distance learning

How One Homeschool Mom Managed Her Roles

December 17, 2015 by Meredith

Do you feel overwhelmed with the myriad of things that you have to do? That feeling comes over all of us now and then; but if you’re a busy homeschool parent, you’re probably more familiar with it than most.

Eujeana, a homeschool mom who shared her story on the Hip Homeschool Moms blog, explains how overwhelmed she felt and how a complete homeschool curriculum helped her educate her four kids effectively. She describes the sheer quantity of work that she faced.

There are about eight subjects in the elementary grades, so that was thirty-two subjects I was supposed to teach each day! Really? No way could I do that successfully and still have dinner on the table and other household management tasks accomplished. Using a complete curriculum with a distance learning program not only helped me to teach the subjects my children needed, but it also allowed me to give my children a rigorous education and still give them time to be children!

In her search for a solution, Eujeana discovered the concept of a complete homeschooling currirculum, specifically our BJU Press Distance Learning. With this program, she found that she could get involved with her kids’ education while also enjoying some flexibility. Lesson plans were already taken care of, so Eujeana could clean the house, create her shopping list, cook her family’s meals, and do all the other things a mom has to accomplish each day.

Homeschool moms like you have multiple full-time jobs. You wear the hats of mother, wife, household manager, and teacher for multiple grades. If you’re feeling too busy and overwhelmed, it’s possible to find relief through a comprehensive homeschool curriculum that does some of the paperwork, planning, and instruction for you. Look for a program that doesn’t take over your homeschool, but supports you with lesson plans, activity ideas, suggestions, and video lessons. Check out Eujeana’s full article, “Traditional, Boxed, Complete Homeschooling Curriculum and How It Worked for Us!”

Three Benefits My Family Received from BJU Press Distance Learning

October 13, 2015 by Meredith

My whole world changed when Dad accepted a new job on the other side of the country. It was the middle of the academic year, and I had just turned seven. This move meant a new Christian school, a new teacher, new classmates, and even a new curriculum. It was all pretty traumatic.

I’m sure my parents had some concerns of their own: Would Meredith’s academic training measure up to the standards of this new Christian school? What support would her new teacher be able to provide? How would she fit in with her new classmates?

My experience with the new Christian school wasn’t bad, but by the end of the school year, Mom and Dad had decided it was best for my academic training to take place at home. Homeschooling quickly became a new challenge that Mom and I faced together on a daily basis.

As I think back on it, Mom probably had a hard time directing my focus to more scholarly pursuits when I declared that art and recess were my favorite subjects. (However, my love for reading may have helped to alleviate this difficulty.)

We each had one more concern. I wanted to know who I would find to play with since I had few friends in our new city and no siblings at home; Mom wondered if she was qualified to teach since her degree wasn’t in education.

In the years that followed, we both found the answer to our concerns. I spent my “recess times” pedaling over every square inch of a nearby park with neighborhood friends. Mom found support and encouragement through other homeschool moms, conferences, her sisters (both education majors), and BJU Press HomeSat.

BJU Press HomeSat (now called BJU Press Distance Learning) served as the backbone of my education and benefited my family in three specific ways.

A Tailored Learning Program

Every day, I watched BJU Press video lessons for certain subjects, and my mom taught me the remaining subjects. This approach allowed Mom to choose the best educational materials to complement my learning style subject-by-subject.

A Daily “Break”

It also gave both of us a “break.” I enjoyed learning from different teachers who addressed me as their audience (a single student). The visual elements (including specially filmed segments) and hands-on activities that each teacher completed with me made the lessons understandable and enjoyable. As I watched the lessons, Mom focused on other responsibilities. This “free time” allowed her to be more effective in her roles as a wife, mother, friend, and teacher. Dad also enjoyed these benefits especially when the result was eating one of his favorite meals for dinner!

