BJUpress Initial Thoughts
I will certainly do a full review later after I have used this curriculum for at least a month, but for now, I am going to toss out my first thoughts and feelings on using this after a week. I purchased the entire grade kit for my first grader, swapping out reading and English for second grade, though. We had moved from The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts and Math, and I was noticing she was very bored with the first-grade reading materials. So I had her do a couple of the sample pages they had on the website and took a chance on ordering a grade up. So far, she is loving this and doesn’t seem to be struggling with what the course contains. Especially in reading, she has taught herself to be able to read rather fluently at this point, and is now reading graphic novels and young chapter books. She is nearly ready for middle-grade chapter books at this point, so I am glad that I moved her up a grade.
BJUpress is a unique homeschool curriculum, as you can choose which type you want. There are parent-led, online, and DVD programs. We chose the online option, as returning the DVDs seemed like too much work for me. The biggest reason to move from TGTB is that I found myself stretched too thin with two kids homeschooling and using a material that was heavily reliant on the parent teaching and guiding. You can read more about that here in my homeschool mom diary post. I won’t spend too much time going over that again.
The online lessons were easy to set up, and while I am still doing a lot of parent-led things with this course, the load was lifted a little with the help of online teachers. My girl is also really enjoying her teachers and courses, for the first time she was disappointed that a math lesson wasn’t longer. I feel as though this will be a great thing for her, and while she knows that I am still in charge, she has other teachers who can help teach her and explain things better than I could. This isn’t to say that BJUpress is a replacement for parent involvement, because it isn’t. But if you were having the same issues that I was, not having enough time and having to chase after younger kids and leave your school-aged kid hanging, this might be a good solution for you.
I find the lessons to be of decent length. I am still getting the hang of things, so we are doing all the work text sheets. This takes us about 3 hours from start to finish for all subjects-which we do daily now. As time goes I will cut down some of the worksheets that she has to do based on how well she does on the in-class work. The longest lesson is reading, which averages about a 30-minute video with about 5-20 minutes of worksheets, depending on how fast the child can complete the work. I do like that you do not have to do all the worksheets. You have the option to skip if you desire, or only do the parts that the child needs help with. I recommend taking this approach if you notice your child is doing really well on the in-class assignments; then don’t do the extra practice. It’s not needed if they grasp the material easily. Eventually, I hope to get the lessons down to 1-2 hours once we see what she needs to do and what we can skip. The videos can also be downloaded and taken on the go, so I am not concerned if she doesn’t finish all the work in a single morning.
Overall, I enjoy the lessons, and so does my kid. She seems excited to log in and do her homework, and the reading in particular offers the challenge that she is needed. I love that BJUpress takes a solid Christian worldview as well, even covering what this means in their science course. Her first science lessons were about how God made the world and how we can care for the earth and help other people with science. It’s nice not to have to worry about vetting certain things with science, but they also address other people’s worldview of millions of years and such, noting that people who believe in the bible view the world through creation, and those who don’t believe in the bible view it through millions of years. I had always planned to address our beliefs compared to others, so this is nice that they talk about it. I used to think that a neutral approach was appropriate here, but I can see now how important it is to have our beliefs incorporated in their curriculum as well.
Overall, I really like BJUpress. My husband used this when he homeschooled, though he was much older and didn’t do the lower grades. I don’t see anything that I dislike yet, and I enjoy having the extra help while still being able to choose what we want to do for lessons. The online hub that comes with it is also useful, tracking progress/grades and completion. There are options to skip, like I said, that do not affect the grade if you do skip. As well as assessments to administer to track the child’s progress. I personally grade each worksheet daily, though these are not entered in as grades usually, so you don’t have to track points for most of the work. It’s just a way to track your child’s progress and see where they need help. It’s easy to use, there is also a Facebook group to ask questions, and the BJUpress help chat online is very helpful as well.
I will see as time goes on how this works for us, but so far it’s a thumbs up from me, and if you are looking for a structured Christiannn curriculum, I recommend it.
