If your children enjoy Apologia, can you answer some questions for me?

[Oakblossoms]

What does an average week look like?

Did you add anything or adjust the materials at all?

How involved are you in their week?

Which chapters were the most difficult?

Which chapters were the easiest?

What do you find are the strengths of Apologia?

What do you find are the weaknesses of Apologia?

Did or are your children planning on majoring in Science in College/University?

[CupOCoffee]

((listening))

 

~coffee~

[Renaissance Mom]

Any text in particular? My answers may vary by text.

[Hunter's Moon]

Something I thought I would mention in regards to the Chemistry text: If you believe in Evolution, there are a few paragraphs (I don't remember in which chapter) where the author pretty much calls Darwin a loon. I believe it was in the chapter or section on extrapolation.

 

It doesn't interfere with the Chemistry of the book at all, but it really turned me off of his books because the way he went about it. If he had simply stated he didn't believe in Evolution, fine. But to completely discredit a man's life work and call him nuts is a whole other issue.

 

Off my soap box now :hat:

[hsbeth]

I'll give you my $.02 because my older children have liked Apologia texts. We first used one as a part of a co-op a few years back. We decided to participate b/c the lab portion of the course was very well done and it provided a nice social outlet for one of my older dds that year. I think my children enjoy the narrative reading style of the texts.

 

Personally, if I were going to use a Christian text I would prefer Bob Jones over Apologia. It's more thorough in scope and sequence. We've paired this with a DIVE DVD before and been happy with the outcome. Although we are rather conservative Christians, we tend to prefer more secular texts at the high school level though. We feel that our children are spiritually mature enough at this level to view such material and since they may likely end up at a secular college it seems prudent that they have some exposure to materials more like those they will use at the university level.

 

My oldest dd (who did Apologia Chem. as a 10th grader) is likely to be a STEM major and hopes to attend a public uni. She used DIVE Biology with a BJU text in 9th and this year is taking Physics (secular text). Next year she'll tackle Chem as a dual-enrollment student at a local uni.

 

Our second dd used Apologia Bio via the same co-op, but we supplemented outside of class and used DIVE at home. She would like to major in nursing.

 

My pet peeve with Apologia is their way of bringing the topic of Evolution/Religion into all areas. I appreciate their information in Biology, but I really don't feel it warranted in their Chem./Physics materials. We are YEC, BTW.

[mom31257]

Dd is using Apologia Biology, and it is her first experience with Apologia.

 

What does an average week look like? She does just over half a chapter one week, then she finishes the chapter and does the study guide the next. I am leading a lab class that meets every other week, so labs are only done there. She takes the test at the beginning of the next week before starting the next chapter.

 

Did you add anything or adjust the materials at all? I did not give her the quarter tests the first semester, but I am considering giving her the last one as a trial run of finals. She hasn't had much curricula that included longer tests like that.

 

How involved are you in their week? She works independently on the entire chapter unless she has difficulty. I check her study guide and we discuss it. I have her do the chapter summaries that are in the back of the book orally with me. I then review the things I know will be most needed for the test. She studies some more and takes the test.

 

Which chapters were the most difficult? She's not finished yet, so I'm not sure.

 

Which chapters were the easiest? Same answer as above.

 

What do you find are the strengths of Apologia? Christian worldview, experiments are easy to follow, affordable

 

What do you find are the weaknesses of Apologia? I'm not sure of any real problems with it.

 

Did or are your children planning on majoring in Science in College/University? No, she is not. Ds will probably end up in a science field, and I plan on using BJU with him because it is supposed to be more rigorous.

[Jean in Newcastle]

So far we have done Apologia Biology and Chemistry

 

What does an average week look like? Most chapters (modules) are designed to be done in 2 weeks. The book will tell you in the front if there are some that are harder and are designed to be done in 3 weeks. The first week is generally reading, doing all labs and starting in on "On Your Own" problems. The second week is more work on the On Your Owns, doing practice problems, the practice review and then the test.

 

 

Did you add anything or adjust the materials at all? We've supplemented with tutors, Khan academy videos and other information from the internet on different scientific topics and equations as they have come up. We also go to the book website for help.

 

How involved are you in their week? I am very involved in that I check every day on his progress, his understanding (verbally) and by offering hte above support.

 

Which chapters were the most difficult?

Which chapters were the easiest? See note above on how it is laid out.

