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Thank you so much! I so appreciate you watching and taking the time to comment! I don’t personally have experience in that area, but I know there are families who have used BJU successfully in this context. If I can find any resources, I will pass them along to you! ❤️ Thank you again!

You don’t know how much your comment blessed me! Thank you for taking the time to share this. I’m so thankful my channel is helping you in your journey. Feel free to comment or ask questions any time!

I think somehow the first part of your comment got cut off. I hope you can fill me in! Thanks so much for watching.

So glad it’s helpful! Thanks for watching!

Sadly, that’s what we keep hearing. 😞

Yes, but even sports in schools have changed so much, though. 🥺 Thankfully, there are lots of great opportunities for sports for homeschoolers as well!

I’m so glad it helped! We actually just do the textbooks and tests. The worktexts were getting very tedious with lots of written work (busy work), and I felt the kids were just laboring through it without really gaining much retention from it. So we read the textbooks and take the tests to demonstrate general understanding. I don’t make them memorize super detailed facts, though.

@amyharrellsmith thank you for the tips!!!

@@pamelaj76Happy to help!

Hope they’re helpful! They’ve saved us sooo much time! Thanks for watching.

Thank you!

Thank you so much! Merry Christmas to you and your family!

I’m so glad to have you here! Thank you for sharing as well. I know high school sounds stressful, but it doesn’t have to be! 😊 We absolutely love BJU. If you haven’t already, you might like to check out my unboxing video of 10th grade to give you an idea of BJU’s products. Feel free to ask questions any time! And thank you… Graduation is less than two weeks away! 🥹 Great to connect with you here!

Thanks for weighing in. Please cite your source for “Most homeschooled students don’t [take standardized tests]” and “a lot of homeschool children suffer from educational neglect…” The latter is a serious claim that warrants validation. Thanks!

So glad you found it helpful! Thanks for watching.

Thank you! I appreciate this.

Glad you find it helpful! Thanks for watching!

Thank you so much! That's exciting for you as well! It is truly meaningful to reach this point with our children in their education. Thank you for watching & sharing in this moment with us!

Thank you, & welcome! It’s great to have you here! Feel free to ask if you have any specific questions you’d like me to speak to.

Yesss!

I appreciate your comment. My advice isn't to be lazy, but it is to move at the pace of the child. Most curricula is laid out to provide more than enough practice and reinforcement for any child in any given situation. Many children grasp the concepts more quickly (especially in a one-on-one setting like homeschool) and are able to move through the curriculum faster than if they were in a school setting with multiple children working through the information at the same time. A lot of homeschooling parents don't realize that they can take the freedom to move faster without sacrificing academic excellence (I speak to this often on my channel). I'm a proponent of using speed to the children's advantage, not to their detriment as in the context of being lazy. Thanks so much for weighing in!

​@@amyharrellsmithI hope what you say in this comment is true, because the wording of the post makes it seem like you skip lessons you don't deem important. Not that you move through lessons at a faster rate.

@@ShadowPlatinum13 Unfortunately, it's hard to put a lot of context into a 4 second meme. 😊 I just have to hope that people with whom it resonates it will stick around my channel and hear me out on it. From the many homeschool parents I've met and heard from, I find that the more common problem isn't parents being lazy and skipping content, but it's that parents feel bound by the curriculum, and they end up frazzling both their kids and themselves by going through tedious busy work that isn't necessary for every child on every concept. From my observation (and this is only my observation; I could be wrong), the "lazy" parents aren't really using much structured curriculum in the first place. Those that are making the effort need to know how to customize the curriculum to work for them, not the other way around. Thank you for commenting! I appreciate the discussion.

Yes, of course. Here are a few to start with… Study available on US Dept of Education’s site (study by Psychology professor at Stetson University): files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED573486.pdf Univ. of Wisconsin study: www.uwlax.edu/globalassets/offices-services/urc/jur-online/pdf/2002/koehler_langness_pietig_stoffel_and_wyttenbach.pdf Harvard researchers’ study & analysis: journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258723

I’ve heard this from quite a few sources in the last year or so. It’s something we definitely never thought of when we thought school was the normal path for everybody.

