Bob Jones for Lower Elementary

[Guest]

Hi guys!

 

I have a friend who is starting her son as a Ker in the next month or so. She and her husband have prayerfully decided to do Bob Jones (the whole program) with their son.

 

She came over today and was just in tears because she is so overwhelmed by h/s-ing and she can't find 1 person who has something good to say about Bob Jones. She definitely wants to go the textbook route and has no interest in literature or my myriad of glossy curricula. :D

 

So, what I'm asking is does anyone have experience with Bob Jones for a K-er? I'd really like to tell her that I've heard some positive things about it...I know nothing about it. She told me it's whole language for reading? Really? (She also told me some other things that lead me to believe she's a little confused about it all...)

 

Although they feel this is the decision is right, they pretty much made it in a weekend after going to our h/s convention. I think if there are really flaws in the program, she might be willing to listen, but I'd love to encourage her. (I don't want to throw books or other methods at her.)

 

Thanks!

[KrissiK]

I know nothing about BJU's kinder curriculum. I chose A Beka, simply becuase I was familiar with A Beka, and BJU is more expensive. I am doing BJU's Heritage studies with my first grader boys and I like the curriculum. I think it's really good. Do you think people have a problem with the curriculum or with BJU itself? I know BJU is very conservative and a lot of people don't like that, so maybe they're projecting their feelings about the University on to the curriculum. Like I said, I don't know about the kinder curriculum. I have no idea if it's Whole Language, but I really doubt it. I guess you could just look that up in their catalog. I've browsed through their curriculum and it looks pretty standard to me. Maybe I'm being naive, but I don't know how a company can be a large, mainstream traditional publishing company and have academic holes in their curriculum. No one would buy it then. The biggest gripes I've heard is that they're conservative and not politically correct enough.

[Scuff]

We've used BJU K math for all 3 of my kids. Love it. It's great. I haven't used their other stuff, but I would trust it to be good. If she needs support for textbooks, I'd suggest she get "Managers of Their Schools". It's pretty supportive of textbooks. :)

[Aloha2U]

I really don't know much about the curriculum as a whole, but I can tell you that when I was researching for a structured history read aloud on the USA (for our K5 year) I by far preferred BJUP's texts (Heritage Studies 2 and 3 - which begins with more of a world view approach to USA) over ABeka's texts (Books 1 through 3 - which begins with the more traditional view of just USA history/people facts, in the early primary years anyways).

 

Also, I am keeping BJUP math in mind as one of our options to transition over to in the future when my ds has completed all of RightStart Mathematics.

 

BTW, OhElizabeth may be able to help you with more information on BJUP. I believe she uses their science and math and perhaps other subjects as well.

 

HTH! :001_smile:

Edited July 21, 2009 by CMama

[Mom22ns]

I haven't used any BJU for K and haven't used all of BJU at any level. However, I have used some BJU math and science and love what I have used. I consider them to be a solid choice in traditional curriculum. I compared BJU to Abeka and found the prose style of the science books far superior in BJU(my opinion only).

 

If she wants something traditional and textbook - I think she'll probably be very happy with BJU.

[Guest]

If she wants something traditional and textbook - I think she'll probably be very happy with BJU.

 

Oh, good! At least now I can say I have heard of some people that like BJU! Thank you guys!

[momofabcd]

I haven't used Bob Jones, but too bad she doesn't live in my home town. Many, people are huge Bob Jones fans here!!! They love it!!!!

[razorbackmama]

BJU's K is LOTS of fun - it was a HUGE hit around here!

 

HOWEVER, after having 4 kids go through their reading, I'm not a fan of the way they teach reading. I think had I not switched child #4 when I did it would have gotten really bad - he was reading words starting at the end of the word (because they teach word families). Also there is a big push on not sounding out the words - if the child can't read the word, read it for him so that the flow of the sentence isn't interrupted. There is a huge emphasis on context, and they do teach quite a few sight words. It is a phonics-based program, but it's not PURE phonics.

 

That said, many kids do perfectly fine with it. Mine didn't.:tongue_smilie: Such a bummer because the K program itself is REALLY great. I just wish the phonics were easier to separate out!

[Spy Car]

Food for thought:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98018&highlight=bju+racist

[HiddenJewel]

I have not used BJU in lower elementary. However, they have quality material in junior high. And as long as your worldview is the same as theirs, a person could be very happy using it. It is more teacher intensive in elementary than other textbook programs.

 

If I had to choose one textbook publisher for all my subjects it would be BJU; however, I would not use their reading program to teach my child to read.

[razorbackmama]

I have not used BJU in lower elementary. However, they have quality material in junior high. And as long as your worldview is the same as theirs, a person could be very happy using it. It is more teacher intensive in elementary than other textbook programs.

 

If I had to choose one textbook publisher for all my subjects it would be BJU; however, I would not use their reading program to teach my child to read.

 

LOL she said it SO much more succinctly than I did!:lol: TOTALLY ditto on the teacher-intensiveness - I forgot about that.

 

There are no racial anything in their materials whatsoever.

