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Need to make a few quick curriclum choices


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I finally heard from the school regarding what subjects I need to do with dd this semester. We had planned on sending her back to the private school 2nd semester but she still won't be able to due to health reasons. Since it took 2 weeks for the school to get back to me now I am in a rush to order books so that I can make lesson plans before 2nd semester.

 

For biology she needs to cover kingdoms, basic chemistry, and creation/evolution, although I don't feel that she had a great understanding of the material that we covered 1st semester so I wouldn't mind a quick review of that. Right now I'm considering getting Apologia Biology and having her just read the chapters that are review and spending more time on the chapters that cover the material that the class at school would be covering. I'm also considering using Abeka biology and I am wondering which would work out better. I need something that is relatively easy to use and understand since she doesn't have a lot of stamina. We don't "have" to do labs but I thought we would do at least a handful. I need something that I can do in one semester.

 

She was supposed to have speech 2nd semester but they want her to hold off and take that next year instead. So this semester they want her to do British Literature so I need a semester course for that. Any suggestions? Again, I need something that isn't too heavy duty. We just need to focus on literature and vocab this semester so she doesn't need a writing component.

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Good Morning!

I think Apologia Bio would work well for you and your daughter. The text is writtenh to the student in a rather conversational tone. If you are unable to do labs (although many find the labs to be the best part of science!) you would probably be able to find videos on line. This is certainly true for dissections. I have also found some good videos of microscopic life forms on YouTube. There are lots of good videos out there regarding creation/evolution and intelligent design, etc. I really love the old Moody Science videos (especially Red River of LIfe - about blood!)

 

Depending on what all you need to cover for Brit Lit, you might want to look at Total Language Plus or Progeny Press, both of which offer novel guides for a variety of works of American and Brit Lit. Lightning Lit from Hewitt has a number of British Lit products, but stick within a certain time period, which might be too restrictive for what you need.

 

Blessings to you and happy hunting!

April

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You could also purchase the Biology DIVE CD and have her listen to the lectures. http://www.diveintomath.com/products.cfm?product_id=572&session=now&prodID=298asjkd98&ajax=xml I just feel that having someone cover the material in a lecture adds so much more than just reading the textbook, especially the sciences.

 

He has a syllabus that you can use with the Apologia Textbook. Click on the link on the left side of the screen to see the syllabus index.

 

Yvonne in NE

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Consider looking at Biology: A Self-Teaching Guide--it sounds like what she might need. SWB recommends it in TWTM. It really is a great resource, with tests and quizzes (with answers) right there in the book. You can get it VERY cheap on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Biology-Self-Teaching-Steven-D-Garber/dp/0471625817/ref=tmm_pap_title_1.

The link is for the first edition book, but there's also a 2nd edition (but it's almost identical to the 1st IMHO). It might be just the thing for someone needing to do BIO in one semester. Good Luck!

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I've heard nothing but great things about Lightning Literature and Excellence in Literature for British and American literature.

 

Are these pretty writing intensive? I really want something that she will just read and that I'll discuss with her rather than a lot of writing. They are covering writing 2nd semester next year so I don't need the writing aspect of it. I am also having her take an online writing class through Home2teach.com so I don't want to add any writing her her schedule.

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Are these pretty writing intensive? I really want something that she will just read and that I'll discuss with her rather than a lot of writing. They are covering writing 2nd semester next year so I don't need the writing aspect of it. I am also having her take an online writing class through Home2teach.com so I don't want to add any writing her her schedule.

 

There are writing assignments in the Lightning Lit guides, but there is no reason why you could use these as discussion starters instead of writing assignments. The Lightning Lit guides that I used do not have tests, so I used the writing assignments to establish my son's grade for the course. If you don't do the writing, and you do need to assign a grade, then you'd have to come up with some other method to grade the course.

 

HTH,

Brenda

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Are these pretty writing intensive? I really want something that she will just read and that I'll discuss with her rather than a lot of writing. They are covering writing 2nd semester next year so I don't need the writing aspect of it. I am also having her take an online writing class through Home2teach.com so I don't want to add any writing her her schedule.

Excellence in Literature has the student writing 1 paper for every 4 week unit plus an optional paper that I believe is only 1 page. This program is more independent research based.

 

Lightning Literature has a writing assignment at the end of each chapter. This program is more discussion oriented.

 

For either one of these I don't see why you couldn't alter or cut out the writing.

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Hi hpymomof3, I don't recommend trying to do ABeka bio in half a year. There are 24 detail intense chapters. The text and labs are not extremely difficult to comprehend but the volume of information may be overwhelming for a semester.

 

The Biology 101 dvd set http://www.the101series.com/contents.html

along with Real Science 4 kids chemistry II http://gravitaspublications.com/_product_36084/Level_2_Chemistry_-_Student_Text might be adequate preparation.

 

sharon

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Apologia Biology is an easy to understand text. There is a lot of memorization of vocabulary words. You may want to rewrite some tests. Instead of having tests that sya fill in the definition of __ , you could do multiple chocie. Most of the labs (not dissections) are from stuff that is found around the house and are pretty user friendly, if you choose to do them.

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