 

What do you find are the strengths of Apologia? Easy to read. Experiments are easy to do at home.

 

What do you find are the weaknesses of Apologia? Some information that they present as "the only way" is not the only way to teach it. We've discovered this as we have looked elsewhere for information. What they say isn't "wrong" per se but is sometimes overly simplified. We plan on adding to these courses with more in depth courses in coming years.

Did or are your children planning on majoring in Science in College/University? Probably a STEM major of some kind.

[Musicmom]

Both my dc used and enjoyed Apologia. Here are my answers to your questions (sorry, I can't seem to get the questions set off in bold type; sigh):

 

What does an average week look like? We did one module every 2 weeks, as the author recommends. My dc would read the text each day, spreading it over roughly 7 or 8 days, and stopping to do the labs along the way. On Thursday of the 2nd week they would do the Study Guide, and then take the test on Friday. Ds did 2 Apologia books--Physics and Adv Physics--in one year when he was a junior, so he had to do a module per week. He would spend 3 days reading the text, one day on the Study Guide and one day for the test. It was intense pace but it really increased his capacity. It was also hard to fit in the labs on top of that, and many of the more involved ones fell by the wayside. Still, I think he did hit the most important ones for physics.

 

Did you add anything or adjust the materials at all? For Biology, we skipped Module 9 (the Evolution chapter) initially, then came back to it at the end and studied a secular text (Campbell's Biology) alongside it for a more complete picture of evolutionary theory and a comparison of the different viewpoints. (We are Christian, but not YE.)

 

How involved are you in their week? My dc did all the reading, On Your Own questions, and Study Guide (including correcting their own work) independently. I supervised the labs whenever possible and I graded the tests.

 

Which chapters were the most difficult? This will vary depending on the text and depending on the student. I seem to recall the chapter on cell structure in biology was more difficult, and I believe they sometimes recommend 3 weeks for a more difficult module.

 

Which chapters were the easiest? I don't remember specifically... I think it will depend on the child.

 

What do you find are the strengths of Apologia? It is written to the student and thus can be done quite independently—the parent does not need to have much knowledge of the subject. The labs are well laid out and very doable. The conversational style of the texts is a strength if your dc respond well to it, because it adds in what would be included in a classroom lecture. We found the content to be excellent in general, and the CD-ROM supplements are very good—videos of all those classroom demonstrations that you can’t do at home!

 

What do you find are the weaknesses of Apologia? The content on evolution is more of an argument against evolution than an explanation of the theory, so some supplementation is helpful. Also, there are a couple of comments regarding evolution that appear in the Chemistry and Physics texts, which really do not belong there. Finally, not really a weakness, but just be aware that the conversational style does not click for some kids.

 

Did or are your children planning on majoring in Science in College/University? My ds is a junior in college, majoring in Computer Science. He did Apologia Bio, Chem, Physics, Adv Physics and Adv Chem. After Apologia, in high school, he did MIT OCW Biology and online AP Physics C. He felt Apologia prepared him well for those advanced courses (in fact, he was bored almost to tears in AP Physics C because, except for using calculus, it was all the same stuff covered in the 2 Apologia texts!)

 

My dd is currently in 12th grade and doing Apologia Adv Biology (Anatomy & Physiology). She plans to major in nursing in college. She did Apologia Bio, Chem and Physics, and then went on to Thinkwell AP Bio and PA Homeschoolers AP Chem. She felt Apologia prepared her very well for both of those courses.

[coffeegal]

I quoted using Musicmom's reply, as she elaborated on a few points quite well. :001_smile:

 

What does an average week look like? My two oldest are using the biology text now. We do science labs on Mondays, then they study through the week. The Fridays after we finish a module, they take the test. We've found that an extra week of study, while continuing to study the next module, works best for us.

 

Did you add anything or adjust the materials at all? For Biology, we skipped Module 9 (the Evolution chapter) initially, then came back to it at the end and studied a secular text (Campbell's Biology) alongside it for a more complete picture of evolutionary theory and a comparison of the different viewpoints. (We are Christian, but not YE.)

I made quite a few adjustments. The first was I changed the order we're covering the modules. We did animals first quarter, are finishing up modules 10, 1, 5, and 6 this quarter. Next quarter we're studying the genetics & evolution chapters before moving to bacteria and plants. My plan for chapter 9 is similar to Musicmom's plan, except my boys will be using Miller-Levine biology instead of Cambells. My oldest is also using notebooking pages I found at currclick as he works through the modules. The pages make a big difference for him. My second found the pages annoying and prefers mindmapping the modules.

