Any Apologia I and II horror stories?

[jld]

Has anyone's child taken both levels of an Apol. course and regretted that decision? I think I've been betting that by doing both levels of their bio, chem, and physics, dd would have a decent background in science. But after reading here for several months, I'm planning to get the college-level texts I see people using, and having dd read through them to see what she may have missed with Apologia. Does this seem like a good idea? Is it overkill? Does it make you shake your head and think, crazy lady, there's no way to salvage what you've done, lol? I guess I'm wondering what the worst case scenario might be.

 

Any thoughts you may have, at all, would be appreciated.:)

[siloam]

Has anyone's child taken both levels of an Apol. course and regretted that decision? I think I've been betting that by doing both levels of their bio, chem, and physics, dd would have a decent background in science. But after reading here for several months, I'm planning to get the college-level texts I see people using, and having dd read through them to see what she may have missed with Apologia. Does this seem like a good idea? Is it overkill? Does it make you shake your head and think, crazy lady, there's no way to salvage what you've done, lol? I guess I'm wondering what the worst case scenario might be.

 

Any thoughts you may have, at all, would be appreciated.:)

 

There are lots of stories of people who have done fine with just the first level of Apologia Science. I personally wouldn't get overly worried as just the idea that they don't cover as much as other texts. I personally only took Biology and Chemistry and had no problem getting into college, though was only a state college. I didn't go for scholarships because I had military benefits through my Dad.

 

Now if your dd wants to go to a high level college in a science field then I would call up that college and ask them what they want to see.

 

The other cravat I would throw in there is if she just wants to.

 

But I personally would worry more about areas she is interested into going into as a field of study. If that is a science field then I would step up the science from here on out, not sure I would worry about going backwards. I do know kids who are really into science who are doing both levels of Apologia and love it, but I wouldn't make a child who isn't into it do it just to make their transcript look better, KWIM? Let them work on things they really love and enjoy.

 

Heather

 

[Storm Bay]

Dd is going to do Apologia Biology, at least the first one & she plans to major in science. However, she's not interested in Biology & is just doing it because she has to (such a lovely attitude at 15.) It's not as rigourous a program as I would have chosen for her, but she has used BJU and didn't like it and refused to read about evolution this time.

 

I'm not worried about it because it's not her major; I'm more concerned with the courses that more directly deal with what she wants to study later. However, if you aren't sure, check with the colleges you plan to apply to if you know what they are already.

[April in CA]

Hi jld,

Both of my sons have used certain Apologia texts, and I have not regretted in at all! Older ds did Apologia Bio in 8th grade, Apologia Chem in 9th, Adv Chem in 10th (after which he scored 730 on the SAT 2 Chem test), a different Physics text in 11th (with an outside teacher), Apologia Anatomy and Phys in 12th. Absolutely no regrets. If I had know about the DIVE CDs for science, I may have had him do the chemistry on, as his younger brother is doing, bu t no regrets about the choice of texts. He liked the way they were written and he understood the material. I was not looking for AP courses for him, knowing that he would have to take them all again in college anyway as an engineering major.

 

Younger ds did Biology, Exploring Life, by Campbell in 9th, as he didn't really like the chattiness of Apologia. He is using both the Apologia Chem texts as he finishes chemistry over the summer with the DIVE CD. We do as many of the labs at home as we practically can. He may do AP Chem next year because he likes chem and is pretty good at it. He may choose to to study astronomy or geology in an outside class instead. In his senior year, he will study physics with the same great engineer dad who taught my older son.

 

In short, the Apologia texts are great introductions to science, and if your student is doing well with them, don't worry. If you feel the labs are lacking, add some in! It is really fine to save college level science for college. By all means, if you can get cheap copies of college level texts, get them and have them where your student can read them as desired (multiple resources are always good to have on hand), but don't stress about it. Enjoy the learning!

 

Hope this helps!

Blessings,

April

[Musicmom]

In short, the Apologia texts are great introductions to science, and if your student is doing well with them, don't worry. If you feel the labs are lacking, add some in! It is really fine to save college level science for college. By all means, if you can get cheap copies of college level texts, get them and have them where your student can read them as desired (multiple resources are always good to have on hand), but don't stress about it. Enjoy the learning!

 

:iagree:No regrets here. Ds did Apologia Biology, Chemistry, Physics & Adv Physics in one year, and then Adv Chemistry this past year (his senior year). He's going into computer science/engineering and I feel he's gotten a really good grounding in science. In addition to Apologia, he did an MIT OCW Introductory Biology (and did well with it), and EPGY AP Physics C (Mechanics) for which he feels Apologia prepared him well.

 

As an anecdote--ds did SAT II's in all the sciences, and in preparation for each one I had him go through other texts to fill in any gaps (which there will be no matter what text you choose.) So when he was prepping for the Physics SAT II, I had him go through two college (non-calculus based) physics texts, looking for any concepts that Apologia I & II hadn't covered. It had been an intense year... not easy to do two Apologia courses in one year... and he didn't have a lot of time. So he started paging through these texts and he kept saying, "yup, I know about that... yup, I know about that... yup, I know about that..." He found maybe 2 or 3 concepts he hadn't seen before. I had also gotten him 2 Physics SAT II prep books--which again, he didn't have much time to peruse. He flipped through, took and aced a practice test and we called it good. So, he went into the SAT II with mainly Apologia knowledge, and he came away with an 800. Now... by that point he had had a lot of testing practice, with the PSAT, ACT, and 2 other SAT II's under his belt, so I'm sure his experience helped as well, and he did say there were about 3 concepts on the test that he had never seen before anywhere. But I was quite impressed that the Apologia had seemed to be so thorough.

[Mommyfaithe]

No regrets from us either. DS did Gen in 6th, PS is 7th, Bio in 8th, Adv bio in 9th, Chem in 10th. He did a SAT 2 Bio at the end of 9th grade and didn't do phenomenal...BUT it was his first testing outside home and he was only a very young 9th grader. he ended up w/ a 650, which I thought was fine.

 

My olders all used Apologia through at least Chem and none had any trouble in their science courses in college except for my oldest ds....who is just too lazy to bother studying. Not the text/ the kid!

 

Faithe

[jld]

Well, I guess there really aren't any horror stories . . . and I've once again been worrying too much. Thanks for providing much-needed reassurance. :)