Hi, there. I’m the “she” you’re referring to. I’m surprised by your comment, since this is one of my most popular videos and has been found helpful by so many people. Do you have your BJU materials already? If not, I could see how it would be confusing. For those opening new boxes of BJU curriculum, I believe this walks through what to do with the various components. Thanks for watching.

Thank you, Miranda!!! ❤️You are, too!

Yes. ❤️ That’s one of our favorite advantages of homeschooling-that the kids can move at their own pace. All four of mine are ahead of where they would be if they were in traditional schools. Thank you for watching!!

Thank you, Nandi! I’m so glad we’ve connected!

Thank you, Petra, for watching and for commenting! Yes, 💯!! I’m glad I’m not alone; sometimes we can feel like everyone else has it all together, and we’re the only ones “failing” to do so. I may have to grab a copy of that book. 😊

😂 Clearly, you don’t know your audience.

@@amyharrellsmith no that's the issue is I know you people all too well 😂

Love it! It’s also interesting to see how our own approaches can morph & change over time. Our homeschool looks so much different now than it did when we first started. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for watching! So glad you found it helpful!

Hi, Heather! I’m so glad it’s helping you!! Thank you for letting me know. That’s so encouraging. ❤️

Thanks so much! Lol, I loved the 90s, too, haha. Yes, they have updated many things. It does take a while for them to update the video courses because of what all goes into producing them. We were there in March & toured their facilities, and it's a massive undertaking, which they do very thoroughly... We were pretty impressed! Anyway, to see the most current version of each class, go to their website (bjupresshomeschool.com), click Shop, then the Grade level you want, then click the individual subject (make sure Online with Books is selected as the version). Down in the Description for that subject, there's a sample video that should be the most current version of the course. I will say that, having used them for almost 12 years now, we've had lots of updated courses AND lots of seemingly outdated courses, but truly, it didn't inhibit my kids' learning when the courses hadn't been updated yet. There was only one course my kids really expressed a strong dislike for due to a very dark set design (that course has long since been replaced/updated). Everything else has been fine for them. Even when outdated, the excellence in instruction and creatives makes the courses very effective in our experience!

Thank you so much! That's so encouraging that you shared that with me. I appreciate it, and I'm so glad my channel is helping you. We've used BJU videos for 12 years, and it really is about making it work for you! Let me know if there are any specific questions or issues you have that I can speak to! Thanks again for watching. I'm glad to have you here!

Thank you for watching!

Follow up question I cant find the answer keys are they usually a seperate packet shipped?

Thank you so much for watching and letting me know it helped you!!! ❤️ Two questions to answer your question: (1) Did you buy a full kit? And/or (2) Are you using 5th grade or higher via online? If (1) for under 5th grade, the Test Answer Keys are their own packet, usually with a blue cover sheet on top. If you received the Test packet and not the AK, check your packing slip to see if it’s ok backorder. Otherwise, you can reach out to BJU support for the missing item. If (2), then the tests and answer keys are all online in the Homeschool Hub for you! They’re embedded as links in the applicable lesson, & sometimes they are also found in the Course Resources section of a specific Course. I hope this helps! Thanks again!

Hi! Thanks for watching. I try not to take the worktexts apart, but when my kids were very young (K4, K5, 1st), I did pull the pages we needed each day & used an accordion folder to separate out each day. I show this folder around 21:00 on this video. Thanks again!

Hi, thanks for watching! I’m glad it’s helpful. 😊 For Heritage Studies, we read the textbook segments and take open-book quizzes/tests to demonstrate basic comprehension of what we read. I use Iowa Tests each year to evaluate overall progress, and we’ve never hit an issue!

