Ranking the Apologia books - Xpost

[sixpence1978]

What are everybody's feeling about the upper level Apologia books (General and up)?

 

If you don't like one, is it a pretty good guess that you'd not like any of the others?  Or vice versa, if you like one, are you likely to like the rest?

 

Or if that isn't the case, have there been some books that you have liked better than others and which ones?

[MerryAtHope]

I don't think General and Physical are any indication necessarily of whether a person will like the Biology, Chemistry, and Physics books for high school. For what it's worth, my oldest who doesn't really care for science and asked to just do a text book for junior high liked General but not Physical, and tolerated Biology. He won't be going on in science. (Often when there's a preference it's the other way around I hear--kids don't like General but do like Physical.)

 

My stem student (youngest) never did General and Physical--I had her continue interest-led studies through junior high and focus on science fairs. In high school she has done Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Advanced Biology. (Obviously she likes biology the most! It's not so much that she didn't like the other *books* as that the other types of science don't interest her like biology does. She plans to go on in nursing.) We did find the math somewhat challenging in Chemistry and Physics. With regard to evolution, I thought that General Science did a better job of presenting the "other side" of the argument (why evolution makes sense to an evolutionist) than Biology (I felt biology presented weak arguments that were too easy to shoot down rather than present strong arguments that let you see the intelligence of that viewpoint, whether or not one agrees with it. I felt at the high school level, they should do more to prepare a student scientifically in that regard. We supplemented with things like articles from BioLogos, and books like The Reason for God and others which discuss the faith side of the question.) However, I did think Bio did a decent job of explaining macro vs. micro evolution. Our family doctor uses Apologia, and says that many of the topics in biology are things he learned in college courses. 

 

I have nothing but good things to say about Advanced Biology (Anatomy and Physiology). We'll see how my dd does next fall in A & P, but my hope is that it gives her a leg up to have studied some of that already. 

[Momto6inIN]

My oldest DS has done General, Physical, Bio, Chemistry, and Physics. He's planning on Advanced Physics next year. He's enjoyed all of them to varying degrees depending on how much he enjoys the subject. :) He's a STEM kid through and through.2nd DS enjoys science but is not a STEM person at all.

 

Both if them like Dr. Wile and consider him to be their teacher and act as though they know him personally lol

 

I think it's more if a style thing than anything - if you like the chatty aspect where you feel like the author is talking to you, you'll probably like them. If you prefer "just the facts ma'am" approach, you might not.

 

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[HollyDay]

Oldest dd loved General Science.  It captured her imagination.  She thought Physical was okay.  But, she did not at all like any of the other secondary science books.  She thought they were too chatty.  It was a style thing.  Just didn't work for her. 

 

Youngest did not like any of the books past the 6th grade level.  She also did not like the wordiness/chattiness of the jr high and high school texts.    Youngest loves math.  She is taking Calculus currently in 12th grade.  Once she hit algebra, she wanted a rigorous science program with lots of math. 

 

LIking one text will not guarantee they will like the others.  The same is true for the subjects.  Youngest loves physics but tolerated biology.  She enjoyed chemistry and loved her genetics class.  You don't have to stick with the same publishing house for each science subject if you don't want.  Apologia does have 2 years worth of each subject though.

 

[sixpence1978]

Thanks for the input.  DD and I started out the year with General and just didn't care for it.  It wasn't visual enough for her, and too long-winded for me.

 

I've been trying to decide on what we are going to use for next year, and I wasn't sure whether or not to rule Physical out yet.  Sounds like I probably should.

 

It's funny how Apologia science and Sonlight affect me.  I look at their curriculum every year knowing that aren't a good fit, but there is just something about them.

[Jane Elliot]

I've had a few kids not like the beginning of the General Science book, but they always got used to it within a few chapters. Last year, I had one that hated it and could not get used to it, so we ditched it and used Tiner's books instead. He's my 10th child to use upper level Apologia books, and that's the first time I've ever dropped one. This year he's been using Apologia's Physical Science and absolutely loves it. He told me this week that it's his favorite book ever. I was surprised. Among his older siblings, that one was probably the least favorite. So you never know.  :001_smile:

 

I'm a huge fan of Dr. Wile's science texts. I've graduated eight so far and all of them used Wile's texts through middle school and high school. Some of my kids have gone into scientific fields and have been very successful. Nearly all of them cite those texts as a highlight of their homeschool experience.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Jane Elliot