BJU Press Homeschool: Why We Love It (and You Will Too!)

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Hi friends! We are getting close to wrapping up our fourth year of homeschooling, and our first year using BJU Press Homeschool Curriculum almost exclusively.

I often am asked about the curriculum and what we like (or don’t like!) about it, so I wanted to do a quick post about our experience with BJU Press Homeschool this year.

This year, I had 3 kids I am homeschooling (my 3rd grade son and 2nd grade twin daughters), plus a very energetic 2-year old. I’m sure many of you can relate – this was the first year I was going to have to tackle homeschooling with an active toddler underfoot!

I was happy with the curriculum choices we had used prior to this year, but, I knew I would struggle this year. I was teaching everything myself, and even though my twins are in the same grade, they often learn at different paces or in different ways.

Why We Chose BJU Press Homeschool Curriculum

While I enjoyed spending our school hours mostly learning together, I thought it would be a great idea (especially for my sanity!) to explore other options that might lead to an increase in independent learning.

Not only would this benefit my kids and help them learn new skills, but it would allow me to spend time with my toddler when they worked on lessons independently.

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A friend of mine shared with me the success she was having with BJU Press Homeschool Curriculum. And then I heard about it randomly in two other conversations within the week.

When I started researching, I loved seeing a Christian worldview woven into their curriculum, and their belief that the Bible is not just a separate “curriculum”, but present in all that we study.

I was also impressed by their understanding that we need to help our children think critically about what they are learning, so they know how to use information.

These things, along with the personal recommendations from my friends, led me to bite the bullet and go with BJU Press Homeschool this year. And I’ve been really pleased with the curriculum!

BJU Press Distance Learning Online (DLO)

You have a few options when you are going to order BJU Press curriculum. You can order the teacher’s manuals and teach the classes yourself, or you can utilize their DVD’s or Distance Learning Online (DLO) options.

(The great thing is that you can mix and match between these options. If you love teaching science, you might purchase the teacher manual for science, but choose the DVD’s for math so your child can watch those lessons from another teacher. )

This year, completely for the sake of ease, I decided to purchase full grade-level packs with the DLO option. This meant that my kids had access to all of their lessons, textbooks, and assignments online.

I loved this because I didn’t have to mess with DVD’s (or keep track of them!). My kids access their lessons each day on their computers, and I use my laptop or sometimes my phone to access the materials I need. You have access on pretty much any device you choose with the DLO option!

Our Typical Day

Like I mentioned before, the previous curriculum we used was very much parent-led, so this year has been quite different for us.

I still like to begin our days together, so as often as we can, we begin our days with Bible curriculum or a devotional, and then my kids will go to their BJU curriculum after that.

They will log into the online system, click on the subject they want to start on, and the next lesson they need to be working on will automatically come up.

I’ve included three screenshots below; this is what it looks like from my parent portal, but my kids see something similar.

***Since writing this post, BJU Press has introduced a NEW planning feature that I absolutely love! Click on over to this post to check out the updates.***

The beginning of the lesson will show them what day and lesson they are on and the materials they need. They kids check the “Mark Complete” box when they have all the supplies they need, and when I go through and check their work later on, I check the “Mark Review Complete” box:

When they scroll down, my kids see any videos they need to watch, or any extra worksheets they may need to print (if you don’t purchase the packets beforehand, or if there are supplemental worksheets). They can play the video right from this page:

Finally, once they finish the video, they scroll down and see their assignment for the day. They will mark each section “complete” as they go, so it’s really easy for me to see what they finished each day.

Most of the video lessons are in the 15-20 minute range; they don’t often go much longer than that for my kids. And I love the fact that even though we use the DLO option, BJU Press homeschool recommends a variety of hands-on manipulatives and different activities – so my kids are doing much more than just watching videos all day!

Typically at the end of the day, I will sit with my kids one-on-one and go through their daily progress. As you see in the screenshots, there is a place for me to mark the review “complete” in the system, which is helpful for me to see what I have gone over with them. Many of their assignments require them to do things like read to me or review spelling and vocab words, so we’ll do that either at the end of the day or while they are completing the assignment.

