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Science 7: BJU vs. Abeka


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I have both these programs in hand right now. Haven't looked at them thoroughly yet, but just flipping through them BJU's Life Science looks quite a bit more advanced than Abeka's 7th grade text. And I am not seeing any labs in Abeka, just "activity sheets".

 

Comments? Has anyone chosen one over the other and what were your reasons for doing so?

 

Thanks!

Jennifer

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Yes, BJU is more challenging than Abeka. Most who take BJU life will move into advanced Biology in HS. We tried it and dd12 hated it. Now we did not have the current edition and I understand that they are quite a bit better in presentation. She preferred the Abeka Biology and is really enjoying it and doing great with it. Our plan is for her to do the Abeka biology now and then in HS will take an advanced Biology. There are fewer experiements in the Abeka Life, dd12 did this in 5th grade. The highlight is the year long science project, but you can buy the science project book and add that to whatever you do if you like. Abeka Biology has alot of labs and dissections and microscope work.

 

Honestly either would be fine, I think it depends on what your future plans are and what you are looking for in a science. BJU is advanced and hard for 7th grade average students. Abeka Life is an average life science overview that will get the basics done but not be overwhelming for most students. The Abeka Biology is a good option for advanced 7th graders that prefer more hands on than the Life science has to offer but in my opinion is still not as challenging as the BJU Life. Clear as mud?? feel free to ask any questions, happy to help if I can.

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ABeka's 7th grade science is, if I remember correctly, a general science course, where BJU's 7th grade is pre-biology. You could choose between the two based on what you want to cover. I chose the BJU, because I wanted to follow their progression -- general through 6th grade, then specializing in life, earth/space, physical in 7th through 9th, then biology and chemistry in 10th and 11th. If I had wanted to do a general course in 7th I would have chosen the ABeka.

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We use BJU Life Science here- the online course with the videos. It was pretty overwhelming for DD at the beginning, but she had never used a Science textbook before (basically unschooled in Science with lots of reading). Over the last 10 months she's learned *so much*, and just last week said, "I LOVE Science, Mom!" which I've never heard from her before.

 

It is quite difficult, but I've never used Abeka so I can't compare them. When I posted about the difficulty earlier this year, I was told to cut back on the workload (she was doing an hour+ a day). So now she watches the videos and reads the book where appropriate, but not the entire text. She learns much more through the videos than the text. She's getting A's and a few B's. I'm thrilled with it.

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My oldest is using BJU Life Science 7. It's a lot of work, but she loves it. We do not do everything; it's just not possible to get to it all, for us. It is definitely advanced! My dd wants to go in to some kind of science related field (that what she says now, lol) so I'm glad she's getting exposure to this level of science now.

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Thanks, all! I reviewed both Abeka 7 and BJU 7 with my dd and we have decided to go with the BJU. Now to figure out HOW to do it. I have the TM but it is geared to the classroom.

 

We just went chapter by chapter, reading the sections, doing section review questions, activities, and the video demonstrations. At the beginning of the year I had mapped out how much we needed to do per week in order to get it done by June. There is a lot to it, and I didn't push when it seemed like it was getting too much. But I'm very glad we did this program, it was great, and Mrs. Vick doing the experiments on video was fabulous. He did get Bob Jones'd out, though, since it was so intense, so I'm doing a different publisher's science this year. No worries!

 

All the best to you!

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Thanks, all! I reviewed both Abeka 7 and BJU 7 with my dd and we have decided to go with the BJU.

 

Now to figure out HOW to do it. I have the TM but it is geared to the classroom.

 

Jennifer

 

It's a little overwhelming! For the most part, my daughter reads each section, outlines or takes notes (whichever makes the most sense for the particular section), does the review questions with me, and does the majority of the worksheets. She does probably around half the experiments.

 

Just take it show at first and get to know the curriculum. My dd is currently on chapter 10, and so far, so good. She loves it! It's definitely getting the job done, and I can see us sticking with BJU through high school.

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Thanks.

 

However, I am now having to rethink BJU. Someone brought to my attention their opinions on Catholicism and I don't think I can in good conscience use BJU.

 

Jennifer

 

Yes, I've done quite a bit of research on that and drawn my own conclusions. We all have to do what's best for our families.

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