Considering switching to all BJU Online Program

[littlemomof3]

Any thoughts? I am sick of teaching....and I say that in the most loving way! I dont teach for religious reasons. I do so because I want my beliefs and values instilled in my children (although we are Christians and I like most Christain currics) and I feel that the ps arent worth anything anymore. I feel that I switch too much during the year and each yr on curric and really I want to stay with ONE thing throughout. I like Abeka but I dont. I like R&S and is what I would stick with along with other stuff if *I* continued to teach.... But I want someone else to do it from this point on. I dont mind doing field trips, art, or other extra stuff...even help with the BJU...but I just dont want to shoulder so much of "my decision to teach" anymore...

[pbjmeyer]

They are free, and everything you need is provided. If I remember correctly, BJ online is costly.

[PeterPan]

If it helps any, all the BJU options (dvd, hard drive, online) are 30% off plus free shipping if you order through a consultant. I just found this out Saturday, and it's been enticing me ever since. :)

 

Don't know the ages of your kids, but if you think you're going to want to teach some of the things (so they don't end up in front of a computer long stretches, whatever), then you might prefer the dvd's or hard drive. The dvd's and hard drive give you the entire kit, along with the tm's, where the online has the student texts and workbooks, no tm's. Just an observation.

[littlemomof3]

other than cost..any other reasons not too ? lol dh is aborad.

Thanks Elizabeth! Good to know. How do I find a consultant?

Edited April 13, 2009 by littlemomof3

[Melissa in CA]

Well, coming from someone who uses and loves BJU's Homesat, I say go for it. BJU is excellent. But, unless you have two computers, one for each child, I don't think I would go with the online option. Also, beware of the amount of downloading you will have to do. Be sure you have unlimited fast internet and downloading. We are only allowed 5 gb a month so BJU's online option would not work for us.

 

My first choice of the three options would be the DVDs, then the harddrive, and then the online. But that is just a matter of preference. All classes, regardless of how you get them into your home, will be the same. It is the price that differs. :D

 

If you have any specific BJU curriculum questions, feel free to ask! No guarantees I can answer, but I'm not the only one who uses BJU 'round here. ;)

[Melissa in CA]

If it helps any, all the BJU options (dvd, hard drive, online) are 30% off plus free shipping if you order through a consultant. I just found this out Saturday, and it's been enticing me ever since. :)

 

 

Hi Elizabeth!

 

Is this discount only for the three above options, or does it covers all BJUP book orders as well?

 

And...

 

Did you get to see the Lit 7?? I am still trying to decide between 6th and 7th...so far 6th is winning....but I've not made up my mind yet. ;)

[Melissa in CA]

other than cost..any other reasons not too ? lol dh is aborad.

Thanks Elizabeth! Good to know. How do I find a consultant?

 

BJU Consultant locator: http://www.homeworksbyprecept.com/consultant-event-locator.html

 

:D

[littlemomof3]

HI Melissa!

 

Wow, glad you posted! Both my children have new Macbooks. So I am covered there. We have Time Warner Cable internet. I dont think there is a limited downloading.

 

I have 2 boys. 9 and 6. I was thinking of 4th and 1st. However my 9 yr old is a little behind on spelling. So really that is my only concern. He really needs phonics help. However I was thinking it was something that I could work on over the summer and while he's in 4th grade. He may not do well on the spelling but again, really not a top priority since his work will stay here with me to grade right?

 

Really thats my only concern. My kids are computer nerds. They enjoy the computer. Im hoping this will be good for them.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[PeterPan]

Melissa, the lit 7 will be at the convention Thurs-Sat. That's IF I get over this ugghiness and get to go. Did you see my other post to you about that reference book? Look at the list of books in the reading 6 and see what you think for how they fit him. Has he read them already? There's a big jump in reading level from 6 to 7, but it's a jump in a good way. Look at the lit and decide that way, not by the skills. The skills you can remediate pretty easily using that reference book I linked you to. I think it has exercises. If the reading material in the reading 6 is too young, then it will be too young, regardless of how good the skills are. The lit 7 selections are particularly boy-friendly, seems to me.

