Hello friends! We’re knee deep into our 11th grade homeschool year and today I’m sharing my thoughts on our curriculum choices, what we love and what we don’t!
Overall we’re happy with our choices for 11th grade this year but we have had a few things that aren’t working for us. For two of my other kids we’ve used the Janice Campbell literature units and they did great with them. But for my son it’s not working as well. I honestly think he just needs something a little more structured. He’s doing “okay” with it, and so I’m not planning to swap it out, but I do have to have to stay on top of him a little more with it. Even though it’s a bit challenging for him to stay on track, I do think it’s beneficial for him to learn time management skills and so we’re sticking with it. I also think he could use a little more direction as far as the writing styles go. So for next year we’ll most likely go back to an IEW unit where he’s getting a little more instruction. There are samples and instructions in the Janice Campbell units, but it’s just not quite enough to get him to where I would like to see his writing.
The other thing that we did decide to try at the beginning of the year was BJU English/Grammar. It was kind of a last minute decision and it was something that I wanted to do since he was in high school. I really like other BJU distance online units, so I thought the English would be great. And I think for another student it is probably fine, but unfortunately he was struggling with it and it wasn’t working out for him. So after about two months in we switched back to IEW Fix it! Grammar Book 6 for him and we’re both quite happy with that choice. The IEW lessons make logical sense to him and he does well with it. Apparently I need to take my own advice and not try to fix something that isn’t broken! LOL!
Other than that he’s doing great with everything else we’ve chosen for him this year. I hope to have him moving into dual enrollment classes next year like we did with our older daughter, so I want to make sure he’s on track and ready for those.
Our 2020-2021 11th Grade Curriculum:
- Bible: Word of Life Challenger Quiet Time for Teens
- English/Literature: British Literature by Janice Campbell
- English/Grammar: Fix It Grammar Book 6
- History: BJU Distance Online U.S. History/Geography 11
- Math: Pre-Calculus with Geometry by Shormann Math
- Science: BJU Press Chemistry Distance Online Science
- Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing High School Essay Intensive
Click below to see what our 11th Grade Daily Schedule looks like!
Download a copy:
My son is in 9th grade and we have been using BJU English since elementary school. But I really like the Janice Campbell literature. It seems to cover some literary analysis that we haven’t covered. Does the BJU writing and grammar prepare students well for that literature or would something else work better? Thanks for your help!
Hi, We actually stopped using BJU Press for English and writing a few years ago, and switched to IEW. When we tried BJU English this year, it just wasn’t a good fit so we actually switched back to IEW Writing, Janice Campbell, and Fix it! Grammar about a month in. The BJU lessons were okay, but my son said it was difficult for him to follow. I’m sure they have more information on their website on what they cover for the year.
Could you share a little bit more about your experience with the BJU Distance Online Learning Chemistry? About how much time does each lesson take? I’m also very interested in hearing about the ease and experience completing the labs? Does the instructor completely walk you through the whole lab on the video or does he just summarize what it’s about and the child will need to complete on his own at home? Will I definitely need to get a lab kit to go along with it? We have used BJU Distance Learning for another subject and so far that experience has been great. However, we’ve never used it for science and curious about your experience with the Chemistry. Thanks!
Hi, sure! We schedule about an hour each day, but it doesn’t usually take that long. The videos are usually 10-30 minutes and then there is usually a reading assignment and sometimes a worksheet or quiz. Labs have been touch and go. They usually show the lab in the video or at least explain it first. Then as long as you have the appropriate supplies you can do the labs at home. There have been a few that we haven’t been able to do because we got a kit from HomeScienceTools and while it has most supplies there are a few things missing so we’ve had to play it by ear some days! But overall we’re fairly satisfied with the program and I do plan to use it with our other kiddos.