Genesis 11: 1-9 tells the story of how the people got together to build a wonderful tower for themselves. God saw that they were gathering glory for themselves, not for Him, and made it impossible for them to talk together and communicate easily.

Genesis 11: The Tower of Babel

¹ Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ² As men moved eastward, ^[a] they found a plain in Shinar ^[b] and settled there.

³ They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵ But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. ⁶ The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

⁸ So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel ^[c] —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

The story of the Tower of Babel is told in a special form called a chiasmus: the words in one side of the sentence or story match and reverse the same words in the other side. Since the story is about a tower, this a great time to study this kind of structure. Take blocks and make a tower of them, noticing how the sentences of the story build on each other.

First, the world had one language(1); later, God confused the language of the world (9) – lay down blocks next to each other to show these verses.

The people said to each other, “Come, let us make bricks”(3); later, God said, “Come, let us go down and confuse their language.”(7) – set blocks on top of the first layer.

The people planned to build a tower going up to heaven (4); later, God came down from heaven to see the tower (5) – set blocks on top.

Use your fingers to climb up the tower as you read the story, telling how the world had one language and the people used it to plan a tower for their own glory. Then climb back down on the other side of the tower with your fingers, telling how God decided not to allow them to complete their plan.

Depending on the ages of your children, there are many possible discussion points for this story. Young children might think about all the languages they’ve heard, and learn greetings in one or two. Have your older students think about their plans for their own lives: are they planning for God’s glory or their own? Or have them discuss how history might have been different if everyone had continued to speak the same language and communicate easily. For what long-term reasons might God have chosen not to allow that?

Then look again at the idea of the chiasmus. Here’s another example from Genesis:

A   Whoever sheds
B   the blood
C     of man
C’     by man
B’  shall his blood
A’   be shed

Here’s an example from Mark’s gospel:

A The Sabbath was made for man

A’ and not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)

And one from the book of Matthew:

A But many who are first will be last,

A’ and many who are last will be first. (Matthew 19:30)

The chiasmus is a common structure in the Bible, especially when it’s read in its original languages. But we can find examples of chiasmus in other places, too. President Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” An advertising jingle says, “I’m stuck on Band-Aid ‘cause Band-Aid sticks on me.” Chiasmus can be small, like these examples with only two parts, or long, like the story of the tower of Babel.

After this lesson, watch for examples of chiasmus as you go through the day, and keep a list. You’ll be amazed how often you see or hear this structure!

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

Not every state requires that home schooled children be tested, so maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who don’t fall under a mandate. However, if you happen to live in a state that does require it, you know how intense, stressful and overwhelming it can be for your children.

The process of state mandated testing can be a daunting one, often for hours on end, so here are a few suggestions to make the experience a smoother one for everyone involved.

Lighten their workload. Realize that studying and preparing for an exam can be exhausting. You might want to lighten their workload a little the day before and the day following the test or even forgo it altogether. Overwhelming them with too much additional schoolwork can be detrimental to their success.

Try not to stress them out. We all know that technically, state testing is really a test of our abilities to adequately teach our children. That alone can cause us to feel anxious, because how they do is a direct reflection of our own abilities as an educator. It is extremely important that you never project your own stress or concerns onto your students. Remember that they have their own nerves to deal with, so keep yours to yourself.

Be sure they are well rested. A good night’s sleep the night before is critical to having a clear mind and being ready to concentrate during an exam.

Make sure they are prepared. Feed your child a healthy breakfast the morning of the test, and make sure that all required materials are on hand before he embarks on the test. For example, arm him with two or three sharpened number 2 pencils and ample scrap paper if that’s what the exam calls for.

Remind them of one thing: to do their best. After all, what more can we ask of them?

Take frequent breaks. Every hour or so, let them get up and walk around, or have a snack to avoid fatigue and help them recharge their batteries.

Resist the urge to look over your student’s shoulder while they are testing. Being timed while taking a difficult exam can be stressful enough as it is. Putting added pressure on your student may actually cause them to do poorly, and you certainly don’t want that.

