I began homeschooling my kids with a curriculum where I taught it all. Our first year was great. The second year, the reality set in that effectively teaching my children required more hours than I had to give. I didn't want to give up teaching them entirely, and my husband and I knew there was a way to let someone else teach while I “aided” but I had several concerns. Among them were "How will I be able to gauge their learning if I’m not teaching them?” or “How do I know they are even paying attention to the videos? Are they really reading when the teacher asks them to ‘pause the program’?” and “I’ll miss that one-on-one time that we shared!” We did some research and we found the solution that we thought would fit our needs. We settled on BJU Press Distance Learning. BJU Press Distance Learning classes provide video lessons taught by expert teachers created for homeschooling families. They provide all of the resources I need to be sure my children are learning at their speed and ability. I can use the video lessons or teach the lessons myself- interchangeably when needed. Because I hadn’t used the product yet, I had some concerns- specifically, would I still be able to meet my kids’ needs and enjoy some of the homeschooling myself?

Once we began using the curriculum, my concerns were alleviated as I quickly found ways to be actively involved in their learning. For example, the portion of the lesson where the teacher asks them to pause the program and read from their books became my one-on-one time, simply by asking my kids to come to the table or couch with their books when they reached that portion of the lesson! I was able to take turns reading with each of my children. We started out where my younger child would read one sentence and I would read one sentence, and then we quickly moved to take turns reading a paragraph, then a page. I was able to be in tune with what my children were learning and ask comprehension questions if I felt it necessary. I was able to gauge reading fluency, and also help develop excellent read-aloud skills! I modified this approach with my middle-school child by prereading the BJU BookLinks book ahead of my child. This allowed us to discuss the book together, in addition to the "discussion topics" generated by the Distance Learning teacher. I realized that, even though I wasn't teaching them directly, there were still plenty of opportunities for that one-on-one time and discussions I felt were vital to our experience! BJU Press Distance Learning provided me with many different ways to engage my children and expand their education that I hadn't expected!