People like Susan...Love her....I'm Speechless!

Did you look at the next course up by the same company called "Understanding the Times"?

With online, you can only watch each lesson three times. For this school year, I needed a break as well because my youngest went through a terrible case of the terrible two's. I bought BJU Grades 2 and 6 on Hard Drives, 2 laptops, and everything. We had a GREAT school year. My kids did awesome with it, and they never once said that they got bored with BJU's videos....(Abeka's are awful...that is only my one opinion though). I did a little bit of additional work with them in history...Heritage Studies with BJU is kind of light, so I supplemented with SOTW and MoH. I also added in a bit of Writing Strands with my 6th grader, but the English program is just fine. The teacher editions are awesome, in-depth, and probably just what you need to give them a quick once over peppering of questions to make sure they "got it". I really think that BJU is worth the money when you find yourself in a situation such as what you have described. BJU saved me this year because of my youngest one being wild and fancy free. Now that she is about to turn three, I am placing her in a 3 full day per week preschool program outside of the house and getting back into the hands on nitty gritty of teaching all the subjects one on one (starting fall '09). I am really looking forward to getting back to it, but I certainly do not feel my kids lost anything by going with BJU videos and I can honestly say they had a fun year and learned a lot. Oh! And they also really grew spiritually! We do devotions regularly, but I could tell they had gotten deeper spiritual understanding through BJU as well. If you would like to see how I scheduled out my 6th grade year for my oldest using BJU 6 and some supplements, you can look at it here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/4250976/0809-Master-Grade-6-Schedule-PDF

Hello, I need advice in the worst way. I have done quite a bit of research, but I just cannot decide which Latin program to start my daughter on in the fall. I really like the looks of Lively Latin a lot, but I'm worrying that she might be too old for it. She will turn 13 in the middle of her 7th grade year, and all of her other subjects will be between the 8th grade and high school levels, with a smooth transition anticipated. On the other hand, I do not want to overwhelm her with a high school level Latin course because both of us are beginners in this area. I'm really torn and at my wits end. I'm sensing that 7th grade is kind of a cusp year...it could go either way, and I don't know which way to go. Any suggestions on what might work well on our situation? I don't mind putting in the time, but I need to feel I am grasping the material as I teach it because it will be my first time too, yet I don't want to do babyish work that will bore us. I am attending the midwest convention this weekend in Cincinnatti and am also hoping to look at some things there. Please help!

Omnibus IV will be out later this year, then V in '10, and VI in '11. You can do Omnibus in 30 minutes a day if you cut out some of the books. That would be no problem at all if you are willing to pick and choose the books you feel are most important/enjoyable. We spend about 45 minutes per day on the reading only day, and and hour if it is a reading + questions and discussion day. Omnibus is not "hard", just a commitment...and one that is very much worth it. We do it like this: Read 45 minutes everyday until we finish the reading assignment prior to the next discussion (It might be only one day, or up to three). On discussion days we usually fiinish the last chapter in that assignment and move on to questions/discussion. HTH!

I am doing Omnibus I over 6 months with a 6th grader, and beginning Omnibus II in August or September as she begins 7th grade. I have spent time looking at all of books to be read, and deciding on the ones that are keepers. Almost all of them are (95%). My daughter LOVES to read and do analysis so that's the main reason why it works for us. I also read a lot of the books out loud to her and discuss as we go along to make sure she is grasping it. (She does, but my reading it aloud to her is key.) Here are some pointers I have found helpful: At www.Sparknotes.com there is a section called "No-Fear Shakespeare". The entire text of all of Shakespeare's works are included in the original language (free) with a modern translation right beside it. This works out wonderfully. We're not losing Shakespeare's words, but we have a good translation right next to each passage for those tough to understand parts. For Beowulf we'll be using Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. For R.C. Sproul's books Chosen by God and Holiness of God, I had to highlight the important parts because his writing style is such that he repeats the same things ten different ways. It was super annoying. We're deleting Holiness of God, and using a chapter of Grudem's Systematic Theology to make of for the teaching in this area....not official Omnibus for that book. I find everything else to be doable, but at this age it's a larger parent commitment. If you feel led to do it, do it, and make whatever tweaks you feel are necessary for your child. The ideological lessons to be learned here are priceless, not to mention the in depth study of great literature. Another thing: We skipped all of the studies of books in the Bible. This is because we study the Bible in-depth using other curriculum. This allows us a little more time to spend on the meat of Omnibus. I am not discounting the Bible study at all...we do it, but cutting it from Omnibus was helpful for us. Another thing to keep in mind is that Omnibus teaches from a position of dominionism. This is not a problem for me, although I do not subscribe to dominionism personally, because most of that occurs within their studies of Revelation and Daniel, and is so lightly sprinkled in elsewhere that it is not hardline, or what anyone would call "unorthodox". It would never deter me from using the program. Overall, Omnibus is solid, and a must have in my opinion. The key is spending some serious time poring over the material in advance and discovering what books you want to cover and how you are going to tackle them. More parent involvement is the key for younger grades in my opinion. I hope this helps you, and God bless your endeavor!!

Cynthia, Omnibus does not teach the elements of literature. It analyzes literature from a higher level and discusses it in the realm of ideology. The initial two books you recommended were EXACTLY what I was looking for to teach literary components, so thank you!! PS

Cynthia, thanks for the recommendations! As far as your question about the secondary Omnibus books, the answer is a 90% no...Omnibus, I find, is more of a literary WORLDVIEW analysis of each book covered. We love it for what it is though!

Hi, I am looking for advice/suggestions in regards to a program to teach the elements of various styles of literature and various components of literature. We will be using Omnibus II next year. I am looking for something at an 8th grade level. Bob Jones Excursions in Literature covers all the elements, but with the amount of reading we will be doing next year I need something more concise or standalone that I can incorporate into what we're already reading in addition to the books she chooses for her own pleasure. We have a very heavy school load scheduled for next year, and I'd love to find something more streamlined in this area for time management reasons. Christian perspective a plus. Thanks!