After the test is done, allow your child to decompress. Head out shopping or get an ice cream sundae to celebrate that it’s all over. Shift their focus. There’s no reason to dwell on the results, since they often take several weeks to arrive. In the meantime, try to relax and return to business as usual.

Lastly, when the results do arrive, try to view them as a tool for your child’s success. Focus more on the positive, and use any negative results as an opportunity to view areas that you may want to spend a little extra time on. Most likely, however, the results will come as little or no surprise to you and your student.

State mandated testing can be a difficult and daunting task, but remember that it is what you make of it. If you are able to make it into a positive experience by not letting it stress your students out, and by implementing some of the tips provided above, you will likely find that it’s really not all that bad and it will be over before you know it.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

There are countless differences between traditional school and home school, many of which we as home educators feel blessed not to have to participate in. However, one difference which can actually prove to be quite beneficial to the home school family is the parent/teacher conference.

It might sound somewhat silly to suggest such a thing, since we are both parent and teacher to our children. But as with anything else in the world of home school, a slight variation of a traditional idea can be implemented to fit our unique circumstances. Perhaps instead we should call the concept parent/teacher/student conferences.

There is value in feedback. After all, do we as Christians not continuously seek feedback from our Heavenly Father? We read His Word, we pray, we seek His counsel. This theory can be also applied to the home school household in several ways.

Most home education is facilitated by one parent, while the other parent works outside the home to provide financially for the family. For the parent who is home teaching, it is often easy to forget to keep her spouse in the loop on what is happening while they are at work all day. Here is where the parent/teacher portion of the meeting comes into play.

Schedule a time to meet, perhaps once a week or once a month, to sit down together. Do so alone, when the children are occupied or visiting with friends. Discuss the lesson plans you are currently covering, the progress of each child, and provide some examples of recent work that your children have completed. It’s beneficial for the teaching parent to receive support and feedback from her spouse, and likewise it’s important that the parent who works outside the home be abreast of the progress of his children. This is also an excellent time to discuss any issues or challenges that the children are facing, and brainstorm ideas on how to address them. And it’s always a blessing for spouses to fellowship with each other.

Next set up some time, probably less frequently, to sit your students down and talk about their progress. Give them positive feedback and constructive criticism, and help them to see their strengths as well as areas that could use a bit more attention and work. Holding these meetings with the working parent present is also a wonderful way to present a united front to the children, which is invaluable in child rearing.

Finally, remember to spend some one on one time with each student from time to time. Talk about your feelings on their effort and improvement, and let them know areas that you would like them to continue working on. Children thrive on individual attention, so use this to your benefit. And don’t forget to ask them for some feedback on you as well. Remember, we can’t grow and improve if we do not know where our weaknesses lie.

Meeting together in the role of parent/teacher/children keeps the channels of communication open, which will inevitably benefit everyone involved.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

There is no argument that home school is a rewarding experience, both for us as educators and our children as students. However, as with most rewards, there are certain sacrifices that are made and challenges to be met. Couple these sacrifices and challenges with the fact that home school families are often held to a much higher standard than traditional ones, and we can often experience what’s known as “home school burnout”.

While the pressures of the outside world will never cease, there are certainly things that you can do to avoid home school burnout and stay on track.

• Recognize and embrace your family’s uniqueness. Every family is different, so it is important that you realize that the dynamic of your family might be staunchly different than that of other families you know, even ones that home school. As long as you focus on what works for your family, you will be more likely to stay on track and keep the pace that works best for you. Trying to mold yourself after others will never work, and you will quickly grow tired.
• Don’t allow comparisons. Similar to the point just mentioned, it is critical to the success of your family to find your own system of doing things so that you and your children are productive and content. If you strive to model another family you view as successful, you might just find yourself falling short, and feeling frustrated in the end.
• Don’t overdo it. Taking on too much is never a good idea, so pace yourself. Understand that there may be days that you just can’t get to everything, and try not to let it bother you. Working at a pace that is comfortable for you and your students is more important, and in the long run, it will be reflected in their productivity and success.
• Acknowledge your family’s circumstances. How many children do you have? Does your husband travel for work, or is he available to help you in teaching some of their lessons? Each family’s situation is different therefore you must consider these things and work around them. If you don’t, you’re sure to quickly run out of steam and that’s not good for anyone.
• Pray. Pray. Pray some more. God should be at the center of our family dynamic, and the focus of hearts in everything we do. Seeking guidance, wisdom, support and compassion from Him will make all the difference in the world and help you to avoid the pitfalls of home school burnout.

