Are you considering a Bob Jones homeschool curriculum in 2020? If you are, you’re on the right track! Personally, I’m a massive fan of this program and the biblical worldview it gives students. This program is popular among home educators today so I thought I’d give it a preliminary review and look at BJU forum reviews other parents have made.
In this article we’ll cover:
- What the Bob Jones Program Is
- The Advantages of a BJU curriculum (we’ll use about 15 homeschool reviews to source our data from)
- Additional FAQs about this program
If you’re not a fan of reading, there’s a video review of the BJU homeschool curriculum further down the page. But, for now, let’s dive in and get started!
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.
What is the Bob Jones Homeschool Curriculum?
The Bob Jones curriculum is one of many Christian homeschooling curricula on offer for home-educated students today. Originally the curriculum was designed for Christian schools, but it has now been adapted to fit homeschools. For this reason, BJU follows the traditional education (or school-at-home) model where you buy the material and sit your children down to do it as a teacher might in a school.
A Bob Jones homeschooling curriculum teaches everything from a Biblical worldview. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee and you can choose between an online or paper-based curriculum.
You have the option of paying for the curriculum in monthly installments, making the program more affordable if you want to start homeschooling now.
Children studying this program generally complete their work in around four hours on average.
The BJU curriculum also comes in an accredited form which will offer many parents peace of mind when it comes to doing the paperwork for school authorities.
Is a Bob Jones Homeschool Curriculum Online or Paper-Based?
A Bob Jones program offers both online and paper-based options. That is, parents can choose between an online and paper-based home education OR a purely paper-based curriculum.
As you can see, this curriculum isn’t completely online like the Switched-on-Schoolhouse (SOS) program. However, as a mom, I don’t want my kids to be glued to a screen for longer than they have to be. For this reason, I like that it’s not completely online.
If you’re a parent who’s working from home, the online option might suit you better as it’s less time-intensive for the home educators, as parents only need to put in less than an hour’s work.
The Curriculum Itself
The BJU program is a colorful and exciting prospect for students. I’ve reviewed a couple of their programs and have been excited by the graphics which have been thoughtful and thoroughly appropriate. I saw this in the Focus on Fives Kindergarten Reading program they published.
The text has also been well-written and encourages students to think critically. It introduces them to relevant concepts and gets students to grapple with the issues of the day, tackling them head-on (especially in the Biblical Worldviews course)!
As a parent, it’s exciting to see children being taught using this solid biblical worldview, which is something you rarely see in schools these days!
Advantages of a BJU Homeschool Curriculum (Reviews)
Video Instruction is Appreciated
A lot of home educators were very impressed with the video instruction. The videos were captivating and short enough so the children didn’t lose attention and wander off.
The great thing about the BJU videos is that they are short (many were only five minutes) and they demonstrated a point, and then directed you back to your textbook. This is opposed to a video that is an hour-long in which children lose attention continually.
If you want a sample of the science video, this is below:
Shared Screens So Parents Can Login and See What Their Children Have Done
The online system for student and parent are integrated so parents can see everything their child has done.
Parents can review their learner’s grades and give them credit for something the system may not have recognized (such as a misspelled word). The system updates straight away, so correct scores display immediately.
Bible-Based Curriculum is Appreciated
As a Christian, finding a curriculum that supports your Christian worldview and edifies your children is important.
A few mothers appreciated the biblical worldview the BJU program clearly teaches. (There are also many other great Christian options which you can find at this link.)
Is the BJU Curriculum Expensive?
Compared to other similar curricula, moms said the Bob Jones home education curriculum is expensive – especially if you want the accredited version in your state.
If you buy the teacher’s manual, the costs increase further. A lot of moms felt they had to buy the teacher’s manual as some of the questions were unclear and they felt they needed extra help to clarify the questions. If cost is a big issue for you, you might want to check out free curriculum options here.
FAQs about a BJU Homeschool Curriculum (Forum Reviews)
Will a BJU home education program be too easy or hard for my child?
This question is difficult to answer as its answer depends on the capacity of your child. That is, if your child is gifted, they may find the program is too easy.
However, if your child has learning difficulties, they may find it too difficult. When looking at the comments on a Bob Jones homeschool reviews website, I found there were remarks saying it was too hard and too easy!
Bob Jones vs Abeka (reviews forum sourced)
Compared to Abeka, the BJU home education program is a bit of a favorite. Parents seem to like that the BJU videos are shorter (whereas the Abeka videos are relatively long). The curriculum is also quite media-rich.
An Abeka curriculum is more labor-intensive compared to a Bob Jones curriculum. One mother said the BJU assignments were manageable, but the Abeka assignments were never-ending.
However, Abeka is a much cheaper option compared to BJU, especially if you’re including accreditation costs.
As a teacher who is using the Bob Jones material I have been very unimpressed. The lessons throughout the pre-Civil War and Civil War era reflect a very Northern bias in the material. They make the false claim that Sherman never touched buildings, farms, or seed in his March to the Sea. This is not just incorrect it is an assault on the very traumatic history of his devastating attacks which left hundreds of farms completely devoid of all life and thousands of Southerners completely without home or work.
Further the material for the homework insists that the student write a letter explaining their opposition to Manifest Destiny. The problem is that A) It frames it as a one-sided issue namely that you must oppose it and B) It never clarifies that Manifest Destiny is a term coined by later historians and was never a named or explicitly termed policy. There are other problems but these demonstrate the type of problems encountered throughout the historical material.
At the time when I bought my curriculum the represntative never explained the difference between distant learning and regular learning???
We bought the Dvd’s and still had a hard time understanding curriculum. We bought the entire package deal $800. Not user friendly. I do not recommend.
I think is big changes but, will be greatly improved for my children’s. I feel blessed to found a Christian curriculum for my children.