 

How involved are you in their week? I'm not very involved throughout the week.

 

Which chapters were the most difficult? The first chapters.

 

Which chapters were the easiest? We're not finished, but I suspect the final chapters will be the easiest.

 

What do you find are the strengths of Apologia? It is written to the student and thus can be done quite independently—the parent does not need to have much knowledge of the subject. The labs are well laid out and very doable. The conversational style of the texts is a strength if your dc respond well to it, because it adds in what would be included in a classroom lecture.

 

 

:iagree:

 

What do you find are the weaknesses of Apologia? The content on evolution is more of an argument against evolution than an explanation of the theory, so some supplementation is helpful.

 

 

Again :iagree:

Did or are your children planning on majoring in Science in College/University? Plans are in flux and it is certainly possible that one might major in science.

 

:coolgleamA:

[kerenlynne]

Using Biology with DS who is Dyslexic.

 

What does an average week look like? We cover the material usually in about 2-3 weeks. Got a schedule from Donna Young's web site. We usually have done the labs in sequence but sometimes we bump them to the end of the unit. It takes about 30-45 minutes a day.

 

Did you add anything or adjust the materials at all? I have added Khan videos, Youtube's Crash Course Biology, and experiments and extra content from Supercharged Science. Just bought a Science roots supplemental curriculm to help us with the science terms-not sure if it will help us but thought it was worth a shot. Son is right brained so the textbook is just a bit dry.

 

How involved are you in their week? I let him read the chapters and do the on your own questions on his own. Spend a lot of time helping with review for test. Mostly related to the LD

 

Which chapters were the most difficult? Unit 6- so far the parts of the cell had 40 terms to memorize and only a few were on the test. I added terms to the test.

 

Which chapters were the easiest? All pretty much the same.

 

What do you find are the strengths of Apologia? Little parent prep, conversational style of book, audio version available and we are using the cd version of the book so there are video clips to illustrate different topics.

 

What do you find are the weaknesses of Apologia? I don't care for the tests, summary's are all fill in the blank(not a good way to help review material IMO), we struggle with the experiments and what the lab reports should look like, I have found some minor discrepencies between the text and some of the supplemental sources we have used (aside from the obvious creation vs. evol differences)

 

Did or are your children planning on majoring in Science in College/University? I doubt he will study science.

 

We are conservative Christians btw and my son likes the Christian aspect of the material but I don't think it matters that much in HS. With a parent involved in the process- whatever your philosophy-you can address concerns about what the material in any book says that is contrary to your views. The beauty of homeschooling:)

[swellmomma]

We are using physical science. We do a module over 2 weeks, no test. We do the study questions together as review and then move on. I am not sure if we will do the tests next year with biology. I am already making plans to add to the biology to cover the requirements for high school biology here in Alberta. The kids love the experiments they have done thus far and the text itself. Before this year we mainly focused on nature study, dvds and random fun science kits for science study so following a text completely like this is fairly new and they are doing well with it. At this point 1 plans to go into sciences (biology major) and 1 fluctuates between wanting to go into sciences (geology major, biology minor) and going right into the army. Both have learning issues, so they read a section and we discuss. I have them copy out terms to remember or certain tables etc into their notes,. Experiements we do together and they do up a lab write up. study guide they do as open book review, then we discuss any areas they struggled with.

[Renaissance Mom]

You've gotten some great replies here. We've done General Science, Physical Science, and are in mod. 11 of Biology. I taught the first two at our co-op. Here are a few things from our experience.

 

What does an average week look like?

6 days for reading the module, answering OYO questions, drawing diagrams in notebook, taking notes (started this year for biology), and learning vocab on quizlet.com (for biology)

1 day for labs and write ups

2 days for study guide and module summary (mod. summary aloud for biology -- just because I was requiring written module notes as a study skill and didn't think I needed to add more written work. For gen sci and phys sci, mod. summaries were written)

1 day for test

 

Did you add anything or adjust the materials at all?