Above all, be aware. If you recognize that you or your children are getting overwhelmed, address it immediately so it doesn’t get out of hand.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

Ask students which class is their least favorite, and many will tell you that history is the one they’d skip.

It doesn’t have to be that way. History, they may say, is dull and boring and all about memorizing names and dates. But actually, history is about people and the amazing things people have done. It’s about life.

One way to help your students make the connection between the dull names and dates on the one hand and the vibrant events of the lives of people on the other, is through art. Here are some ways to structure art lessons so that they will bring history to life for your students:

• Begin by observing. Choose a painting, a sculpture, a piece of music, a building – any work of art from the time period you want to study. Find a copy online or in the library, and let your students spend some time with it. Point out interesting details or ask questions to lead your students toward deeper observation. Make lists or graphic organizers detailing your observations. And find the exact date of the piece, as well.
• Next, try it out. Looking and listening are great ways to learn, but your students will always learn more if they can get in and try some hands-on learning. Having student make their own works of art will encourage even deeper observation. Have your students copy a painting, design an illustration in the same style as the one they’ve observed, make a costume based on that worn by a statue, or “conduct” a piece of music. Add to the list or the graphic organizer of observations. See whether there are points that students now want to correct, based on their greater understanding.
• Finally, draw some conclusions. You’ve observed a piece of art by the Aztecs, let’s say, listing all the things you noticed. You’ve replicated the piece in salt dough, painted it, and labeled it with the date of the original piece. What can you say about the Aztecs from this experience? How was their way of life different from that of people in other places at the same time? What questions did your observation raise, and how will you find answers to those questions? What other projects do you want to try now, based on the experience with the first project? Have students contemplate these things, and write paragraphs to go with their projects.

You may be surprised by how much insight your students gain from projects of this kind. Take the questions and ideas developed in the course of this project into your lessons on history, and you’ll be thrilled at how much more deeply your students appreciate what they learn.

If you use this technique over the long term, why not set up a classroom museum? With projects and paragraphs labeling them, you’ll have a lively window into history.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

Writing is an essential skill. While some worry that texting and instant messaging are causing our kids to lose their writing skills, the truth is that in the global marketplace, writing is a more essential skill than ever. With more of us working with people from other parts of the world, sharing jobs with workers who are in place at different times of day from ourselves, and working with information more than with objects, the ability to write is essential.

How can we be sure that our students are developing effective writing skills? While there are plenty of different ideas for teaching writing, the basic, most effective approach hasn’t changed since the earliest lessons on rhetoric.

• Start with good examples. While we might sometimes feel that getting our kids to read anything at all is enough of a goal, without trying to insist on quality, the truth is that what kids read affects how they write. If your kids resist reading classic literature, you can read aloud to them. Before TV, families enjoyed reading aloud together, and they still can. Start off with a great classic story like The Swiss Family Robinson or “The Gift of the Magi,” and make reading together a special time. Soon, encouraged by this experience, they’ll be open to reading excellent literature on their own.
• Encourage lots of writing. In order to write well, kids need to write often. Have your kids write journals, papers, letters to grandparents, stories, songs – anything they enjoy writing can be a good choice. If you have reluctant writers, let them start with shorter pieces and combine them with drawings, but get the kids writing every day.
• Give feedback. Unless we know what needs improvement, we can’t improve. You, another educator, or any trusted adult can help kids improve writing by helping them find errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Don’t discount the value of peer feedback, either. Let brothers and sisters help kids find the most exciting parts of what they’ve written, or the parts that are hard to understand and need clarification. Whoever gives the feedback, make sure that they mention what works as well as what needs work. Feedback is to help students improve, not to discourage them!