 

No clue on the extent of the 30% off, just sharing what she told me.

[littlemomof3]

BJU Consultant locator: http://www.homeworksbyprecept.com/consultant-event-locator.html

 

:D

 

Thank you! I emailed her!

[Melissa in CA]

HI Melissa!

 

Wow, glad you posted! Both my children have new Macbooks. So I am covered there. We have Time Warner Cable internet. I dont think there is a limited downloading.

 

I have 2 boys. 9 and 6. I was thinking of 4th and 1st. However my 9 yr old is a little behind on spelling. So really that is my only concern. He really needs phonics help. However I was thinking it was something that I could work on over the summer and while he's in 4th grade. He may not do well on the spelling but again, really not a top priority since his work will stay here with me to grade right?

 

Really thats my only concern. My kids are computer nerds. They enjoy the computer. Im hoping this will be good for them.

 

Great, then the online school should work well for you.

 

One nice thing about the DVDs and I believe the Online school too, is that you can change two classes per grade. So if you feel your 4th grader would not be able to do the 4th grade Spelling, you could instead get him the 3rd grade class, as well as switch one more if need be. The same goes for your 6 yo. :) The Harddrive does not give you this option as you get an entire grade level on a Harddrive that you plug into your computer. There is no switching classes up or down a grade possible with that.

 

Will your ds be able to do the 4th grade Reading? The teacher will have him pausing the class and reading pages in his reading book, then asking him questions. If reading is difficult due to phonics issues, you may want to jump down a grade to 3rd in reading. I would check out the samples online at http://www.bjup.com and have him read from the Student Text samples. This will give you an idea of where best to place him. ;)

 

Reading 4 is wonderful though and was my sons very favorite BJU class and BJU teacher (Miss Listen). She is also the 1st grade teacher for History & Science. I believe the Reading 3 teacher (Mrs. Walker) has won an award for her 1st grade phonics and reading class, so she must be a decent teacher.:D We have not had the privilege of having her yet, so I cannot say for sure. So, as you can see, your children will have some teacher's in common.

 

The Math 4 & Science 4 teacher is not a favorite. I personally think she did a fine job of teaching, but she didn't seem too comfortable in front of the camera. :tongue_smilie: My son learned gobs though and I honestly have no regrets. If I could go back and change one thing, it would be to skip Science 4 and do Science 3 instead...mainly because it's Miss Liston teaching it. :D I would have no qualms about dropping a grade below in BJU's Science. They always seem so advanced compared to most homeschool science curricula.

[sfb5oieu4894]

With online, you can only watch each lesson three times. For this school year, I needed a break as well because my youngest went through a terrible case of the terrible two's. I bought BJU Grades 2 and 6 on Hard Drives, 2 laptops, and everything. We had a GREAT school year. My kids did awesome with it, and they never once said that they got bored with BJU's videos....(Abeka's are awful...that is only my one opinion though). I did a little bit of additional work with them in history...Heritage Studies with BJU is kind of light, so I supplemented with SOTW and MoH. I also added in a bit of Writing Strands with my 6th grader, but the English program is just fine. The teacher editions are awesome, in-depth, and probably just what you need to give them a quick once over peppering of questions to make sure they "got it". I really think that BJU is worth the money when you find yourself in a situation such as what you have described. BJU saved me this year because of my youngest one being wild and fancy free. Now that she is about to turn three, I am placing her in a 3 full day per week preschool program outside of the house and getting back into the hands on nitty gritty of teaching all the subjects one on one (starting fall '09). I am really looking forward to getting back to it, but I certainly do not feel my kids lost anything by going with BJU videos and I can honestly say they had a fun year and learned a lot. Oh! And they also really grew spiritually! We do devotions regularly, but I could tell they had gotten deeper spiritual understanding through BJU as well. If you would like to see how I scheduled out my 6th grade year for my oldest using BJU 6 and some supplements, you can look at it here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/4250976/0809-Master-Grade-6-Schedule-PDF

