Unhappy with Bob Jones DVD program

[meganrussell]

I have 5 children, but only my older 2 are using Bob Jones DVD program this year. They are in 7th and 9th grade, and I bought the entire 6-subject curriculum with DVD instruction for both of them (over $2000). They just completed Day 64 out 180 days.

 

I am unhappy. They are unhappy.

 

The DVDs are not very engaging to watch for one. The textbooks, workbooks, and activity books are very long-winded, boring, and (in my opinion) too full of information. I feel very disconnected from them, because I am not involved in their school days. I check their work, grade their tests, and help them study some, and from the work I've seen, I don't know how they haven't pulled their hair out yet. It's a ridiculous amount of busy work, and it seems more geared toward a classroom than a homeschool. We've already dropped the math for both of them and switched to the Key to ... series. This made a tremendous difference in their days knocking off about an hour of work for them (and I make them work for at 30 minutes in math).

 

I chose BJ because I felt like they needed something totally independent. I felt like I needed to concentrate on my younger 3 children (and I still feel like this). I thought the BJ would challenge them in a good way, but instead it's making us miserable. They do the work, but there's no creativity or fun in it. They have never been unhappy schooling before, and I don't know how much they're actually learning.

 

I know they don't like it. We've always schooled in a fairly Charlotte Mason way and this is so opposite everything we've ever done. I want to quit and switch them to something different SO BADLY. I feel I am doing them a disservice by making them do this school every day. There is no joy in their learning. We are so used to reading together, learning together, and doing together. I have three younger children, who are each doing their own thing (a 4th grader, a 1st grader using MFW, and a K'er using MFW), so I am pretty busy, but I still feel like I need to make some changes. I think my husband will die if I quit using the BJ because it was expensive and I did just spend almost $1000 on the younger 3 kid's curriculum.

 

What should I do? Am I silly for feeling this way? What do you do for middle/high school CM way? Is there anything free or nearly free I could use? Any advice?? Please??

[mommaduck]

Homeschooling families often go through trial and error to find what works for them. You can try other programs that are more CM, you can finish this out til the end of the year, or you can switch to topic based learning for the moment until you decide what to do for next year (?) Fill in gaps with something like All-in-One (free), CK12 Flexbooks, and Khan Academy.

[Omma]

I wish I had listened to advice I heard that said, "Do not do all 6 subjects with BJU DVDs or you will suffer burn-out!"  I wanted to get 'a bargain' so I used nearly all 6 (maybe I didn't do their Bible, but I even tried slipping in Spanish instead) during the logic stage.  My oldest would use it first and then we would keep all the DVDs for an extra year for my dd to use (for about $350 more).  So our two dc was more like $1350 instead of $2000, but I know where you are.  I would find a pile of unused Reading and/or English worksheets under one dc's bed and I was so overwhelmed with grading all the busywork that I didn't even notice for a month! 

 

Eventually, I quit their history and did a history that brought our family back together in reading books and watching videos from the same time period (we used MFW).  And we dropped Reading/Literature and just combined with the books from the same historical time period.  It went much better. 

 

What I would do is drop maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the workload and finish out the year happier.  You could either switch out 2 or 3 complete subjects and do something non-DVD style for those subjects for the rest of the year...or do fewer subjects in a block style method.

 

I wouldn't necessarily give up on BJU DVDs altogether (they can be wonderful in small, single-subject doses).  We are doing just BJU Biology DVDs this year with both dc doing the same course and me watching most lectures with them and handing out quizzes from a point of knowing what is going on and it is working out beautifully.  Everyone is happy! 

 

If you want cheaper prices, buy BJU Distance Learning Online in December for their $99 deals.

 

Best wishes to you...the end of the year is in sight as spring quickly approaches (although you wouldn't know it with the blizzard conditions we have outside our window at the moment!!!)

 

Brenda

[Guest]

Hmmm....so, first let's go through what subjects are must haves for your oldest two for the year. I don't know what state you're in and what regs you might need to meet (if any) for this school year. You've already switched math, so that's one taken care of. 

 

Lit and History are pretty easy to wing with a library card and some discussion guides which can be had inexpensively. You can find a million list suggestions here and elsewhere. Sure, there are fancy programs, but it's March, so to get you through the year you can make do with something on the more affordable side and avoid husband freak out (something with which I am familiar). 

