Only me Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Can Apologia biology be done in one semester without completely overloading the student? I notice at Donna Young.org she has it scheduled as a one semester course. In case you haven't read my posts on the general board my 14 year old dd was a freshman at the private school but we had to bring her home at the end of the September for health reasons (severe insomnia and related issues). She is still having issues so we won't be sending her back to school 2nd semester as originally planned. I have been trying to teach her biology at home covering the same topics they were covering at her school. They use Bob Jones University biology but do random chapters rather then covering the whole book. Apologia seems to be more organized and includes labs. I'm wondering if it would be possible for her to complete it next semester or if that would be too difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Well, I've been looking at MODG's 10th grade Natural Science course. It features 8 wks of natural science and then schedules Apologia Biology over the remaining 24 wks. I know it's longer than a semester, but perhaps you could skip some of the chapters??? Just a thought. You can check it out at www.emmanuelbooks.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jld Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 I don't know, but that seems to be the pace dd14 is going. It does take a lot of time, though. I would say she is spending a good 10-12 hours (or maybe 15? -- I just don't know) per chapter (without labs), so that's a chunk of time spent on biology every week. She really likes it, and it is probably her favorite subject, so I guess it's okay that she spends her time this way. I can't see ds10 ever doing it at this pace, though. I'm afraid I'm going to have to do it with him, and even at that, I may be dragging him through it. Not looking forward to that . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan C. Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 If your student reads fast and grasps concepts easily, well then maybe... we will be doing good to finish in one year, but dd is a slower reader, and has to re-read to get things to stick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 we got through it in 7 1/2 months, and we only did science twice a week, and weren't really trying o rush at all. we are just a sciency family. I actually thought the book waffled on a lot. I think a fast reader, switched on girl should be able to get through it in one semester easily, especially if she did it more than twice a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Only me Posted December 4, 2009 Author Share Posted December 4, 2009 Maybe I'll try doing it in a semester but I'll skip any chapters that we already covered 1st semester. This is for my daughter with severe insomnia and other related issues. She doesn't have a lot of stamina right now so I don't want to push her too much. I used the BJU biology first semester because that is what her school uses and we thought she would be going back 2nd semester but she won't be up to it. I just don't like the way the BJU text is set up and it doesn't include labs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 If you get the audio for her to listen to while she is reading it can go faster. Also, on some of the modules, I only gave a vocabulary test instead of assigning the study guide and test. I know of several families (well, 2 families) that only do vocab tests for the whole book. If you had the audio, only did vocab tests, and did not do all the labs, then the book could probably be done in a semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Apologia biology really bguilds on itself. The earlier chapters lay a foundation for the later and the book is organized from the simplest cell biology to more complex cellular organisms. There is a chapter in the second half of the book on ecosystems and habitat that might be easily skipped. Also, the last two chapters on plant biology could be skipped, although they are very interesting! HTH, Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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