dancer67 Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 My daughter is doing Apologia Physical Science for 8th grade. We like it. We think. We liked General better. But, once(or if) we decide to continue on with Apologia for high school, am I going to be able to teach it myself? I can tell you that if ANY of the upper sciences have math, there is no way I can teach it on my own. Have any of you done the Apologia online option? Besides Abeka and BJU, what do you like for 9th grade Biology, and can I teach it on my own? If any of the upper level sciences have math, I need DVD help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 I loved Miller Levine Biology from Pearson for 9th grade. If you buy the student book directly from the publisher you get access to the TM and lots of online teaching materials that make it very easy to teach! Ds is using Apologia Chem now in 10th. I swore I'd never do that, but we both really like it. I am using the CD version and there are links, videos and voice over teaching right in the text. It is a basic Chem class, but it doesn't need a teacher. I have been known to throw in a Khan Academy video to supplement and we are using Illustrated Guide for labs as you can see in my sig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancer67 Posted September 25, 2012 Author Share Posted September 25, 2012 Well, here is one thing I forgot to add. My daughter is very hands on, and her favorite part of science is the experiments. So do the books you suggest, or any other science books have easy labs that you can actually do? She just doesn't want to watch them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicmom Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 (edited) Apologia's high school science courses are designed to be used independently by the student--so you don't need to teach them. That's one of the big reasons we chose Apologia. All I had to do was correct the tests using the detailed solution manual, and provide guidance and oversight if any problems came up. Chemistry and Physics do involve a lot of math, but as long as the student has the prerequisite math background (algebra for chem, algebra and very basic trig for physics), it shouldn't be a problem. Apologia teaches all the specifics to the problems at hand. Our experience has also been that they are very responsive to requests for help. Ds once had trouble with his answers to the physics problems not matching up to the solutions given. We emailed Apologia about this and got a very helpful response back within 6 hours. Anyway, Apologia worked well for us. I've heard good things about BJU (people who can't stand the conversational style of Apologia seem to really like BJU) and Miller Levine which was mentioned above. If I had another child I'd be really tempted to investigate Miller Levine... but I don't know how self-teaching these are. Having Apologia do the teaching instead of me made science go very smoothly at our house :001_smile: Hope this helps. ETA: Just saw your post about labs above. Apologia incorporates labs throughout the text, and yes, they are hands-on and generally do-able, at least for Biology and Chemistry (we found some of the physics labs less realistic to do.) Supplies are readily available--usually right from the vendor selling the books, and the necessary household supplies are usually easy to find. Edited September 25, 2012 by Musicmom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancer67 Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 Thank you. I think I am going to stick with Apologia. It is working, but I had heard that their high school level wasn't that good(Esp Biology), so I got a little nervous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Hi! There is a little math in Apologia Physical, but not as much as in some other curricula. Mostly the first 2 modules, and then again in M9 and 10 I believe. I found some videos that help with the math they learn (one had a great simple explanation!), :):) and I post videos at a blog for my "class" to view that go along w/ each module. You can check here and see if it's what you need. (Science tabs are at the top) http://homeschoolersresources.blogspot.com/ Apologia Biology may a little hard if your kiddos have never learned much in other sciences about Biology... it was hard for me when doing it w/ my oldest and her friends. The first 4 modules are about things many kids have never heard of (the names of specific organisms in the kingdom, phylum, class, etc divisions), but next year when we do it again, I may re-type portions of the test so they are matching. I will say the second half of the year is much easier! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladykayaker Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 My son works through the Apologia books on his own. He is an average student and is doing fine. He is doing Biology this year. He read in one of the Apologia books that global warming isn't happening / doesn't exist. But then got frustrated becuase he says everywhere else he reads about global warming - economist, time, popular mechanics. How have other families dealt with this issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Global warming is a hot button topic. The majority back the concept. However, there are many who don't. This is true of many issues in science. The way I would handle it is to have him do a little research on both sides and see which side he thinks is credible or if there just isn't enough proof for either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 My son works through the Apologia books on his own. He is an average student and is doing fine. He is doing Biology this year. He read in one of the Apologia books that global warming isn't happening / doesn't exist. But then got frustrated becuase he says everywhere else he reads about global warming - economist, time, popular mechanics. How have other families dealt with this issue? I understand. There is a lot out there and if we're not scientists ourselves, how can we know? But we know the majority isn't always right. Science is constantly changing, and/or at least opinions are changing. Doctors used to bleed people because they thought they had bad blood. Doctors used to get angry if they were told they needed to wash their hands between patients. On the global warming issue, there is a lot coming out now that says it is not happening. In fact, back in the 70's they were worried about global cooling. It is a cycle, and it hasn't warmed much more than half a degree anyway. Global warming, if it exists, would be global. Not just on parts of the continent at different times. I agree w/ the pp. Let him do a little research. Just google 'global warming hoax' and there is plenty now that says it isn't happening. Also if you type in 'Al Gore sued' you'll find that 30,000 scientists do not agree with Al Gore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 My daughter is very hands on, and her favorite part of science is the experiments. So do the books you suggest, or any other science books have easy labs that you can actually do? She just doesn't want to watch them. The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments The Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 With BJU, it's not just a matter of dealing with the text (which is quite the thing to slog through), but it's the labs and all the equipment. If you're committed to doing the labs to fit her hands-on style, apologia will be the more practical choice. We're doing the BJU physical science 9 this year, and I think I plunked out $400 for the first semester worth of labs. That was buying everything (glassware, blah blah, maybe some extra things for friction and kinetics), but I already had a balance ($80). I'm going to have to buy all the chemicals for 2nd semester, and I think I'm going to bump us up to a digital scale. Apologia is both simpler to teach and to implement. If she's tolerating, it makes a lot of sense to stay there. BTW, my dream of labs only didn't work out. Took one week of her going "Huh?" to conclude she really was going to have to read the book. It's not fun, but she's surviving. There's just too much going on conceptually in the BJU labs to walk into them cold. I'm really glad we're doing this and think it's worth the effort, but it's definitely some effort. If you take a simpler curriculum and do extra great labs, she may learn more than slogging through a hard book. Just a thought. I'm finding it's really nice to have the perspective of more labs on the same topic. So if you bump the apologia up that way (rather than looking for a different text), that might be another option and work with her hands-on learning bent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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