Apologia - what order to teach?

[vlshort]

I am doing a middle school co-op. We have a group that did General Science this year, and will do physical Science next year. However, we have new students joining next year, that will want to do General Science. Could we, instead, have the new students do Physical Science next year, and do General Science the following year?

 

Also, a friend has told me that Physical Science and Biology are difficult to do in 2 years, and she recommends spreading them over three years - that means 1 1/2 years for physical science, and 1 1/2 years for biology. Does anyone agree with that?

 

Thanks for your comments!

-vanessa

[ilovemy4kids]

I'd see about getting another teacher to teach the General Science...I would not reverse the order simply because of the workload and math skills needed for Physical Science.... the order is there for a reason. You will always have new kids coming in so having someone who can teach each level would be best or arranging the schedules so that the teacher can teach different periods would also work.

 

 

As for spreading physical and biology to 1 1/2 years each I personally don't see any need for this. They are both designed for quite easily completed in a single school year each.

 

Just my 2 cents! :)

 

Sandra

[dcurry]

My son (9th grade this year, but 10th grade age) did Physical science last year in 8th/9th grade, and then Biology this year in 9th/10th grade. He skipped the general science all together. (He did have a life science in 7th grade, but we didn't discover Apologia until he was in 8th/9th).

 

It's been some work for him since he's doing all the labs with our co-op and has had to keep up with all the assignments. But it's certainly manageable.

 

My daughter took general in 7th, physical in 8th, and may wait until 10th to do Biology depending on what our co-op decides. (It seemed Apologia recommended waiting until 10th to do the Biology, but I can't remember why). It also will depend on when our coop offers it, since I need them to be doing the Biology labs elsewhere. (They both did the general and physical labs at home with no problems).

 

I don't think it would take 3 years to do the two courses. My son took about 2 weeks to complete each module, and had an extra couple of weeks for "catch up". I personally wouldn't plan on taking extra time.

 

The General science is an overview of science (a first introduction), with half the module being life and the other half physical science. The Physical science covers the same things as the General 2nd half of the book but goes into more detail. If they took physical science this year (the new students), then next year would be almost unnecessary to take the general science - they could go straight to Biology or take a different life science.

 

I guess you don't have enough students or interest to offer both classes?

 

Your options seem to be: 1) Have all the kids take Physical science and see what next year holds for everyone's interest, or 2) offer General science again and have the older kids skip science this year and do physical science next year in high school (Not a great option for science-majors) OR 3) Offer General Science again and have the older kids do the Physical Science on their own at home, which is certainly do-able, moving them on to Biology next year.

 

I would tend to vote that the general science could be skipped if they have had a life science before at all, and you should stick with your schedule and offer physical science. Is it just a science coop or are there other classes offered?

[debbiec]

I am doing a middle school co-op. We have a group that did General Science this year, and will do physical Science next year. However, we have new students joining next year, that will want to do General Science. Could we, instead, have the new students do Physical Science next year, and do General Science the following year? Yes.

 

Also, a friend has told me that Physical Science and Biology are difficult to do in 2 years, and she recommends spreading them over three years - that means 1 1/2 years for physical science, and 1 1/2 years for biology. Does anyone agree with that? Only if you are going at a slow pace. I think doing the 1.5 year is hard due to new kids coming in 1/3 into a book already. I would consider doing Biology two years (and nix the General Science) and ADDING material/labs to that book.