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Thinking of Using Apologia's General Science with an 8th grader


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Would that really be so bad? It's recommended for 7th, but this is a child that isn't particularly strong in science. We've always used Sonlight but this is the first year he's used the worksheets that go along with the science reading. I'm glad I did that because that's a skill he clearly needed to master. Anyway, General Science will be his first experience with a textbook (other than for math) and I want it to be fairly gentle. It seems like he'll still have plenty of time for physical science, biology, chemistry and physics if he's up to it.

 

Any reasons why I should skip General Science and use Physical in 8th?

 

TIA!

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We didn't use General Science, but I've heard that it's not one of their more interesting texts. How's his math? We loved their Physical Science text, but it does require some math - I think just pre-algebra. You can check on the Apologia site for what's needed. Apologia's texts are very user friendly as they speak directly to the student. If he's got the math needed, I would go with physical science to give him the most options for high school science. If he finds it too challenging, you can go a bit slower and even take two years if needed. Unlike the general science text, it will prepare him well for chemistry and physics.

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I taught General Science at our co-op using the Apologia text. I had both 7th and 8th graders in my class. Many of the moms at our co-op considered Physical Science a high school course so purposely planned to not do General Science until 8th grade. (I taught Physical Science at co-op one year, too, and that was a mix of 8th-10th graders. I made sure to beef up the chemistry side of things and addes some basic physics labls so it could be legitimately called Integrated Physics & Chemistry on a high school transcript.)

 

Our experience with General Science was wonderful. It was a perfect transition from elementary-like science to a text book course. I have to say that the students thoroughly enjoyed the course and came to appreciate science. I know that many of those students, my dd included, would have hated science forever had we started with Physical Science -- too many heady, abstract concepts. (I worked triple hard as co-op teacher that year coming up with labs and demonstrations that would help them comprehend the more difficult concepts.)

 

So I wholeheartedly recommend having a reluctant or disinterested science student (or a young one) do the General Science text. My oldest dd actually began to LIKE science that year -- that was huge. She didn't care for Physical Science much but she endured and succeeded because she already understood the way Dr. Wile laid out a course, how to interact with the text, and was interested enough in science to keep going.

 

Just my 2 cents!

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We didn't use General Science, but I've heard that it's not one of their more interesting texts. How's his math? We loved their Physical Science text, but it does require some math - I think just pre-algebra. You can check on the Apologia site for what's needed. Apologia's texts are very user friendly as they speak directly to the student. If he's got the math needed, I would go with physical science to give him the most options for high school science. If he finds it too challenging, you can go a bit slower and even take two years if needed. Unlike the general science text, it will prepare him well for chemistry and physics.

 

He's pretty good with math. He has a good conceptual understanding, but does make glitchy errors. He is finishing up CLE Math 700 and I've heard people say that they skip the 800 level and go straight to algebra. The 700 level certainly seems to be what I would consider pre-algebra, but I'm not a math expert. I'll have to take a look at the Apologia Physical Science book. I guess I'm a little concerned about him not having enough sciences in high school if we do Physical Science in 8th, especially because I'm not sure he'll be able to handle physics in high school, but you've given me food for thought. Thank you!

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I taught General Science at our co-op using the Apologia text. I had both 7th and 8th graders in my class. Many of the moms at our co-op considered Physical Science a high school course so purposely planned to not do General Science until 8th grade. (I taught Physical Science at co-op one year, too, and that was a mix of 8th-10th graders. I made sure to beef up the chemistry side of things and addes some basic physics labls so it could be legitimately called Integrated Physics & Chemistry on a high school transcript.)

 

Our experience with General Science was wonderful. It was a perfect transition from elementary-like science to a text book course. I have to say that the students thoroughly enjoyed the course and came to appreciate science. I know that many of those students, my dd included, would have hated science forever had we started with Physical Science -- too many heady, abstract concepts. (I worked triple hard as co-op teacher that year coming up with labs and demonstrations that would help them comprehend the more difficult concepts.)

 

So I wholeheartedly recommend having a reluctant or disinterested science student (or a young one) do the General Science text. My oldest dd actually began to LIKE science that year -- that was huge. She didn't care for Physical Science much but she endured and succeeded because she already understood the way Dr. Wile laid out a course, how to interact with the text, and was interested enough in science to keep going.