Yes, when needed. As I taught gen sci and phys sci at co-op, I added demonstrations or extra labs to be sure they grasped the material. For example, we built simple machines out of legos during gen sci, we made lemon-powered batteries in phys sci, plus a number of others. For biology, I added a few videos, we did a lot more field work, I required at least one solid essay to be written about a biology topic of dd's choosing.

 

How involved are you in their week?

My work is largely big picture -- I set up the course requirements, add assignments if I think I need them, make sure we have materials on hand, grade the lab write ups and exams, do the mod summary aloud with dd this year, discuss material when necessary. My biggest involvement happens before the year begins to make sure we have a solid course and I tweak along the way. My dd's favorite use of me is to have an appreciative audience when she reads something in the text that intrigues or delights her ... "Mom, listen to this ...!" THAT is why we love Apologia -- those moments.

 

Which chapters were the most difficult?

Which chapters were the easiest?

This varies by kid and by text. In gen sci, the first module on the history of all the scientists could have been tedious had we not spread it out and did some games and Jeopardy at co-op. In phys sci, there were several that were pretty abstract and tough for the kids to really understand. So, I searched out as many demonstrations and hands on things as I could find. We haven't hit any tough spots in biology yet.

 

What do you find are the strengths of Apologia?

• Conversational style of writing -- oldest dd is a social learner so this works very, very well for her
  
• Biblical worldview -- we like that Jay Wile is unapologetically endorsing young earth creation. Secular materials and viewpoints abound everywhere. Yes, we need to understand them. But we don't need to drill and endorse them as the "reasonable" explanation. We do discuss secular and old earth materials -- but we do not present them as our primary teaching tools. Although my oldest dd is very grounded in her faith, she herself requested that we continue to use Christian, young earth materials. Her words: "Mom, when I am focusing on learning something new, it is hard enough without having to be constantly trying to figure out what is biblical truth and what is worldly speculation. There is time enough for that when I am older."
  
• OYO questions and study guides are great study skill training tools
  

What do you find are the weaknesses of Apologia?

Personally, I'd like to see ideas/suggestions for supplementing areas of interest. They have great book links for further exploration -- but I still have to figure out additional assignments or demonstrations or labs if we want to go deeper.

 

Did or are your children planning on majoring in Science in College/University?

Oldest dd is only in 9th grade. She is not expecting to major in science -- but she has made it one of her priorities to have a solid foundation in high school because of that. She knows that she won't be taking upper level sciences in college but still wants to understand and appreciate the basics -- even if she doesn't particularly enjoy all of it!

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

What does an average week look like?

Most modules are done in two weeks. The first week the module is read and some labs, not all, are done. The second week is spent doing the study guide, review questions, practice problems, and tests.

 

 

Did you add anything or adjust the materials at all?

Very little has been "added". Occasionally we'll find websites to explore or documentaries to watch. I did "add" Quizlet to test vocabulary.

 

 

How involved are you in their week?

I like to ask for oral narrations during the week of reading. I like to orally do the study guides. I grade tests or look at Quizlet scores. I like to discuss things when they come to me interested in a certain topic. In reality I probably spend an hour per week per student with science.

 

Which chapters were the most difficult?

One of my daughter's thought the DNA chapter in the Biology book was hard. The amount of vocabulary in the biology book is difficult to memorize.

 

Which chapters were the easiest?

I honestly don't remember. I do not require written work on every single module. I think the modules that are assigned as only reading and discussing would be the easiest. Sometimes life circumstances will determine a 'read only' module. Sometimes a 'rabbit trail' will mean written assignments are not given. Some modules are planned as 'read only.'

 

What do you find are the strengths of Apologia?

The conversational style of writing makes it easy to understand and easy for more independent study. We are Christians and creationists and appreciate the creationist viewpoint.

 

What do you find are the weaknesses of Apologia?

I'm using first editions and understand that improvements have been made in second editions. Some of the illustrations and pictures could be more professionally done.

 

Did or are your children planning on majoring in Science in College/University?

My oldest was an art major but is not in college now. My second is most interested in sociology and psychology but has not settled upon a major although she is a college sophomore now. My third , a 12th grader this year, is undecided but will most likely be a STEM major of some kind. My fourth will most likely be a history major.

 

 

Finding a program that truly interests and engages your student and then tailoring the assignments to your student and life situation are by far the most important things!

 

Sorry , but it seems my answers have become part of your questions. I have not been online much lately and have not learned everything about the new format here at WTM!