While study of grammar, spelling, punctuation and handwriting all have their place, the three steps above are the irreplaceable keys to good writing. Build them into your lessons for lasting success.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

Your young children are studying together peacefully, helping each other circle the letter that finishes the word on a worksheet. The baby is asleep, and you’re checking an essay your teen wrote while he is out riding his bike for a while – a well-earned break between writing and algebra lessons.

A knock at the door breaks the peace of the afternoon – especially when you see that it’s a police officer bringing your son home. Dozens of frightening scenarios run through your mind before the officer tells you that you’ve run afoul of your community’s daytime curfew laws.

Many towns across the country have daytime curfew laws preventing kids from being out on the street without their parents during public school hours. Many parents have never heard of these laws.

The community leaders who lobby for these laws are thinking about kids who skip school, kids who are expelled, and kids who drop out. They’re imagining teenagers loitering at the bowling alley, smoking and drinking in parking lots, and committing vandalism and petty crimes. The laws are often presented as efforts to “keep kids off the street” or to “control crime.”

What about homeschool students who are old enough to walk to and from the library, dance class, or the park alone? They are still subject to these laws, even though they’re not the ones the community was thinking about when the laws were developed.

Fortunately, it’s easy to avoid trouble:

• Check with the local police department to find out whether your town has a daytime curfew. Ask the hours, the ages covered, and whether parental permission notes are accepted by police officers. Ask specifically what your child should do if he or she is ever stopped by a police officer.
• Make sure your children have picture ID. Those who are too young to drive (but old enough to walk or bike alone) can usually get a non-driver’s ID at the same office that issues drivers’ licenses.
• Make sure your kids understand that these laws are designed to protect them and other law-abiding citizens. If they are stopped, they don’t need to feel frightened. Since you’ve checked on the laws, you – and they – will know exactly what’s required by your community.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

Many of us, homeschoolers or not, start the New Year with goals for healthier living. Homeschool families have some special challenges – and some special advantages, too. How can you increase your chances of success with your family’s 2009 health goals?

• Get moving. Homeschool families often don’t have organized P.E. or sports. Maybe this is the year to enroll in gymnastics or dance classes, to form a soccer team with other families, or to sign up with a Mommy and Me exercise class. On the up side, we can also make our own decisions about how to structure the day, with nature walks, biking to field trip destinations, or Wii Fit whenever we choose. The key is making a commitment.
• Take on nutrition. Nutrition is a great topic to study, and meal planning and preparation can be part of science, life skills, or even math lessons. This is a plus for the home school family. On the other hand, we can also easily fall into the habit of grazing – if the kitchen is always open, then the kids may be snacking all day, and they may not be making the best choices. Consider limiting snack times, including good snack choices in the nutrition lessons, or even just keeping track of snacks and sodas consumed.
• Be good role models. Is this the year to quit smoking? To really get into the habit of buckling up when you drive? To change the way you handle stress? One of the primary reasons many of us choose to homeschool is in order to shelter our kids from negative influences. This means that we become an even more important role model for our children. They’re learning their health habits from us.

It’s a lot to think about – but this is a great time to think about it!

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

One of the benefits of homeschooling for Christian families is that we can keep Christ in Christmas, and certainly our studies at Christmastime should focus on Jesus, the reason for the season.

We can also enjoy the elements of our national Christmas celebration that have grown up with our country. One of these is gingerbread. When you need to take a baking day, keep it a learning day, too, by using this fun topic to review skills and lessons in many subject areas.

Reading

•    Read the story of “The Gingerbread Boy” and then have your older children retell it to the younger ones.

