14 April 2017

BJU Heritage Studies 4 Review

We've been using the "Distance Learning" option, which basically means that in addition to using the workbook and the textbook in our studies, we can also log in and watch video lessons online.  The fourth grade Heritage Studies curriculum covers American history from the Civil War through World War II.

What I like about the curriculum is that it doesn't talk down to the children.  It seems that the written textbook is a higher academic level than the online teaching or the workbook.  Which is fine, because watching is a more casual experience, and in terms of writing, children often don't write so well as they understand the material presented.

I'll give some examples:

The workbook is in full colour, and as you can see, I am allowing the children to write their ideas down freely. We are working on spelling these states properly during spelling time, though, I promise.  Can you tell that two children are sharing the workbook together?  It is their time to negotiate and figure out what goes where and to collaborate a bit.

Thumbing through the textbook, you can see that it goes into some pretty good detail considering it's for fourth graders.

The online program comes with PDFs so you can print supplemental worksheets to do at home.

I left a sample lesson above.  They always detail what materials you'll need.  Rarely to never do they ask for weird stuff like two yards of rope, but otherwise this is pretty much the sort of lesson you'd tune into each day or twice weekly or whatever.  You get to watch the lessons over and over during your agreement time, so you get to it whenever you feel like it.  I often use the video lessons for the children when I have something to do that will take 20 minutes or I just want a short break for lunch. 

It's a good break from my routine and I know the children are still learning quite a bit.  They love it.  I'm not sure if we'll continue next year as it's rather expensive.  We might want to try another subject next time for variety. 


  1. I don't remember much about our Grade Four curriculum, it was a long time ago and I was going through a bad phase anyway, so didn't learn much, but even so, I don't think the curriculum back then was as detailed as it is now. Certainly history wasn't as interesting as what your kids are learning now.

    1. Thank you! Often when we were kids we memorised names and dates and did a colour page. At least that's what I remember.


Non-troll comments always welcome! :)