BJU Press English Review

hello everyone in this video I'm going to be sharing with you about BJ you press English which is their writing and grammar curriculum I'm gonna be letting you know what my thoughts are after using this curriculum this year and let you know if I plan on using it again next year for those of you who are new to my channel welcome my name is Janelle Knutson I'm a homeschool mom does seven children that range in age from adult down to toddler and this year is the first year that I have ever used BJ you press English so let me share with you what we actually used with my third grader I used English - English - is meant for second grade I thought my third grader would do better in the second grade one so we've been going through English - I've also been using English five with my fifth grader and I've been using English six with my seventh grader and I'll explain in a little bit why I put her down into English six instead of doing English seven I also have English seven here with me I've looked through it and it includes not only the writing and grammar which is now one semester but it includes another semester of literature as well so let's go ahead and jump in and let me share with you some of my thoughts about English from BJ you press before we jump in to my thoughts and my review on it I do want to just give this one disclaimer I bought all of this curriculum all of the English curriculum from BJ you press with my own money and we are using it through the distance learning program so my kids are getting the instruction from the videos I am however in affiliate with BJ you and I so I want to let you know that if you click on my links I will receive a commission if you purchase through those links now I became an affiliate after I purchased English and a whole bunch of other subjects from BJ you because I really was loving the curriculum so much but that doesn't change my honest review I'm gonna let you know what I'd like about it what I do like about it and whether we're not or not we're going to use it next year but did want to give you that little disclaimer I think it'll be helpful for me to kind of explain how the BJ you press English is set up so through sixth grade their English is set up where it is grammar and Composition or grammar and writing whatever you want to call it writing composition the same thing but it's writing and grammar together and what they do in it it's actually something that I'm really enjoying is they rotate between grammar and writing so they're going to introduce a grammar concept in one chapter and then usually not always but usually they incorporate that grammar concept into the writing lesson in the next chapter so I really found that helpful for some of my kids who don't really like writing or grammar instead of just doing grammar day after day after day after day week after week and doing writing they get to kind of jump back and forth so they get to do grammar and about the time they're sick of grammar they can move into writing about the time they're like I'm done with writing move back to grammar so I do like how that is set up one of the other things that I'm really enjoyed about BJ you press English up through sixth grade is that it is filling in some of the gaps that existed in my kids education when we were using other curriculum the other curriculum that we used was wonderful it was fabulous it was great we loved it I probably go back and use it again instead of using BJ you press English but using the BJ you press English this year has just given me a little bit more peace of mind that there are some gaps that they had and now they have been filled gaps that I didn't even think about for example they talk in English I'm not sure which one I want to say 5th grade English for sure they're learning how to take notes which is a really important skill and it is something that I've tried to teach my kids but I don't always know the best way to you know convey to them how to get them you know the main idea out of a paragraph and all that kind of stuff so it's great that they're learning that in this English curriculum also just things like using the thesaurus using the library how the library system works you know these are things that yes would be really easy for me in the city to incorporate into our home school in the sense that yeah if I had a long list of everything my kids needed to know and I had a ton of time and I didn't have little ones and I didn't have to get dinner on the table and I didn't have to do laundry you get the idea if I just you know all I did was home school all day sure I could incorporate all of those different things into our English and grammar curriculum that we were using or write in a grammar curriculum that we might be using at that time but boy to know that it's just all in here and I don't have to worry about it is just it's just nice it's nice to know with that said would my kids would I be doing my kids a disservice would they turn out horrible if we never did those things no they'd be just fine actually I didn't really do those things with my oldest and she's in college and she's doing great so just an encouragement that your kids are all going to have gaps in their education nobody can learn everything even if we were given all of the information we can't possibly retain all of it but on the flip side I do want to try to give my kids the best education possible and so while I love other writing and grammar curriculum and I will probably use those other writing and grammar curriculums in years to come and I'm thankful that we use them in the past it has been really nice to know that bju English this year is filling in some of those gaps for my kids so I really like that about it now you're probably wondering why did I put my seventh grader in English six here's why English six is the last in their series of English curriculum that is one year so English six on down is one year of English curriculum and it goes back and forth like you said between grammar and writing grammar and writing it takes the whole now seventh grade English this part is only one semester and instead of going back between grammar and writing grammar and writing every single lesson is a grammar