A Sound Christian Education

Another benefit that I’m only now able to recognize is the fact that Dad and Mom chose to use BJU Press Distance Learning as a tool to make sure no gaps would exist in my education. They saw the importance of filtering academic subjects through a biblical worldview but at the same time were unwilling to compromise my future academic success. Their foresight in choosing BJU Press Distance Learning as well as their guidance enabled me to excel in my studies and to reach my goals.

Today I’m proud to say that BJU Press still offers Distance Learning to homeschooling families. In fact, the Distance Learning content (grouped by individual subjects or grade kits) is now offered online, on DVD, or on hard drive. You can learn more about BJU Press Distance Learning on our homeschool website.

What’s your BJU Press Distance Learning story?

How Can I Use That Distance Learning Online Feature?

August 25, 2015 by BJU Press Writer

If you’ve viewed our quickstart guides, you and your child are probably navigating Distance Learning Online (DLO) pretty comfortably by now. A few more features that we’d like to share with you relate to choosing settings and connecting with other families using DLO.

Blog

The DLO blog is primarily used by the students. This feature functions like a chat room and is actively monitored by our DLO team members. They interact with students on an as-needed basis according to the guidelines listed in our DLO blog and profile policy. And every time your child publishes a new conversation thread, it can be viewed from your DLO Dashboard.

A relatively new capability you have in DLO is to adjust certain settings for your child’s student profile. This option is helpful for monitoring your child’s access to the blog or time spent on it.

We also recommend that you enter a test password so that your child is unable to view his assessments until it is time to take them.

Communities

Here you have access to discussion forums that are grouped according to your child’s grade level, technical questions, feedback, homeschooling topics, and more. Like other discussion forums, this one allows you to join current conversation threads or post new ones. You’ll find that many DLO parents are willing to share ideas and offer support. Your child doesn’t have access to these discussions.

Grades

Your child can view his letter grade and current average for each course he’s enrolled in. You can view and edit his grades. In fact, we have provided three options for recording grades. Both the Record of Grades PDF and DLO Spreadsheet Record of Grades can be downloaded. The Online Gradebook is easiest to work with since it automatically updates every time your child completes an assessment. All three options can be found when you view a course under your parent profile.

Help

If you or your children have any academic or technical questions, send us a Help Ticket. Our DLO team members are prepared to offer support.

Thank you for choosing BJU Press Distance Learning Online! As we partner together this year, we know your child is sure to receive a sound education from a biblical worldview, and we’re pretty sure his love for learning is going to grow as he gets to know his distance learning teachers.

What other questions do you have about DLO?

How Are My Distance Learning Online Materials Organized?

August 20, 2015 by BJU Press Writer

You and your child have been successful in accessing Distance Learning Online (DLO); so now let’s talk about how things are set up. We’d like to cover two aspects today.

1. Printed Materials

Each course includes a Video Lesson Guide and Student Handouts. These packets provide an overview of the course and any related handouts to save you time and money on printing.

Video Lesson Guide

The VLG is specifically for parents and allows you to see how the course is laid out. It outlines the content, materials needed, Student Text or Worktext pages, assignments, and parent responsibility for each lesson.

Student Handouts

The SH packet provides the handouts your child needs for the lessons. Each page has the related grade, subject, and lesson printed on it. (We know how things can sometimes get out of order!)

The VLG and SH packets are the more challenging pieces of DLO to keep organized—primarily because of all the paper. We have three-hole punched each sheet so that it easily fits into a notebook, folder, or tray. You might want to consider color coding different subjects if your child is enrolled in multiple courses on DLO.

Creating an organizational system requires some planning, but the packets lend themselves to easy grouping by lesson, subject, grade, or any other option you choose! Our goal is to provide your family with sound educational resources from a biblical worldview that support your goals but are flexible enough so that you can choose to do what works best for your family. And if these printed materials get lost, no worries. The materials from these packets are in PDF form on DLO.

2. Online Course Materials

Each course Homepage in DLO provides your child with access to the course’s eTextbook (available for each course that includes a Student Text as opposed to a Student Worktext). This eTextbook can be viewed online or downloaded once you’ve created a Vitalsource Bookshelf^® account. You can learn more about our eTextbooks at bjupresshomeschool.com.

