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Bob Jones Math?
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My dd is using Math 5, and my son is in Math 7. We used MUS before that. Ds never liked it (more because it was number work than anything) and dd was indifferent. Math is not my strength, so I chose to move to a curriculum that my dh was familar with. My ds was entering “fifth grade” and my dd “third”. Dd was able to transition with no real problem but ds had to go back to book 3 as well. I do think that MUS is a good foundation, and probably a great program many moms will be able to use it all the way through. But for ds’ sake, I wish I had made the change in third. I am simply not going to be able to help him with higher math like his Dad will-so BJ math is what we need to end up with. Dh leans toward having the dc finish their school years in a traditional school-so we wanted ds to be familar with BJ math in case he goes there.
My 1st and 2nd grader are using BJ, too. I kind of miss Mr Demme
but I figured it was easier than switching later. Neither has had any problem, although I did need to pull out the blocks and some of the terms from MUS to help my 2nd grader understand the concept of borrowing in subtraction. HTH!
Thanks for responding! That does help. I realize BJ has a more traditional school like approach, but it seems very thorough and the lessons don’t seem to be very long. I also like the way the work text has examples before giving the problems to solve. And I like all the visuals provided in the teacher cd. But this is in my 4th grade BJ book and I am hoping the 5th grade is similar! 🙂
I never looked at the lower grades for BJ. How long do those lessons take usually? My 7 yo daughter doesn’t mind math as long as the lessons are short.
15-20 minutes is what my younger ones do per day regardless of lesson. My youngest will probably finish his book this month-we need 180 school days here and won’t be done with our other work until August. My 8 yo is taking a bit longer, but will still finish early. (Not the case with my older ones.) We have “math time” on the schedule and they work for that amount of time. My oldest is 13 and he breaks his up into two 30 minute sessions because he is still catching up. He just started the 7th book last month. Personally, I am not really hung up on those things, but he felt “so behind” that I am glad for his sake that he has reached book 7. Dd works for 30 minutes-she’ll be in this book for a while. For some reason she’s slowed down-she says the work isn’t much more difficult-but I’m not so sure.
We are doing BJU 2 and 1 right now. If I were to do their lessons as planned out in the TM, they would take 45 min. – 1 hour including their worksheet. I split their math into 3 10-15 min. lessons. I do some of the hands-on stuff, until they get it, and put it with paper next, and then give them the worksheet. Lately, they’ve been flying through chapters, so we’ll look at the worksheet only, see if they get it, and if not, I’ll go back to a little bit of hands-on. They usually catch on with just a few hands-on practice rounds to get them warmed up.
We will be switching to MUS for next schoolyear. BJU is just simply too “school-like,” and some activities, at least in these grade levels, require more kids (classroom-sized) to do some of their “hands-on” lessons. Which of course makes it difficult for me…
BTW, one big problem I’ve been having with BJU is they show you *how* to do a problem, but fail to make the connection of *why* you’re doing it that way. I have had to do that myself with the kids. I watched the demo for MUS and understood something that I haven’t understood since I was in grade school, and I am a math whiz and know how to do Calculus with my eyes closed! So if you don’t think you’re going to understand something yourself as they get older and in higher math, this might be something to consider.
but I figured it was easier than switching later. Neither has had any problem, although I did need to pull out the blocks and some of the terms from MUS to help my 2nd grader understand the concept of borrowing in subtraction. 
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