BJU English & Literature for high school?

[Paisley Hedgehog]

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[CindyJ]

I taught at a little school last year using BJU American history text and teacher's manual. I hated it. It was dry, dry, dry (I think American literature is not the most exciting - a lot of it is depressing anyway), but the TM was very little help. It ran in chronological order, so began with the Puritans. They are pretty deep for a lot of high school students, and don't hold their interest. I gave up after a while, and just picked out books for us to read and discuss. I had much more control over the level, interest, and content, although I had to write my own study guides. The BJU was just extremely difficult to use - nothing like the 7th and 8th grade books, which are written very differently, although even there, I much prefer just straight books. HTH

[CindyJ]

Oh, we also used the BJU grammar, which I thought was equally bad. Sorry to be so negative, but I don't do grammar the way BJU does. They don't diagram - they label; I prefer A Beka. It was unclear and difficult to use.

[Susan C.]

I've used BJU Grammar for years and really like it. If you can spring for dvd just once at high school level, you will never forget grammar again! The teacher is excellent. I pick and choose what writing we do. It is a little thin on literary analysis, but still a solid program. Ds enjoyed British Lit w/dvd. He is my oldest (graduated). Dd likes Scott Foresman literature better. We did American Lit. last year, and are doing British this year.

[HiddenJewel]

We are using BJU Fundamentals of Literature (9th) this year. I didn't like the looks of it at first but once I opened the CD-Rom, it made it a course I liked. The extra sheets have made all the difference for me.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

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[Rhonda in TX]

I think they are a good, solid curriculum, but I don't find the teacher manuals much help. We are using the DVDs. I'm not sure I would attempt it without them, but then English is my particular weakness.

[HollyDay]

I do like BJU english and have used it at both the elementary and high school levels. I do not use their lit program. It was just not a good fit for us. Some random pros and cons:

 

Pro:

thorough review of grammar.

decent writing component

 

Con:

expensive IMHO for the complete set.

TM a must for me which makes the complete set cost a bit

written for classroom use not homeschool so some adapting might be required

[1shortmomto4]

I've used 3 of the BJU High school lit courses - but with the DVD/online option. For us, that is the only way it would/could work because I'm teaching other little ones and Literature is not my strong point. I absolutely love the courses and appreciate how they bring the literature alive. They include a complete Shakespeare production which the student watches and uses skills for analysis and best yet - to understand it. I suppose there are at least 2 schools of thought on covering the literature credit - one is to read a lot of books, write essays, etc. and the other is to be exposed to pieces of great literature, authors, poetry, etc. I chose BJU's program because one, my ds has some learning issues (he is severely hearing impaired) and needs the audio/visual component and he struggled to read so giving him a bunch of novels to read throughout the year would have given us negative results. He really enjoyed the teachers (Mrs. Vick is wonderful) and it pushed him to work harder than he might have otherwise.

 

Now, for the grammar/writing portion - hmmmm.... I think 1 year working on the grammar is probably fine because much more than that is for the student headed into an English degree of some sort because there is A LOT of advanced topics covered and most likely not necessary (but again, everyone has their own opinions on grammar). The actual writing instruction just wasn't there for us. They might have one class period where the teacher covers the writing assignment but not instruction in on to accomplish it. I'm guessing that they make the assumption that your student has used BJU all the way through the lower grades and is now prepared to use those skills in more advanced writing assignments. We need more instruction so this part was a bust for us. The bright side is - now with the online option that became available last year you can order just the literature portion without the grammar/writing (not the case with DVD) so that is a cost savings without wasting the half you can't use.

 

Just one mom's opinion - your mileage may vary.