What Materials Do You Need?

If you purchase the full grade-level package, it definitely comes with almost everything you need, even all of the math manipulatives.

Each course comes with a full list of materials broken down by lesson, so you can plan ahead for any “extras” you might need to have on hand. This year, I didn’t find myself buying too much extra, as a lot of things we already have in our home, but if I did it was typically for a science lesson.

Some other things are nice to have when you are using the distance learning online option. This was the first year we really needed computers for our homeschooling, and we purchased the Tanoshi 2-in-1 Kids Computers – I HIGHLY recommend these for your elementary-aged homeschoolers! We have loved them and gotten so much use out of them this year (and my kiddos are NOT gentle with them either!).

We also grabbed some fun headphones for them to use, so they wouldn’t bother each other if they all wanted to watch their lessons at the same time.

The last thing I would recommend is downloading my Homeschool Checklists to use. I created these to help my kids keep track of what they needed to complete on any given day, and allow me to see it at a glance as well.

Pros & Cons of BJU Press Homeschool

To summarize, here are the overall pros and cons (in my opinion) of BJU Press Homeschool this year:

Pros:

• Easy to use. I love how easy it is for my kids to just log in and know what they need to be working on that day. It saves me so much time in having to plan out a schedule each week!

• Expert teachers. My kids really liked the teachers they had for the Distance Learning Online program. They were very engaging. And I love knowing that there are quality programs like this available for subjects that I might not love to teach as much!

• Student-paced. Each of my kids could work at their own pace, at their own level. My second-grade twins are weeks apart in some lessons because one might need more time than the other to master the content. It would be hard to manage if I was working with them together on everything!

• Portability. With the online lessons, we can take them anywhere. For example, when my son has piano lessons, my daughters just bring their laptops and can work on an assignment or watch their video lesson while they wait.

• Grade-tracking. For any of the assignments I want to grade, I can record this in the system and print it out at the end of the year. Easy!

• Skill building. This year, my kids picked up so many new skills including computer skills, independent learning, and time management, and BJU Homeschool curriculum definitely helped with this.

• Great for multiple ages. During lessons, I had more time to dedicate to my energetic toddler.

• No lesson planning for me! Did I mention I didn’t have to plan a single lesson? I will say I did miss this just a little, but the trade-offs made it well worth it.

Cons:

• Independent Learning. By this I mean that my kids did most lessons on their own rather than all of us learning together like in our previous curriculum. To be fair, you have the flexibility with BJU Press to do as little or as much independent learning as you like – we just did a lot of it this year. I used to feel guilty about this, but realized…it’s working for us.

• Price point. If you are purchasing the entire curriculum, it’s not cheap. It is comparable to similar curriculums, though. And they do offer an interest-free payment plan which is very helpful!

• Still very much parent-involvement. Ok, this really isn’t a con, but I will say that it is definitely not as hands-off as I thought originally! While I’m not actively teaching the lessons (bonus, because remember – crazy toddler), there still is a lot of work that went into reviewing lessons and going over things that needed reinforcement. I’m happy about that, though, because I feel very much in-tune with what my kids are learning, and very much a part of their day even though I’m not the center of attention.

And what do my kids think? They have really enjoyed a bit more independence this year, and having more responsibility over their work. It led to some great habits and work-ethic for them – I’ll take it!

When I asked them if they wanted to stick with BJU Press Homeschool next year, they were adamant we continue – so we’ll be giving it a go for at least next year as well!

Learn More About BJU Press Homeschool

You can check out BJU Press Homeschool Curriculum on their website here to learn more and see if it would be a good fit for your homeschool!

I would love to hear from you in the comments: Are you considering BJU Press for your homeschool? Do you have any other questions I can help answer? If you’ve used this curriculum, what do you love about it?

Thanks so much for reading – I hope you have a blessed homeschool week!

Related Posts

• How to Organize BJU Homeschool Curriculum
• Win at Homeschooling This Year – Simple Advice to Follow
• 6 Ways to Help Your Kids Create Good Habits

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