Any secular hsers use Apologia (any science) and happy with it?

[Ann@thebeach]

I don't have any idea how "biased" this curriculum is but just curious what other secular hsers have to say.

Our homeschool assistance program uses Apologia biology even though it's through the public school system :001_huh: I have no idea how they get away with this.

I'm trying to decide if I want to have my son take this or go with a truly secular program. The idea of taking it as a co-op type class through the homeschool program is appealing ;)

 

I've heard that Apologia science for high school is very good but I prefer to keep religion out of our schooling. But certainly willing to consider if it's not too "heavy handed" in the religious bias and the science is all fact based and no opinion.

Obviously most of the science in biology, chemistry, and physics is pretty black and white-but still want more info.

Thanks!

Edited April 17, 2012 by Ann in IA

[mom2twoWTM]

:bigear: Curious as well.

[mumto2]

We like Apologia. It is easy to use. Well designed for homeschool. Both Dh ( chemistry BS) and I have decent science backgrounds and are happy with it.

 

Christian content wise -- when something that the author explains as particularly incredible -- the reason is that it can't be coincidence it must be God. This is a frequent theme.

 

When several theories are possible he explains them all well and concludes with his beliefs.

 

We are Christian. Overall I am glad that they are getting that perspective because they won't later or anywhere else. Both of my dc's will be taking some sort of university level science. I am certain they will get plenty of other perspectives. They really do now. Lots of science related activities with people that are serious about evolution.

 

Another major complaint is how chatty the books are. My Ds basically reads the books. Looks over the study questions. Memorizes the definitions. Tests. If they weren't chatty he would never survive! He actually is doing great. I am not sure he would do well without the chatty style. But he definately gets this style!

 

We aren't on the AP track necessarily. I think it would better to have their first university science class be easy!

 

I hope this helps your decision.

[roxyintn]

We are a secular household, but due to budget issues I choose to use Apologia Biology this year. I have a back ground in Bio science and find it decent. Yes, there is quite a bit of faith and creationist views, but it is a good solid program when it comes to what counts. I just wish one of the good secular textbook publishers would offer a program as complete as Apologia at a reasonable price.

[romeacademy]

We are Christian, but not Young Earth, and I found Physical Science very difficult to use. I don't think I'd use it again. My oldest used Biology for a while, and while it wasn't nearly as preachy, she had a lot of trouble with the chatty, conversational style. She had trouble sorting out the author's chatty little asides from the important details. She's dyslexic too, which I think didn't help. But bottom line is that she wanted more of a "just the facts" presentation. YMMV, depending on the child's style. Also, I'm not sure that the Biology was terribly rigorous. Admittedly we didn't finish the book, and it could just be the writing style that's deceptive, but if you have a STEM oriented-kid, you may want to dig into that aspect further.

[WishboneDawn]

One thing to consider is not simply the religious material in Apologia but the science that it, by virtue of having to represent a creationist view, would omit. You can counter the religious stuff you'll encounter but you may not have a clue what important and foundational stuff your kids will miss.

[Ann@thebeach]

Thanks everyone.

I'm going to get my hands on a copy in the next few weeks so I can look at it more. But I think I'm going to keep looking for something else.

[ChandlerMom]

As a pp mentioned, the only way to cover biology or physical sic from a creationist perspective is to leave out a LOT of the scientific foundations for the subjects, so I would recommend getting hold of a copy of a standard textbook (from a ps or library) and comparing side by side.

 

Personally, I do not think you can properly learn biology without understanding evolution, and I don't think you can teach evolution if you believe creationism is science. IMO genomics is the dominant area of current research of the past 20 years and the next 20 years in biology and medicine, it touches all branches of biologic sciences and it is not comprehensible without evolution. You can ignore this whole area of science if it doesn't agree with your religious beliefs, but if you are not a YE creationist you would be missing out on the most exciting thing going on in science right now. There are some great NOVA specials on the subject, too.

[Julie in MN]

Personally, I do not think you can properly learn biology without understanding evolution, and I don't think you can teach evolution if you believe creationism is science. IMO genomics is the dominant area of current research of the past 20 years and the next 20 years in biology and medicine, it touches all branches of biologic sciences and it is not comprehensible without evolution.

 

Well, for those reading who might panic at this statement, I'll add a counter-argument. I disagree, since genomics and the human genome project are fascinating at our house without having to profess a faith in macro-evolution.

 

I'd say that taxonomy, and especially the Tree of Life project out there, is the place that will differ the most from a YE philosophy. I mean, current science still uses a taxonomy developed by Linnaeus, who was likely a YE creation scientist, but the current focus in taxonomy is an enthusiasm about locating the paths of evolution and adjusting the original taxonomy a bit. That is going to be more of a difference than studying genomes.

 

However, YE textbooks like Apologia actually spend some time covering these topics. It's far different from the Evolution textbooks that ignore or only give a cursory scoff at other thoughts on a topic. Apologia actually explains the terminology and the differences, at least as much as necessary at a high school level. We have been using Apologia with the Virtual Homeschool Group, and she also gives a balanced coverage of what her son learned in his college science courses and what areas contrast with other theories. A balance of current thought and traditional thought is possible, and might even be the definition of science, itself. :)

 

So I hope folks who have not taught high school science will not panic!

 

Julie

P.S. I know this isn't the original topic, but conversations go where conversations go...

[roxyintn]

I was very skeptical of using Apologia for high school. But I finally took time to really check out the text and I compared it with my college biology book, as ChandlerMom said, and I found it just as challenging and detailed. I don't feel my son missed out on anything. He did learn enough about creationism to hold his own in a debate or discussion about his belief in evolution. I believe it is important to know both sides of an issue, especially one such as this. For the module, I believe #9 that is all about creationism, I added my college text chapter on evolution to balance it. Plus, I have to agree Apologia is very user friendly. The only thing I changed was I created my own study guides.

Edited April 20, 2012 by roxyintn
haven't figured out the quote thing ;)