•    If you have enough cookie cutters, make the gingerbread boy, the little old woman, the little old man, and all the animals that chased the gingerbread boy. Use a set to retell the story before eating them!

•    At the library or online, read as many different versions of the story as you can find. Make a chart of the similarities and differences.
Math

•    Baking gives so many excellent opportunities to practice math: measurement, fractions (for more advanced students, double or triple the recipe and get practice in calculating with fractions, too!), time, counting, and even basic multiplication and division (how many rows should you put on the pan to make a dozen cookies at once?).

•    Count out cookies into storage bags or containers for good counting practice that can also help you end up with well-filled cookie boxes or bags for your friends and delivery people.

•    Get more complicated math practice by building a gingerbread house. Encourage the kids to measure and plan their building and decorations to get the most math (and the longest quiet time for you to get those cookies wrapped up) out of this activity.
Social Studies

•    For each of the ingredients in the recipe, find out how it is made, what the raw materials are, and where they come from. Cinnamon and ginger were precious spices from exotic foreign lands when Americans first started making gingerbread, and housewives might have ground their own flour. How does that compare with the journey from raw materials to finished cookies today?

•    This story is found in the United States, England, Norway, and Germany. Find these countries on a map or globe.
Character

•    The gingerbread boy in the story is naughty in running away, and he becomes more and more proud and boastful as he goes through the story, saying “I ran away from the little old woman and the little old man” and listing the animals, finishing up, “…and I can run away from you, too!” He makes the unwise decision to trust the fox and accept a ride across the river from him. In the end, he is eaten by the fox. There’s a lesson here about pride and about risky behavior.

•    On the other hand, if you don’t like seeing the gingerbread boy eaten up, you can take a leaf from Jan Brett’s Gingerbread Baby, in which the runaway gingerbread boy is rescued and given a gingerbread house to live in. Remind your children that we are rescued by Jesus from our sins, even when we make bad decisions. The same thing happened to the gingerbread baby in Brett’s modern story.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

Or your fantasy might be quite different. Maybe you imagine a room full of cushions, with computer stations and a big screen TV for those educational videos, musical instruments and music stands, microscopes and other lab equipment in a safe area, and exercise equipment so you and the kids can do a little weightlifting to refresh yourselves between lessons.

Whatever your fantasy, the reality is likely to be very different. We have two computers in our living room, and piles of books on the desks and floors as well as on the bookshelves. There are bookshelves in the dining room, too, and there are days when studying happens on that table — but there are also days when the studying happens on the couch or on the floor or in the car.

What are the real essentials for a homeschool learning space?

• Workspace. A table is great. A group of small tables that can be pushed together for group work or spread apart for individual work can be especially great. But if you have to do everything on your laps, you’ll be limited in what you can do. Science and art lessons require workspaces that can be thoroughly cleaned, and where a spill isn’t the end of the world.

• Open space for movement. Being able to stand up and move around, to pace while you think, to get into different groupings to work on things together and alone allows you to use different approaches when different approaches are called for. Being surrounded by clutter and unable to move without moving things first is stressful.

• Storage space. Even if you do most of your schooling online, you still need some room for paper, science equipment, art supplies, and maybe even a few books. If you don’t have dedicated storage space for the things you need for homeschooling, you’ll waste time hunting for those things.

• Comfortable space. Some tasks, like reading a nice long book or drawing, require physically comfortable places where students can stretch out and relax while they work. In some households, this will be bedrooms or a treehouse. It doesn’t have to be a group space. There just has to be a comfortable place for extensive work.

• Writing space. I laughed the first time I saw my friend get up to write on a marker board while
working with one child. But I was wrong. You need a place to draw or write while explaining concepts. Lap-size marker boards work. Big chart tablets from the office supply store can work, too. It’s a matter of individual preference, and what kind of room you have to work in. But don’t reject the idea of a board on the wall just because it sounds like school.

With your schoolroom space set up – even if it’s a corner of the kitchen – you’ll enjoy school more.

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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.