How to Get BJU Press Shipped to Australia for Much Less
Have you ever looked at BJU Press from Australia and thought, “Yep, I’m sold”—then added it to your cart and discovered the shipping was going to cost almost half as much as the curriculum itself?
And suddenly you are wondering whether you are buying homeschool books or personally chartering them a flight across the Pacific. ✈️
BJU Press is already a significant investment.
Once you add the US-to-Australian exchange rate and international postage, the final total can be enough to make you quietly close the browser and reconsider every educational decision you have ever made.
But there may be a much cheaper way to ship BJU Press to Australia, New Zealand or another country outside the United States.
(You can view the current BJU Press homeschool packages here before comparing your shipping options.)
In this article, I will explain that option and answer the questions overseas families ask me most about:
BJU Press pricing and currency
International shipping
Video lessons versus DVDs
Buying from LEM or second-hand
Using BJU Maths and History in Australia
Heads up—this post contains affiliate links, so if you decide to purchase this curriculum here, thank you! It helps support our small homeschool family.
Are BJU Press Prices in Australian or US Dollars? 💵
The prices shown on the BJU Press website are in US dollars.
That sounds obvious once someone tells you, but it is surprisingly easy to look at the listed price and briefly forget that the Australian dollar has other plans.
Depending on the exchange rate, Australians may need to add roughly another 40 per cent to get a general idea of the price in Australian dollars.
That means a package listed at $1,000 USD is not going to appear on your Australian bank statement as a friendly little $1,000 purchase.
Before ordering, convert the entire total—including the curriculum and shipping—into your own currency.
Otherwise, your bank statement may decide to teach the currency-conversion lesson for you.
Where Does BJU Press Ship From? 📦
BJU Press sends its physical curriculum from South Carolina in the United States.
And these are not small, light parcels.
A full grade package may include:
Student worktexts
Tests and answer keys
Activity books
Teacher editions and manuals
Additional subject resources
However, the weight can vary considerably depending on whether you purchase the video lessons or the parent-taught option.
This is another reason I recommend buying BJU Press with the video lessons.
If you choose the parent-taught version, you may receive large teacher editions and manuals for each subject. These books are extremely thorough, but they are also thick, heavy and apparently built to survive several generations of homeschooling.
When you purchase the video lessons, you generally do not need the full collection of teacher manuals because the BJU video teachers do the teaching for you.
Removing those manuals may cut roughly half the weight from the shipment, depending on the package.
That can make an enormous difference when you are paying international postage.
You are not only making your homeschool more hands-off. You are also stopping several brick-sized teacher manuals from taking an expensive holiday to Australia.
Should You Choose the BJU Video Lessons? 🎥
I strongly recommend using BJU Press with the video lessons.
Without the videos, the parent teaches the lessons.
That may suit parents who love direct teaching and want to be closely involved in every subject. However, it is not the independent, hands-off version of BJU Press that I usually discuss.
With the video lessons, children can:
Watch an experienced BJU teacher explain the material
See examples and demonstrations
Follow clear daily instructions
Complete much of the assigned work independently
This can gradually teach children to manage much of their own homeschool day.
In our home, that independence is one of the main reasons BJU Press works so well for our family.
I already have several children, a house, a business and the usual collection of jobs that appear from nowhere before breakfast.
I do not need to add “teach six complete subjects from enormous manuals” to the list unless absolutely necessary.
This is the BJU Press video option I recommend for families wanting a more independent homeschool day.
You can view the available grades here.
A Cheaper Way to Ship BJU Press Overseas 🌏
One option worth investigating is a freight-forwarding company such as MyUS.
A freight forwarder gives you a US postal address.
You place your BJU Press order and have it delivered to that American address instead of directly to your home in Australia or New Zealand.
The forwarding company then:
Receives your package in the United States
Repackages or consolidates it when requested
Sends the parcel to your overseas address
This can sometimes be considerably cheaper than paying a retailer’s direct international shipping charge.
MyUS says customers may save up to 80 per cent through package consolidation.
The exact saving will depend on the size, weight and contents of your parcel, so compare the estimated MyUS price with BJU Press’s direct postage before ordering.
Still, it is certainly worth checking before deciding that BJU Press is simply impossible to buy from overseas.
Why Package Consolidation Can Make a Big Difference 📉
Package consolidation may be especially helpful with BJU Press because an order can sometimes arrive at the forwarding address in several separate boxes.
Those boxes can also contain a very generous amount of packaging.
Your curriculum may arrive protected as though BJU Press believes the postal service plans to roll it down a mountain.
A freight forwarder may be able to:
Combine several boxes into one parcel
Remove unnecessary external packaging
Take out excess bubble wrap
Repack the books more efficiently
Reducing the number of boxes and the overall parcel size can make the final postage considerably cheaper.
This method may also help if you are purchasing homeschool resources from several American companies.
You could send all the orders to the same US address, combine them and pay for one international shipment rather than several separate ones.
That makes freight forwarding useful for overseas homeschoolers generally—not only families using BJU Press.
Can Australians Buy BJU Press From LEM? 🇦🇺
Australians often ask whether they can avoid international postage by buying BJU Press books locally through Light Educational Ministries, usually called LEM.
LEM does stock BJU Press materials.
However, I would be extremely careful if you are purchasing the current BJU Press video lessons.
When I looked through the BJU materials available from LEM, many appeared to be older editions.
That matters because each BJU video course is designed to match a specific edition of the:
Student worktext
Activity books
Tests
Other course materials
The teacher in the video may ask your child to open a particular page, complete a certain activity or read a specific section.
