Apologia Physical Science or Biology

[TinaSC]

I need help deciding what to do. MY 7th and 8th grader took Apologia General last year, and it seems that is "behind." Seems most people are scheduling Biology for 9th grade. Should they be doing Biology in 9th, not 10th? What would happen if I skip[ped Physical science and they went straight to Biology, would they be completely overwhelmed? They are not real science buffs to begin with. What do you think?

 

Tina in SC

[ladykayaker]

I wouldn't be concerned whether your dc do Biology in 9th or 10th grade.

Since you say your dc are not going to be science buffs, then there is no rush.

It would make sense to do Physical Science in 9th.

Biology in 10th

Chemistry in 11th

and

Physics in 12th.

 

If your dc were wanting to go into a science career, then you would try and do this all one year ahead so that you can schedule an Advanced Science course for 12th grade.

[K-FL]

It would make sense to do Physical Science in 9th.

Biology in 10th

Chemistry in 11th

and

Physics in 12th.

 

 

Plus Apologia's Phy Sci does have labs so you'll get another lab science in just in case you're dc don't go though Physics.

[TinaSC]

I guess I had read so much on here about Physical Science not being a "lab science" and colleges not accepting it for high school , I got a little nervous. But if they are not going into a science major, they will be ok with physical, biology, and chemistry on their transcript, is that true?

[TammyS]

I guess I had read so much on here about Physical Science not being a "lab science" and colleges not accepting it for high school , I got a little nervous. But if they are not going into a science major, they will be ok with physical, biology, and chemistry on their transcript, is that true?

 

I think you'd have a hard time with getting a college to credit Physical Science. It's fine if you want to do 4 sciences, but you need at least three that will be creditable.

 

I also wouldn't make my decision based on what you think their major is going to be. That's impossible to know at this age, and I wouldn't want to limit their options.

 

We did Physical Science last year as part of a co-op. The first half is really earth science and the second half is intro to physics.

 

When I started out this year I was intending to biology (ended up deciding to do bio last, but that's a whole other story). When I looked into the entire Apologia set up (I didn't pick out the book for last year's co-op), I was rather dismayed to find that they have two books for each of their sciences and that they mostly included what was normally in one level (this isn't quite true for bio, because their so-called advanced book is actually anatomy, which isn't usually included in bio, but their bio book is way behind the times of how biology is now taught). We are doing phyics this year and after looking at a number of books for conceptual (non calculus) physics, I realized that the Apologia physics and advanced physics books cover what is ordinarily in a single year course. So I would not do Apologia unless you were planning to do 1 module per week, so that you could do both books in a year (but that's me). At any rate, I would go on their website and look at their table of contents to make sure it covers everything you want it to.

 

I do understand that some kids like the narrative style of Apologia and us moms appreciate that the labs are designed for a home set up.

 

I hope that helps. Good luck on your decision making process (I know how infuriating it can be).

[mumto2]

There seems to be a bit of a jump between apologia physical science and biology for my ds12. He breezed through both general science and physical science with dd14. Does not want to be left behind but biology is proving to be hard for him. Lots of content and little interest on his part. It takes him a long time to complete the study sheet and prepare for a test. We have added apologia chemistry in to give him a break and keep dd moving ahead in science. He likes chemistry. The biology course has been a challenge for us.

[rockala]

We ran into this too. My dc did general (their favorite) when ds was in 7th and dd 8th. She had always wanted a medical career so we skipped physical (they had already done so much of that with BJ) and she went onto Biology with Apologia but an online course- we used Red Wagon, but he books early so maybe TPS.

 

Ds went and did physical and then Biology online (we do all hs science Apologia but online for motivation factors and understanding) :). Looking back both say least favorite for learning was the physical- but this could be as they had done a lot of what was covered with Bob Jones science.

 

 

Dd did;

 

9th- biology

10th Chemistry

11th Advanced bio- which is Anatomy & Physiolgy- take SAT II for Bio after this.

12th- Physics- this coming year.

 

Not sure what son will do - he loved Biology but will take Chem this year and then we will decide what his advanced will be- chem or bio and then do a SAT II subject in that.

 

K

[cindylee]

I thought apologia considered their physical science a high school course. Have yall found it to be true that colleges won't accept it? We were hoping to.

[TammyS]

I thought apologia considered their physical science a high school course. Have yall found it to be true that colleges won't accept it? We were hoping to.

 

I think their website says 8th grade.

 

Whatever they consider, I don't think a college would consider it a high school course.

[K-FL]

I think their website says 8th grade.

 

Whatever they consider, I don't think a college would consider it a high school course.

 

While that's true, at least in FL it's not unusual to have Phy Sci on the hs transcript so I put it on ours (esp since we did the labs.) Granted, my dd both had DE sciences on their transcripts so it wasn't an issue, but the PS did help prep them for the upper levels.

[74Heaven]

I was in exact same place as OP 6 years ago :(). I would recommend doing Physical Sci in 9th grade if your student is not a science buff & "in a hurry" to get past the basics. Both my daughters ended up with 4 sciences so colleges seemed to accept it - I don't know if they credited it as an elective or a science credit. Both went into nonscience majors.

 

I recommend doing Physical Sci in 9th; followed by biology, chemistry, anat/phys biology & physics if you want the "general" progression most students follow.

 

Btw, biology has a ton of memorization and chemistry has a lot more analytic non-tangible concepts. it is wise to make sure your student has adequate maturity to tackle these two subjects. (i.e. another year older helps, esp in chemistry)

 

YMMV - Lisaj, mom to 5

[Lori in MS]

Apologia's website it is an 8th or 9th grade course. Public schools here do Physical in 9th unless you are on an advanced track.

 

My oldest son did it in 9th, but my 2nd ds did it in 8th.