Question for Apologia Science Users

[weintz8]

 It seems like a great curriculum but every time I look at it, I put it back. It seems like it must take hours a day to complete. Can anyone describe your use of Apologia, not wether you like it or not but the time commitment and/or how you set up your schedule using it? I'm using it with a 6th grader and a 3rd grader.  The 3rd grader is extremely behind in his writing abilities but I did get him the junior note booking journal.

 

An example is day 1 schedule;

 

Read textbook pages 19-22 (which then has you end in the middle of a section) and narrate (I see lots of technical terms and I'm not sure how they would narrate through the difficult processes they are describing.  My kids are good at narrating stories but those have a much more clearly defined plot with added details that can be eliminated without compromising the important details.  

  

Then the kids are supposed to fill out two pages in the note booking journal.

 

Then do an experiment.

 

Then read two more pages and narrate.

 

And finally do another experiment.  

 

Knowing my kids this equals approximately 4 hours of work!  This seems like a ridiculous time expenditure for science.  

 

 

[tmstranger]

I started last year with Chemistry and Physics.  I did NOT use the notebooking journals, but rather tried to schedule it on my own. 

 

I did find it time consuming that way, too.  It is a lot to read at any one time.  I would divide the chapters the best I could and spread out the experiments, but there were just so many experiments that it took us way too long.  But, then I felt guilty skipping experiments! 

 

I know everyone loves Apologia, but it did not work out for us.  We finished the chemistry portion and then moved on...

 

Maybe someone who has had success can chime in and help you figure out a plan!

 

 

[MerryAtHope]

Wow, no, we didn't spend anywhere near that much time. 

 

One year I used Astronomy for the whole year. My kids were 6th and 4th that year, but we were working on remedial LA skills and I didn't want to spend a lot of time on science. We did science 2-3 days per week. We typically spent about 30 minutes per day. I didn't follow any pre-set schedule. We read a few pages and discussed things that interested us. On another day, we'd do some notebooking. Sometimes that involved drawing, or a short amount of writing. We did the activities that interested us (we had a lot of fun with the planet walk, so that day we spent more time). I may have helped with some writing--I don't remember for sure now, but I did help my kids with writing a lot in elementary. Since we only did it twice a week or so, it lasted most of the year.

 

When my dd was in 6th grade, she used Botany and part of Anatomy. She worked independently that year, and had the freedom to either read, journal, do projects, use the notebook (she liked some of the projects in there but didn't do all by any means), or whatever she wanted, as long as she did something for science for 30 minutes per day. I think it took her just over a semester. When she started Anatomy, she was inspired to use the idea of the "cell city" for a science fair project, and she spent a few months making a sculpey clay model, thinking through the analogies even further, researching, writing up her paper etc... It was a great project! But that did keep her from finishing the book, which I was fine with. (She did science fairs for 6 years altogether, and 3 of her projects were biology related. She will be a senior this coming year, and is strongly considering nursing or another biology-related career.)

 

So...all that to say, use the curriculum how you want to, not how someone else lays it out for you. Learn, enjoy, set an appropriate time limit, and have fun with it together.

 

HTH some!

Edited July 3, 2016 by MerryAtHope

[Tiramisu]

Some years we just read. I did experiments when I taught them at a coop. Otherwise, rarely. My kids loved the series. One still loves science and is a high school junior planning a future of science studies. I think. Big part of that was just being able to enjoy the reading together cuddled on the couch.

 

I could see you sixth grader doing the notebook journal but I would make it optional for the third grader. Maybe he could just do the activities he likes. Or if you need some writing for whatever reason, one activity a week, his choice.

Edited July 3, 2016 by Tiramisu

[Momofeat]

We've used elementary Apologia books, but we've not followed that schedule at all!

 

Last year for 4th grade, ds & I worked through the Astronomy book and used a lapbook I found that went along with it. We did most of the experiments. We rotate subjects and don't usually do all subjects every day, but I would say we probably spent 30-45 minutes on it 2 or 3 times per week. We did several experiments or projects, but we skipped some. 

 

It was a really good year of science for us. :-)

[...................]

We used this twice.  When my kids were 9 and 7, it took forever and was very laborious. We finished it anyway and they have fond memories but, it did take over an hour every time we picked it up.  

 

We used it again last year for my 6th grader to do independently, and it was AWESOME.  She loved it, did it all herself, made beautiful notebooking pages and projects and a few of the experiments.  (PS she much preferred her own notebook than the pre-made one, which felt like a lot of busy-work!)

 

 Honestly, you can skip science "curriculum" until about 6th grade.....They learned more from Bill Nye and Moody Science vidoes, and other Science videos.  Your library has hundreds of videos.  I bought a few Timberdoodle Science kits (the cheaper, easier ones) and we had a lot of fun and learned a lot with those.  We watched every single David Attenborough thing he ever filmed (even back to the 50's!), and many many national geographic and other documentaries.  My kids love nature, creation and Science.  

