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Hey guys, welcome back to my channel for another video. I'm excited about today's video. It's going to be a flip-through video of a new curriculum I have that I will be using next year, but it's going to be a little bit more than just a flip-through video. Let me explain
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If you're new here, welcome. My name is Sarah. I'm a homeschooling mom to four kids ages 5, 10, 10, and 12. Yes, I have a set of twins in there. They will be in six
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sixth grade next year and are the ones who will be using this curriculum, Perspectives and Literature
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from BJU Press. I really love BJU Press, which is why I'm excited to talk about this new
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curriculum and share it with you guys. This video is going to be jam packed. So if you are
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interested in this course, make sure you stick with me because I've got a lot to share. And really
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if you're interested in any BJU Press literature course or any course of theirs for that matter
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they kind of all follow a similar pattern and structure. So this is a very much. might be really helpful to you
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Anyway, as I was planning out all of my sixth grade homeschool curriculum, literature
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was the one piece of the puzzle that I was missing. And then one day I was browsing the new BJU press catalog and saw that they were releasing
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a brand new sixth grade online literature course this year. And I thought, well, this is perfect
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I needed a sixth grade literature course. So I checked it out online, liked what I saw, and decided that I was going to give it a try
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this year. Now we actually used BJU Press when my girls were in second. third and fourth grade
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And I used it for my older son when he was in third, fourth, and fifth grade
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I used the entire grade level kits for them, and we used mainly their online video lessons
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but I did use the teacher manuals for heritage studies and science
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the last year, and I taught those myself. So I'm pretty familiar with both formats
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I honestly think there are pros and cons to both options, video courses, or teacher-led
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You kind of just have to weigh the options and decide for yourself, which we're going to be. for yourself which route you want to go and I hope this video will help you do that
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What I'm going to do is give you a flip through of this new curriculum, show you what it
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covers, what it includes, and what you can expect from it, but I'm also going to talk about
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what you're getting into with both the video lessons and the teacher-led option
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So when you're done watching, I think you'll have a great idea of what a typical lesson will look like if you choose to use the online video lessons
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And I think you'll have a great idea of what that same lesson would look like if you're
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using the teacher manual and teaching it yourself. So this will help you make a good
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decision on what would be a better fit for you and your kids. And I really want to thank BJ Press
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for partnering with me on this video. I have worked with them before through my blog
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blessed homeschool.com, and done some affiliate work with them. So when I mentioned, I would
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love to do a flip-through video to show you guys what this course is all about. They sent me
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the teacher manuals so I'd actually have them in my hands for this video. With the video
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lessons online you do get a PDF copy of the teacher manuals but I thought it
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would be a great idea to be able to show this to you guys so if you do go the
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textbook kit route you'll know exactly what to expect if you haven't used one
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of their teacher manuals before it can be a little overwhelming but I don't
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really think it needs to be so I hope this will help if you're not familiar with BJA Press or have not used their curriculum before let me briefly share why I
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love them and what I think sets them apart they are obviously a publisher of text
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and video lessons for homeschool families, and they ground all of their curriculum in a solid biblical
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worldview. Throughout the 1970s, they began publishing textbooks for Christian schools, and in the early
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1980s, they actually got a call from a homeschooling parent asking about purchasing textbooks
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and this really opened up a new market for them pretty much immediately. They really were one of
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the first publishers to begin meeting this need for homeschooling families, and they continue to
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grow and are still growing today to serve and support the homeschooling community, giving Christian
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parents tools they need to teach solid academics from a biblical worldview. From what I've seen
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in the curriculum I've used from BJU Press, they truly have a heart for equipping kids not only
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to learn and fill their heads with information, but to teach them how to think critically and
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use that information. They also don't separate the Bible from the different subjects, and
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all of their teaching materials are designed to help our kids understand. the world and the work that God has given us to do in that world from a biblical viewpoint
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So I mentioned already that you have two options when purchasing your BGA press
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curriculum, online video lessons or textbooks. And actually I should add that you do have a
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third option, which is DVD format, but I feel like maybe that isn't as popular these days
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I have not used the DVD format. So today we're really going to be focusing on the online video lessons and the textbook option. So let's start with the textbook kit. The textbook kit is going to be your cheaper option by about $130. And this is not what's new about the curriculum. This is actually the third edition of perspectives in literature, but the online video lessons are the new edition. But with the textbook kit, you get the student textbook and the activity
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book and then you also get the teacher's manuals, which is actually a three volume set for this
