Tiffani Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 I don't want to waste a year of our high school. We did General Science this year (grade 8) and we could do Physical Science in 9th or we could start the hs sciences (Biology). But will my 9th grader "miss" anything by NOT doing Physical Science? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 I don't want to waste a year of our high school. We did General Science this year (grade 8) and we could do Physical Science in 9th or we could start the hs sciences (Biology). But will my 9th grader "miss" anything by NOT doing Physical Science? I have only used General, but I believe Physical has more of a focus on Earth Science and some Physics, where General doesn't have one focus but more builds a background for the other levels: history of science, scientific thinking, ect...except at the end where it has a Body study. There is no reason why you couldn't skip General, unless you needed the body study. I hear the Biology level doesn't include much of one, it is only found in the Advanced Biology. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 Do you have a general plan for high school sciences? If your child wants to take biology, chemistry, physics, and any advanced level science, I'd skip physical and start with biology. You 9th grader will not "miss" anything b/c everything in high school science is taught as introductory material and other than math, there are no "pre-requisites" to the high school sciences. However, if you think your child is only going to basic sciences and no advanced sciences in high school, you can go ahead and do the physical science in 9th grade. I know for my ds when he was applying into engineering programs, physical science was frowned on as one of the high school level courses. He had taken it in 8th grade and originally I had given him high school credit for it, but after talking with some admissions counselors, we removed it. He had 5 science credits w/o it so it wasn't a problem for him to drop it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 Yes, I would move him into biology in 9th. Each of the Apologia courses stand alone and you do not need to have completed Physical Science to go on to Biology. I agree with Momof7 that allowing him to do Bio in 9th, Chem in 10th, Physics in 11th will allow for dual enrollment or another upper science in 12th (Marine bio or one of Apologia's Advanced courses for example). HTH! Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiffani Posted June 7, 2009 Author Share Posted June 7, 2009 Do you have a general plan for high school sciences? If your child wants to take biology, chemistry, physics, and any advanced level science, I'd skip physical and start with biology. You 9th grader will not "miss" anything b/c everything in high school science is taught as introductory material and other than math, there are no "pre-requisites" to the high school sciences. However, if you think your child is only going to basic sciences and no advanced sciences in high school, you can go ahead and do the physical science in 9th grade. I know for my ds when he was applying into engineering programs, physical science was frowned on as one of the high school level courses. He had taken it in 8th grade and originally I had given him high school credit for it, but after talking with some admissions counselors, we removed it. He had 5 science credits w/o it so it wasn't a problem for him to drop it. This has been my concern. I don't know if he'll go into the field of science, but I don't want to do anything to hinder him later. KWIM? Thanks everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 This has been my concern. I don't know if he'll go into the field of science, but I don't want to do anything to hinder him later. KWIM? I don't think it necessarily will affect him. It depends on how well he "shines" in other ways. If he's a good tester & participates in a well-rounded number of things, he should do fine either way. My oldest was public schooled and only took Biology & Chemistry. He shone in other areas, though. He was accepted into every engineering program he applied for, and no one ever mentioned that he took no advanced science. But I suppose if a student is more borderline in testing etc, more scrutiny might be given? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 I don't think it necessarily will affect him. It depends on how well he "shines" in other ways. If he's a good tester & participates in a well-rounded number of things, he should do fine either way. My oldest was public schooled and only took Biology & Chemistry. He shone in other areas, though. He was accepted into every engineering program he applied for, and no one ever mentioned that he took no advanced science. But I suppose if a student is more borderline in testing etc, more scrutiny might be given? I think it must depend on the university and perhaps today's requirements vs. those from yrs ago? Is it your ds that is 24 to which you are referring? Many states require 4 yrs of science to receive a high school diploma now. For example, VA's state requirements for an advanced diploma are 4-4-4-4-3-2-1 (4-English, math, science, history, 3-foreign language, 2-pe/health, 1-fine arts or career tech credit). In order to be competitive against other applicants, your student needs to be able to demonstrate equal (or better) qualifications. Some majors have very limited slots and competition for them is real. As a homeschooler, I don't have to "meet" those state diploma requirements, but my student will have compete against students that have them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 Is it your ds that is 24 to which you are referring? Yes, he graduated last spring (didn't start college until age 20 due to starting K at age 6 and also a year in Army Reserves training). He's a petroleum engineer now. I know some Minnesota high schools are starting to require more science, but it's fairly new to require more than 2 years of science around here. I suppose that part is changing. Ds went to college in Colorado (School of Mines). It's not Yale but it's a competitive engineering school and he received scholarships to lure him. His transcript really was nothing. Not a high quality high school. Only 2 years of science. Never took geometry. It wasn't his transcript that made him desirable. So I'm just saying that it's not the only thing. You want your kid to shine in some way or other (high ACT scores, college calculus in high school, likely to be involved in the school community, unique essay-writing, etc). But transcripts aren't the only way to shine, and they probably are especially unreliable in a homeschooling situation. However, if my student didn't expect to have other achievements, then I might worry about packing that transcript. Also, if I'd talked to someone at the college who was worried about these things, I guess they might be particularly detail oriented. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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