Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

World events can be challenging for us to follow-how can we teach our children to understand the incidents reported on the evening news? On today's Home School Heartbeat, Mike Smith talks about how to help our children understand current events.

Mike Smith:
One of the reasons we homeschool our children is to instill in them a love for learning. If our children are to become lifelong learners, they must eventually learn to understand the news. If our children have a good grasp of current events, they will be more productive citizens.


Recent research has indicated that students who read newspapers tend to score higher on achievement tests than those who don't. And students who read newspapers in school tended to continue reading them into adulthood. Another study reported that students who took classes that required them to pay attention to national issues increased their interest in those issues outside of the school hours.


But understanding current events not only helps students academically, it helps them develop their worldview.


By studying what's going on around the world, students have more opportunity to think about how to apply their Christian worldview to all aspects of life. They can examine what motivates the decisions of others and compare that to the Christian perspective.


It has been said that journalism is a first draft of history. Take time to select and read news articles with your children. Compare events of today with similar events of the past. How are things better today? How are things worse? Over time, you will find that your children will develop thoughtful perspectives on the world around them-perspectives that will guide them the rest of their lives. And until next time, I'm Mike Smith.