Hi everyone! I’ve had several requests for a BJU Press Distance Online Learning Science curriculum review, so today I’ll be sharing my what we love, and don’t love, about this curriculum!
HOW WE USE BJU DOL
Each day my student logs in to her student account. She then does her assignments for the day and informs me when she’s finished. The lesson consists of a 30-40 (approximately) minute video to watch. She takes notes as she’s watching, some levels also come with guided notes pages you can print for your student. The online teacher gives a daily video lecture and also lets them know what assignments are due each day. My student watches her daily video lesson, completes any assignments/tests/quizzes for that day.
Once my student is done for the day I then log in to my account to grade/check her work from the parent screen. I like to keep her grades in my own grade book, but BJU Press also offers an online grade book as well.
We’ve currently only done the Biology 10 and Physical Science 9 levels so far, but I’ve found the daily lessons to be fairly clear and full of good information. The teachers are fun and interactive as well. I will say that the levels can be a bit challenging especially Physical Science for some reason. But we did well with both levels.
Here’s a sample screen shot from one of our lessons. My student marks it complete when they finish it, as you can see she completed this particular lesson. Then I go in and give her a grade and mark it complete. If she has any workbook assignments they’re listed in that blue section and the activity is a link you can click on which will bring you to the answer key. This is my view, so she doesn’t have access to the answer key on her log in.
And that’s it! With everything online it’s a super easy, no-prep curriculum!
PROS vs CONS
PROS:
I really like this curriculum for high school grades because it is very thorough and helps teach students good study skills, while also learning to manage their own schedule. The teachers do a great job of informing students of what is expected, assignments, upcoming tests, etc. They are in charge of completing assignments on time and studying for tests which is a great skill to learn especially for homeschoolers. Another pro in my opinion are the teachers. So far we have liked most of the teachers, they are usually fun, energetic and engaging. I also like that the teacher is talking directly to my student in the video, rather than to a classroom where my student is watching from afar. I think that helps them feel a bit more included in the lesson. Overall the content for the curriculum seems quite thorough and I’m happy with the scope of material that is covered.
CONS:
We found Physical Science 9 a bit challenging for 9th grade. While I like the challenging aspect, I did have to help both of my students quite a bit through this level. That said, once they moved on to the next grade levels they did great. While I still manage their day to day grading, I don’t always know what they’re learning which is a bit of a con coming from curriculum where I was the main instructor. It’s not a huge deal, but I do have to be diligent to take a look at the lessons and make sure I stay on top of grading their daily work. One other con, or pro depending on how you look at it is the amount of daily work. Some days are fairly easy, but others will have a video lesson, reading assignment, and sometimes two quizzes on top of that as well. Other times they’ll take a chapter test, and then a quiz and video for the new chapter all in one day. That can be a little overwhelming and it doesn’t happen all of the time.
WHERE TO GET BJU PRESS DOL
You’ll need to head over to the BJU Press Website and choose the online learning subject of your choice. They offer a variety of subjects and grades. I also get the hard copy text books because I like my students to listen to the online lectures and take notes, but then also study from a hard copy book that they can highlight, take notes from and study more in-depth.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
The BJU Press distance online learning program offers you everything you need to complete this curriculum. Each course (that we’ve used) has 170 lessons which is perfect for our state’s homeschool requirements. You’ll of course need a computer with internet so students can stream their daily videos as well.
I prefer to get hard copies of the student workbook and student text book, but they are also available as online downloads if you prefer! We’ve just found that having a hard copy text book is easier to study from and take notes. But it’s totally up to you and going with the eBooks certainly save on cost.
Workbooks are also high quality with colorful illustrations and detailed information for each lesson. And my parent portal has links to each of their pages for easy grading.
We use a spiral notebook for note taking along with 3×5 index cards for studying for tests. But that’s totally optional and just something I’ve taught my kids to do!
OVERALL THOUGHTS ON BJU DISTANCE ONLINE
Overall we’ve been very happy with this curriculum. I really like it for High School aged students because it’s very thorough and has been great for encouraging them to learn on their own, manage their own schedule, study for tests, and improve their note taking skills.
I don’t currently have my younger kids doing this curriculum because I prefer to teach them myself and we still enjoy doing activities together. But it’s definitely a top pick for us for the older grades.
BJU PRESS DOL HISTORY CURRICULUM
Check out my video review for BJU Press DOL History curriculum here! In the video I show you what the parent/student portals look like so you can see a bit more in depth the online portion of the curriculum. We have also enjoyed their online history curriculum as well!
HOW TO STUDY SERIES
If you’d like to learn more about teaching your student good study skills, check out my Study Tips 101 series: