BJU Earth 8th Vs. Apologia Physical Science

[bnwhitaker]

I was thinking of doing BJU Earth for 8th grade.  But we will be in a class that teaches 

Apologia Physical Science for 9th grade.  

 

Do you think I would be covering the same material?  

 

Can those who have used them both give me some pros & cons?

[bethben]

BJU is a lot more in depth but really needs a teacher to teach the material. It is really meant to go along with their online videos. Apologia is written to the student.

 

 

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[bnwhitaker]

BJU is a lot more in depth but really needs a teacher to teach the material. It is really meant to go along with their online videos. Apologia is written to the student.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thank you for your reply.  Would you mind if I asked which one you like more?  Are the online videos something we can buy?  I went on their site to look and they only had the dissection videos.

[bethben]

We used the physical science program. They have a teacher you can have five days a week. For physical science, it was a 45 minute lecture/ lab 5 days a week. The problem I ran into was if my son had a question of the end of chapter review, I usually did not know enough of what was taught to help him. I still think that at those upper levels, it's really not made for the homeschool audience despite what they say. Apologia is really made for student self education. Not as in depth or rigorous, but much easier to do with a mom who can't spend all her time learning alongside her children at the depth they need.

 

 

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[mom2att]

I did Apologia Physical Science with my son last year, and this year we are doing Earth Science using a traditional text that covers much of the same info as BJU's Earth Science but from a secular slant. There is some duplication in regard to the earth science portion of the Apologia Text, but it is a much broader overview and includes many more topics than the BJU text which focuses solely on Earth Science.

 

You asked for pros and cons, so I will add that I hated the BJU Earth Science text so much that I withdrew my older son from the class he was in that used it. I am a Christian, but the young earth only bias in the BJU text was not the perspective I was looking for. It is in the Apologia materials as well and is why I chose not to do Apologia General Science, but is greatly toned down in their Physical Science book. This may not be an issue for you as many Christians do tend to lean toward the young earth viewpoint, but it was definitely a con for me.

 

ETA: I used the Apologia text in 7th and am using an Earth Science text in 8th, so I was not too worried about some overlap in material. I might consider it more carefully if it were in regard to class that was intended to count for high school credit.

Edited October 30, 2016 by mom2att

[Omma]

There is a big overlap between these two subjects.  The first half of Apologia's Physical Science is actually Earth Science material.  The scope and sequence for BJU's Physical Science is completely different than BJU's Earth Science (as you would expect).  This is one case where it is really important to compare scope and sequences and decide which one of these you want to do (unless you are planning to just use Apologia Physical Science as a review or for purposes of 'group discussion and maybe practicing research skills (which is what Classical Conversations does with Apologia Physical Science...they have students 'outline' the entire text throughout the year and add a research paper on top of it all).

 

I believe you can access the Table of Contents for each course and see this for yourself in available samples online.

 

Blessings,

 

Brenda