My son got off to a great start with this wonderful homeschool math program for kindergarten. BJU Press offers an online math course for K5 with physical workbooks and online lessons. The lessons mix writing, coloring, and manipulating objects. They are interactive, and students speak aloud with the teacher as the lesson progresses. I have used the BJU Press video-recorded teacher lessons for around two years with my son Luke. His math skills are excellent for his age.
I hope you enjoy reading this blog post. If you want to do my course on how to homeschool, click here.
I like this course so much. It’s quite interactive and encourages children to understand numbers using workbooks, manipulatives, and fun on-screen games and videos.
We’ve often also used the counting blocks and number cards outside of lessons as games.
If you’re not familiar with BJU Press in general, I encourage you to watch the video below.
There are affiliate links in this article.
What’s included in the BJU Press Online Math K5 Package?
The online math course includes a video guide that explains what to expect from each lesson and what you’ll need to get out of the package.
But don’t worry. Preparation takes only a couple of minutes.
Because I opted to do the math course online, I didn’t get any physical teacher’s manuals.
Having said this, you can get digital PDF teacher manuals from the BJU Press Homeschool Hub).
This was a nice change from using teachers’ manuals in the Focus on Fives Reading and Writing Program.
Instead, I opted for the online teacher-led video lessons (a much better choice!), and I created an account on BJU’s homeschool hub (free).
In the Homeschool Hub
This is where you can access all the lessons.
There is about 18 months’ worth of access granted. So if your child needs extra time, they can have it.
I added Luke as a student and found the video course waiting for me there.
In addition, I received the following package in the mail:
- 100 Unifix cubes and Activity Book (great for spontaneous play),
- Packet Manipulatives Packet (range of pop-out pictures, images, shapes, etc.),
- Student Handouts,
- Video Lesson Guide,
- and the BJU Press Math K5 Workbook.
I’ve put a little picture below with everything we got in the package.
100 Unifix cubes and Activity Book
The Unifix cubes come with an activity booklet.
This shows activities to help children learn math through playing with the cubes.
They’re also used in the video lessons, so don’t lose any!
Student Manipulatives Packet
The Student Manipulatives Packet is excellent (#3 in the picture below).
This packet has an assortment of mats with pictures to use other manipulatives on (#1 and #2).
It also has many pop-out images and shapes (#4 and #5).
In one activity, students match the pop-out numbers (see picture below) with the pop-out dot pictures.
This means they have to get physical and use their hands as they learn math.
If my child is slower to get a concept than the video lessons allow, I’ll play games with the manipulatives so he learns them outside.
This is a fun way to learn math, and my little girl can join in, too!
Student Handouts
The Student Handout packet (see the picture below on the right) contains an assortment of other things you will need to complete the video course.
These include pages to write on and additional paper elements to manipulate.
You can put the student handouts in a ring binder to organize them.
Video Lesson Guide
This black-and-white document (see the above picture on the left) provides a condensed course overview.
It shows you what are optional materials and assignments.
It shows parents the content for the day, the materials you will need (although they tell you on the video what you’ll need), the worktext number for the day, the assignment, and facilitator instructions.
There are no assignments for K5 online math, as all worktext pages are teacher-guided during the video.
I haven’t needed to refer to this much, though.
BJU Press Math K5 Workbook.
The Workbook has various activities and is particularly useful for learning to write numbers.
Children do various counting, matching, and pattern-recognition activities, for example.
The chapters in the workbook (or the course) include:
- Geometry (Shapes)
- Classifying and Comparing
- Numbers 0-5
- Numbers 6-10
- Measurement
- Numbers 11-19
- Time
- Numbers to 39
- Addition to 5
- Calendar
- Money
- More Addition
- Fractions
- Numbers to 100
- Subtraction to 6
- Geometry
- Money
- Measurement
- Time
- Addition and Subtraction to 10
- Calendar and
- Fractions
The workbook is very colorful and exciting.
Luke was immediately interested in using it, which made me think math lessons would be a fun time of day.
The Homeschool Hub
The Hub was easy to navigate.
After creating a profile for Luke, the BJU Press K5 Math course showed up.
We clicked on it and hit watch the video, and the video came on.
After the lesson is finished, you can check:
- a box which shows you’ve completed the lesson and
- another box that shows you’ve done the assignment/worktext.
The Teacher: Mrs. Rulapaugh
I love the teacher in this course, Mrs. Rulapaugh.
She is kind and gentle and quietly explains a concept.
My husband often tells me he can tell when he meets a Christian person because their character speaks for them.
Mrs. Rulapaugh strikes me as a lovely Christian lady.
You can see a little video of when I met her in person below.
Biblical Teaching Through the BJU K5 Math Course
BJU Press infuses biblical values into this K5 course by telling children mini bible stories throughout the lessons.
For example, when we were learning the number 10, Mrs. Rulapaugh talked about the ten commandments that God gave the people of Israel.
After spending so much of the day hoping, praying, and thinking about my children’s spiritual growth, it’s lovely to see it coming out in the BJU video lessons, too.
Why We Went with the Online Option
I’m a massive fan of homeschooling offline, as I think there is too much video content in our kids’ lives.
This said, my son doesn’t watch television or play video games, so he gets only a tiny amount of video content.
When he does, he pays attention.
Because I struggled with math growing up, I wanted my children’s experience with math to be fun!
Hence, I decided to go with the online option.
In addition, I (then) had an almost two-year-old girl, Penny.
Penny can sometimes be disruptive, so I like playing with her in the background while Luke does his online lessons.
But, if you want to teach the course yourself and have a break from online lessons, you can use the teachers’ manuals (available as PDFs) in the hub.
How Do I Purchase This Course
You can buy the BJU Press Online Math K5 course here.
Conclusion: BJU Press Online Math K5
If you’re looking for a fun online homeschool math course, BJU Press is a great option. We’ve enjoyed this course so much, and I’ve enjoyed seeing Luke grow in math knowledge.
