Homemama2 Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Here's the deal. I bought BJU Life science (their 7th grade prog.) for this year but was unable to do it bc it really needed to be taught by me rather than done independently. We had multiple crisis going on this fall and so I switched him into Apologia General Science since it can be done independently. The sequence he's done is: 6th grade: BJU 6th-which is a general science and RS4K Geology for Middle School 7th grade: Apologia General Science. So I feel like he's already hit a lot of the physical science and earth science. What he's lacking is life science and he hasn't used a program yet to teach him how to use a microscope (BJU life does this.) BUT if we didn't do an actual physical science, would he be missing out by not doing the 8th gr. physical science math? And if we did Life in 8th and the Bio in 9th that would be kind of redundant. And BJU Life was by far my biggest purchase including IEW dvd's so I really hate just NOT using it..... So I'm deciding between Apologia Physical or BJU Life for 8th, and will move in Apologia Biology for 9th. Ugh. Opinions please if you've taught 8th gr. Physical Science. Thx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Nope. DD/9th did astronomy and architecture in 8th, and she's handled physics just fine this year. It was her last year to follow any rabbit trail she pleased before high school transcript requirements came into the equation. DS/6th thinks he may like to do high school biology in 8th, to get it out of the road so he can just go deeper and deeper in physics and chem in high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 The reason people do physical science in 8th is that it is enough of an overview of physics and chemistry so that kids have the background they need for biology in 9th. In other words, the best order for the science is physics, chemistry, and then biology. But most students aren't ready for the math required for physics and chemistry until 10th grade or later, so it makes sense to do biology in 9th. All of that said, you don't absolutely have to have a chemistry background to do high school biology and he'll probably be just fine with what he already has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homemama2 Posted February 20, 2015 Author Share Posted February 20, 2015 Ok. That makes a lot of sense. I think I'll check it out at a convention. I was just going by topics, and he has already done the topics multiple years. Ooh! or I could have him do BOTH! (Ha! KIDDING! He'd hate me forever. ) :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Gosh, there is always something to fret over, isn't there?! We have done interest-led science for all of middle school. Well, his interests never led to life science. So now I am nervous about 9th grade biology. I think we are going to do Ellen McHenry's Carbon Chemistry soon. Ellen's stuff is so fun, and it will hit quite a bit of the chemistry that will matter for biology. We spent most of 7th grade on physics. By the time he gets to physics again, it will be at least 11th grade. I'm pretty sure he will have forgotten most (if not all) of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omma Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I don't think I would want to do two years of Life Science/Biology in a row. However, I do think that BJU's Life Science is an excellent course with the distance learning component. In our situation, though, I have one dc who used it and the other one did Apologia General Science. I happen to have on hand both Apologia's Physical Science and BJU's Physical Science, and they are quite different in scope and sequence. Apologia's Physical Science spends the first 1/2 of the year doing what we did in BJU's Earth Science last year. In contrast, BJU's Physical Science contains only physics and chemistry and looks pretty challenging. I am pleased with the solid intro. this course provides to those who may not have had a lot of physics or chemistry up to this point. My dd prefers Apologia, so we are using Apologia's scope and sequence for her. My ds prefers BJU, so we are sticking with BJU's scope and sequence for him. But when you go back and forth between Apologia and BJU, you risk occasional content overlap (but no worries between biology and physical science, anyway). It appears to me that BJU Physical Science is thus quite appropriate to be a 9th grade course, so this could be an option if you wanted to do BJU Life Science for 8th grade. Or you could sell your BJU Life Science books and just move on! Blessings, Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4ofus Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Well, I hope not! My 6th grader is doing Physical Science this year. I figure we'll (probably) hit on Life/Earth-Space before he finishes middle, but we are doing it our own way ;). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 No. Definitely not. We did Alaska (state) science the first half (local biology, geology and geography) and are doing Health the second half. DD13 has had plenty of physical science over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homemama2 Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Thanks everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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