lesson and at the end of the lesson they have a little thing a little writing assignment and then the second semester is literature so my daughter is actually doing the full year of English six and then we're doing this one semester literature course for seventh grade now why didn't I go with this first of all what I found in their English seven and when I looked at their eighth grade English on up through high school keep in mind I have not used them but I've looked at them when I look at them I find two things one they're really heavy on grammar and there isn't a whole lot of writing time it's mostly grammar for my daughter that's in seventh grade right now we've done a lot of rammer she's pretty good at grammar I mean she doesn't love it but I figure writing is more important in my mind just my personal opinion writing is more important than grammar and obviously to do good writing you need to know grammar but I really felt like in this last half of her education here at home I really wanted her to get a really good foundation in writing and I felt like we're doing pretty good in grammar and so the fact that this was mostly grammar didn't really fit my needs the second reason that we didn't use this is this in the English series so you know the second-grade one that I'm using with my third grader the fifth-grade one with my fifth grader this one with my seventh grader it gives writing instruction I feel like it teaches them how to write it doesn't just say write a poem write an essay write a report it's giving them the steps to do that what I feel like you in the seventh grade one here and from looking through you know eighth grade and on I feel like they're assuming that the student already knows how to write that they probably they're probably assuming that the students already done you know you know all the way elementary bju English and they've got a good foundation in writing they don't need to learn how to write so they're just having them practice through writing skills here's the thing my seventh grader doesn't know real what really well how to write if I said write an essay write a poem write a research paper she doesn't know where to start so I felt like she needed the instruction so we went with English 6 so that she could get some grammar but she could also get a lot of writing in and she could get the writing instruction so that's why we went with English 6 instead of the seventh grade English curriculum that leads us to the question am I going to use bju English again next year yes and no let me explain right now I have a first grader and four kind of language English type stuff she's using the spell to write and read program and we are using a Becca language one and I really like a Becca language one I've used it several times with some of my kids in the past it's working well for her so when my current preschooler gets to first grade in a couple years I will probably use a Becca language one I used the workbook I don't get the teachers manual or anything like that I don't do all that have them do all the pages I just do the things that I think would be helpful for them and learning just how to write and so basic grammar so my first grader she's using a Becca language right now next year I am going to have her do English - I think she will be ready to do English - and I will probably have her use it via the distance learning program because it just saves my time and my sanity that my kids are getting the instruction from somebody else and I don't have to teach everything especially with little ones underfoot can be quite a challenge to teach for soon-to-be five kids and then have a little one so she will be doing English too I'm pretty certain that I'm gonna have her do English too and she'll probably do it via the distance learning my third grader right now is using English too I will and he's doing really well he is he's a boy she doesn't really sit still for very long he doesn't like writing he doesn't like grammar he's doing really well with this and actually this is one of the first things he does cuz he's like oh mom this is so easy so I think I probably since he's in third grade next year he'll be in fourth grade I'll probably just move him up to English for I felt like this was a good introduction to writing and grammar for him he'll probably be ready for the fourth grade one when he's in fourth grade so I plan on using that begin with him my current 5th grader that is using English five I will move her most likely into English six next year now here's why I say most likely I still have this is February I still have through the summer that we're going to be homeschooling so I still have some time to make my final curriculum decisions but I've really been liking the BJ you press English up to sixth grade so I'm probably going to continue using that especially because the distance learning programs are working so well for us with that said I'm going to jump into what I'm going to do with my 7th grader in a minute but I'm gonna take a little rabbit trail here because I realized I didn't share with you about the difference between using this on your own and teaching it to your kids and using it with the distance learning videos would I use these English curriculum on my own if I wasn't going to do the distance learning program absolutely I think that it's easy to teach what I look I mean when you open up to a lesson it I mean it literally has the lesson right there for your student so your student could and I know several moms who use this they have their kids read the lesson themselves and then they kind of help them to make sure they understood it here and then on the back side they have them work independently and those moms aren't doing a whole lot of teaching unless their student is really struggling with something that the teachers manual that I've looked at it just it really makes it simple to teach this so absolutely I'd probably use these again in future years even if I was going to teach it on my own and not use the distance learning program the distance learning program saves my time though and my kids are loving them for a lot of different subjects and I just find that it gives them a little bit extra reinforcement more instruction