Does anyone use BJU English in place of R&S?

[angela&4boys]

We have used it in the past and found it thorough as well as enjoyable.

Just wondering if we'll be lone rangers...

[busymomof4]

I too am wondering the same thing. I have not used BJ English but I am considering it for next year with our girls in 2nd grade. I would also like hear from those that have used Language Arts for the Very Young and what your experience was. Thanks, Amy

[amck1992]

I started using BJU 3rd grade and 4th grade a month ago. The past 2 years we used Rod & Staff 2nd and 3rd grade(I also used R&S 4 and 5th for 1/2 year with my older girls). I LOVE BJU English and my girls do to. They much prefer BJU to Rod and Staff. They like the workbook format and the way the lessons are set up. My 4th grade daughter who finished 3rd grade Rod & Staff said she got confused with all the wording in the R&S books. I thought R&S taught the lessons beautifully but it was too much for my daughter or should I say too much explaining where my daughters eyes would glaze over.

BJU teaches the concept on the top of the 1st page in a very simple format, then at the bottom is guided practice problems. On the 2nd page, the child does the work independently but it's set up very similar to the 1st page that is done with mom, therefore the child will tend to do well on the independent page if they understood the concept on the 1st page. Grammar and Writing rotate each chapter which my girls are enjoying. We all really like the way BJU teaches writing. They use graphic organizers.

I find the content of both BJU and R&S similar. They're both fantastic programs. I don't think one is inferior to the other. We just happen to prefer BJU.

I have not used Language Arts for the Very Young but instead have decided to use First Language Lessons for my 1st grade boys and then will switch to BJU between the 3rd and 5th grade.

I just re-read your post and noticed you're looking for 2nd grade. I'm not sure what the 2nd grade english looks like for BJU but I did order the 1st grade phonics and english this year and sent it right back. My head was spinning looking at it. You can take a look at the samples at the bju website to see if the 2nd is similar to the 3rd.

I did really like the 2nd grade R&S. It was very gentle and we did most of it orally.

I don't think I would choose bju for 2nd(because I prefer a gentler grammar in the 2nd grade), I would either go with R&S or FLL or Lang arts for very young(which seems similar to FLL)

I probably gave you way more information then what you needed I hope I didn't confuse you. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Ann

[angela&4boys]

I too am wondering the same thing. I have not used BJ English but I am considering it for next year with our girls in 2nd grade. I would also like hear from those that have used Language Arts for the Very Young and what your experience was. Thanks, Amy

Hi Amy,

We used BJU 2nd grade when my now 12yo was younger. I loved it, but switched to a more CM style. I wish I would've incorporated more CM and not dumped the traditional approach altogether, but lesson learned. We're playing a little catch-up now with Winston Grammar and it is doing the job, and wonderfully I might add.

As far as LLftVY, it is beautiful and very CM, but I found it too light. It's a nice break from a rigorous study for a season, but not (imvho) a complete language program as some might think by the title.

Warmly.

[angela&4boys]

I started using BJU 3rd grade and 4th grade a month ago. The past 2 years we used Rod & Staff 2nd and 3rd grade(I also used R&S 4 and 5th for 1/2 year with my older girls). I LOVE BJU English and my girls do to. They much prefer BJU to Rod and Staff. They like the workbook format and the way the lessons are set up. My 4th grade daughter who finished 3rd grade Rod & Staff said she got confused with all the wording in the R&S books. I thought R&S taught the lessons beautifully but it was too much for my daughter or should I say too much explaining where my daughters eyes would glaze over.

BJU teaches the concept on the top of the 1st page in a very simple format, then at the bottom is guided practice problems. On the 2nd page, the child does the work independently but it's set up very similar to the 1st page that is done with mom, therefore the child will tend to do well on the independent page if they understood the concept on the 1st page. Grammar and Writing rotate each chapter which my girls are enjoying. We all really like the way BJU teaches writing. They use graphic organizers.

I find the content of both BJU and R&S similar. They're both fantastic programs. I don't think one is inferior to the other. We just happen to prefer BJU.