 

I am by NO MEANS an unschooler but just like "literature" this is one area that just made absolutely no headway with "traditional" methods, but was wonderful in every way when we just did it our "own way."

 

Now, that said, of all that traditional methods we DID try, Jeannie Fulbright's were the winners.

[...................]

PS if you do try it,  to make it LESS laborious, just pick and choose from the notebooking pages, and SKIP the pre-made journal Apologia sells.  They're ok, but mostly busy-work.  My kids are much more inspired by doing their own pages from scratch, and the suggestions in the textbook are great.  

[Loowit]

We only do it a few days a week, not every day, until they are in middle school/high school.  I skip things that I think may not fit well, and plan to do lengthy experiments on Fridays, which are our light work days.  We tried the notebooks a couple times, but didn't really work well for my boys.  There was a lot of busy work that I would have loved as a kid (cut and paste type things especially) but the boys aren't into that at all.  Now I mostly do the reading with them and then do the discussion questions out loud.  Science usually takes about 30 to 60 minutes on the days we do it.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

We used Zoology 1 & 2 several years ago. I didn't use the journals, we just read and did most of the projects. I didn't follow any specific schedule either. We just read until I was losing their attention and then stopped. It took longer than a year to get through each book but that was fine with me and we enjoyed it.

 

We took a break from Apologia and did Science In The Beginning the last couple of years (yes, it took us 2 years to get through it but science is the first thing to go around here if we get busy). We really enjoyed SITB too and I loved how each lesson was clearly defined - experiment/demonstration, 2-3 pages of reading, narration/review questions/notebooking project.

 

This year we're heading back to Apologia and doing Chemistry and Physics with my 5th, 4th, and 2nd graders. Chemistry and Physics was their choice. I also got the notebooking journals this time (jr. one for 2nd grader). I plan to follow the schedule in the book but adapt to meet our needs. I would like to keep science to 45 minutes, 2 days a week.

 

My plan is to do all the reading scheduled, one or two of the experiments (depending on how long they take), and one or two notebooking pages/projects. I'll check out some of the additional reading suggestions from the library and have them available for the kids to read if they're interested. If they want to do more during their free time they can but it won't be required. I'm anticipating that my 5th grader will do all the rest of the experiments and mini book projects that we don't get to as a group and my 4th grader will likely do all of the mini book projects. Depending on how much they love the journals (could be a lot) they may want to fill in every page. My 2nd grader will probably do only what we do together and then spend his afternoons bothering his older sisters while they try to do the rest of the experiments (I'm guessing 7th grader will jump in at this point). :-P

 

If you want to use Apologia then go for it. :-) It's a great curriculum and can be a lot of fun. Just use it the way you want and feel free to leave stuff out if it gets to be too much.

[Jane Elliot]

I let each child choose the Apologia book they are interested in. They read a couple pages a day on their own and then tell me or dh about what they read. If they want to do the experiment, I have the supplies here, but it's their decision and their setup and cleanup. When ds did Chem and Phys, I did have him keep a running list of terms and definitions in a notebook, but other than that, we do no notebooking with these books. When my adult kids (some with science majors/degrees) come home, they are astonished at how much the kids know from those books. Very effective. Very simple. Very hands off for me. 

 

My kids love reading about science, so I hand them a lot of additional books such as the ones you find in the curricula plans at www.guesthollow.com. I don't require anything except reading, but the books on those lists are so interesting that the kids are always spontaneously narrating them.

[KrissiK]

We use it at a slower pace than recommended. I think it is recommended for 3 days a week or so. We do it 5 days a week and it takes about 20 minutes. We read a couple of pages and during the reading write down some main points and draw pictures in the notebook. When we're done with the chapter we take one day and do the page of questions. Then, the kids take another day and do the copywork page and the crossword puzzle. Then we take one day and do the mini-book. And if there is an experiment or two we take a day to do that. We don't always do the experiments. It's a lot of work if you do it by the lesson plans. Especially the reading. I liked our pace. Actually, we did start out the year doing it 3 days a week, but I realized we were going too slow. So, after Christmas we did it 5 days. We were able to finish the book at that pace. I have a friend who did one of their books in a co-op and they did it in a semester. Understandably, my friend didn't have very happy feelings toward Apologia after that. That is way too rushed, IMO.

 

Some people up-thread mentioned that the workbook is laborious. I would agree with that I'd you tried to do it all in one day. I like the workbook because it does cement the ideas in their head. It can be a lot of writing.

Edited July 4, 2016 by KrissiK