Missionary Biographies, Subject Integration, and Inspiring a Love for Learning!

One of the most favorite parts of our morning is taking the time to read part of some type of missionary biography.  We enjoy this so much, and usually the boys beg for me to continue reading.  Most of the time, I even have a hard time wanting to stop! 

In my opinion, to read from missionary biographies is one of the best ways to achieve a type of educational integration.  By "educational integration", I mean that children learn more than just one subject while they are hearing the book being read.   For example,* The Peace Child by Don Richardson includes some very complicated words.  It is very beneficial for a child to hear new vocabulary words being used naturally in sentence form.  It helps them to understand what the words mean in a natural way.   Here is an example of a sentence from The Peace Child:
 "And since the Sawi were fully convinced that persons officially declared to be in aumamay were already dead, they had no compunction about interring them in gravehouses either."  The words "inter" and "compunction" are not words a child under the age of 11 usually uses in conversation, so by reading them in a natural way, children learn what they mean.   A lot of times when I come to a sentence like that, I ask the boys, "What did that mean?"
  Usually they can tell me even if they were not previously familiar with the words.  Their understanding is due to hearing the words used naturally in the sentence.

 If the words are still not understood, I usually take the time to look them up in my electronic dictionary (on my Kindle).  Researching helps when the meanings are not so obvious.

Another benefit of reading missionary biographies is that children learn about other cultures.  We have a world map on the wall of our den.  As we read the biographies, we point out the location of the setting of the book on the map.  We are also learning a lot of things about the particular culture in which the missionary is living.  Again, this is a natural way that is much easier to remember than mere rote memorization.  Children seem to absorb the things that are interesting much more easily than "boring" facts.    I am not saying rote memorization is not beneficial (we use rote memorization to learn a lot of things).  What I am saying is that it is much easier for children imbibe the things that are exciting to them. 

Last but not least, missionary biographies are testimonies to the grace of God in the lives of lost people groups.  Most of the books give examples of occurrences of actual miracles. This is another way for our children to hear testimonies that give honor and glory to our Heavenly Father.
I highly recommend reading missionary biographies and/or other books that help children to learn new vocabulary words, geography, cultural & multi-ethnic studies, history, science,  and most of all a love for learning these things!

*Disclaimer:  Most of what I read, I edit as I read .  The Peace Child is a very good book, but I did have to heavily edit it as I read because some of the content was very violent.  This book is about cannibals and the author was very descriptive. 

Justin: Language Arts samples

For Spelling & Vocabulary, Justin gets his list of words from Noah Webster's American Spelling book. He then looks each one of them up in his dictionary (with my help) and writes the definitions. Later, he will make the words into sentences and stories. You can click the pictures to see them more clearly.
For Language, I read him a list of sentences and phrases (from A Beka Language 3). He must determine the difference between them orally. Then he copies the sentences and changes the phrases into sentences.

Another Vocab Story

Jonathan, who has quite a sense of humor sometimes, penned quite the vocabulary story today. The word is "abandon." He had to write the definition and then a story.

"I wish to abandon my house."
"But you can't", said Sam.
One of his friends said, "Yes, he can; it's his house."
Then Sam learned that it was not his business.

A Fun Vocabulary Idea

I had an idea in regards to enriching the boys' vocabulary. I have been reading books that are a little "older" than their level to them.

In some of our reading, I have to stop and explain the meanings of the words we read.

Some of the books we are reading:

Genesis - King James version
Robinson Crusoe
Making Brothers & Sisters Best Friends

I started writing the words on a piece of paper that I had to explain to them, and post it on the refrigerator. My goal is to use the words in conversation all day long. It can be quite fun!

Here is today's list:

1. multitude
2. inherit
3. tarry
4. vow
5. reluctance
6. consulted
7. ravenous
8. diverse

The following is my favorite dictionary:

Webster's 1828 version (includes Bible verses to go with the words!). The original meanings of words have been changed over time (as society has moved further away from God!).

Here is the link:

http://1828.mshaffer.com/

A few ways I have been using the sentences:

• Please do not be reluctant to complete your math paper."
• "You do not have a multitude, but only a few."
• "I know you are ravenous, but please just do that last little problem and we will eat lunch."
• "Please tarry at the table. Do not go into the other room."
• "If you vow to finish, you will inherit many blessings from your mother!"
• "If you need help, please consult me."
• "Those are diverse, but that makes life interesting."