Apologia Biology vs. Thinkwell Biology/AP?

[profmom]

I'm asking for a friend who has been homeschooling for 9 months as an American in Africa! I've never researched Thinkwell, but she asked me if I knew how these two compare/contrast. What are pros and cons? Which do you recommend?

[profmom]

Or, also, what do you think of BJU Biology, with or without DVDs?

[Belacqua]

I'm not familiar with Apologia or BJU, so I can't compare, but I can tell you that we've used a number of Thinkwell courses (both math and science) and have been really pleased with them. Some students may want more practice problems than Thinkwell offers, but they're usually not too hard to find.

[dbmamaz]

While i haven't used either, i have heard that Apologia does not really teach evolution, or at not accurately, but i would assume Thinkwell would, and I would assume that the AP exam his a lot of question on evolution, which is considered by most to be a big part of biology.

[Musicmom]

I'm asking for a friend who has been homeschooling for 9 months as an American in Africa! I've never researched Thinkwell, but she asked me if I knew how these two compare/contrast. What are pros and cons? Which do you recommend?

Dd did both (Apologia in 8th grade, and Thinkwell Bio in 10th) and both are excellent--but they are at different levels, so it depends on what level of Bio your friend is looking for.

 

Apologia is introductory and has no prerequisites. The depth is good and there is a supplementary CD with excellent information and links to all kinds of fascinating extra material on the Apologia website (material that can only be accessed if you own the textbook.)

 

Thinkwell is AP level and will be difficult if the student has not yet had chemistry (there is a lot of biochemistry in Thinkwell) or prior exposure to biology. The Thinkwell lectures are outstanding and the teacher is one of the most enthusiastic you'll find (Dd loved him!), but he does move fast.

 

Apologia has labs, including dissections and microscope work, built in to the course, and vendors who sell Apologia often have all the necessary lab materials available in one place as well. Thinkwell does not have labs built in. There are certain types of labs that are required for AP, and Thinkwell does not address that aspect--it is lecture only--so to do labs would require a fair amount of research, planning and rounding up supplies. Dd did not do any labs with Thinkwell. We felt the labs she had done for Apologia were sufficient (she also wasn't aiming at doing the AP Bio exam.)

 

Apologia's coverage of evolution contains some important information... but the tone is more of an argument against evolution. However, all of this is contained in one chapter, which is easily skipped if you wish. Regardless of where you stand wrt evolution, it is well to supplement Apologia with a standard text such as Campbell's Biology (easy to do as libraries often carry biology texts) for evolution, to get a more complete perspective --then you can use or not use Apologia's chapter on evolution depending on your goals. Thinkwell does cover evolution--from a purely secular viewpoint.

 

One final difference is Apologia Biology does not cover any human anatomy. They put all of that in their Advanced Biology course, which covers human anatomy & physiology in depth. Thinkwell does cover anatomy & physiology--but only to the level required for AP. Dd is doing Apologia's Adv Bio this year.

 

Hope this helps!

[profmom]

Dd did both (Apologia in 8th grade, and Thinkwell Bio in 10th) and both are excellent--but they are at different levels, so it depends on what level of Bio your friend is looking for.

 

Apologia is introductory and has no prerequisites. The depth is good and there is a supplementary CD with excellent information and links to all kinds of fascinating extra material on the Apologia website (material that can only be accessed if you own the textbook.)

 

Thinkwell is AP level and will be difficult if the student has not yet had chemistry (there is a lot of biochemistry in Thinkwell) or prior exposure to biology. The Thinkwell lectures are outstanding and the teacher is one of the most enthusiastic you'll find (Dd loved him!), but he does move fast.

 

Apologia has labs, including dissections and microscope work, built in to the course, and vendors who sell Apologia often have all the necessary lab materials available in one place as well. Thinkwell does not have labs built in. There are certain types of labs that are required for AP, and Thinkwell does not address that aspect--it is lecture only--so to do labs would require a fair amount of research, planning and rounding up supplies. Dd did not do any labs with Thinkwell. We felt the labs she had done for Apologia were sufficient (she also wasn't aiming at doing the AP Bio exam.)

 

Apologia's coverage of evolution contains some important information... but the tone is more of an argument against evolution. However, all of this is contained in one chapter, which is easily skipped if you wish. Regardless of where you stand wrt evolution, it is well to supplement Apologia with a standard text such as Campbell's Biology (easy to do as libraries often carry biology texts) for evolution, to get a more complete perspective --then you can use or not use Apologia's chapter on evolution depending on your goals. Thinkwell does cover evolution--from a purely secular viewpoint.

 

One final difference is Apologia Biology does not cover any human anatomy. They put all of that in their Advanced Biology course, which covers human anatomy & physiology in depth. Thinkwell does cover anatomy & physiology--but only to the level required for AP. Dd is doing Apologia's Adv Bio this year.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Wow, MusicMom! That's very helpful! Thanks so much! :)