Which reading program is better?

[littlemommy]

Bob Jones (BJU) or Christian Light Education (CLE)? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

 

DS 11, DS 8

[G5052]

CLE is very plain looking, and is designed for self-teaching. All of the content is in the student materials, although some buy the TE's for extra material (I never have). For 4th and up, it's only a semester-long course. It's also very inexpensive, less than $30 for a semester if you just get the reader, LightUnits, and answer keys. There is a Mennonite flavor to the stories, particularly in the older grades, but it's more subtle than the R&S readers at that level. I always read the readers all the way through so that I'm prepared to discuss any differences. The Mennonites believe in keeping apart from the world in ways that some Christians do not, and are pacifists when in comes to employment and views of war. We are not Mennonite but have Mennonite friends, so it's been productive to discuss these things.

 

BJUP is colorful and attractive, and generally requires a that you do some of the teaching with a large (expensive) teacher manual. The manual is not as necessary in the lower grades, but a friend of mine that uses BJUP uses it with her children that are the age of yours. BJUP costs quite a bit more, around $150 for a year if you buy everything new (check the prices, I haven't looked). BJUP is more "mainline evangelical Protestant" in it's emphasis.

[littlemommy]

literary terms like metaphore, similie, imagery, etc.?

[MIch elle]

http://www.clp.org/documents/2452/original/2008_Scope_Sequence_grades_1-8.pdf

 

Yes.

[G5052]

Here's the scope-and-sequence: http://www.bjupress.com/catalog_pdfs/scope_sequence09.pdf

 

They just handle it differently.

[HollyDay]

BJU is teacher intensive. To get the full impact of the program - esp in the early grades - you need both the text and the worktext and their TMs. It is not an inexpensive program. I found a lessons required just about an hour start to finish. I needed to adapt the lesson lengths because they are designed for classroom use (pick 5 children to read). This was especially true in plays when several readers would be required to read each part. Many have labeled the stories as twaddle because most are written by BJU authors and not "classic" literature. This was not an issue for me. Nearly all the stories were adorable and enjoyable. IF it sounds like I am bashing the program, I am not. BJU 3 was the best thing I could have done for my oldest. It put the pieces together and she finally started enjoying reading. BJU 1 was okay, I wouldnt highly praise it. 2 and 4 were hits all around. 5 was not as enjoyable for some reason. I skipped 6 in favor or DITHOR and tried 7 (which completely flopped).

 

I do not know much about CLE. I have a friend who has used it for years and really likes it. She said she would never do BJU because of the price not the content.

 

HTH

[PeterPan]

Not sure what grades you're looking at, but in 7th the BJU changes from reading (basal reader plus workbook with crosswords, questions, that sort of thing, a year course) to a lit course (one semester, lots of writing).

[mktkcb]

Well, I used BJUP 5 and 6 when my son was in 4th and 5th, then moved to CLE 6 this year. Here are some observations......

As far as the readers themselves go, the content is very similar. Classics mixed with "in house", often character building, etc. Poetry interspersed. I would say that CLE is a bit more focused than BJU. Meaning BJU has phonics/syllable practice, sections devoted to research skills, author notebooks and the like along with the lit, vocab, and analysis. It tries to cover a broader range of skills, I would say. CLE focuses mainly on the lit, comprehension, vocabulary & word roots, & analysis. Kids that like *color* will definitely prefer BJU. I think CLE is just a notch above BJU in difficulty level in the thinking skills dept., and also in teaching literary terms and analysis. BJU *does* teach these things, don't get me wrong, but IMO CLE is just a little "ooch" harder. BJU is a little broader, CLE is a little deeper. So choose your poison... :o). My son did fine with BJU & we liked it very much, but I didn't feel like he was ready for the jump to the 7th grade program (besides the layout is not as easy to "open and go"....It takes more prep on my part). CLE 6 is a nice step up, easy to use, very focused, challenging program. I think my son finds it a bit drier in general than BJU (like I said...no color), but I skipped a lot of extraneous pages in BJU, and I don't need to do that here. Much cheaper, also. Whatever the case, you won't go wrong, and your child will not suffer from educational neglect ;o). Keep in mind that CLE is a half year program, so you can break it up with real books as needed.

Kayleen

[Tree House Academy]

DITHOR. :)

[mamaof2andtwins]

Kayleen gave you a great comparison. I can't speak to BJU as I have never used it, but I have been very pleased with CLE for all the reasons Kayleen mentioned.

 

Jennie