 

Just my 2 cents!

 

Well, this is very encouraging and seems to be spot on for my son. This will be his first time using a textbook and he is a very concrete thinker. Wish you were located near me so you could teach him! Thank you!

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I will second the general as my kids began to love science using general- it was such a great year I refuse to part with the book even though they have gone on to many other apologia texts. My dd did general in 8th and then went straight to Biology while my son did physical. He still says physical was his least favorite!

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I kept my General book too! One of the kids in my "class" last year enjoyed it more than Physical this year. But one is enjoying Physical more, and I knew he would. One girl looked through my Biology book and said she thinks she will really like it next year. It depends on the child and their interests.

 

General has 4 different "sections" (4 modules each) that deal with different areas of science. I myself enjoyed some more than others. But one of the best things is that right from the beginning, it gets the kids thinking of how to form a hypothesis, what to do if your hypothesis isn't correct, different methods of testing a hypothesis and which would be better for certain situations, only to change one variable at a time, how to write a lab report, and probably more that I can't think of right off hand.

I'm glad we didn't skip it. :001_smile:

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For those of us who have children who will be doing this at home and don't have the inclination to work hard to develop extra labs would this be the best science course for an 8th grader? Is there a DVD that I could purchase with a teacher to supplement?

 

I think it would be great for a busy mom. The experiments are pretty simple, and most use common household items. (Just check ahead to be sure you have them on hand, lol. Ask me how I know!)

A few items are not as common, but not too difficult to find.

 

And I believe there was a DVD for General, but I don't see one on the Apologia website now.

http://shop.apologia...general-science

 

The DVD I got was from Red Wagon Tutorials. (A former teacher at Apologia)

He sells them on flash drives now. (So be careful w/ them, and back them up! He advises installing them on your hard drive.)

And I see he still has some DVDs on ebay.

(They say Our Father's Design since he isn't able to put Apologia on them.)

 

They aren't really teaching per se, but more like a great review, imo. It is good to use halfway through the module, then again at the end. There is a lecture page to fill in as the child watches it, and he gives all answers after letting them think a minute.

When I was first "testing" these w/ the samples online, I really thought I had learned the chapter pretty good, but when I did the lecture, it brought to mind things I didn't realize I had forgotten. :)

 

We started out using ours then dropped it since we were also having classes every week. That meant a total of 4 days not getting to do bookwork. Add in 2 days for Study Guide and 1 for test, and that meant only 3 days for actually doing the text. (out of 2 weeks)

 

So now I post videos on my blog for the kids to watch a little each day at home. I usually find them from youtube.

They might be something you would like. Link is in my siggy. :)

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OHhh, I see there is an audio of the course. My son is an audiotory learner and that might be enough to boost him along. By having it to read to him while he follows along in the text book.

 

The Red Wagon Tutorials look neat but at a $100 probably out of my price range by the time I purchase the book!

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My daughter who is currently 7th but will still be in this book in 8th (we are really slow moving right now) enjoys it. She is reading the chapters on her own and does the experiments in front of us. She gets them all ready and shows them to us. She will say it's boring at times but she is happy I bought it for her. I have added reports on top of what she is reading. Right now she is researching scientists for a report. There is a companian CD that we have and we forget about it half the time. The CD version is just to book on CD. I have it too because we sometimes do lessons out of the house and the CD is better but I prefer the book than the electronic version.

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OHhh, I see there is an audio of the course. My son is an audiotory learner and that might be enough to boost him along. By having it to read to him while he follows along in the text book.

 

The Red Wagon Tutorials look neat but at a $100 probably out of my price range by the time I purchase the book!

 

My son uses the audio CD. It has been a great help.

I know what you mean about the price! At the time, I was actually able to buy the previous year's version for $50. Meaning, the classes he had done for the previous year. Same version of text; different year of class lectures.

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My 8th & 6th grader are doing General this year- we go toa co-op one day/week, and General is offered every-other-year, so it always has 6th-7th-& 8th graders in it. They are both really wenjoying it- and when my oldest did the book (on her own, no co-op) in 7th she really liked it- we had done very little formal science before that. OK, almost none. And she did fine with no science background.

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