 

Science is one thing where I've seen people be fairly happy with BJU with. Is there anyway you can tweak it? Cut some chapters, do open books tests (or gasp, no tests!) throw in some other books or experiments to liven it up? 

 

Can you resell any of it? 

[G5052]

I have a good friend who is a rep for BJUP, and they've used that exclusively for over a decade.

 

Ugh. I couldn't do that with mine. I can't imagine watching that many hours of recorded video. And their curriculum is indeed classroom-oriented. It was set up that way originally, after all.

 

We do a mix of online, at-home, and local classes for mine. I'm able to do that because of bartering arrangements, so I pay far less than many. And that works for us.

 

If it were me, I'd modify and finish the year. Have your kids grade some of their own work and do a spot check on Friday. Skip some of the work but include enough that it is a full class. Consider not doing videos for each subject. At various times mine did BJUP for history and/or science, and we just used the books.

 

Lessons learned, but I'd complete it.

[Julie of KY]

As far as Bob Jones, we'd suffer massive burnout if we tried to do all that. I wouldn't toss out the BJU dvds altogether, but sit down and discuss with your kids what pieces might work. They might simply watch the dvds in a subject and do nothing else. Maybe watch the dvd and read the book without any extra busywork. I'd either toss out more subjects or just pare way back in the subjects.

 

You've already switched the math.

 

LIbraries are great to just pick books and read literature and history.

 

On the Center for Literature site there is one sample class for each age group. You might have your kids read the Hobbit and then listen to the Center for Lit class on that one book.

[hsmom08]

Maybe you can look at something like Tapestry of Grace for history/literature/arts & craft.  Tapestry has all age group studying the same time period and they have read aloud books that fit the time period. 

 

I saw a little bit of BJU DVD for life science and it was pretty good at explaining things.  As others have said, maybe you can stick with science.

[FriedClams]

To finish this year, I think I'd pick a couple of subjects to finish the BJU for the two oldest. Their science is excellent, and I'd pick that one (which we do, but it's the only BJU we do). I'd also probably do math. Both of those are solid subjects that are better with a skilled teacher (which, while sometimes boring, the BJU dvds absolutely have). If the bible is good, I'd likely have them watch it, and do the books, but not grade anything. 

 

For time - you'd likely be at:

Science - 75 minutes/day

Math - 75 minutes/day

Bible - 45 minutes/day

 

I think those are very reasonable times.

 

For the other subjects I would have them use the books, but ditch the videos. So, Geography, Writing/Grammar, and Lit would all be textbook based but without the video component. I'm thinking you could work through those in 45 minutes per subject. With that timing, I think you're at a much more reasonable time investment, and you have some more flexibility. 

 

In the future, I think I'd maybe use one or two subjects with BJU (their bio and chem are great - but VERY thorough). I would also look at MFW high school. It sounds like it would be a much better fit for your family and you can reuse most of their stuff (and it's MUCH cheaper than BJU). 

 

Don't get discouraged. We've all done stuff like this along the journey. 

 

[meganrussell]

Thanks for all of the replies so far! I do feel a little better.

 

We school year round, and they just started BJ in November. We are only 1/3 of the way finished.

 

The physical science my 9th grader is taking is HARD. I think I may combine her with her 7th grade brother in life science, which is the only class I really like. She would do well and be challenged, and she's never had life science this in depth.

 

The writing and grammar is almost over as it's only 90 days worth and then 90 days of literature, and I thought about skipping it (it's very thorough, too much so I my opinion) and moving on to the literature.

 

I found a free American history program for high school and think I may modify it with living books and some mapping for them to do together.

 

I also have an awesome book on church history that I wished I could use with them ... I may make a course for their Bible lesson. The Bible in BJ is dry.

 

What does that sound like?

What do you think?

[Omma]

Sounds good to me.  I was going to say that it would make it much easier if you could combine both kids into the same science.  I can tell you that BJU Physical Science is MUCH harder than Apologia Physical Science (which is 1/2 Earth Science).  I wouldn't feel at all bad about having them both do Life Science for the rest of your year.  And doing something different for history sounds fantastic, too, as it will shorten all that time sitting in front of videos.

[FriedClams]

Thanks for all of the replies so far! I do feel a little better.

 

We school year round, and they just started BJ in November. We are only 1/3 of the way finished.