Thanks so much for watching! I’m glad this helped take some pressure off of you!! We started the ultra-block approach a couple years ago (I can’t remember the exact timeframe right now), and my youngest now is 8 yo in 3rd grade. So I think we began this approach when he was in 1st or 2nd. It has worked mostly well; my biggest pitfall there is that he needs me to oversee more and help keep him on task. The other kids are much more independent, and while he acts like he is, he gets off-track easily if I’m distracted and don’t keep redirecting him from getting a drink, getting a snack, taking a break because his brother who just worked 45 minutes is on a break, etc. 😂 Our schedule is a a bit loose (that fits my personality/preferences better). I typically have the kids work 45 minutes then get a 10- or 15-minute break. We cycle thru that way until they’ve done a reasonable amount of work for the day. To your specific question, I’m not sure if ultra-block would be as suitable for a 1st grader, since they’re still learning so many of the basics in Math and Phonics. I could see a block schedule working, though, perhaps focusing on Math & Handwriting one day and Language Arts the next day. Maybe do a little Spelling every day? Just tossing around ideas. 😊 Feel free to toss some other ones back! I’d love to hear what you’re thinking. Thanks again!

Love it! ❤️ Thanks so much for sharing what’s working for you!! That’s great, and I love the sketchbook idea especially! Just a heads-up (you may know this already), in the older grades, Science and Heritage Studies turn into full-year courses instead of half, so if you still want to alternate days, you’ll want to get creative with how to work that out (still totally possible, though)! Thank you again!!

Glad it helps! Thanks for watching!!

Thanks for watching! Yes, if you have loose-leaf parent guides in addition to student handouts, I would recommend going with the 2-binder version of organizing; I describe & show this in my newer video here on this channel about How I Organize BJU Materials. I think you’ll find that video helpful!

Thanks for watching! I hope you’ll feel free to explore my other videos here on this channel. I do have a second video that talks about long-term storage, and I also have one BJU Unboxing video so far (10th grade with Science Kits). Glad to have you here!

Good point. Somebody “made schools.” That’s something a lot of people don’t think about.

🤔

Thanks for commenting. I’d love to read your sources on those stats if you get time to come back & drop them here.

Thanks for your input.

Hi, thanks for the questions! I actually have a tool that would help you a ton with this. It's a year-long planner in Excel; I made it years ago & shared with some other BJU moms who loved it. You can play around with the schedule until you get it exactly how you like it (and even better, you can adjust it later once things change, because, let's be real, things will change). You can check it out at wiserhomeschool.com/lessonplans. For Science & Heritage Studies, it depends on which grade level you're in. If they are 90-day courses, those are half-year and aren't really intended to do both every day. So you can split them however you like: Do all of one, then switch and do all of the other; or do one chapter of one then switch to a chapter of the other; or switch every other day if you want that continuous exposure to both subjects throughout the year. It's really whichever way you feel best about! (We like to knock out one entirely and then switch to the other). Through the years, we have morphed into what I call an "Ultra Block Schedule," where we just load up on a couple of subjects at a time, knock them out, and then move onto another couple. My kids like gaining momentum in one or two subjects at a time. With you being new to BJU, I would probably recommend starting the way you are with a more traditional scheduling approach until you all get the hang of it. :) But I do talk a little bit about Ultra Block in my video, 9 Tips to Shorten Your School Day/Year, if you'd like to have it in mind for the future. I hope this is helpful! Thanks for watching!

@@amyharrellsmith thank you so much! I'm unboxing everything now and I'll have to figure out how many days the courses are. We started with parent LED Abeka, then tried Good and the beautiful (my kids hated it), went back to Abeka mid year and now we have settled on BJU. 🙏 Praying this works out. I realize with my ADHD I need videos to help explain things because I don't have the attention span for it. I have a third grader and 5th grader this year.

@@AB-83 Okay, gotcha. So most of the courses will be laid out for 180 days (full year). Just check the Science & Heritage Studies, because many of those are half year, but in the upper grades, they become full year. BJU can be very flexible if you know how to make it work for you. I think you'll love it!