cjgrubbs Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Anyone familiar with this company? I'm looking at their highschool sciences such as Integrated Chemistry and Physics. I'd love to hear any feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda S in TX Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 I don't know a lot since dd hasn't been using PAC Biology for long, but I'll share what I know. There are six softcover texts. Each "text" has fifteen lessons, and the lessons are two to six pages long. The vocabulary is in boxes and the vocabulary words in the text are bolded. The cover is color but the insides are black and white. Pictures and charts are also black and white. Font is large and while the pages are full of information, it doesn't seem overly cluttered. Each lesson has a Life Principle at the end. For instance, "In everything, I believe the secret of success is prolonged effort" by Louis Pasteur. There are activity guides to match each text. Again, softcover, black and white print, largish font. The questions are directly from the text and consist of fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, true/false, matching, and writing out each life principle. The questions you will need to know for future tests are marked. I would not use this with a normal high school leveled child. I ordered this for my daughter as a last resort/get it done biology class. She struggles with anything academic and is not college bound. If she makes it through biology, we will be using other PAC classes because it is the easiest thing I have found. My 12ds and 14dd would be bored to tears doing this curriculum. I ordered from CBD. You can buy the workbooks or a dvd to print your own. I hope this helps. If you have any questions, I'll try and answer them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
braymalena Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 My ds is doing PAC Biology this year. We started out with Shepherd Science and the text was too dense for him. I looked at a few other programs and ended up choosing PAC because it seems to cover a lot of what your typical biology text would have, but in a more accessible way. My ds has always said that biology is his least favorite science, but I have noticed that he'll randomly share things that he's learning, so it must be somewhat interesting! 😀 PAC has been a good fit for him. HOD is scheduling the Integrated Physics and Chemistry in their upcoming highschool Geography guide. Below is a link to a detailed description of the Integrated Physics and Chemistry, but also how labs will be added in that HOD guide. Of course you don't need to use HOD, but I thought the description found there might be helpful... http://www.heartofdakota.com/board3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12932 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgrubbs Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 Melinda S this is very helpful. I'm wondering if I could use the Integrated Physics and Chemistry for my rising 8th grader before we segway into harder sciences like Apologia or BJU. I'm also anticipating a challenging school year next year because we are bringing home a toddler from China in March. So I was hoping for something he could do independently, but still learn and enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2jjka Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 My 9th grade daughter is using the PAC Integrated Physics and Chemistry this year in place of a physical science course. (We chose it because she needed time to finish up Pre-algebra, and I didn't want to overwhelm her with a math-heavy science course until she was ready for it.) I am planning on only giving 1 credit for the class, however, as I do not feel that the material it covers it worty of 2 full credits, as the publisher indicates. We did add a custom designed lab class at a local science lab facility. I may give an extra .5 credit for that, depending on how much time she spends working on lab related topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgrubbs Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 braymelana - we must have been typing simultaneously! Your info is very helpful. I follwed the link and read the info provided by HOD. I've never used HOD - just can't get my mind around an all-in-boxed curriculum with multiple ages- but this is more confirmation that this could be a nice intro for an 8th grader if I add in the labs. He is science minded but I need something that is going to be mostly independent for him. He is an auditory learner so I'm also considering Apologia with the audio CD for him to listen to while he follows along with the text books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgrubbs Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 mom2jjka - what course have you selected (or are you considering) to follow this up with? More PAC courses? or switching to something different? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2jjka Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 mom2jjka - what course have you selected (or are you considering) to follow this up with? More PAC courses? or switching to something different? I really haven't decided yet. We know that we want to do Biology, but I just cant' make up my mind on a publisher/course. I am not an Apologia, BJU, or Abeka fan, so those are probably out. I own the Biology 101 DVD's and I may pair them up with the PAC Biology course. Other options I am considering are Science Shepherd or possibly ACE (with DVDs) I originally had not considered ACE, but Carrie at HOD gave it a pretty good review/recommendation, and it's set up similar to PAC with the smaller bite-sized workbooks so it just might be an okay option for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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