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curriculum. So I actually have three of these books. That might seem like a lot, but I will break it
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down and show you how to use it. It's not that bad. Now you would also get printed assessments
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and assessment answer keys and answer keys for the activity book. I don't actually have these
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here to show you since I chose the online video lessons. Those are all available through the
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BJAU Press Home School Hub online. On a side note, if you are not familiar with the homeschool hub
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it's going to be a great resource for you if you're using BJU Press curriculum
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Even if you are just using the textbook option, you can easily schedule your classes
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and your daily lesson plans through the homeschool hub, and you'll also find options for keeping records
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and reporting grades, if that's something that you need to do. However, if you are opting for the online video lessons
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the homeschool hub is where your child will log in to view their video lessons
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take their assessments, which, are all online for grades five and up, and where you'll have access to answer keys to grade their work
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You'll have a complete schedule of all their video lessons and assignments in the homeschool hub
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which is easily adjustable, and you also get a PDF copy of the teacher's edition book in case you want to use them
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The online video lessons are more expensive, but I think they're a great option if you either need or want your kids to work independently
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or if they simply enjoy learning this way. I loved using these lessons when my littlest was born
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it gave me more flexibility in our homeschool day. Some of the video lessons seemed a bit
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dated to me, I'll admit, and I think they are working on updating a lot of them. But my kids
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genuinely love the teachers and the lessons. And I'm really thankful we gave this curriculum
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a try during those years. All right, let me flip through a couple of these books so you can see what exactly they include
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and what this curriculum is all about. Okay, so we're going to start with talking about the teacher manual
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and kind of going through what is actually included in this course
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So I mentioned there are three books for the teacher manual. So you have part one, you have part two
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These two books are actually going to take you through the six units. So you have the first three units in book one
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The second three units are in book two. And then you have a third book, which is your skinniest book
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And this is going to be for your novel studies. So we'll talk about this one in just a minute
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So let me go ahead and open this up. All right. So this is going to show you the different units
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Like I said, this is one through three. And they're colored in because that's what's included in this book
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When you get to unit four, five, and six, those are grayed out, just showing you that that's not part of this book right here
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And each unit in this course is going to be framed by a big question
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And in literature, in reading, there are often big questions that arise
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Well, how do we as Christians respond to literature and these big questions
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So this curriculum is going to tackle six themes and six big questions from a biblical worldview
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So in Unit 1, the big question is, why do I need relationships
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And these are the things that you're going to be covering in this lesson. You have different types of genres
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You have realistic fiction, informational text. a couple of myths, folk tale
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and then some more realistic fiction. And these are the different excerpts
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that you going to be going through that your kids are gonna be reading The question you know why do I need relationships The lessons in this unit are really going to help your kids think about
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and be prepared to answer things like, how should I respond when I'm not treated kindly? And what can
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the relationships in my life teach me about imitating Christ? And even does my identity affect how I
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treat others? So those are some of the things that the selections in this unit aim to address
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Oh, and then we have more on the back. So we've got an autobiography, free verse poetry, more realistic fiction, and then informational text
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So those are all part of Unit 1. Then in Unit 2, they will learn how God wants them to use knowledge
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Okay, so again, here are the different selections. You've got a couple biographies, speech, realistic fiction, poetry, informational text, narrative, nonfiction, and more
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informational text. So kids are going to be looking at how does their knowledge reflect God's image in
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them? Where do they find the source of knowledge? And what does God's design of the world even have to do
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with knowledge? All right? We've got a couple more things up here at the top. So you've got humorous fiction
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allegory, historical fiction, biblical epistle as they look at First Corinthians. So that's all part of
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Unit 2. Unit 3 is going to ask what gives me courage in difficult times. Through the literature here
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students are going to become more confident in the solution to their fears and what it really means
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to courageously obey God. They're going to be looking at these excerpts here. And then again
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this is the type of or the genre that they will be reading. And I think that's it for Unit 3
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Let me flip to the second book for Unit 4, just so we have
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color. All right. In Unit 4 over here, the big question is, how can I prepare to be a leader? So
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that biblical worldview focus is going to help them understand through these readings, things like