 

The physical science my 9th grader is taking is HARD. I think I may combine her with her 7th grade brother in life science, which is the only class I really like. She would do well and be challenged, and she's never had life science this in depth.

 

The writing and grammar is almost over as it's only 90 days worth and then 90 days of literature, and I thought about skipping it (it's very thorough, too much so I my opinion) and moving on to the literature.

 

I found a free American history program for high school and think I may modify it with living books and some mapping for them to do together.

 

I also have an awesome book on church history that I wished I could use with them ... I may make a course for their Bible lesson. The Bible in BJ is dry.

 

What does that sound like?

What do you think?

My only advice would be not to throwthe baby out with the bath water. You picked BJU for a reason, and reworking two kid's curriculum mid year is a lot. It's then restarting them, more interaction for you, and still managing little ones. I'd keep as much as you can and combine them as much as you can.

[meganrussell]

My only advice would be not to throwthe baby out with the bath water. You picked BJU for a reason, and reworking two kid's curriculum mid year is a lot. It's then restarting them, more interaction for you, and still managing little ones. I'd keep as much as you can and combine them as much as you can.

Yes, you are so right! Reworking their curriculum is not ideal, but being miserable isn't good either. I picked BJ because I didn't think I had the time or desire to "teach" them anymore, because I wanted to concentrate on my three youngers ones, and because I was so afraid they would be missing out on some important educational concept. But BJ is so not what I expected it to be. Especially since we are using all subjects. I wish I wouldn't have ordered it at all, but there's nothing I can do now.

[meganrussell]

Sounds good to me. I was going to say that it would make it much easier if you could combine both kids into the same science. I can tell you that BJU Physical Science is MUCH harder than Apologia Physical Science (which is 1/2 Earth Science). I wouldn't feel at all bad about having them both do Life Science for the rest of your year. And doing something different for history sounds fantastic, too, as it will shorten all that time sitting in front of videos.

The physical science in BJ is so advanced and difficult, and her career goals are not science related at all (cosmetology). I was trying to read her lessons and answer the questions, and it was tough for me. Like, I had to look in the teachers guide for the answer. It's ridiculous.

[meganrussell]

I wish I had listened to advice I heard that said, "Do not do all 6 subjects with BJU DVDs or you will suffer burn-out!" I wanted to get 'a bargain' so I used nearly all 6 (maybe I didn't do their Bible, but I even tried slipping in Spanish instead) during the logic stage. My oldest would use it first and then we would keep all the DVDs for an extra year for my dd to use (for about $350 more). So our two dc was more like $1350 instead of $2000, but I know where you are. I would find a pile of unused Reading and/or English worksheets under one dc's bed and I was so overwhelmed with grading all the busywork that I didn't even notice for a month!

 

Eventually, I quit their history and did a history that brought our family back together in reading books and watching videos from the same time period (we used MFW). And we dropped Reading/Literature and just combined with the books from the same historical time period. It went much better.

 

What I would do is drop maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the workload and finish out the year happier. You could either switch out 2 or 3 complete subjects and do something non-DVD style for those subjects for the rest of the year...or do fewer subjects in a block style method.

 

I wouldn't necessarily give up on BJU DVDs altogether (they can be wonderful in small, single-subject doses). We are doing just BJU Biology DVDs this year with both dc doing the same course and me watching most lectures with them and handing out quizzes from a point of knowing what is going on and it is working out beautifully. Everyone is happy!

 

If you want cheaper prices, buy BJU Distance Learning Online in December for their $99 deals.

 

Best wishes to you...the end of the year is in sight as spring quickly approaches (although you wouldn't know it with the blizzard conditions we have outside our window at the moment!!!)

 

Brenda

This was so helpful to me. I think we are going to go back to literature based history, and combine the two in life science. I'll also watch the lectures with them so I can know what's going on. We will skip most of the busy work, and since I'll be in on the lessons, I'll have a better understanding of what they're learning and what their mastery should be. This is excellent advice.

[Plink]

We love BJU, but the year we tried their full curriculum was misery.  

 

What we kept:

Math

Science 

English (not early-years spelling/reading and not literature, just grammar and writing)

 

We ditched everything else.  I already knew that the amount of busy-work was high, due to previous experience with BJU, but I was enticed by the "good deal" too.  You aren't alone!

