This year we have been using the textbooks from Bob Jones. You can find these at www.bjup.com. We are using grades K4, 2, and 5. We have also been using HomeSat, which is Bob Jones' distance learning Satelite program. It is definatly based on an Evangical belief system.
First lets take a look at each grade::
K4 Foundations program is a great introduction program. It covers Letters, Numbers and the concepts such as over and under, in and out. It also talks about some of the concepts such as friendships and team work. The HomeSat program really brings it to life with a puppet character called Chester. He and his many friends show your child
If you were wanting to purchase this program I would purchase the TE as well. With out the TE the worksheets may not make much sense. And you would lose out on a lot of the content. However if you are going with HomeSat--I wouldn't bother. I've only opened it once. And that was to check a craft project that was optional. It is completely not necessary with HomeSat.
2nd Grade Textbooks are very thorough as all the grades are. The math text is a consumable. I really like it. My DD was a little hesitant at the beginning of the year. Especially when we started HomeSat. Mrs. Vick really took off fast and kept the speed at the same pace. DD truly could not keep up. And though you can pause the program, you really can't keep doing it or else you'll never get through the lesson. (Which is 30 mins to begin with) So we stopped using the HomeSat program with this class really quick. The book though is very well laid out and the way they teach the concepts makes quite a bit of sense. DD now claims that Math is her favorite subject--a long way from where we started this school year. Reading on the other hand has helped in no way. She still cringes everytime we pull out the reader. But I think that is still a carry over from Public School. (which I'll explain in another post). The reader and worktext does have skill lessons that includes phonics work. But I think their use of the many different characters to depict each type of "sound" is very distracting. DD loves the characters, but doesn't really get their purpose. This could be because she came in during 2nd grade and didn't go through K-1 first, but I'm not sure. Science is the best!! MY dd loves it. I do encourage the TE with this class. It is very important to understand all the expirements. The only other TE i would recommend getting for grade 2 is the Heritage Studies one. Heritage is very hands on. The HomeSat program has the kids make a scrapbook. My DD loves it. Though we have stopped using the HomeSat program it just takes too much of our day.
Grade 5 is pretty much the same as grade 2. The Science program goes along the same subjects as Grade 2 I think. however the grade 5 is "deeper" so It's definately a "sprial approach." Heritage covers the 1900's to present time. DD completely disliked the Teacher on HomeSat and so we turned it into a unit study. She has liked it much better since then. However we have pretty much abandoned using it as a text book. Again the Only TEs I would recommend for sure is the TEs for Science, Heritage, and Perhaps Math if you need a quick answer book. And maybe the Reading 5 Worktext answer book. That way you don't have to read each story as well.
The HomeSat program we found to be a bit too much. It's a great program. HOWEVER, My kids didn't like spending 30 mins learning how to work a math problem. Nor did they want to spend 30 mins talking about the weather. They just wanted to MOVE ON MOM!! LOL! So we did. We moved on without the Program. If you are interested in the program though, I would recommend the Hard Drive option instead of the Satellite program. Really the hassle of recording all your classes really doesn't weigh out the ease of having it all available. Even though you have to return the HD. The price is relatively the same to be completely honest, and less stress.
Well that's it for BJU for now. I may revisit this and add some more information.
Thanks for Reading!!
T8ermomma! | 