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what leadership should look like when others are being oppressed, how accepting criticism can
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make them a better leader, and where can they go to find good principles for leadership? So good
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Okay, on to Unit 5. How do I overcome evil? This is a big question
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right? So these are the different selections that we'll be reading in here and the different genres. In this unit, kids are going to explore things like, how do we know God is in control when there is so much suffering in the world? How am I to respond to those that do evil to others? And what do I do if the government demands that I break God's law? Important, practical stuff here for our kids to learn. And in the last unit, Unit six, the question is, how do I make the right choices
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Another good question. They're all good, I think. By the end of this curriculum, your kids should be able to answer things like
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is God's word really sufficient to guide me in every choice I make? How does imitating Christ help me make better choices
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And even, is it okay to sin in order to stop the suffering of others? Wow, there's so much packed into here, and I just love it
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Okay, we will talk about the novel studies in a minute. Now, a lot of these pages that are in the
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of the teacher manual are really here mainly for classroom teachers because really that's technically
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who this resource is also made for and you'll probably notice that in some of the lessons too
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that some of the activities and things are designed to be done in a classroom setting but that
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being said it's all very easily modified for use in homeschooling these pages here are going
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to give you your lesson overview for the unit and your suggested schedule
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So you have the different days listed down here, so day one, two, three, four, and so on
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You have the lesson number, the pages that you're gonna go to in the teacher edition
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and then the pages that are going to be in your student textbook
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You have the teacher resources, so what are you going to need for teaching the lesson that day
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So the teacher tools online, that is really for classroom teachers. That's a resource available to them
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But that when it says, back matter. These resources are found in the back of this teacher manual. So I'll show you that in a
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minute. Tells you activity pages, all that stuff that you're going to need. And then these right here
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tell you kind of what you're going to be reading. BWS stands for biblical worldview shaping and what
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skills your kids are going to be working on in those lessons. So this is just for unit one
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when you get to unit two, you're going to see unit two broken down right here
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So you'll have your other schedule. And I like this because you really don't have to plan anything out
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Honestly, just pick up your book and do the next lesson each day. It's all right here for you
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But I would suggest taking a look at the different resources that you might need
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in case you need anything extra on hand. For example, like for this lesson, you're going to need a map
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or you might need to grab some of the instructional aids from the back
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Maybe you need to make copies of them. But typically there isn't a lot extra that you will need
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or things that would be hard to find, things that you maybe can look up online to use as a supplement
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If we flip to the back of this manual past all of the lessons
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you're going to find a few things here. So there's a page right here. Just talks about explaining the gospel to your kids
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This page is objectionable elements. It's basically helping you understand their stance on issues that some people might find objectionable
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and what their focus is on when selecting the literature pieces for their curriculum
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And then you have a list of the different instructional aid that are included in this manual
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Then you have some reading evaluations, I think. These are really for classroom teachers that are wanting to maybe put their kids into different reading groups or book groups
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but you certainly can use these if you want to. And then you get to your instructional aid
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So they'll stay at the bottom down there, instructional aids. So things that you're going to use for your lessons
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So different vocabulary, different things that you might need to help you support the lessons
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And they are color coded at the top. So like for the first unit, those are all in blue
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And then you have red for your second unit. And then orange for unit three
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So that is basically it. everything except for the lessons, which we'll come back to in a second, but I want to briefly talk
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about the novel studies. This curriculum came with three different books, and I guess I didn't
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mention those yet. So these are the three books that came with this curriculum. I should have told you guys. We've got Island of the Blue Dolphins is one of them, a single shard, and then the
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book of three. So these are the novel studies that came. And while you certainly can read all three
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of them, the lessons are written for 20 days each. So the main curriculum is 160 days. And the idea is
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that you choose one novel study to do and that gives you the 180 days for your literature course
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So this third book is to help you with the novel studies. It's similar to the other manual in that it
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gives you a suggested schedule. Let me see if I can find that. Okay, so you have your suggested schedule for
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each novel study. It also gives an introduction to the particular book. This is kind of for you to read
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And they also tell you what level the book is, if that's helpful to you. And then it just goes chapter by
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chapter or lesson by lesson to help you work through the novel studies with your kids. So again
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there is a different section for each book. So this one is for a single shard. And then if you go
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back, you'll have another one for Island of the Blue Dolphins. So again, you can choose one or you can do
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all three. It's really up to you. Or you could read the books without doing all of this study. But this is
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all here to help you if you want to use it. If you're going through this lesson, like this is
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lesson one, chapter one, gives you a synopsis. And basically, you'll see in a minute, same format as
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your typical lessons. There's going to be something to kind of engage your kids and get them
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interested in what they're going to read, an instruction part. some things to kind of discuss as you're reading
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If there's any instructional aids included, you just kind of read through here
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and have discussions with your kids, but it's all laid out. And then a little application section and an assessment So there is a lot packed in here for each day of that novel study So then again you go to the next page lesson two chapter two and so on And if you go to the
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back, they have assessments and answer keys in the back. Okay. So assessment two. That was
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assessment one. So you have an assessment. And then you have the answer keys to those assessments if you
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want to use them. Okay, so the last thing I want to show you is what an actual lesson will look like
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What I want to do is take you through a lesson in the teacher manual while kind of talking
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through what that same lesson will look like as an online video lesson. On their website, BJU Press has an entire sample lesson you can watch, and I'm going to be
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showing you that lesson in the teacher manual so you can really compare the two
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And then I will leave a link in the description below. So when you're done watching here, you can go watch that video and see how everything lines up
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And also see how easy it really can be to teach from the teacher manuals, even though they look kind of overwhelming
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Okay, so I am back in book number one right now. And this is going to be the part where we kind of go through what a lesson would actually look like
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This right here is the beginning of a unit. This middle part here is showing you exactly what the students will see in their textbook
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And then around the outside, these are all of the teacher notes
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Okay, so if you go to the student book and go to that unit one page, you'll see that's exactly what they see
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And my camera is too close, but you guys get the picture. So in the middle of your teacher book shows you exactly what they're going to see
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their book. The information on the left here is really just for you. So it tells you what the
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entire unit's objectives are, what this particular lesson's objectives are, the biblical worldview
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shaping objectives, and then the resources that you're going to need throughout the unit are right
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here. And then similar to what you saw in the novel studies manual, the notes on the bottom here
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really walk you through what to do for this page, how to teach, how to teach you
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this lesson. They've got that engaged part, how you're going to kind of open and get kids excited
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about it, what to do during the instruction part, application. And then here they have where you're
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going to do the reading evaluation. Again, this is probably more for classroom teachers, but
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if it's something that you want to have your kids do, you certainly can do that. That's up to you
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Now let's look at one of the lessons in Unit 1. I'm going to flip to lesson 15
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This lesson is going to be reading excerpts from a pack of brothers
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And this is an autobiography from Thinghalai. This is the same lesson that you're going to see on the BJU Press website taught via the online video lesson that I'll link below
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So let's go through how you would actually teach this. When you go to watch the video lesson, you'll see that it's only 14 minutes long
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So that's about the length of the teaching portion of this lesson
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The rest of the time that your kids spend on this is going to be reading the text here
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You'll notice again, this information on the left side of the page is really for you as a teacher
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So for this particular lesson, you have objectives, teacher resources, any extra materials that you might need
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You are given a synopsis of this excerpt so you can familiarize yourself with it
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although I certainly recommend reading the entire thing if you're teaching it to your kids
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So that is all for you. To start your actual lesson, you will notice on the video lesson that the teacher, Mrs. Koffer, begins with the student textbook and she introduces the lesson by saying that it's all about sibling relationships
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And she asks this big question that's at the top of the page. So if you're teaching this, you really want to start off by engaging your kids in what the lesson's going to be about
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And this engage section at the bottom is going to help you do that
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Next in the video lesson, she actually reads off the vocabulary words that are on this page
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And then she uses Instructional Aid 15. Let's see if I can show it to you guys back here
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So it's this instructional aid. She kind of uses this to go over what the words mean
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Okay? So she would, I think she reads the sentence. She just reads the word and then reads the sentence to give the kids context and understanding what it means
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So your kids, again, are going to have these words in their textbooks. so that they can follow along. It takes her about five minutes to get through the vocabulary words
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and you have flexibility as a teacher, you know, how you want to do that. If you want your kids to
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look those up in a dictionary, you certainly could have them do that, or you could have them use
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that instructional aid and teach them what those words mean. She then goes over to the genre
