robsiew Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 So, I've been really happy with Apologia content. Kids like it.... it's been a great fit, except the labs. My oldest, who will be 9th grade next year, is frustrated with the labs. As with a lot of science programs, the labs are very predictable and leaves little to "hypothesis". He can pretty much guess what is going to happen before he does the experiment. He is not motivated at all to write up lab reports because, to him it's a waste of time. (I kinda get where he is coming from, however have forced him to do it anyway!) But if I were to switch programs here is what I would want.... a Christian publisher, solid science AND labs that would challenge him more. Not using a bunch of items that are hard to get, but what I'd love to see is actual questions that he really doesn't know the answer to. He has to make a real hypothesis and really figure out if he's right or not. Does this type of program exist? Maybe another question I have is what is the purpose of HS labs? Is it just to teach scientific method OR is it to actually participate in a process of questions and discovery? Has anyone had this issue with the mainstream science programs? Again, I love Apologia and if there isn't anything else I would consider sound enough for science I won't switch and will just make him muddle through that portion. He loves the reading and I'm please with the soundness of the science so I'm not real motivated to switch to something else, except to see if anyone has any ideas for something that would have labs that would peak his curiosity. The biggest problem I'm having is that he sees science as boring and predictable and instead I would love for him to be curious and need to explore more with questions posed to him that don't have an obvious solution. We used Physical Science this year and we've used the elementary books. Maybe HS is different being tougher material? Thanks for any help you can give me! Hopefully I haven't confused you too much as to what I'm looking for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 Anyone out there with these issues or are we weird?? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 We did okay with the elementary books and general, but parted ways at the high school level for other reasons. Maybe add one of those home guides to _______ experiments or kits from home science tools? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Generally speaking, high school labs are really just to help students understand the concepts they've been studying through hands-on experience. True scientific inquiry is usually only practiced during science fair preparation. That said, you could modify the labs to make them more interesting by coming up with real questions to be answered. It seems like someone here had a post a year or two ago explaining how they did that. Maybe lewelma or quark? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 DIVE has much better labs than Apologia. The one year we used Apologia, I switched out the labs. It was Chemistry and we used Illustrated guide for the labs instead of doing the Apologia labs which we had already done in Jr. High. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 Thanks for the ideas! I'll check these things out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 DIVE has much better labs than Apologia. The one year we used Apologia, I switched out the labs. It was Chemistry and we used Illustrated guide for the labs instead of doing the Apologia labs which we had already done in Jr. High. Wow! Thanks for this advice! He has a biology book as well and even a schedule that matches with Apologia! I found both books as PDF online. I think I'll be checking these out! They definitely look more exciting than the ones in Apologia. Thanks, this might be just what we are looking for! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Wow! Thanks for this advice! He has a biology book as well and even a schedule that matches with Apologia! I found both books as PDF online. I think I'll be checking these out! They definitely look more exciting than the ones in Apologia. Thanks, this might be just what we are looking for! Yes, if you like Apologia, you could use DIVE with the Apologia books, but get the DIVE labs, videos, and tests to enhance it. I've used DIVE ICP, Biology and Chemistry. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeph317 Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 Wow! Thanks for this advice! He has a biology book as well and even a schedule that matches with Apologia! I found both books as PDF online. I think I'll be checking these out! They definitely look more exciting than the ones in Apologia. Thanks, this might be just what we are looking for! Hi - can you share the links to the pdf books and the schedule that goes w/Apologia? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 You could also check out Novare Science. It doesn't look like they have Biology yet, but they do have Physical Science, Chemistry, Physics & Earth Science. They also offer The Student Lab Handbook. The texts come in general, advanced, and accelerated levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 Hi - can you share the links to the pdf books and the schedule that goes w/Apologia? thanks Here is the link for Apologia... sorry it took so long, I'm not on very often! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 You could also check out Novare Science. It doesn't look like they have Biology yet, but they do have Physical Science, Chemistry, Physics & Earth Science. They also offer The Student Lab Handbook. The texts come in general, advanced, and accelerated levels. Thanks! I'll check this out for my Physical Science child... since Illustrated guides doesn't have PS yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Bumping to add a new resource you may find interesting for your DS.... Since you mentioned how your son feels about the "pointless" experiments (my DD feels the exact same way) in the science texts he's used, I just found another option that was listed in the Wayfarers curriculum I've been reviewing. One of the options for high school science with Kathy Joe Devore's Wayfarers curriculum is Bridget Ardoin's Science for High School. This is a totally research-based curriculum. Instead of a standard textbook, the students learn by researching weekly questions about the topic being explored. Once students discuss their weekly findings to the parent, then an experiment is performed to further solidify the information learned. She explains her method and reasoning here. Your son may like the different approach and discovery through the research method. I'm thinking about using this science through HS for my DD as well. The best part is that the price for complete packages is quite reasonable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Bumping to add a new resource you may find interesting for your DS.... Since you mentioned how your son feels about the "pointless" experiments (my DD feels the exact same way) in the science texts he's used, I just found another option that was listed in the Wayfarers curriculum I've been reviewing. One of the options for high school science with Kathy Joe Devore's Wayfarers curriculum is Bridget Ardoin's Science for High School. This is a totally research-based curriculum. Instead of a standard textbook, the students learn by researching weekly questions about the topic being explored. Once students discuss their weekly findings to the parent, then an experiment is performed to further solidify the information learned. She explains her method and reasoning here. Your son may like the different approach and discovery through the research method. I'm thinking about using this science through HS for my DD as well. The best part is that the price for complete packages is quite reasonable. This actually looks very interesting.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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