Below is a summary of how the courses are set up on DLO.

Lessons

You and your child have access to the course lessons through your separate profiles. From here, you can both view the course lessons we have provided for your child to complete. (You can view sample videos of the lessons.) While DLO does allow you to customize your child’s learning experience, we recommend that you check your state guidelines to see what is required. Instructions, answer keys, and other attachments are provided as needed for you every day. Specific instructions for the parent are featured in a green box that your child is not able to see under his student profile.

As your child completes each item, he can mark it complete to record his progress in the course.

Discussion

Our high school math and science courses include discussion forums. Your child has the opportunity to ask questions related to his course and receive feedback from one of our DLO team members or other students currently enrolled in the same course. The forums don’t appear under your parent profile, but you can still view everything your child posts from your DLO Dashboard.

Our distance learning teachers have integrated different activities and materials specifically for your child into their courses. All of the educational materials we provide are designed to build up your child’s joy of learning. In the next post, we’ll share additional features in DLO, such as adjusting settings and connecting with others.

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Now That I’ve Ordered Distance Learning Online, What’s Next?

August 18, 2015 by BJU Press Writer

Welcome to the BJU Press Distance Learning Online community! We’re excited to be on the same team for your child’s educational experience. Our distance learning materials are crafted to provide your child a sound education from a biblical worldview. Starting something new can be challenging; so over the next two weeks we’ll share the how-tos of our online program.

Welcome Email

Once your Distance Learning Online (DLO) order has been processed, the first thing you receive is a welcome email directing you to create a profile. At the same time, your child should also receive a welcome email.

To create a profile each parent and student is asked to provide a unique username and password and to confirm the first and last name. The confirmation of this information allows us to provide you and your child the distance learning content and educational materials related to his enrollment. Protecting your family’s privacy is important to us, and you can read how this information is used in our Children’s Privacy Policy. If you choose not to provide a separate email address for your child, then all emails related to his enrollment in DLO will be sent directly to your email.

Printed Materials

Your printed materials should arrive soon from our distribution center. These materials may arrive all together or in separate boxes. What you receive depends on the grade and subject ordered, but each kit should include these items.

DLO grade/subject kit no textbooks:

Video Lesson Guide
Student Handouts

DLO grade/subject kit with textbooks:

Student Text(s) and/or Worktext(s)
Video Lesson Guide
Student Handouts

If you’re looking for the Teacher’s Edition, tests, or test answer keys—don’t worry. An abridged Teacher’s Edition PDF and other resources are located in DLO. We’ve also provided available eTextbooks in DLO for you and your child. Most courses in grade 5 through grade 12 also include online assessments that are graded and recorded electronically. (Courses up to grade 4 that use tests include the printed tests and test answer keys when you order the grade/subject kit with books.)

Logging In

When you and your child log in to DLO for the first time, you’ll both need to agree to the terms of Edvance360. It’s important to remember that all of our distance learning content (video presentations, assessments, and other educational materials) is hosted online by this third-party company. Their terms will appear on the screen when you set up your profile. (For children under the age of eighteen, a parent needs to agree to the terms.)

Once the terms are agreed to, you will see the Homepage, which we also refer to as the Dashboard. From here you can access informative messages (Alerts), courses, resources, and your student’s progress. Your child also has a similar Dashboard; however, he doesn’t have access to the Contacts, Communities, or Mailbox. Another feature your child will have view-only access to is the Gradebook. We’ve created a quickstart guide for parents and another guide for students for easy navigation reference. It might be helpful for you and your child to review these PDFs before starting the first course. (We update these guides periodically.)

Our distance learning teachers and textbook writers are focused on providing your child with sound educational materials that will build the joy of learning. If you’re missing some of these materials, please let us know. We want to make sure you have everything you need to make the school year a successful one. In the next post, we’ll talk about how these materials are organized. Please let us know if we forget to include information that would be beneficial for you.

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