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and she talks about how this is an autobiography. There are notes here in the teacher edition
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but you'll notice in the video she doesn't really use these particular notes. I would, though
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personally if I were teaching this and then here you'll see in the teacher book it also gives your
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kids a definition about what an autobiography is and she does mention this as well. Next as you're
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watching the lesson the teacher mentions that they don't always talk about the author because it's not the
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focus of the course but sometimes it's important to know information about the author so she's going to
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give a little background of the author of this this excerpt that they're going to be reading. This is not
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something that I found in here in the teacher manual. It's something that she chose to talk about
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as she planned and created this lesson for the online video course. So as you're teaching, you might do
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that too. You might have things you want to interject or use to make the lessons your own
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and you totally have the flexibility to do that. These notes are really just a guide. You can use
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all of them, but you don't have to feel constricted by them by any means. Okay, next she
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simply reads through this part about the author's craft. And then she reads through the reader's craft part
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She doesn't really use this script, but she talks about, I think she does talk about the tone a little bit
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but doesn't necessarily use this exact script that's in here. And then she tells the kids to pause the program and read just this page in their books
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just the first page of the story. And you'll notice in here the vocab words are underlined in red
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That's only in the teacher manual. They aren't underlined in the student
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textbook. This during reading section is to be used after the kids have read parts of the text. So you'll see in the
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video, she goes over the connecting art to text part. Then she talks about the setting. She uses a map to
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give context. And she really kind of skips this part at the bottom about the rules. I don't think she
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necessarily talks about that. So you can see how easy it is to follow along with the notes, you know, engage. And
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instruct before the reading, and then you will have some things to do after they read. But it's
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pretty straightforward, pretty self-explanatory as you're going through. And again, I think if your
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kids just open up their book and kind of go through this page, they're learning about the tone
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the reader's craft, and then the vocabulary, that is certainly a lot right there and gives them a
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great overview of what they need to know going into this reading. All right, then the kids are to
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pause the video again and read through page 50 and 51. And then she, you're going to see her
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asking the question right here that's in the student text. So she asks this question and then
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she'll kind of answer it on the video as well. She then does the sibling relationships part
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and the connecting art to text. She kind of just reads through this instead of asking the question
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and having the discussion. She shows a picture with a thought bubble
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And then you kind of will see her going into teaching the different literary devices section
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So again, she kind of, instead of asking what are some examples
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of sensory details and having the discussion, since it's a video lesson
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she kind of just teaches through what these are. She just gives the answers and talks about how the author uses them in the story
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And then next she has the kids read page fiction. This is going to be the last page before the next lesson starts
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So the kids read this page and then she asks and answers the questions under the sibling relationships part over here
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That the one thing I have to say that I don love about the video lessons is that you don get to have those discussions with your kids The teacher does a great job talking about the questions and giving answers but I think you know
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sometimes the kids might miss out on some of the critical thinking parts of this. But I will also add that the activity manual does do a great job of asking thought-provoking critical thinking questions
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So even though, you know, they're not necessarily getting that through. the lesson part, they will see that type of stuff in their activity manual. For the traits part in the
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video, you're going to see that she decided to use a Venn diagram for this. I thought that was a really
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nice touch, not given in the teacher manual, just something that she saw and wanted to add in to
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help teach that part. And then she simply asks and answers a couple other questions that are on
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the side here. Now, if you're teaching this on your own, you could have your kids answer this. But again
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she just will read the question and then kind of answers the question for the kids and you'll see what
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that's like when you watch the video. Finally, she asks the question in the text, why did thing ha keep her
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hat on longer than necessary? She then answers that and then does the apply section to kind
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of recap the lesson. She finishes with giving the assignment, which is to read pages 53 through
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56 and that is really it. There is no activity page. for this lesson. With the teaching and the reading time, I would estimate it taking anywhere from
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about 35 to 45 minutes, depending on how quick your kids read or how much you get into your discussions
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I think this is a pretty good amount of time for a literature lesson. If you're doing this together
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you could even read some of the lessons aloud or have your kids take turns reading aloud
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I really think you'll want to read through the literature with your kids if you're teaching this or doing this with them