If your child has an older edition, the pages, questions and activities may be different.
You may save money on the book only to discover that the videos and worktext do not match.
That is not necessarily an evacuate-the-house disaster.
It is more of a “Mum now has to solve this problem every morning for the next 180 lessons” disaster.
Always check the exact title, edition and copyright year before buying BJU materials from another supplier.
A book being labelled “BJU Math 4” does not automatically mean it matches the current Math 4 video course.
What About Second-Hand BJU Press Books? ♻️
The same warning applies to second-hand BJU Press materials.
Used teacher editions and answer keys can be an excellent way to save money—but only when they match the exact course you are using.
Before buying anything second-hand, check:
The complete course title
Grade level
Edition number
Copyright year
Whether it matches your specific video course
Do not rely on a seller saying, “I think this is the current edition.”
“I think” is not the phrase you want to hear when buying something that needs to coordinate with 180 prerecorded lessons.
You should also remember that many BJU student worktexts are consumable.
A second-hand worktext may already contain someone else’s answers, calculations and occasional unexplained drawings in the margins.
Teacher manuals and answer keys may be worth buying used when the editions match.
Consumable student books are usually safer to purchase new.
The safest option is to check the current course directly through BJU Press so you can see the exact edition and materials required for the video lessons.
Should Overseas Families Choose DVDs or Online Lessons? 💻
I would definitely choose the online lessons—unless posting DVDs back to America sounds like a fun little end-of-year project.
BJU’s DVDs are only an 18-month rental.
They are not lifetime DVDs that you purchase and keep permanently.
After the rental period, the DVDs must make the return journey to the United States.
So overseas families may have to:
Pay to ship the curriculum across the Pacific
Use the DVDs for the rental period
Pay international postage to send the DVDs back again
The DVDs may end up better travelled than you are.
With the online lesson option, there is nothing physical to return.
Your child watches the classes through BJU’s online system, and access expires when the course period finishes.
For international families, the online lessons are considerably simpler—and potentially much cheaper.
What Should Australians Do About BJU Maths? ➗
Another question Australians ask is what to do about maths because BJU uses some American money and measurements.
Personally, I use the curriculum as written and teach the conversions when they appear.
I actually like that my son understands:
Gallons and miles
Feet and inches
Pounds
Pennies and dimes
We live in an increasingly globalized world, and these terms appear constantly in books, documentaries, podcasts and audiobooks.
My son listens to many audiobooks, and American measurements and money turn up surprisingly often.
Because he has already encountered them in maths, he understands what they mean instead of stopping the story every five minutes to ask why everyone is measuring liquid in gallons.
Most importantly, BJU Press teaches both metric and imperial measurements.
My son is not learning one system instead of the other.
He is learning both—and I like that.
He may not always know which country chose the most sensible system, but at least he can calculate in all of them.
If you absolutely must add an Australian supplement, LEM produces one designed to accompany Rod and Staff Maths.
However, I have found an extra supplement completely unnecessary.
The conversions are simple, BJU already teaches both systems, and I am quite happy for my child to know that a gallon exists without needing an emergency Australian workbook.
What Should Australians Do About History? 📚
The next question I receive regularly is what Australian families should do about history.
Maths is quite easy to convert.
History is a little harder because you cannot simply convert the Boston Tea Party into the First Fleet.
BJU Press is an American curriculum, so its history naturally leans heavily towards America.
That is understandable—but it can become mildly confusing when your Australian child knows more about the Pilgrims than the First Fleet.
Your child may be able to explain the Boston Tea Party in great detail while remaining slightly unsure about what happened in their own country.
For Australian history, I have liked Our Sunburnt Country from My Homeschool.
It gives children an engaging overview of Australian history and is designed with Australian homeschoolers in mind.
LEM also produces a History of Australia course with student workbooks.
Depending on your child, you could consider:
Year 4: The workbook-based LEM course may be a useful option.
Year 7: Our Sunburnt Country could work with extra discussion, research or written assignments added where necessary.
You do not need to bolt a second enormous history curriculum onto the side of BJU Press and hope the whole thing still fits into your week.
Your homeschool day does not need another full history program marching in and demanding three extra hours.
You simply need to ensure your children learn the important people, events and ideas from their own country, alongside the world and American history covered in BJU Press.
Is BJU Press Worth Ordering From Australia? ✅
BJU Press can absolutely work for Australian, New Zealand and other overseas families.
You simply need to plan the purchase carefully.
Before ordering, remember to:
Convert the listed US prices into your own currency
Consider the video lessons, which may significantly reduce shipping weight
Compare BJU’s direct postage with a freight forwarder such as MyUS
Ask for separate boxes to be consolidated and excess packaging removed
Choose online lessons rather than rented DVDs
Check editions carefully before buying through LEM or second-hand
Add a manageable amount of Australian history where needed
Taking these steps may make BJU Press far more realistic for an international family—and prevent your curriculum from requiring its own first-class ticket across the Pacific.
Please Consider Using My BJU Press Link ❤️
If this article has helped you decide that BJU Press is right for your family, I would be genuinely so thankful if you ordered through my BJU Press link here.
It does not cost you anything extra, but it helps support this website and my ongoing habit of opening enormous curriculum boxes and reviewing what is inside.
Thank you so much to every family who uses my link.
Your support allows me to continue creating detailed homeschool curriculum reviews, comparisons and practical homeschooling content for families around the world.