Ann,

This is an excellent description of BJU English and the very reasons I liked it so much. I also agree that R & S is fantastic as well, but one of our ds's needs the more concise description that BJU offers.

And may I ask if you use the TM that BJU offers or if you use the economy version that Christian Liberty Press produces? I'm not sure which to choose, but like the price of CLP's, of course. I was able to view one at a conference and they even include a bit of writing instruction (only a paragraph or so), but it wasn't an answer key only.

Warmly,

[amck1992]

Angela,
I bought the bju student book and manual from Christian Liberty Press. I find it meets our needs perfectly. They give instructions on how to teach the writing chapters. I'm sure CLP's manual will not be quite as descriptive and thorough as the BJU TM, but it meets our needs just fine.

Angela, your situation with your 12 year old sounds similar to mine with my older kids who are now in high school. We chose a CM type program that was way to light in grammar. We had to play a lot of catch up before high school and also used Winston Grammar.

I really think Carrie's approach to the CM method fits our family perfectly and I'm praising God for leading me to this curriculum!

Ann

[angela&4boys]

Angela,
I bought the bju student book and manual from Christian Liberty Press. I find it meets our needs perfectly. They give instructions on how to teach the writing chapters. I'm sure CLP's manual will not be quite as descriptive and thorough as the BJU TM, but it meets our needs just fine.

Thanks Ann! I have it on order from CLP.

Angela, your situation with your 12 year old sounds similar to mine with my older kids who are now in high school. We chose a CM type program that was way to light in grammar. We had to play a lot of catch up before high school and also used Winston Grammar.

I really think Carrie's approach to the CM method fits our family perfectly and I'm praising God for leading me to this curriculum!

Ann

And I couldn't agree with you more about God leading us to this curriculum. It's just the ideal blend of CM and some traditional to make it both enjoyable and thorough. And you can quote me! lol

To God be the glory,

[busymomof4]

You ladies are mentioning Christian Liberty's Manual for BJ Enlglish. I am gathering that this is the answer key that they offer. Can someone give me a little more detail as to how much instruction is in the book? Is there a little for each lesson or just a few paragraphs on writing? I am very thankful for all the posts. It is so helpful. Amy

[Alison in KY]

We have used it in the past and found it thorough as well as enjoyable.

Just wondering if we'll be lone rangers...

Hi Angela, I always feel like a lone ranger .

You have me curious about Bob Jones. I think (for today at least) I have decided to hold off one more year on Winston Grammar Basic. I went to their website and looked through their FAQ's and I just think that should work better. So for now, I will be using a 4th grade Growing with Grammar, however, it is used. About 1/4 to 1/3 of the student workbook is written in so the best thing for me to do is just skip that section. Anyway, about the Bob Jones English, do you use their writing, or do you skip that part? If you skip it, is it easily skipped, or do you have to really pay attention to what is going on and help your kids around the writing lessons. I will bow my head down now and say that my 10 yr old is one of those kids that hates writing and couldnt' write a paragraph to save his life . We're doing WWE 2 (very early in the book) right now, and I plan on switching to WWE 3 when it comes out in a few months...but I've also seriously considered Writing Tales 1. Do you have any advice for me?

Alison

[learningathome]

We just finished using BJU English for 2nd grade. My son really enjoyed it, and I did too. I think that the grammar instruction is good, with lessons that are easily understandable. The chapters alternate between grammar and writing. I didn't think that he would like the writing part, but he did. I thought the writing part was a bit much sometimes for a child this age. You could easily skip that part of it or do the writing together, and not do the independent writing. I used the TM from BJU, but mostly just for answers and extra practice ideas. It comes with a CD-Rom that contains extra practice pages that are very similar to the independent work in the student book. I think that the lesson in the student book was thorough enough, so you wouldn't HAVE to use the TM. We'll be using R&S 3 next, mostly because it ended up being cheaper.

[angela&4boys]

We have used it in the past and found it thorough as well as enjoyable.

Just wondering if we'll be lone rangers...

Hi Angela, I always feel like a lone ranger .