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There is no video for this next lesson, but you're going to see the same format
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So you have Engage, you have Instruct, and then just some more notes for you here
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And then when they finish, there is an apply section. And then they do have the activity manual
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That's where that's going to come into play. So similar format throughout, very common to BJU Press
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And let me just flip through some of you. other lessons in Unit 1 so you can take a closer look maybe if you want to pause the video
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to take a closer look or if you want to read through some of the notes
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breathe when I wake or I sleep Everything I need is found in you
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All in you Everything I need is found in you Found in you Jesus
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What is love that the God of the heavens would stoop down to love me with grace
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In the midst of my pride and rebellion, his love wouldn't give up the chase
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In each breath that I breathe, when I wake or I sleep, everything I need is found in you
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all in you everything I need is found in you Jesus
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everything I need is found in you Jesus
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As for the student activities booklet, let me give you a quick look at this as well, just
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so you can get an idea of what this is like. If I flip to this page, this is the activity sheet for the lesson that I just showed you
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And there's the back of this. So I'll flip through a couple of pages
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I think they do a great job of using lots of color, lots of visuals, different types of questions
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vocabulary, critical thinking questions, multiple choice questions. I think the pages are fun to fill
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out. They keep it interesting. I don't think it's just a boring workbook. And a lot of the questions
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will provide great discussion opportunities for you with your kids. So that's just a quick look at what
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the activity book looks like. And the lessons aren't super long. So usually there's just a page or two
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to go along with each lesson and you don't even have an activity page with each lesson
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So very manageable, I think. So as you see or you will see once you watch the sample lesson from BJU Press
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is the online video lessons match up very well to the teacher manual
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and the teacher manual really isn't that scary. It actually takes you through exactly what you need to say and do for each lesson
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So you can feel confident teaching your classroom. kids' course. It's very much open and go. I really love that. I love that about homeschooling
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just being able to sit and learn with your kids and especially have discussions with them about
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things that they're learning and some of the important topics that are going to come up in this
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course. And honestly, looking through the teacher manual makes me want to teach this to my kids even
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more to go through this with them. I know that our schedules can get kind of crazy, which is why I love
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the option of the online video lessons. But I think I'm just that I'm going to be a little bit of the online video lessons
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I'm going to try to do the lessons with my girls as much as possible. I think that the biggest thing
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that you miss when using the online video lessons versus the teacher-led option are the discussions
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and some of the critical thinking questions that you can have with your kids during the lesson
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But that being said, I also think that the activities included with this curriculum are fantastic
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They have included in the activity book unit reviews, writing activities, lots of graphic organizers
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And as your students work through this, they will be working on their reading comprehension, their composition, and just shaping their biblical worldview
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So let's say you don't go the online video lesson route. And let's say that some days you don't have time to sit and teach and discuss the entire lesson with your kids
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In my opinion, if they are reading the literature and successfully going through and completing the activities in this book, that would be absolutely sufficient
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We might do that a lot, actually, but I still would recommend that you read the literature sections if you can
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Read them yourself. They are short enough and make sure that you are keeping up with grading their activity sheets so you can evaluate how well they're actually understanding the material
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So I hope you enjoyed this look through. I hope it gave you a better understanding of the content of this course and maybe gave you more confidence that you can teach it if you want to go the textbook route
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And I encourage you to check out that link in the description now that you've seen what the lesson looks like in the teacher manual
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Go see what the video lesson looks like and I think you'll have a great idea of which you prefer or what your kids would prefer
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I'm really excited to use this curriculum with my girls this upcoming year and I definitely will be updating you guys on our progress and what we think as we go
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I know BJU press is a pricier curriculum option, but there's so much value packed in their courses. I think it's absolutely
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worth it. When we use the full curriculum kits, I would work the cost into our budget and
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save a little bit each month over the year. So when it came time to purchase, I had the money
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ready to go. But they also have an amazing interest-free payment plan option that you can look
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into as well. If you have any questions at all, please leave them in the comments below. I am
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always happy to help when I can. And if you found this video helpful at all, please hit that
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thumbs up button and consider subscribing to my channel. It truly helps me out
35:33
and also helps ensure that you don't miss out on future content. Thank you so much for watching. I will see you next time