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Has anyone here used BJU Science online for 7th grade?


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I have been pondering this in my little brain for next year. I think it would be a great way for DD to "see" all of those little demonstrations they say you should set up, but I don't :D I have never used an online course, but we already use BJU Science. Any experiences with their Science online? Both positives and negatives are welcome :001_smile:

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If you already have it and are happy the way you're teaching it, then you could add just the experiments dvd.

 

Did you watch the demos yet of the lessons? Unfortunately, my dd hates Mrs. Vick. She hates her southern accent, the droning, the regurgitation of the textbook rather than saying anything interesting, etc. I think it's going to be a disconnect for us. I have the materials (borrowed from gracious SIL) sitting here. I wanted to use them this year. I've actually written it into my plans to start in January, but we'll see. I may chicken out and go with a bunch of Vicki Cobb books or something. I have ulterior motives (I'm wanting to work on visualization and textbook reading). I'll have to look at the tm's again more carefully. I have both the Life Science and Earth Science right now. I seem to recall noticing, as I looked at the Earth Science, that they had dropped out a lot of the extras that were in the tm's in the earlier levels, all those rice krispie demonstrations and whatnot. It's a real bummer, because my dd loves those things! Runs in my mind the 7th gr book was transitioning them out and they were poof, gone by 8th. So IF we do the Life Science, I'm going to have to put my behind in gear and spiff it up a LOT to fit my uber-hands-on girl.

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If you already have it and are happy the way you're teaching it, then you could add just the experiments dvd.

 

 

Do they have an experiments DVD...we've used BJU Science since 1st grade, how could I have missed that!:001_huh: Is it on the BJU website?

 

As always, thanks :001_smile:

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Did you watch the demos yet of the lessons? Unfortunately, my dd hates Mrs. Vick. She hates her southern accent, the droning, the regurgitation of the textbook rather than saying anything interesting, etc.

 

Wow -- our experience has been quite the opposite! We LOVE Mrs Vick, and 7th grade Science is my ds's favorite subject! We find Mrs Vick to be very enthusiastic and interesting, and she really knows her science. I haven't noticed that she only regurgitates the info in the textbooks at all, and I like the way she tries to include little tricks and hints about how to remember things like word definitions and other information. (And personally, I like her accent. I think it's charming, and she speaks very clearly and distinctly so it's easy to understand all of the terminology.)

 

We do the DVD option, but as I understand it, the online option includes the exact same lessons. The only difference is the delivery system

 

I highly recommend it.

 

Cat

Edited by Catwoman
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Wow -- our experience has been quite the opposite! We LOVE Mrs Vick, and 7th grade Science is my ds's favorite subject! We find Mrs Vick to be very enthusiastic and interesting, and she really knows her science. I haven't noticed that she only regurgitates the info in the textbooks at all, and I like the way she tries to include little tricks and hints about how to remember things like word definitions and other information. (And personally, I like her accent. I think it's charming, and she speaks very clearly and distinctly so it's easy to understand all of the terminology.)

 

We do the DVD option, but as I understand it, the online option includes the exact same lessons. The only difference is the delivery system

 

I highly recommend it.

 

Cat

 

 

Thank you. We are southern here, so I don't know if her accent will be fine with us or if it will drive us crazy :tongue_smilie: Thanks for a different perspective :001_smile:

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Wow -- our experience has been quite the opposite! We LOVE Mrs Vick, and 7th grade Science is my ds's favorite subject! We find Mrs Vick to be very enthusiastic and interesting, and she really knows her science. I haven't noticed that she only regurgitates the info in the textbooks at all, and I like the way she tries to include little tricks and hints about how to remember things like word definitions and other information. (And personally, I like her accent. I think it's charming, and she speaks very clearly and distinctly so it's easy to understand all of the terminology.)

 

We do the DVD option, but as I understand it, the online option includes the exact same lessons. The only difference is the delivery system

 

I highly recommend it.

 

Cat

:iagree::iagree:

 

We've used both the 7th Life and are currently using the 8th Space & Earth. My son LOVES Mrs. Vick. He says she makes science super interesting...even the atmosphere stuff which he detests. :lol:

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Well we'll see what happens! I had a long chat today with a friend who about convinced me to use the BJU science, dvd's and all, with dd. We'll see what happens. We had a long into it about the why's of it, etc. It was pretty interesting. So maybe if we do what my friend is recommending, maybe my dd will end up loving Mrs. Vick too, who knows. Btw, my friend knows Mrs. Vick and bought her house. Just thought I'd make you jealous. I've slept in Mrs. Vick's old house, nah, nah... :)

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Well she made the curtains and was a very nice decorator. She also makes baskets! :)

 

But no, not a fancy house. Nobody there is ritzy, not unless they are independently wealthy.

 

Mercy. I hope that's not an utter violation of her privacy. But it was such a fun thing, I just had to share. I told my dd if we do the class, I'll send her down and let her meet her this summer. :)

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Gotta agree with the Mrs. Vick fans. Mrs. Vick is a long-time favorite with many, many HomeSat users. I'm not just speaking for myself here, but I've been on the HomeSat Yahoo group for nearly 15 years, and she is well beloved by the members of that group. You can tell she loves science, and her enthusiasm is contagious.

 

We're in the middle of 7th grade Science right now. It's a good class. Yes, she shows the experiments on screen. There are lots of guest speakers, skits, things to look at, and extras. And, yes, lots of review. Also lots of assignments -- but it's up to you how many and which ones your child has to complete.

 

IMO the all the BJUP video classes are too long and a little prone to spiritualizing, including this one; but it is still a good class. It's one of the few that I'm having DS watch in its entirety. (And, frankly, it would be a difficult class to teach on your own. It covers a ton of technical information. You'd have to have a strong science background OR do a LOT of self study to do the content justice without Mrs. Vick. "Just reading the text" would not be the same at all.)

