifth grade, they learn to spell all the U.S. states. In 6^th grade, they learn to spell many of the countries. It makes a nice little unit study to go along with the spelling program.

Teacher’s Manual:  I do recommend the teacher’s manual. It contains some very good extra activities. It shortens the lists for Wednesday and Friday. It also gives some wonderful tips for remembering how to spell the memory words. The author of this Teacher Manual has put a lot more thought into teaching spelling than I have. I just sound really creative when I teach it.  I bought mine used for under $10, but I would do it again even if I had to pay the new $26 price.

My high school student is doing 6^th grade spelling.

Note: Don’t let your kids do all their work with a spell checker on the computer. Poor spelling can go undetected. I have also been astonished at the dictionary skills he does not know. (Woops.) I’m glad he’s doing this spelling program and not remaining ignorant in this area!  I’m glad we’re ahead in some other areas, because I’m not giving high school credit for 6^th grade spelling. LOL!

Even if your children are really good spellers, I’d recommend doing the program for the journal and dictionary exercises. You can always increase their spelling ability because you'll also be using words they miss in their writing. It is a very quick and easy subject to teach and implement.

Well, that's my review! I hope I spelled everything right.

BJUP World History

I have a confession to make.

I wasn’t intending to use BJUP for World History in high school.

I had done a year of Mystery of History, really loved their product and thought it could easily be modified for a high-school student. Plus, a lot of my friends are using Notgrass for World History and raving about Biblical aspect of that course. (It also combines credits for literature and Bible.)

I probably wouldn’t have chosen BJU World History except that in boredom at a slow Solutions meeting event, I started reading it.

1.       The text is very readable and very interesting. (I have never liked history.)

2.       Events in history are often linked to the Bible. (This is the same Darius II that Daniel served under, etc.) Not only does that reinforce biblical history, but it gives my student some pegs to put world history around making the subject MUCH easier.

3.       The illustrations are clear, well-chosen, and plentiful. A picture is worth a thousand words, and many new-to-the market texts are in need of a lot more illustrations.

4.       This course is meaty! Even if my student never covers world history in college, I will feel that his education in this subject is complete.

5.       This course has not been difficult. Difficult does not equal meaty. Adequate reinforcement is given that my student is doing very well on the chapter tests. As homeschoolers, I think we often undervalue reinforcement activities.

6.       The Activity Manual and review questions encourage critical thinking and biblical thinking.

7.       The Activity Manual often crosses into other disciplines . . . pretty easy to do with the subject matter being world history.  We’re hitting on language, art, literature, mathematics, and more.

8.       The corresponding Bible studies have been right-on. Many of them could be skipped if you don’t want a ton of Bible in your World History course. Some could be used for excellent essay topics.

9.       The teacher’s guide is full of extended activities and discussions. If a video or an excerpt is recommended, it often has a link directly off the bjupress website or it is available on the CD that comes with the teacher’s guide. The easy access to these activities is very convenient. And yet, the course is plenty meaty enough without any of them. If you’re the co-op teacher of this course, you’re going to love these extra resources

10.    The whole shebang textbook kit is $128. For such a complete high-quality curriculum, this is a great value.

The only “con” I can think of for this World History Curriculum is that it doesn’t come with a daily assignment chart. Each chapter gives you the approximate amount of days for each section with a total number of days to spend on that chapter including a testing day (usually 4-7) days.

How I “teach” this course:  I spend an hour or so reading each chapter and logging assignments into Homeschool Tracker. I refer him to the Teacher’s Manual for the side notes I want him to read (usually only one day of each chapter). If the activities are difficult and I need to speed up the process, I schedule him to copy the answers from the Activity Manual TE onto his Activity Page. (He usually tries to do this without the TE anyway!) On review day, I quickly check his work and talk about a few topics that weren’t extensively covered in the reinforcement exercises.

If you’re my friend, I’ll share my Homeschool Tracker Assignment list with you, and you’ll save yourself that time.  J

My First Year Using a BJUP Distance Learning Course

Planning the next school year is always one of my most fun challenges. To extend the fun, I research everything as long as possible and stay up late at night reading other people’s reviews. I’ve even been known to look up reviews on curriculum products I own and have used. I can be pretty pathetic. So to say that I bought a BJUP Online Reading kit last year “on a whim” would be far, far from the truth. (It does have a price tag, you know, and the kid does have a library card and a Bible.)