and it really makes it more exciting I mean English can be kind of dry and boring and you just do it to get it done and I feel like the videos add a little bit more interest to it but I absolutely think that these are a great option even if you're going to teach it on your own or try to have your student work through it on their own so just wanted to to say that now am I going to have my seventh grader use it next year in eighth grade no here's why again I'm not loving the set up for junior high in high school I'm just not loving it do I think it's a bad curriculum no but it's so heavy on grammar that I think it would be best used by a junior higher high school student who is pretty good in writing but needs more work on grammar not necessarily in my case with my daughter who is pretty good grammar but needs more writing and writing instruction so because we have seven the seventh grade one and we haven't used it I might have her in eighth grade just do the grammar and here just to keep up with her grammar so I don't have to buy a whole new grammar curriculum for her I mean we have this one so what it's the seventh grade on it and she's in eighth grade I mean hello we're home schoolers I'm gonna use what we got so I think I'll probably however maybe use the grammar portion in here but I think I'm gonna find a different writing curriculum for her that really gives her more writing instruction just she needs more detailed this is exactly step by step how you do it with that said I have heard I do not know but I have heard that the bju English curriculum you know in seventh and eighth grade through twelfth grade it slowly kind of switches and goes from heavy grammar light writing to more writing and less grammar by the time you get to 12th grade I don't know for sure I haven't used it but that is what I have heard still I don't know again I haven't used it so I don't know if the writing actually gives detailed instructions on how to write or just as having them write more papers and reports and essays and things like that you know so am I making myself clear here okay let me let me try again so I think my understanding is that as the bju English as as they go from like ninth grade to 10th grade to 11th grade to 12th grade so maybe 8th to 9th grade it's going to be really heavy grammar a little bit of writing by the time they get to 12th grade it should I think it sounds like it flips and it's more writing and less grammar or maybe a little bit more equal amounts of writing and grammar however I don't know if the writing is is just having them do more writing or if they're actually teaching the writing process and the steps to writing so if you are interested in BJ you press English for you know few you know for the upper grades junior high in high school that is something that you probably want to research a little bit more in terms of you know how much writing and writing instruction is vited with that said again I keep saying with that said don't I I keep thinking of more points that I want to make to you and give you the most information possible remember that seventh eighth grade and I'm assuming ninth tenth eleventh and twelfth as well but at least seventh and eighth grade their English curriculum is one semester of writing and grammar one semester of literature we will probably use the literature for eighth grade next year because my daughter is loving it she's loving the video instruction I don't know she loved it if she was just watching I mean if she's just doing this on her own but she's loving the videos and the video instruction and she is learning a ton so we will probably do one semester of bju literature in eighth grade but again I still have to decide I mean I I'm researching I'm trying to figure things out about what we're gonna do next year so I like BJ you press English especially up to 6th grade not not finding that the 7th and 8th grade one is going to be a good fit for us but it might be a good fit for you so just something to keep in mind but I want to say that BJ you press English curriculum well I am loving it this year and I plan on using it next year for a lot of my kids is not the only curriculum out there for English you know for writing a grammar that I like I have loved all of the writing stuff from iew the is-2 for excellence in writing and I have loved I II w's fix it grammar and my kids have loved those why don't we continue using those two reasons the biggest reason their teacher intensive and I don't have that kind of time it would be easier for me to teach English BJ you English on my own than iew writing your Fixit grammar it would also it's also obviously super easier me to not even have to teach it using the distance learning program the second reason is that I we've used iew in the past we've used fix that grammar and I just feel like you now switching to BJ you English for a few years or however long we need abusement is a great way to kind of fill in a few pieces a few gaps that just didn't get filled when we were kind of piecing a whole bunch of different things together so that's my thoughts that's what I'm thinking about doing next year I sure hope this was helpful I feel like I was a little all over the place so hopefully it made sense to you if you have any questions leave them in the comments below and I did want to let you know that my next video coming out is going to be where I share with you what writing curriculum I'm considering for my daughter that's going to be in eighth grade next year so since we're not going to use BJ you press writing what am I thinking about using and so make sure to subscribe if you're interested in finding out about that because I'm gonna be sharing that in an upcoming video thanks so much for watching bye you guys

Channel: Janelle Knutson

Views: 5,849

Rating: 4.974359 out of 5

Keywords: homeschool, homeschooling, homeschool curriculum, bju press, bju press english, bju press english review, curriculum review, homeschool curriculum review, homeschool mom, bju press review, bju press curriculum, homeschool english curriculum, english curriculum, grammar curriculum, writing curriculum

Id: tOCxcf5vu5o

Length: 21min 7sec (1267 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 12 2018