Edited April 14, 2009 by Prisca Sapientia

[Melissa in CA]

Melissa, the lit 7 will be at the convention Thurs-Sat. That's IF I get over this ugghiness and get to go. Did you see my other post to you about that reference book? Look at the list of books in the reading 6 and see what you think for how they fit him. Has he read them already? There's a big jump in reading level from 6 to 7, but it's a jump in a good way. Look at the lit and decide that way, not by the skills. The skills you can remediate pretty easily using that reference book I linked you to. I think it has exercises. If the reading material in the reading 6 is too young, then it will be too young, regardless of how good the skills are. The lit 7 selections are particularly boy-friendly, seems to me.

 

No clue on the extent of the 30% off, just sharing what she told me.

 

Oh, I see! I thought perhaps you had gotten your discount info while at convention...I recall you mentioning hoping to go soon. I hope you get to go! Is your ugghiness flu related? I have been sick for a month now, and still coughing and feeling terrible with added complications. It's getting quite...OLD...and I am getting frustrated with being sick.

 

Yes, I did see your post on the other book. Did I not respond? Anyhow, I did look at it, but I cannot find a good sample of it anywhere! I want to see more than what RR offered me. :tongue_smilie: It sounded good though and it's on my list of options.

 

At this point I am more concerned with the skills taught, than the reading level. My ds will still be reading all of his TOG Lit, so he will have plenty of reading at and above grade level. BJU won't be coming this way until JUNE though!! I don't know if I can wait until June to see real life whole book samples....ugh! LOL BUT, unless I find used books so cheap that I cannot pass them up, I will have to wait for my look-see. :D

[Ellie]

They are free, and everything you need is provided. If I remember correctly, BJ online is costly.

What you're thinking of is public school at home, and all the free stuff is secular. That's probably not a problem for some, but for folks who want to use Christian materials, it would be.

[Stacie]

If it helps any, all the BJU options (dvd, hard drive, online) are 30% off plus free shipping if you order through a consultant. I just found this out Saturday, and it's been enticing me ever since. :)

 

 

 

Elizabeth (or anyone else), do you know if this discount is good with consultants only or does it also work with convention displays? BJU will be at our convention soon and I was planning to order the DVD sets, but will shift to a consultant if the discount is different. Thanks!

[Paisley Hedgehog]

old information

[littlemomof3]

LOL so there is no discount for newbies other than free shipping thru consultant and multiples discounts?

[G5052]

We hope to be able to continue to use Classical Conversations for 7th and up, but BJUP DVDs or online is my backup option. I enjoy the teaching, but find that I don't have the time like I once did with other responsibilities that can't be reworked. We've used BJUP materials here and there, and I've watched some of the Homesat broadcasts at a friend's house. It can be a long day, but my kids are older and it's an option we may need at some point.

[PeterPan]

Well humbug! Either the girl I was talking with thought I use Homesat or misunderstood the promo, don't know. Well thanks for researching it!

[Catwoman]

I would suggest that, before you place your order, you try to visit one of BJU's motel meetings, so you and your children can see additional samples of the DVD classes, as well as look through the books to see which grade levels would be most appropriate. (You choose a grade level for all of the courses, but can switch up to two of them to a different grade level if necessary.)

 

I wouldn't worry about the spelling, as BJU spelling isn't super-challenging. I definitely wouldn't go back and do third grade spelling, as that was one of our least favorite third grade classes. (We liked second grade a lot, though!)

 

If you order at a motel meeting, I know you get free shipping, but I don't recall any other discounts being offered.

 

I like the motel meetings better than trying to see everything at a convention, as the environment is usually far more relaxed. You can take all the time you need to look at the materials, and you will also get personalized attention from the rep.

 

Cat

[Catwoman]

You might consider cyber school curriculum. They are free, and everything you need is provided.

 

I'm not familiar with this -- can anyone post a bit more info about it (or a link?)