 

What we usually ditch in the subjects that we kept:

• Chapter 1 and whatever the last chapter is (these are generally review or poorly covered)
• All chapter reviews and cumulative reviews unless the child is struggling
• About half of all the daily work in Math - I sit beside them and allow them to move on when they demonstrate that they understand the concept
• Any science pages that don't directly relate to experiments/projects
• Most grammar assignments after 5th grade

 

BJU is amazing, but it is designed to "fill hours."  You don't need to fill any time, so don't feel bound by their structure.  Pick the pieces that work for you, and don't feel bad about throwing away all those un-used worktext pages.  It really is okay.  

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2017 by Plink

[Peaceful Isle]

I am using BJU for my 5th grader. It was perfect for him. I also tried to use it for my high schooler this year. It was a total bomb for her and I dropped it, and lost that $1, 000 I paid for it. It's okay though because it's not a perfect fit for everyone. You win some, and you lose some.

[meganrussell]

We love BJU, but the year we tried their full curriculum was misery.

 

What we kept:

Math

Science

English (not early-years spelling/reading and not literature, just grammar and writing)

 

We ditched everything else. I already knew that the amount of busy-work was high, due to previous experience with BJU, but I was enticed by the "good deal" too. You aren't alone!

 

What we usually ditch in the subjects that we kept:

• Chapter 1 and whatever the last chapter is (these are generally review or poorly covered)
• All chapter reviews and cumulative reviews unless the child is struggling
• About half of all the daily work in Math - I sit beside them and allow them to move on when they demonstrate that they understand the concept
• Any science pages that don't directly relate to experiments/projects
• Most grammar assignments after 5th grade

BJU is amazing, but it is designed to "fill hours." You don't need to fill any time, so don't feel bound by their structure. Pick the pieces that work for you, and don't feel bad about throwing away all those un-used worktext pages. It really is okay.

Thank you for this. I think doing this will work.

 

The chapter review and cumulative reviews seem so superfluous to me. The questions don't even make sense sometimes. I don't like the tests, either. I may can have my kids use notebooking instead of the question and answer type activities.

 

I agree that it is designed to fill hours. Some of it is incredibly long!

[...................]

I definitely wouldn't change things up this late in the game for your 9th grader.  You already dropped an entire subject, and Key To is not college prep math, so you may find problems later if/when you find another math program next year.  In fact, math is the last subject I would have dropped.  I woudl put them back in the BJU math, which is extremely solid and college prep, and drop a few other subjects.

 

For your 7th grader:

 

Keep BJU for all LA and Math !  Do NOT rely on Key To for their math. It is not complete and you will have big problems down the road.

 

Let her just read the BJU textbook for History (if I recall 7th grade BJU is World history and somewhat interesting) and have her just answer the questions in the book, neatly and in full sentences.  I would definitely not send the message that textbooks or horrible evil creations, but just that the BJU DVD system is a little bit overkill and that you're going to help them tweak it just like any teacher in any school would do.  :)

 

Let her just read the literature book, nothing else is necessary, since she has already probably covered a lot of work in genre, etc. She can spend more time reading on the side, for fun.

 

I personally would make her do Science for the rest of the year with quizzes and tests, otherwise you will have a big fight on your hands next year and she will say, "But I thought all that busywork was useless!" and she would have a right to think that.  Remember, teens really need consistency.  So, as you said you are SURE she is not going into a Science or Engineering field, this might be one area where I would say you should spend some money and get her an easy Science curriculum like Monarch online (only 80 bucks) because it's WAY less challenging than BJU but still teaching her the lesson that yes, in the real world, we have to use these ugly things called textbooks.  :)  

 

For your 9th grader, I really don't think you should stop a curriculum in the middle of the school year.  That is really sending the wrong message to a high school student, as well as possibly causing problems with his transcript, and reporting!  And I never would have switched to Key To from BJU for math.  

 

What you CAN do is use the books yourself, assign the work as per the TM (you can buy used), and this may or may not save him/her the time of watching the DVD"s and doing the extra busy-work.  He/She and you should be able to sit down, look at the TM and decide what is neccessary.  He can use Quizlet to make flashcards or find flashcard sets, and have his own way of taking notes.  This is WAY faster than listening ot the teacher drone on for 20 minutes or longer every day.  Streamlining the BJU could definitely save him/her a full two hours a day, and you can keep all his credits in tact and still give him the tests, quizzes, etc.

 

:)  You can definitely take this system and fix it to work for your kids and their needs better.