You have me curious about Bob Jones. I think (for today at least) I have decided to hold off one more year on Winston Grammar Basic. I went to their website and looked through their FAQ's and I just think that should work better. So for now, I will be using a 4th grade Growing with Grammar, however, it is used. About 1/4 to 1/3 of the student workbook is written in so the best thing for me to do is just skip that section. Anyway, about the Bob Jones English, do you use their writing, or do you skip that part? If you skip it, is it easily skipped, or do you have to really pay attention to what is going on and help your kids around the writing lessons. I will bow my head down now and say that my 10 yr old is one of those kids that hates writing and couldnt' write a paragraph to save his life . We're doing WWE 2 (very early in the book) right now, and I plan on switching to WWE 3 when it comes out in a few months...but I've also seriously considered Writing Tales 1. Do you have any advice for me?

Alison

Hey Alison!

My disclaimer: Carrie and Julie are much more qualified to advise you, but I'd be happy to give you my thoughts. I'll pm you a little later when I have more time. Noah is in destructo-mode!

[Alison in KY]

Angela,
I bought the bju student book and manual from Christian Liberty Press. I find it meets our needs perfectly. They give instructions on how to teach the writing chapters. I'm sure CLP's manual will not be quite as descriptive and thorough as the BJU TM, but it meets our needs just fine.

Angela, your situation with your 12 year old sounds similar to mine with my older kids who are now in high school. We chose a CM type program that was way to light in grammar. We had to play a lot of catch up before high school and also used Winston Grammar.

I really think Carrie's approach to the CM method fits our family perfectly and I'm praising God for leading me to this curriculum!

Ann

Can you please share exactly where you ordered this from, I've been to several sites and I'm just not seeing a CLP teacher's guide to go along with Bob Jones.

Also, for kids who "hate" grammar, do you think it wise to use a level behind their grade, similiar to how people do Rod and Staff English?

[angela&4boys]

Can you please share exactly where you ordered this from, I've been to several sites and I'm just not seeing a CLP teacher's guide to go along with Bob Jones.

Also, for kids who "hate" grammar, do you think it wise to use a level behind their grade, similiar to how people do Rod and Staff English?

Here's the direct link: http://ebiz.netopia.com/clpress/grammarandspeech/

It will be an Answer Key for 3rd and a Teacher's Manual for 4th-6th.

[angela&4boys]

You ladies are mentioning Christian Liberty's Manual for BJ Enlglish. I am gathering that this is the answer key that they offer. Can someone give me a little more detail as to how much instruction is in the book? Is there a little for each lesson or just a few paragraphs on writing? I am very thankful for all the posts. It is so helpful. Amy

Hi Amy,

I'd be happy to give you a description when I receive it, but maybe Ann will see your question before then and be able to help you before then. I'm expecting it by the week's end.

[Carrie]

Ladies,

I'm popping into this thread late, and while you can easily use BJU if you prefer in place of Rod and Staff I did want to mention just a bit about why we schedule Rod and Staff. With my oldest son, we used a year of BJU English and Writing, and at the time I was very excited to try it. However, upon use (in grade 4) we found that for our purposes BJU was a lot of workbook with quite a bit of writing requiring more time from me to teach it than I liked, and also more reteaching than I wanted. We bogged down in the BJU writing lessons and found them to be somewhat tedious, and we also found not nearly the carry-over from grammar into writing that we were desiring.

It was at this point that we switched to Rod and Staff, and I can't even begin to explain the difference in my son's understanding/comprehension/application of grammar since our switch to Rod and Staff. I completely balked at using (what I thought at the time) was such a teacher intensive, rigorous grammar porgram. However, I have discovered that its straight-forward, no-nonsense approach along with application to writing right within the lessons is unmatched by any grammar program that we've used in the past (which includes quite a few)!

Anyway, Rod and Staff is definitely something to consider as it is much less work than BJU, much less time consuming to teach and also does an equally good or better job of hitting the grammar concepts with application. I have honestly become a huge fan of Rod and Staff grammar, so it may be wise to take one more look at Rod and Staff before passing it by as I did.

Blessings,
Carrie