 

Sorry to hijack the thread!

 

Cat

[Stacie]

This is the information I got from a consultant regarding discounts for BJU products & services:

 

"The 30% discount is a one time opportunity for Homesat customers to switch to DVD's. You must call BJU for this discount, but can give them your consultants number so she will receive the credit.

 

Current Homesat customers will receive 20% off purchases of $100 or more through Dec. 31st of 2009. That would include only customers who continue to pay the monthly fee. Free shipping is year round with consultants. HTH"

 

A big, fat discount certainly would have been nice, but we are not HomeSat-ers! Someone please post if you get info different from this .... :bigear:

 

Too bad! Thanks for the information.

 

I made the decision to use the DVDs for the upcoming school year. I've burned myself out. And I think my children are burned out on their teacher. ;) I've been pleased with the BJU curriculum since we've been using it. I hope the DVDs will give me the break I need to work with the special needs child and give the others a little more independence.

 

Littlemomof3, I encourage you to try the DVD/online/hard drive. You may not always need to use the video lectures, but they are there for a reason! Good luck to you.:)

Edited April 14, 2009 by Stacie

[Wee Pip]

I second the opinion to start with 4th gr spelling. We're using 3rd gr spelling, and so far it hasn't been very difficult. I've seen 1st & 3rd gr spelling and it tends to follow the same pattern. I don't know if 4th gr follows this pattern, but I assume it would be similar:

 

3rd gr spelling has a group of 24 words per week, plus 3 sight words. This seems like a lot, but they are all grouped by spelling patterns. Last week, dd's words were all "ea" and "oa" words, the week before that was all "igh" words, another week was all "ai/ay, oi/oy". Once you get the pattern and learn the rules, it's pretty easy and predictable. The next thing they do with their words is add word endings. This week's words are things like: "near, nearer, nearest. gray, grayer, grayest" So there is a spelling pattern and then some of those words from that pattern have a suffix (-ing, ed, er, est, etc.) Then there are 3 sight words. Twice per week, these words are used in a dictation sentence. My dd has to write 1 dictation sentence mid-week, and 2 dictation sentences on the final test (the mid-week sentence is repeated). By the way, out of those 24 words, the student is only tested on 15 of them, with 2 more words that you pick yourself from your student's writing (although I skip these 2 words). So far, the Spelling Workout workbooks have less words but have been harder to learn than the BJU Spelling - if that helps you!

[littlemomof3]

I second the opinion to start with 4th gr spelling. We're using 3rd gr spelling, and so far it hasn't been very difficult. I've seen 1st & 3rd gr spelling and it tends to follow the same pattern. I don't know if 4th gr follows this pattern, but I assume it would be similar:

 

3rd gr spelling has a group of 24 words per week, plus 3 sight words. This seems like a lot, but they are all grouped by spelling patterns. Last week, dd's words were all "ea" and "oa" words, the week before that was all "igh" words, another week was all "ai/ay, oi/oy". Once you get the pattern and learn the rules, it's pretty easy and predictable. The next thing they do with their words is add word endings. This week's words are things like: "near, nearer, nearest. gray, grayer, grayest" So there is a spelling pattern and then some of those words from that pattern have a suffix (-ing, ed, er, est, etc.) Then there are 3 sight words. Twice per week, these words are used in a dictation sentence. My dd has to write 1 dictation sentence mid-week, and 2 dictation sentences on the final test (the mid-week sentence is repeated). By the way, out of those 24 words, the student is only tested on 15 of them, with 2 more words that you pick yourself from your student's writing (although I skip these 2 words). So far, the Spelling Workout workbooks have less words but have been harder to learn than the BJU Spelling - if that helps you!

 

Thanks...

My only concern is those phonics that you mention for 3rd are ones that he needs to learn. He isnt able to spell words with oi/oy ai/ay on his own let alone igh. So, you right, i need to go to a motel. I think there is one soon for here. Thank you ALLLL for your input! Thats great stuff to know!