But on the pro side, there was this. I had a child lagging behind in reading, and he really needed to cover a year and a half worth of reading in one year. He needed good solid reading instruction every day. He needed to learn lots of new vocabulary to improve his reading comprehension, and he needed to continue to LOVE reading. My husband, being an outstanding reading teacher, knew we could do this. I knew technically, we could, but we happened to have a lot else going on. Particularly, we were growing a little one. That typically means I fall asleep for nine months, and my husband sleeps hardly at all. So, I splurged. (I also got the online kit which lasts 18 months and the next kid down could use it too—that made me feel better.)

Samuel absolutely loved his reading class. I don’t think we have ever done anything so exciting as this textbook course with a screen teacher.  In addition to a very good (and interesting) review of phonics, we got activities. Lots of curriculums have activities. That’s important because it helps kids think of school as fun and helps them remember stuff better. I see lots of activities in the manuals, but most of the time the kids don’t know they’re there. Samuel has made a bird feeder, a stringed guitar, several recipes (loved that polar bear ice cream), a dog puppet, a picture frame, a balloon rocket, a beaded bracelet among numerous other things. Many times he could do these activities on his own. We did most of the recipes together, and we really enjoyed it.  Because I really wanted this child to strengthen his reading skills, I continued to work on a word list. When I’d be surprised he knew a word, he say, “Mom – that’s one of my practice words,” meaning he’d learned it from the BJUP course.

I must share a testimony about the beaded bracelet Samuel made. You know – one with the five different-colored beads that can be used to explain the plan of salvation. When Dad got home and Samuel showed him his bracelet, Dad asked him, “So where are you in that bracelet?” Samuel hung his head down and said, “Somewhere between the black and the red.” It led to a good discussion. What was neat about Samuel was that he really counted the cost. He knew that following Christ could lead to persecution and trials, and he really asked himself and articulated his concern about it. He decided he would follow Christ and trust him to help him endure persecution and trials he might face as a result. That night a younger sister who had listened to the whole conversation decided she wanted to be in the white part of that bracelet too J

Not very many days later, we held what was left of a beautiful baby girl. We found she shook our world even if she never took a breath in it, but God was faithful in working all together for good. We marveled that Faith and Samuel now had covenant relationship with Jesus. We took comfort in knowing they could take the hurt of losing a little sister to Him, even if they couldn’t bring it to us.

I took some time off as homeschool mom to just be a child of God. I let him kiss my owies and I clung to His every word. And, school continued. By now, Samuel and Faith were working through the reading class.

When I re-entered my own little “work-world” of being a homeschool mom, it was SOOOO nice that we weren’t behind with school. I didn’t have to panic. I could still have a little retreat when I needed reassurance that everything was indeed ok, and I didn’t have to stress about school to take that little retreat.

Precious was the day, when Samuel came and told me all about the story called When Singing Came Again. (This is similar to the Charlotte Mason method of narration, by the way, but I didn’t have to ask him to do it. He also didn’t look at me like I was crazy for asking him to retell a story I had just heard. LOL)  Anyway, the story was about a family who, like us, had lost a baby. The little girl’s mother used to sing all the time, but after she lost the baby, she quit singing. What the girl missed the most was her mother’s singing. The mother sent the girl to the market, and the little girl heard a little boy singing a beautiful song. The little boy had a little sister he was taking care of because his mother was too sick. With no father, the family was very poor as well. The little girl came and told her mother of the baby, and the song, and the sick mother, and the poverty. The family helped this poor family, and of course, “singing came again.”

Literature is a powerful thing. I have known that it can be powerful for both good and evil, and have closely guarded my children from much literature that event hints at the side of evil. I sometimes forget that literature also has enormous power for good. Let me rephrase that. God has great power for good and often chooses to use literature to accomplish it. He has given us a whole Bible of stories. Jesus often used parables for teaching. I am so thankful that my child had exposure to literature this year that God used for not only for His good – but Samuel’s and mine.

Oh yeah, and we got our year and a half gain in reading skills in about 10 months! Praise God!

Since I am now a consultant promoting BJUP’s material, I think I need  a little * that says, “Results not typical.” Honestly, this is my first year using BJUP distance learning, so I don’t know what “typical” generally looks like. This year’s reading class with Samuel, though, has been like a dream come true for a homeschool mom. It’s God though, who leads us to the right decisions when we pray and trust Him, and no particular curriculum or method deserves the glory.

So.  .   . enjoy the challenge of choosing curriculum this year. Trust God to lead you in just the right path in training up your children in the way they should go. Not the cheapest, or the fastest, or the prettiest, or the easiest, or the hardest, or the most popular – but the one that’s just right for your family to prepare godly offspring to serve Him. (Even if it’s just by telling Mom about his reading lesson.)