 

And, to confirm what Catwoman said, the online class is identical to the DVD class. You do get online tests and grades (which is somewhat cool). Also, you can read the texts online if you choose too. But the video portion is identical to the DVD class.

 

I recommend it.

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Hey Charleigh, I was thinking about this some more this evening and put two and two together. Did you know the BJU Life Science textbook is set up to be outlined? Yup, you could outline your science instead of history. Just a thought. :)

 

 

That is a really good thought. I could have DD outline Science, rather than History. Science is her fav. subject anyway, so she might find it less tormenting. I am fully confident that we will use BJU (we have since 1st grade), I am just not sure if it will be online or standard books. Finances will play a part in this.

 

Great thought!! :D

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Well that's why I mentioned it! I was having one of these dingy *why is this textbook written like this, it's too wordy, my dd hates it, blah blah blah* sessions with my friend, and SHE is the one who pointed out to me, duh, that the chapters are actually SET UP for it. Literally they even put the A/B/C and 1/2/3 level markings. I was just so clueless, I was missing it, lol. (To me it looked like a jumbled mess and a ton of info!) She said what you're supposed to do is help them learn how to do the outline, doing it for/with them initially, then you filling in the sub points after they give you the main, etc. By the end of the book they should be outlining it entirely for themselves. Her other hint was that in some sections one of the paragraphs would be a summary paragraph, not a new point. So you look for topic sentences in each paragraph and then see where you're at.

 

Sorry if that's too obvious, lol. It clearly wasn't for me, as I had totally missed it, even having the books in my house all this time!

 

Like you, I could see doing it either way. I have the borrowed materials from my SIL, but then we wouldn't be able to write in them. The experiment only dvd is around $100. So if you need to buy the books *and* the dvd, it makes more sense to do the online course. I need to look at the tm some more. Somebody was saying there are tons of hands-on for every chapter, and I'm missing it. Gotta look closer! In the earlier books it was always in the teacher notes right on the pages. But I'll stop being dumb and go look. That's what was holding me back. Oh, so if we do the online (and just my SIL's borrowed tm?), what I'll probably do is have dd outline the reading, THEN listen to the lecture. And my friend said to have dd take notes when she watches the lecture as well. So that would be some serious skill work!

 

That was the main thing my friend was getting at, that it was time to suck up and learn how this process works and start thinking college prep. A beat your demons kind of thing.

 

Well off to the rat race.

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Hey Charleigh, I was thinking about this some more this evening and put two and two together. Did you know the BJU Life Science textbook is set up to be outlined? Yup, you could outline your science instead of history. Just a thought. :)

 

Yep! My ds does this with his BJU science (and history) text..I don't require it with each chapter/section because that would become laborous, but BJU's texts are great for outlining! I remember a couple years ago buying this and that history encyclopedia (the white Kingfisher, the red Kingfisher, blah, blah, blah...) and then it dawned on me that my ds does not HAVE to outline history. I then later bought an old used BJU history text just for outlining purposes and I remember thinking, "Wow! This is so much better for outlining than Kingfisher!" Now that we are currently using BJU for both history and science, our outlining worries have ceased to exist. ;)

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And my friend said to have dd take notes when she watches the lecture as well. So that would be some serious skill work!

 

 

My ds actually does this on his own when the topic really interests him. He watches his lecture on my laptop, minimizes the lecture to a smaller sized screen, and uses notepad to type in notes as he's listening/watching. But, it can make for a loooooong lecture session if he has to do a lot of pausing. :tongue_smilie:

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Ooo, that brings up some interesting questions Melissa! Can you watch the online classes on an ipad? Not that I have one, but I've dreamed of one. That's a good point that she could type her notes if we did the online, hmmm... That would work on a laptop or regular. And yes, my dd does notes now, but it's just when she wants to. It always makes me chuckle, as she's generally such a non-writer. To see her exuberance is thrilling. :)

 

Yes, I confess it did hit me how CONVENIENT it would be to let her outline and read the BJU history and somehow make that sync up with our reading in Omnibus. I just don't know if that would spoil things or be fabulous.

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Ooo, that brings up some interesting questions Melissa! Can you watch the online classes on an ipad? Not that I have one, but I've dreamed of one. That's a good point that she could type her notes if we did the online, hmmm... That would work on a laptop or regular. And yes, my dd does notes now, but it's just when she wants to. It always makes me chuckle, as she's generally such a non-writer. To see her exuberance is thrilling. :)

 

Yes, I confess it did hit me how CONVENIENT it would be to let her outline and read the BJU history and somehow make that sync up with our reading in Omnibus. I just don't know if that would spoil things or be fabulous.

 

We don't use the online option. I'm afraid our 'in the boonies' location prevents us from high speed internet. I have the DVDs. So I honestly don't know about the ipad. How fun would THAT be, though! :D

 

My dh just gave me the go-ahead to order Omnibus III so I can get a thorough look-see and try it out before next year. After heartbreakingly having to sell my TOG year plans, I'm soooo excited that I get to try something new and different!...yet a little nervous that my son will find it booooring and beg to JUST do a BJU text (ack!). I also don't know how he could possibly do a full history text (BJU) alongside Omni III, and still have enough time in his day for other subjects. I don't know how well they would line up either. So, I found a $10 Spielvogel and I'll see how that works out. IDK. Decisions, Decisions. I don't want to overload him, yet I do see him possibly going into the ministry and I know Omni's theology focus would be a huge benefit to him...moreso than MORE history under his belt. Sometimes it's so stinkin' hard to know where to go and what route to take. :tongue_smilie:

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