BJU Press Pre Algebra: A Plain Breakdown of What It Actually Is and How It Works
BJU Press Pre Algebra is a middle-school level math curriculum published by Bob Jones University Press. It targets students who have completed basic arithmetic and need preparation for formal algebra. The book covers integers, rational numbers, one-step and multi-step equations, ratios and proportions, percents, basic geometry, and introductory statistics. It is designed primarily for homeschool use but also appears in some private Christian schools. The structure is straightforward. Each chapter presents a series of lessons. Lessons contain worked examples followed by practice problems. At the end of each chapter, there are tests. The program also sells a separate Teacher Edition with answers and suggested pacing. The student worktext is where the actual problem-solving happens.
BJU Press Pre Algebra: Download and Material Considerations
Before we get into how it functions, let me address the download question directly. BJU Press does not officially offer free digital downloads of their curriculum. The publisher sells physical worktexts and Teacher Editions through their own website and authorized dealers. Any site claiming to have a free PDF download is almost certainly distributing pirated material. That raises legal issues and also means you are not supporting the people who wrote and updated the content. If cost is a concern, check the BJU Press website for bulk pricing or used copies from other homeschool families. The content hasn't changed significantly between recent editions, so an older Teacher Edition will still work fine for the current student worktext. I went through this exact situation when my daughter was starting Pre Algebra. Her publisher sent an instructor guide that had different answer key ordering than the student book. I spent about forty-five minutes cross-referencing before I realized the Teacher Edition I had purchased was from a slightly earlier printing. The problems themselves were identical, but the page references in the back weren't perfectly aligned. I just stopped using the reference numbers and looked up answers by problem number instead. Saved me from ordering a second copy. Here is something most people miss about this program. The difficulty jump between chapter 3 and chapter 4 is noticeably steeper. Chapters one through three mostly review arithmetic concepts and introduce integers in a fairly gentle way. Then chapter four hits systems of equations and word problems that require setting up relationships between variables. Students who coast through the first few chapters often hit a wall at chapter four because they never fully internalized the integer operations. I recommend spending extra time on negative number arithmetic before moving forward. Have the student do integer addition and subtraction drills for about ten minutes a day until it becomes automatic. This step alone usually prevents the chapter four crash that half the kids I've seen go through.
The curriculum integrates Bible verses into the lesson introductions. Some families prefer this. Some don't care either way. It does not affect the math content. The pedagogy itself is fairly traditional and direct. Problems are presented, procedures are demonstrated, then students practice. There is not a heavy emphasis on exploratory discovery or project-based learning. If that is what you are looking for, this is not the program. The review sections at the end of each chapter are thorough but repetitive. I found that students who finish them get a reasonably accurate picture of what they know and what they do not. However, the review sets do not always mirror the test format exactly. The tests tend to include a few word problems that are slightly more involved than what appears in the daily lessons. This caught a few students off guard when they expected the tests to be a straight extension of the homework problems. I made it a habit to have my daughter verbalize each word problem before she wrote anything down. Just translate the English sentence into a math sentence first. That habit alone improved her test scores noticeably within a couple of weeks. One real limitation of BJU Press Pre Algebra is the pacing. The curriculum assumes a fairly consistent five-days-a-week schedule. If a student misses a week, catching up is not trivial because each chapter builds directly on the previous one. The integer operations from chapter two appear in every chapter after that. Gaps compound quickly. If your schedule is going to be irregular, consider a more flexible program or plan to do weekend catch-up sessions before moving forward. Blocking out two to three hours on Saturday morning for review and make-up work usually works better than trying to cram it during the week.
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Another issue worth noting is the answer key. The Teacher Edition provides answers, but it does not always show the intermediate steps for multi-step problems. When a student gets the wrong answer and you need to help them find where they went off track, you sometimes have to work through the problem yourself to identify the error. This is not unique to this program, but it is worth being aware of if you are a parent teaching math rather than a specialist. The program also includes a section on basic statistics that some schools skim over entirely. The content is not advanced, but it does appear on the end-of-chapter tests. I have seen teachers skip the statistics portion because they assumed it would not be heavily weighted. The tests do include several statistics questions, so it is better to cover it fully the first time. If the program does not fit your needs, there are alternatives. Saxon Math Pre-Algebra follows a similar spiral approach but with more frequent cumulative review. Prentice Hall Pre-Algebra offers a more conventional textbook structure with a stronger emphasis on algebraic reasoning. For families who want something less traditionally formatted, Discovering Geometry from Key Curriculum Press takes a different overall approach, though it is not a direct replacement for pre-algebra content.
The main thing to keep in mind is that BJU Press Pre Algebra is competent and thorough but not particularly innovative. It does its job by presenting concepts clearly and providing ample practice. The trade-off is that it requires a fairly disciplined schedule and does not accommodate struggling students with extensive remedial support within the text itself. Most students need the parent or teacher to fill those gaps manually. That is normal for this level of curriculum regardless of which publisher you choose. It just means you should expect to be actively involved in the process rather than treating the book as something that runs on autopilot.
