If you use Apologia...

[Love2Smile]

How do you do labs? Did you purchase a microscope? Did you just view labs online??

Is Apologia easy enough to understand without DVD's? How does it compare to Abeka or BJU??

[periwinkle]

the labs are designed so they can be done at home. We have completed all the basic high school courses (biology, chemistry, physics) in our home with labs with absolutely no problems.

 

Our budget hasn't stretched to include a microscope for Biology. We were fortunate enough to borrow one for oldest ds. It is not a necessity for the course, but it is helpful. I would recommend having one if possible.

 

We have never used DVD's. The textbook is sufficient, but I have heard the cdroms are nice as a supplement.

 

hth!

[Grace is Sufficient]

How do you do labs? Did you purchase a microscope? Did you just view labs online??

Is Apologia easy enough to understand without DVD's? How does it compare to Abeka or BJU??

 

We did purchase a microscope and slides for biology, and some chemicals for Chemistry, and did the labs at home. We've never used the DVDs, my kids have been able to understand the material from the books. (We've used General Science, Physical Science, Biology and Chemistry so far.)

 

I don't have a lot of knowledge of the comparison with the other texts, but these are two things I've heard. 1) Some don't like the wordy or 'conversational' style of Apologia vs. other texts, but others say that's why kids are able to learn the material without lectures needed. 2) Biology doesn't cover Human Anatomy, which is covered initially in General Science and in more detail in Advanced Biology. Other high school biology texts cover Biology. I don't know what, if anything, Apologia may have that others don't have or have less of, in place of the Anatomy study.)

 

HTH

[Sharon in MD]

My son and I both like the conversational tone of the texts and the numerous examples of how to solve the problems in the Chemistry and Physics books. The labs are okay, but we would have liked more complex stuff I think in that area. However, the point of why Apologia is written and set up for the labs the way it is, is to teach the concept and set up a lab that is EASILY doable in your home. So, there is not a lot of flash and bang chemistry so to speak. If I were to do it again, I'd probably get one of those additional micro chem labs or something like that just because we are sciencey here, but not because I think it is needed.

 

We did use the cd-rom some this past year with Physics. It has nice demo's of labs that you can not easily do at home and demonstrations on a whiteboard of problem solving. I don't think you would need the dvds at all, but I'd get the cd-rom if it is in your budget.

 

I'm not familiar enough with other chemistry courses to know what is not in apologia that is in their texts, but I've heard the discussion of pH is not as thorough. As for Physics the thing I noted that was different was that Apologia spent more time on electricity and magnetism but did not cover fluids or relativity. But I also think that just about any text comparison will be like that, there is bound to be something that one covers and another covers something else.

 

Oh, yeah, and do get a microscope if you can....they are lots of fun for bio and chemistry too.....We drag ours out just for the fun of it still....You DON'T need it for chemistry by the way, I just think it is fun to look at stuff. :D

[Dayle in Guatemala]

How do you do labs? Did you purchase a microscope? Did you just view labs online??

Is Apologia easy enough to understand without DVD's? How does it compare to Abeka or BJU??

 

We did all the labs (we've done General-Biology 1 so far) and dissections. We bought the dissection kit and microscope from Home Science Tools. I'm am not a sciency person, but, I find Apologia easy to teach and we've enjoyed it so far. I'm not sure how it compares.

[Chris in VA]

We did Apologia Bio and Chem. We skipped a few labs in each because they were too simple--my son had done a few of them in grades 5 and 6. I don't think Apologia requires a high school level lab write up, either, but I didn't sweat that too much.

 

We did buy a microscope and slide set, as well as a chem set (bought that one used--worth every penny). We also did dissection, but ds didn't do a very good job on it :tongue_smilie:.

[coopers5]

They have sections in their catalog just for Apologia texts. Items are already grouped together, etc.

They indicate which microscope is best, as well.

We've completed all of the courses, at least once, now, except for physics, so far.

Labs have worked out well - it's always best if we prepare at the beginning of a module, checking to make sure we have everything. And for things that aren't household items I just went ahead and ordered pretty much at the beginning of the year, so things would be handy.

I agree w/someone that said a couple of labs were just too easy to stop and take the time to run through, especially if they were ones we'd done in a previous course of Apol. or something.

 

HTH!

[Jan P.]

Hi,

 

My ds started biology using BJUP's Biology book before switching over to Apologia. So by the time we did the switch, my ds had already spent a considerable amount of time using a microscope and slides. I didn't buy BJUP's lab stuff, but I did buy Castle Height's biology lab kit. I thinking learning to use the microscope was a good skill for my ds to learn. He is now in college, and he only had to take an Environmental Science course. I don't think he used a microscope in that class, so his only opportunity was with me. However, I think the Biology book states that it is not necessary (at least I think my old edition stated something like that). We also bought the CD-Rom supplement. My ds rarely used it. I think it would have helped him, but he wasn't one to put any extra effort into his studies. :-( It's amazing that he will bend over backwards for his college professors!!