[Dawn E]

This will be my third year with BJU Math (we started at math 1, though, not K), and I love it, as does dd. It has definitely been less teacher intensive (for me) than RightStart. Math is the only BJU subject I've used, though, so I can't speak to anything else.

[JudoMom]

I used much of their K4 program (Foundations for Fours) with my oldest and we enjoyed it.

[Jugglin'5]

I used BJU with my youngest daughter, and am now using it with my youngest son. They love it. I am also using BJU math K with my youngest son (though we don't do all the teacher's manual stuff). My kids learned a whole lot the year we did mostly BJU Homesat - the kids have fond memories of that year (new baby - the only classical thing we did was Latin, lol). As a matter of fact, I am going back to BJU math with all of them this year - some with DVDs, some without - just me and the TM.

[Bee]

Both dds loved K math. I've used through grade 5 math. I liked all the grades except 5th. We've used the LA;love the grammar but not big a fan of the writing which is typical textbook/grade level type assignments (I've since switched to following WTM/WWE philosophy when it comes to children writing.) The writing rubrics are very nice. Not a big fan of their science. The pictures are nice but the reading level was, I thought, too low for the grade level. Oddly, I didn't (and don't) find it to be as parent intensive as say, Oak Meadow is for the elementary grades.

[Spock]

Hi guys!

 

I have a friend who is starting her son as a Ker in the next month or so. She and her husband have prayerfully decided to do Bob Jones (the whole program) with their son.

 

She came over today and was just in tears because she is so overwhelmed by h/s-ing and she can't find 1 person who has something good to say about Bob Jones. She definitely wants to go the textbook route and has no interest in literature or my myriad of glossy curricula. :D

 

So, what I'm asking is does anyone have experience with Bob Jones for a K-er? I'd really like to tell her that I've heard some positive things about it...I know nothing about it. She told me it's whole language for reading? Really? (She also told me some other things that lead me to believe she's a little confused about it all...)

 

Although they feel this is the decision is right, they pretty much made it in a weekend after going to our h/s convention. I think if there are really flaws in the program, she might be willing to listen, but I'd love to encourage her. (I don't want to throw books or other methods at her.)

 

Thanks!

 

 

I used BJU Kindergarten (the whole package) with my oldest. It uses phonics, teaching a little at a time. At the time (he is now in 12th grade), the first unit was very gentle, and consisted of just learning the letter names and telling stories from the pictures. However, from there the students were taught basic phonics. (I used the newer version of the kindergarten math with my 3rd child, and it is more intense and quick moving now, so the gentle first unit of reading may also have been dropped or accelerated.)

 

The history/geography/science activities are all age appropriate and fun. They are also cute, while also teaching interesting information (about prairie dogs, ants, and the American Revolution, for example). My son enjoyed them and learned from them, though I ended up moving to a more Charlotte Mason style by the end of the year, skipping these lessons.

 

For a family that is committed to the textbook approach, I would recommend BJU for kindergarten. (For first through 6th grade, Abeka and BJU are both good textbook programs. In first through third grade, however, there is a big difference in approach. At that level, Abeka moves quickly and intensively through reading and math, requiring more earlier. However, BJU teaches more history and science at those levels. By fourth grade students in both programs are at about the same levels in reading, math, history, and science. At that point the choice becomes one of which textbook style/presentation is more appealing to a particular family. (And since both approaches to K-3 end up in the same place by 4th grade, I suppose at that level the choice also boils down to family preference as well.)

[MrsMe]

I used it in 2nd and now for this year. Love BJU. They're TMs can be scary, because they're so full of information. Your friend needs to listen to herself. BJU is a great textbook curriculum! Even Cathy Duffy has good reviews for certain subjects on certain levels. I use the history as a spine and add in more literature if needed. And if I don't have time, then I still covered what I needed to.

 

I agree that Managers of Their Schools is a great inspirational read if you need it. I think she just has beginning "deer in the headlights", but she just needs to relax and have fun and let BJU lead the way.

[Cindyg]

I've used it for every subject from 1st through 5th grade. We're very happy with it, and plan to use it indefinitely. (We use the video program formerly known as HomeSat, so that's a little different probably than what she's doing.)

[PeterPan]

I have two SIL's doing BJU straight. One does it with multiple dc and one with an only. Both think it's GREAT and have never looked back! The one with an only did K4 this past year using the harddrive, just as a trial (she wasn't sure how she'd feel about homeschooling), and she's been so happy they're proceeding to the K5. The K5 materials are so delightful, so engaging, they're going to have a GREAT year! Give your friend lots of warm hugs and tell them they'll be FINE. I've spent a lot of time researching and customizing, and many times I've wondered if I should have just done BJU straight and been done with it. It's a GREAT way to go, honest. She's going to save so much time that we nutcases spend curriculum searching, she'll have time to give to extras. Granted it takes time to implement, but is she going to use the dvd's (or hard drive or online)? Everything I hear about them is so efficient. She's going to be FINE. K5 is a great way to start too, because she can see how it goes. Not like they're deciding the next 12 years, just this one. :)